"Borderline" is a song by American recording artist Madonna from her self-titled debut album. It was released on February 15, 1984 as the fifth single from the album, by Sire Records. Written and composed by producer Reggie Lucas, the song received remix treatment from Madonna's then boyfriend John "Jellybean" Benitez. She used a refined and expressive voice for the song. Its lyrics dealt with the subject of a love that is never fulfilled and was written as a rebellion against male chauvinism.
Contemporary critics and authors applauded the song, calling it harmonically the most complex song from the Madonna album and complimenting the dance-pop nature of the song. "Borderline" became Madonna's first top ten hit on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number ten. In the United Kingdom it reached number two after it was re-released as a single in 1986. Elsewhere, the song reached the top 10 or top 20 of a number of European nations while peaking the singles chart of Ireland. The song was placed at 84 on Blender magazine's "The 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born", while Time included it on the critic list "All-Time 100 Songs".
The accompanying music video portrayed Madonna with a Latin-American man as her boyfriend. She was enticed by a British photographer to pose and model for him, but later returned to her original boyfriend. The video generated interest amongst academics, who noted the use of power as symbolism in it. With the video, Madonna was credited for breaking the taboo of interracial relationships and was considered one of her career-making moments. The release of the video on MTV increased Madonna's popularity further. Madonna has performed the song on her Virgin Tour (1985) and the Sticky & Sweet Tour (2008), where a punk-rock version of the song was performed. "Borderline" has been covered by a number of artists, including Duffy, Jody Watley, Counting Crows and The Flaming Lips.
Single
In
this love song Madonna asks her boyfriend to make up his mind, because
she's crazy in love with him. The fans were crazy about the song
too, because Madonna scored her first US top 10 hit when she released
Borderline in 1984. It would also become her first Gold certification.
In the UK at first it only got to #56, but after the first album was re-issued in 1985, Borderline re-entered the singles chart in January 1986 and made
it to #2 (only to be blocked from #1 by Billy Ocean's 'When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going').Video
This
was the first video by Mary Lambert, who would later also direct
Like A Virgin, Material
Girl, La Isla Bonita and Like
A Prayer. In this video we see Madonna as a colorful street
girl, toying with one of the boys. Then a photographer gets interested
in her and she lets him take pictures while she sips champagne.
Later though she gets bored and tries to win back the heart of
her boyfriend. Lambert creates a contrast with color scenes in
the street (with the boyfriend) and black & white scenes during
the photoshoots. It was the first Madonna video that got sustained
play on MTV.
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