FEATURE:
Love Makes the World Go Round
IN THIS PHOTO: Madonna in 1986/PHOTO CREDIT: Herb Ritts
Madonna’s True Blue at Thirty-Five
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I realise that…
Madonna’s True Blue was released in June 1986, so its thirty-fifth anniversary is not for a couple of months. On 30th June, her third album arrived on the market. I think it is a step up from her previous album, Like a Virgin. I think her sound is more mature and her writing is more interesting. Madonna’s lyrics are bolder, and she tackles some big issues. I am publishing the first thirty-fifth anniversary feature for two reasons. First, I am not aware of any plans for an anniversary release of the album. I think there are demos and other tracks that could be combined with the original studio album. The album finished recording in April so, in that sense, this is a thirty-fifth anniversary celebration that is timely. I am going to bring in a couple of reviews for the album soon but, first, it is worth exploring the album. Whereas Madonna (1983) and Like a Virgin (1984) were a little lighter in tone and had some weaker moments, I think True Blue is a more rounded album without a misstep – although each of those albums I just mentioned were 90-95% genius! By the time she started recording True Blue, Madonna was a modern-day icon. She has not quite reached the Queen of Pop status she would obtain by Like a Prayer in 1989. Having appeared in the successful film, Desperately Seeking Susan, in 1985, this was an important period for her. Producing the album alongside Stephen Bray and Patrick Leonard, some of my favourite Madonna songs are on True Blue.
Papa Don’t Preach is a classic; Open Your Heart and Live to Tell show a more mature edge, whilst the exceptional La Isla Bonita introduces a Hispanic flair. Whilst there are no Pop confectionaries like Material Girl or Like a Virgin (both from Like a Virgin), there is plenty of positivity and Pop gems. It is a beautifully produced and sequence album where the songs flow and there is a nice balance in terms of quality, tone and emotion. It is a shame that there are some mixed reviews for the album, as I think it is a lot stronger than many give it credit for. Listen to True Blue without interruption and you will discover a consistent and consistently surprising record. I think that Madonna’s voice was stronger on this album. She was bringing in more layers and contours that allowed for her songwriting to expand. This was a Pop sensation hitting new heights!
In 2016, Albumism looked back at a superb Madonna album as it turned thirty. It must have been daunting for an artist like her to release an album that was quite different from her first two. This is what they had to say:
“Relative to its erotically-charged precursor Like a Virgin, True Blue tempers the sex vixen aesthetic in exchange for a more calculated focus on Madonna’s evolving songcraft. True Blue’s subject matter is not a wholesale water-down job, mind you, as its songs are still provocative and, particularly in one case, proved controversial. But the messages and tones that define the album are noticeably more substantive, less superficial. Even the Herb Ritts orchestrated cover imagery, an obvious homage to the classic Hollywood glamor and glory days of Jean Harlow, Grace Kelly, and Marilyn Monroe, among others, is emblematic of Madonna’s newfound elegance and refinement.
Showcasing a more sophisticated strain of her dance-pop disposition, True Blue offered the first inkling of her development into a more mature, multi-dimensionally adept talent, a transformation that would come to even greater fruition three years later with her creative watershed Like a Prayer. Indeed, with True Blue, Madonna aspired to be taken more seriously as an artist and squash any persistent skepticism that her success was of the ephemeral, flash-in-the-pan variety.
A year later, Madonna acknowledged that naysayers remained, insisting to Rolling Stone that “There are still those people who, no matter what I do, will always think of me as a little disco tart.” Despite her lingering critics, however, True Blue proved a career tipping point that forced many of her detractors to reevaluate her artistry and embrace a newfound respect for her undeniable contributions to the pop music landscape.
Madonna dedicated True Blue to her then-husband Sean Penn, as evidenced by the line in the album’s liner notes that reads “This is dedicated to my husband, the coolest guy in the universe.” Originally titled Live to Tell after the emotionally gripping ballad Madonna offered for Penn’s 1986 crime drama film At Close Range, but subsequently changed to True Blue prior to its release, the nine-track album was overseen by her ‘80s go-to production team of Stephen Bray and Patrick Leonard. More interestingly, and for the first time ever, Madonna co-wrote and co-produced each song featured on the album, an achievement that further signaled her creative coming of age.
Album opener and Grammy-nominated second single “Papa Don’t Preach” is arguably the most unforgettable of True Blue’s many memorable moments. From the opening intro replete with a swelling, suspense-laden string arrangement, you know that sonically speaking, this is a different kind of Madonna album, relative to the two that preceded it.
The song’s taboo subject matter is what really distinguishes the song, however, as Madonna inhabits the fraught yet forthright conscience of a teenage girl coming clean to her father about her unintended pregnancy and difficult decision to keep the baby. She implores him to avoid judging her too harshly and asks for his support, while naively rationalizing—as many teenagers are prone to do—that her partner and she “can raise a little family / Maybe we'll be all right, it's a sacrifice.”
IN THIS PHOTO: Madonna in 1986/PHOTO CREDIT: Herb Ritts
Nearly as emotionally gripping as “Papa Don’t Preach” is the aforementioned “Live to Tell,” though the specific source of the pain and heartache Madonna examines here is never explicitly identified. A gorgeously produced ballad with prominent percussion juxtaposed with keyboard, synth, and electric guitar flourishes throughout, “Live to Tell” presents a confessional narrative that finds the song’s protagonist acknowledging and attempting to reconcile the skeletons in her closet. While Madonna perhaps intentionally shrouds the ambiguous “secret I have learned” in mystery, the surrounding context suggests a history of abuse or alienation at the hands of a man who has betrayed the central figure’s trust. Regardless of one’s interpretation, “Live to Tell” is one of the most riveting songs not just on True Blue, but across all of Madonna’s albums to date.
“Papa Don’t Preach” and “Live to Tell” aside, the bulk of True Blue is fueled by more buoyant, whimsically romantic fare. Originally written for but rejected by Cyndi Lauper, the yearning “Open Your Heart” is a straightforward love song that explores concurrent feelings of vulnerability, desire, and innocent longings for companionship.
Madonna’s eponymous 1983 debut album announced an electrifying new talent to the world. The following year, the massively successful Like a Virgin transformed Madonna into a household name across the globe. But it was True Blue that solidified her blonde ambition, cemented her worldwide superstardom, and, once and for all, extinguished any remaining doubts about her potential career longevity.
Still her highest-selling studio album of all time based on worldwide sales that exceed 25 million, True Blue is an essential component of Madonna’s prolific canon and a permanent, fondly recalled fixture of my younger days”.
I know that there will be new articles and retrospection when the album turns thirty-five at the end of June. I think that her film exposure helped regarding the confidence we hear on True Blue. In a way, she was embodying different personas and moods more effortlessly and ably. This would heighten further on Like a Prayer in 1989. That album was the first where she received mostly positive reviews. I think albums before then were getting a lot of love; there were some who were a bit more mixed - True Blue, despite its calibre, was no exception. In their review of 2003, SLANT observed the following:
“With five extremely varied hit singles, Madonna’s third album, True Blue, was a supreme archetype of ‘80s pop music. With songs like “Papa Don’t Preach,” Madonna made the transition from pop tart to consummate artist, joining the ranks of the decade’s icons like Michael Jackson and Prince. The songs were undeniably more mature than fare like “Material Girl,” dashing some critics’ assertions that she was just another flash in the pan. The striking “Live to Tell” was not only a brave first single, but a statement in and of itself. The ballad rewrote the rules of what a lead single could sound like, while at the same time, ironically, speaking volumes about Madonna’s unwavering drive for fame and mass-acceptance: “If I ran away, I’d never have the strength to go very far.” True Blue includes some of Madonna’s biggest, most influential hits (the robust “Open Your Heart” and the timeless “La Isla Bonita”), but it’s also home to some of her biggest clunkers. Like much of Like a Virgin, the title track is an authentic throwback to the girl-group-era pop that was an admitted influence on the singer, but the effect seems significantly more contrived on “Jimmy Jimmy” and the obligatory save-the-world anthem “Love Makes the World Go Round.” Time stamped with ‘80s-era keyboard and drum synths, True Blue, though chock-full of hits, is undeniably of its time”.
I was alive in 1986 but, being three, I was not aware of the attention Madonna was receiving and how exciting it must have been. I would place True Blue in my top-five favourite Madonna albums. Whilst I think Ray of Light, Bedtime Stories, Madonna and Like a Prayer are stronger, I think True Blue is a tad better than Erotica and Like a Virgin – albums that I really love. Ahead of its thirty-fifth anniversary, I wanted to explore an album that ranks alongside the best of the ‘80s. Almost thirty-five years to the day since recording ended on a huge album, I was eager to re-explore True Blue. Before ending this, I want to source from a positive review from AllMusic:
“True Blue is the album where Madonna truly became Madonna the Superstar -- the endlessly ambitious, fearlessly provocative entertainer who knew how to outrage, spark debates, get good reviews -- and make good music while she's at it. To complain that True Blue is calculated is to not get Madonna -- that's a large part of what she does, and she is exceptional at it, but she also makes fine music. What's brilliant about True Blue is that she does both here, using the music to hook in critics just as she's baiting a mass audience with such masterstrokes as "Papa Don't Preach," where she defiantly states she's keeping her baby. Her real trick here, however, is transcending her status as a dance-pop diva by consciously recalling classic girl group pop ("True Blue," "Jimmy Jimmy") to snag the critics, while deepening the dance grooves ("Open Your Heart," "Where's the Party"), touching on Latin rhythms ("La Isla Bonita"), making a plea for world peace ("Love Makes the World Go Round"), and delivering a tremendous ballad that rewrites the rules of adult contemporary crossover ("Live to Tell"). It's even harder to have the entire album play as an organic, cohesive work. Certainly, there's some calculation behind the entire thing, but what matters is the end result, one of the great dance-pop albums, a record that demonstrates Madonna's true skills as a songwriter, record-maker, provocateur, and entertainer through its wide reach, accomplishment, and sheer sense of fun”.
Go and listen back to True Blue if you have not investigated it for a while. It is an album where we can see Madonna growing and widening her lyrical and vocal possibilities. Some say that True Blue is a product of its time or sounds dated now. I would argue the opposite: the 1986-released masterwork…
STILL sounds incredible and relevant.