FEATURE:
Survival and Sanctuary
IN THIS PHOTO: Madonna in New York, September 1994/PHOTO CREDIT: Bettina Rheims
Inside Madonna’s Defiant and Empowered Bedtime Stories at Thirty
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IN terms of…
Pop turnaround or revivals, Madonna should not have been in the position to have to prove herself or save her career. 1989’s Like a Prayer turned her into an undisputed Pop queen. The biggest artist on the planet, she was peerless. 1992’s Erotica was a departure in terms of sound. Putting sex more to the fore, many critics took against it. Thought she had gone too far. An album that was quite cold and did not have the same uplift as Like a Prayer and her earliest work. This was Madonna adopting a new persona (Dita) and evolving her work. With the SEX book also out in 1992, critics piled onto her. There was so much attack and misogyny aimed at an artist who was being expressive and bold. Male artists at the time not receiving the same sort of judgement. Something that still happens to this day. Many were watching carefully to see what followed Erotica. Others had written Madonna off. A cross between a sanctuary and this album where she had to keep he music and name alive, Bedtime Stories arrived on 25th October, 1994. If some consider it is not among her five best albums ever, it is clear that Bedtime Stories was partially a move back to the more commercial Pop of before. Electronic influences that would make themselves more aware on 1998’s Ray of Light. Some sensitive tracks alongside the bold and brash. This was classic Madonna. It is a shame that she almost had to prove herself or compromise for critics. Even so, there is plenty of rawness through Bedtime Stories. One of Madonna’s best albums in my view, as Wikipedia explain, Bedtime Stories began a new phase in Madonna’s career:
“Critics reacted positively towards the album, applauding its romantic nature. Additionally, it was nominated for Best Pop Album at the 38th Grammy Awards. The album debuted and peaked at number three on the US Billboard 200 and was certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It reached the first spot in Australia, and charted within the top-five in many other countries, including Canada, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Worldwide Bedtime Stories has sold an estimated eight million copies. In retrospective reviews, it has been referred to as one of Madonna's most important yet underrated albums. Bedtime Stories has also been credited as album that started the "second phase" of Madonna's career, which began in the mid-to-late 1990s. Influence of the album has been noted on the work of contemporary artists”.
I want to get on to a couple of features around Bedtime Stories. In 2014, Philly Mag dedicated some time and space to an album that was career-defining. At a time when people were writing Madonna off, she produced an album that was hugely impressive without compromising her integrity and truth. Even if there would have been little patience for another album like Erotica, what she gave the world in 1994 was a blend of all her different sides and sounds. A truly remarkable and underrated album:
“A little up and down and all around, it’s all about survival,” coos Madonna on slinky boudoir groove “Survival,” the opening number of her just-turned-20 work Bedtime Stories. And, as all of us true Madonna queens know, prior to the release of this celebrated record, the Material Girl’s career at this point was indeed a little up and down and all around, and in definite need of survival.
Her previous studio set, the S&M-beat-blessed Erotica, ruffled the feathers of a lot of critics—and even some fans with its overt sexuality. Around the same time, her provocatively titled coffee-table book Sex prompted those same critics to throw up their hands. Had the queen of WTF moments reached her shock-value limits? Was America tired of her attention-getting ways? Many said yes. But those who doubted were eating their words after her infamous 1994 interview on Late Show With David Letterman, where she dropped F-bombs like they were going out of style. It was too much for a nation that was increasingly more conservative following Desert Storm and in the midst of a wallet-clenching recession. Girlfriend needed to reel it in.
After the Letterman debacle, Madonna must have realized she had some work to do image-wise, so she returned to the music scene with a more-polished, even kind of vulnerable style. To kick off her softer-side reinvention, she released the sensual “I’ll Remember,” a tender (and vastly underrated) ballad from the film With Honors. The radio-friendly pop tune became a No. 2 Billboard hit for the star, with an accompanying video that featured Madonna looking classic under a sleek black do. She came back later that year with “Secret,” an acoustic R&B-laced gem that served as the lead single from Bedtime Stories. Thus Madonna’s mid-’90s career comeback began.
“Secret” became another hit for the star, peaking at No. 3 on the charts and birthing a Harlem-shot black-and-white video that featured a blond-bobbed Madonna looking all ghetto fabulous—nose ring and all. Critics praised the single for its sexy guitar riffs and throbbing beat, but it was follow up single “Take a Bow” that truly put the diva back on top of her chart game. The classic rode the peaks of Billboard for seven weeks, and still remains her longest-running No. 1 hit to date.
However, as much as Stories put Madonna back on top, later single releases didn’t make as much of a rumble on the charts. After “Take a Bow,” she released “Bedtime Story,” but because of its not-ready-for-radio whirling and winding production, the track was vastly ignored on the airwaves and mainly gained buzz because of its eye-popping “Ray Of Light”-foreshadowing video. The same can be said for “Human Nature,” Madonna’s classic fuck-you-to-critics anthem that also barely got into the groove on the singles charts. In the end it would be the last mainstream single released from the Bedtime Stories era”.
There are a couple of other pieces worth highlighting, so that we can properly celebrate Bedtime Stories. I guess there was a combination of defence and defiance with Madonna’s sixth studio album. She wanted to ensure that she did not face the criticism of 1992. However, this was someone who embraced her sensuality and new depths, in addition to exploring and ensuring her sexuality and independence was very much in the mix. It is a fascinating blend of songs. In 2021, Dig! wrote how Bedtime Stories retained Madonna’s tease and sexuality, though it was softer and more seductive than it was hard-on and direct:
“Ever mindful of contemporary pop’s comings and goings, 1994’s Bedtime Stories was billed as Madonna’s first all-out R&B record, even though her self-titled debut album – released before those extraordinary videos defined her image in a way hitherto unheard of – found her routinely assumed to be a Black act. By getting into bed with the predominant R&B tastemakers of the time, however, there was a calculated effort to redefine her sound while dialling down on the fuss her previous record, Erotica, had created. Here, Madonna chose a number of songwriters, including Dallas Austin and Babyface, leading to a more textured collection than she had created before, though her reputation as a promiscuous collaborator was already justly deserved.
Breathless intensity, dramatic posturing
Few of the album’s 11 songs stick strictly to their respective musical lanes, with pop influences folding into clubby trance and trip-hop. There are nods to her then-consolidating legacy (notably in the lyrics, which often referenced past hits), but Bedtime Stories undoubtedly moved Madonna’s sound on more dramatically than before, leading gently towards the subsequent renaissance of Ray Of Light.
With its opening Dallas Austin cuts (the jazz-tinged Survival and the album’s accomplished lead single, Secret) the album gets off to a fine start. Secret proved a decisive return to both the US and UK Top 5 in September 1994, just ahead of Bedtime Stories’ release, on 25 October. Erotica’s co-producer Shep Pettibone earned a credit for his work on the song’s demo, but Secret couldn’t be more different from his era’s output, with Junior Vasquez notably picked for remixing duties, teasing out the song’s clubbier core.
Austin, then most famous for his work with TLC, co-wrote two further songs: the 70s soul groove of Don’t Stop and the meandering, meditative Sanctuary, which segues into the album’s most distinctive number, Bedtime Story, written by Björk, Nellee Hooper and Marius De Vries. Issued as the album’s third single, the latter’s hypnotic trance was the most out-there Madonna dance cut to date. She performed it at the 1995 BRIT Awards and, while it’s the only Bedtime Stories track not to credit Madonna herself, it holds together as a uniquely Madonna moment: all breathless intensity and dramatic posturing.
No space for apology
Softer moments include Forbidden Love, a Babyface co-composition, produced by the hitmaker and Massive Attack collaborator Nellee Hooper, and the charged Love Tried To Welcome Me, an in-part return to the brooding eroticism of her previous studio collection. Bassist Meshell Ndegocello, who would sign with Madonna’s Maverick label, guests on the equally provocative I’d Rather Be Your Lover, but it’s tracks such as the evocative Inside Of Me (created with Dave Hall, who had worked with Mariah Carey on some of her biggest hits) that make the most impact.
The album’s boldest statement was saved for Human Nature – Madonna’s chance to bite back at her critics, suggesting in its thumping electronic R&B that, while Bedtime Stories might momentarily soften the mood, there was no space for apology. It proved that her ability to read the room remained as pinpoint-sharp as ever: the public could accept Madonna’s sexual provocation… to a point.
Ultimately, it was time to move on, cast about for yet another new style and build some bridges. Bedtime Stories would prove an effective pathway between Erotica’s confrontational sexual caricature and the big-screen opportunity offered by Alan Parker’s upcoming adaptation of the Evita musical. There were other stories that needed telling…”.
I am going to end with this review from Photogroupie. They have some very kind and positive things to say about Bedtime Stories. Erotica got some heat because it was seen as too explicit or sexual. Bedtime Stories maybe not as direct or memorable as it could have been. It proved that, if you were a woman in Pop then, you could not do right no matter what you did! Luckily, in years since 1994, people recognise Bedtime Stories among Madonna’s best work:
“Rather than add fire to the flames, the release for Bedtime Stories was very low key; there was little media coverage to promote the album and no subsequent tour due to her filming commitments on Evita. As a result, the album is often overlooked in the cannon of her work, despite being one of her best. At first glance, you could be fooled into thinking that the title makes the album simply a sequel to its predecessor, and in some ways, you'd be right. The album is certainly sexy and erotic in part due to the R & B and dub influences which give it a smooth, soulful feel, but it's also deeply romantic and layered with lyrical depth. If Madonna was aiming to reinvent herself again with the album she succeeded tenfold. The compilation album Something To Remember released a year later continued to shake off the one-dimensional image of her as a provocative pop star and get her taken seriously as an artist. If these two albums didn't fulfil that brief, then her acclaimed performance as Eva Peron and the universally regarded album Ray Of Light certainly would undo any damage caused in the previous decade.
Survival opens the album with a distinctly different sound and has the singer proclaiming 'I'll never be an angel, I'll never be a saint it's true. I'm too busy surviving.' Lyrically it speaks volumes about her attitude towards the media and her chameleon-like status in the music industry. It's a hook-heavy track, with a sharp focus on harmonies and bass lines, something that is maintained throughout the album.
The lead single, Secret, stills sound contemporary as does the rest of the album. The choice of enlisting several different producers helps to form a fresh and timeless sound to the album. It's certainly evident on a revisit that much of Madonna's work from the 90s and beyond does indeed have a perennial sound quality to it, in a similar way to the work of Kate Bush, Michael Jackson and Prince.The hip-hop influence of Erotica's Waiting creeps through tracks like Rather Be Your Lover, Inside Of Me and Human Nature. The latter plays on one of the themes from Madonna's previous singles, reaffirming the notion that you should 'express yourself, don't repress yourself.' Here she confronts previous haters, labelling them narrow-minded, and debating societies reluctance to talk about sex, after all, it is human nature. She offers the suave, yet unsanitised put-down, 'I'm not your bitch, don't hang your shit on me'. The final sting in the tail comes from her ability to challenge gender norms in society once again by asking her critics to consider if they would have tolerated her behaviour better if she was a man. It's a classy track which serves as an unrepentant two fingers to the stuffy collared establishment. Of course, this wouldn't be her only paean for unapologetic behaviour; she would later pick up the concept in 2015's Rebel Heart.
Here on in, there's a much more subdued, understated feel to the album, although none the less emotive and alluring. Love Tried To Welcome Me combines elements of acoustic guitar, strings and a soulful sway to tempt us into the mournful song of loneliness and lust. It's a terrifically sensitive song which is enhanced by Madonna's gentle and silken vocals.
Sanctuary hints at the hypnotic and mystical production that William Orbit would draw out in Ray Of Light. There's also elements of a similar sound in the ethereal and concupiscent, Bedtime Story, co-written by Bjork. These musical seedlings would grow to fruition on Ray Of Light, hinting at an artist who has a very clear foresight of what she wants to achieve musically. In many ways these two tracks bridge the gap between the two albums, showing the continued evolution of Madonna as an artist.
Take A Bow, the effortless ballad on the album makes use of strings and a lilting Japanese style piano refrain. It's stylistically different from anything else on the album, which is a credit to Madonna and the track's co-producer Babyface. There is an innocence, a vulnerability to the music, but also empowerment in the lyrics which serves to confuse us emotionally. It's certainly a graceful and unexpected end to a varied and noteworthy album.
Bedtime Stories may be a far cry from the explicit sounds of Erotica, it's more of a teasing, seductive pillow fight in comparison, yet it still had the power to create controversy. It's sexually suggestive which may have got people's back up, but the most crucial part of the album's legacy is the fact that Madonna refused to be silenced by critics and was steadfast in her unwillingness to kotow to their pressure to show remorse – a quality which has ensured that Madonna has stayed true to her artistic vision. That is something that she should never apologise for”.
On 25th October, we mark thirty years of Bedtime Stories. I hope that the Queen of Pop takes to social media to salute a remarkable album. One that arrived at a very difficult time. A moment when she had to get the balance and tone right. In 1994, what she produced is a masterpiece! Some of her strongest songs. Her voice better and stronger than ever. A mix of bite and soul-baring. Such a deep and beautiful album with plenty of emotions and angles. Fire and spark in songs like Human Nature. If critics felt Madonna would be finished after 1992, she very much…
PROVED them all wrong.