Girl Gone Wild
"Girl Gone Wild" is a song by American singer Madonna from her twelfth studio album, MDNA (2012). She co-wrote the song with Benny Benassi, his cousin Alle Benassi (known together as the Benassi Bros.), and songwriter Jenson Vaughan, while the Benassi Bros. co-produced the track with Madonna. Vaughan had worked on the lyrics before sending them to Madonna, who developed the demo into the final version of "Girl Gone Wild". The song was confirmed by Madonna as the second single from the album and was released on March 2, 2012, by Interscope Records.
Not to be confused with Girls Gone Wild."Girl Gone Wild"
March 2, 2012
2011
3:43
- Madonna
- Jenson Vaughan
- Benny Benassi
- Alle Benassi
- Madonna
- Benny Benassi
- Alle Benassi
Musically, "Girl Gone Wild" is a mid-tempo electropop, dance, Euro disco, electro, Euro house and techno party track with a four-on-the-floor influence. The song opens with a prayer and “confession” by Madonna, and features EDM-heavy elements. After the song was released, Joe Francis, creator of the Girls Gone Wild adult entertainment franchise, threatened to sue Madonna for copyright infringement if she sang the song during her performance at the Super Bowl XLVI halftime show. And the song was one of the official theme songs of WrestleMania XXVIII. Madonna's representatives stated that she was not aware of either Francis or the lawsuit, and cited the fact that several songs with the same name had already been recorded or released by other artists.
The song received mixed reviews from critics, who praised its composition and return to dance music for Madonna, but criticized its lyrics and believed it failed as the lead single and album-opener of MDNA. "Girl Gone Wild" reached the top-ten of many global charts, including Hungary, Israel, Italy, Russia, South Africa, South Korea and Spain, along with the Billboard digital charts in Greece. It debuted and peaked at number 38 on US Pop Songs due to lack of radio airplay. It also became Madonna's 42nd number-one hit on the Hot Dance Club Songs chart.
A black-and-white music video for the song, directed by Mert and Marcus, was released on March 20, 2012. The video features Madonna with a number of athletic male dancers and models in different looks, and dancing with Ukrainian group Kazaky. The dancing was performed by the male dancers and Madonna in high stiletto heels, with choreography by Yanis Marshall. It received critical acclaim for the editing and the visuals, while reviewers noted that it took inspiration from Madonna's older videos, such as "Erotica", "Justify My Love", "Human Nature" and "Vogue". "Girl Gone Wild" was performed as the opening song during The MDNA Tour (2012), in a Gothic cathedral setting showing religious iconography, with Madonna her dancers executing choreography in high-heels.
Threatened lawsuit[edit]
On February 4, 2012, Joe Francis, the creator of the Girls Gone Wild video franchisee, threatened to sue Madonna if she sang the song during her halftime show performance. His representatives said that "[Madonna] violated Federal and State trademark laws by making unauthorized use of Mr. Francis' trademark Girls Gone Wild in not only the title, but subject line of her various advertisements in order to lure potential consumers to purchase her latest musical effort." The National Football League (NFL) revealed in their magazine that the song would not be performed at the Super Bowl.[11] On hearing about the allegations, Moxey commented that Francis only wanted attention from the press, adding: "When I looked at ASCAP, I noticed there were approximately 50 records called 'Girls Gone Wild'. This guy just thinks too much of himself."[3]
The song title was slightly modified to the singular "Girl Gone Wild" to which Francis again commented: "Clearly her label was trying to avoid legal action surrounding the song... But [the new title] is still infringement as far as the law is concerned, and we have been in touch with Madonna's people in an effort to resolve this issue."[12] He added that he would pursue new legal action if more changes were not made to the track. Francis' lawyer also said that his client had made a federal trademark for the singular form of the title.[13] Oseary denied that the song's title was changed because of Francis, explaining that Madonna had been completing the final version of MDNA and the renamed title was chosen due to the singular word "girl" in the lyrics.[14] He stated that there are several songs titled "Girls Gone Wild" on iTunes, and that Madonna was not aware of a lawsuit or about Francis. Oseary concluded by saying that the singer was not restricted from performing the song at the Super Bowl, though she did not.[15]
Recording and composition[edit]
"Girl Gone Wild" was recorded at MSR Studios, New York City and Sarm West Studios, Notting Hill, London. It was written by Madonna, Vaughan and the Benassi Bros., and was produced by the Benassis and Madonna. Demacio "Demo" Castellon recorded and mixed the track. Philippe Weiss and Graham Archer assisted Castellon on the recording, while Angie Teo assisted on the mixing. Stephen Kozmeniuk did the additional editing of the song and arranged the vocoder.[8] Benny Benassi recalled that Madonna would arrive in the studio around 3–4 pm and would work till 11:30 pm. Together they fixed the production of the song, including the layering and stacking of the track. They added more vocals to the composition and during the chorus, decided on how many voices should be duplicated. According to Alle Benassi, Madonna "has clear idea. She knows very well what she wants: where put something, how, why. It's surreal but impressive."[16]
"Girl Gone Wild" is a midtempo electropop,[18][19] dance-pop,[20][21] Euro disco,[22] electro,[23][24] Euro house[25] and techno[26] party track, drawing influence from four-on-the-floor and having a similar sound to tracks from the singer's tenth studio album, Confessions on a Dance Floor (2005).[3] Jason Lipshutz from Billboard noted that it has a "driving beat" and "propulsive hook" reminiscent of the singer's 2005 single, "Hung Up".[18] The song opens with a prayer, and Madonna uttering "Oh my God, I'm heartily sorry", which was a spoken rendition of the last track, "Act of Contrition", from Madonna's fourth studio album, Like a Prayer (1989).[27][28] During the middle eight, Madonna talks about how "good girls" should not misbehave. NME contributor Ailbhe Malone noted that the composition featured elements from the singer's previous singles, "Music" (2000) and "Jump" (2006).[29] As she sings "forgive me", the beat drops completely with the music disintegrating.[30] Madonna's vocals are processed to appear thin and stretched out.[31]
According to the sheet music of the song published online by Sony/ATV Music Publishing, "Girl Gone Wild" is set in the time signature of common time, with a moderate tempo of 127 beats per minute. It is composed in the key of A minor with Madonna's vocals ranging from Gm to Dm. The song follows a sequence of G♯m–C♯m–E during the opening prayer verse and Am–Em–G–F for the rest as its chord progression.[32] Mike Senior from Sound on Sound magazine found that along with the predominant synth sounds, there was "a lot" of double tracking present in the song which made the vocals unclear. He felt that this was not pose a problem in stereo sound, but with mono sounds the combined vocals appeared double tracked while the vocal level decreased. The mixing for "Girl Gone Wild" was done mainly for stereo speakers and around the 1:45–2:00 mark, the vocal levels fluctuate with the backing music being dwarfed. Senior also observed that Madonna put the stresses of the words on the beats of the song, hence some of the enunciation are lost with the drum sounds, especially on the title hook.[17]
Lyrically, the song addresses a "good girl gone wild" singing about her "burning hot desire" to have some fun.[33] It was compared to singer Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" (1983), with lyrics like "Girls, they just wanna have some fun" and "The room is spinning / It must be the Tanqueray / I'm about to go astray / My inhibitions gone away".[34] In the intermediate verses, Madonna utters "forgive me", which is a Catholic term used as a sexual reference. The lyrics, once placed in the context of Madonna's career "attains a new meaning" according to Josh Haigh from Attitude magazine. Explaining it, he said that the meaning behind the lyrics was how Madonna, being a Catholic girl herself, decided that she would not be tied down by anyone else's rules, and consequently became one of the most recognizable musical artists.[27]
Chart performance[edit]
"Girl Gone Wild" debuted at number six on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 and at number 33 on the Pop Digital Songs charts on the issue dated March 17, 2012, with 22,000 downloads sold according to Nielsen SoundScan.[59] The song debuted at number 86 on the Canadian Hot 100, peaking at 42 on the chart and was present for a total of nine weeks.[60] "Girl Gone Wild" also debuted at number 46 on Hot Dance Club Songs,[61] eventually reaching the top of the chart in its fifth week. It was the second Dance Club Songs chart topper from MDNA, following first single, "Give Me All Your Luvin'", which had peaked at number-one three weeks prior. Madonna also had her quickest span of back-to-back number-ones since 1990, when "Vogue" reached the top of the charts just seven weeks after "Keep It Together". With "Girl Gone Wild" reaching the top, Madonna achieved a record 73rd week atop the ranking.[62] At the 2012 Year-end tabulation of the top Hot Dance Club Songs, "Girl Gone Wild" was ranked at number 44.[63] The song debuted at number 38 on the US Mainstream Top 40 chart due to radio airplay, becoming her first album since Music (2000) to have two singles enter that chart. She is also the fifth artist to score a song on the list as far back as the 90s.[64]
In the United Kingdom it entered the UK Singles Chart at number 73. It was the third single from MDNA to chart there, following "Give Me All Your Luvin'" and "Masterpiece".[65] It also had a low peak on the Irish Singles Chart, entering and peaking at number 93.[66] On the South Korea Gaon Digital Chart, "Girl Gone Wild" debuted and peaked at number seven, with sales of 30,512 copies. It went on to sell more than 60,000 copies in the nation.[67][68] "Girl Gone Wild" also reached the top-ten of the charts in Greece, Hungary, Italy, Russia, Spain, South Africa and the IFPI charts in Slovakia.[69][70][71] It received a Platinum certification from the Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana (FIMI) for sales of over 30,000 digital downloads.[72]
Credits adapted from the liner notes of MDNA.[8]