Ray of Light
Ray of Light is the seventh studio album by American singer-songwriter Madonna, released in early 1998 by Maverick Records. A major stylistic and aesthetic departure from her previous work, Bedtime Stories, Ray of Light is an electronica and techno-pop record which incorporates multiple genres, including ambient, trip hop, psychedelic music and Middle Eastern music, while also seeing Madonna singing with greater breadth and a fuller tone. Mystical themes are also strongly present in both the music and lyrics, as a result of Madonna embracing Kabbalah, her study of Hinduism and Buddhism, and her daily practice of Ashtanga yoga.
For other uses, see Ray of light (disambiguation).Ray of Light
February 22, 1998
June–November 1997
66:52
After giving birth to her first child, Madonna started working on the album with producers Babyface and Patrick Leonard. Following failed sessions with them, Madonna pursued a new musical direction with English producer William Orbit, which resulted in a much more experimental sound being produced for the album. The recording process was the longest of Madonna's career, and she experienced problems with Orbit's hardware arrangement which would break down and cause delays until it could be repaired.
Considered her best body of work, the album received universal critical acclaim, with reviews praising the singer's new musical direction, Orbit's complex, innovative and experimental production, and Madonna's songwriting skills. Referred to as her "most adventurous" record, Ray of Light has been noted for its introspective, spiritual, and religious nature with Madonna's vocals also being lauded. Retrospectively, the album has continued receiving critical acclaim from contemporary critics and is often considered to be her magnum opus. On top of this, the album is frequently cited by critics as one of the greatest mainstream pop albums of all time.[1] Madonna has retrospectively referenced it as her most quintessential album yet. Ray of Light won four Grammy Awards from a total of six nominations.
The album debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200, with the biggest first-week sales by a female artist at the time. It also peaked at number one in 17 countries,[2] including Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, and charted within the top-five in most musical markets. Worldwide, Ray of Light has sold over 16 million copies and is one of the best-selling albums by women. Five singles were released from the album, including the international top five hits "Frozen" and "Ray of Light". The album's promotion was later supported by the Drowned World Tour in 2001. Music critics have noted the album's influence on popular music, and how it introduced electronica into mainstream pop culture in America. They also noted Madonna's musical re-invention which helped the 39-year-old remain contemporary among the teen-marketed artists of the period.
Title and artwork[edit]
According to spokesperson Liz Rosenberg, Madonna considered titling the album Mantra, which she thought was a "really cool title", and she also considered calling it Veronica Electronica;[9] however, she discarded both of those ideas and called it Ray of Light, as her albums were always titled after one of the songs from each album's tracklist.[10] The artwork was taken from a November 28, 1997, photoshoot with Peruvian photographer Mario Testino at the Paris Theater in Miami Beach. In terms of styling, Madonna and stylist Lori Goldstein opted for textures evocative of the elements water and air, which are recurrent themes on the album. For the album cover, Madonna wears a turquoise Dolce & Gabbana Spring/Summer 1998 vinyl raincoat. Other pictures from the same shoot serve as the artworks for the "Ray of Light" and "Frozen" singles, where Madonna models items from Prada's Spring/Summer 1998 collection.[11] Madonna and Testino had previously collaborated for a Versace brand collection 2 years earlier. Madonna was impressed with the natural look Testino had captured, so she booked him again for the album's photoshoot. He recalled, "At 2pm she said, 'OK, I'm tired. We're done'. And I said, 'But I don't have the pictures yet'. She said, 'You're working for me and I say we're done'. I said, 'No, we carry on'. The picture she used on the cover came after that".[12]
Singles[edit]
"Frozen" was released as the lead single from the album on February 23, 1998. It peaked inside the top five in most musical markets worldwide, while topping the singles chart in Finland, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, where it became Madonna's first single to debut at number one.[54][55] It became her sixth single to peak at number two on the Billboard Hot 100, setting a record for Madonna as the artist with most number-two hits in the chart history.[56][57] The song received critical acclaim, and was labelled a masterpiece whose sound was described as "cinematic".[21] However, the Belgian court in 2005 ruled that the opening four-bar theme to the song was plagiarized from the song "Ma vie fout le camp", composed by Salvatore Acquaviva. The ruling forbade the sale of the single and the entire Ray of Light album, as well as other compilations that included the track in Belgium.[58] In February 2014, a Belgian court ruled that Madonna did not plagiarize Acquaviva's work for "Frozen". The court spoke of a "new capital offense" in the file: composer Edouard Scotto Di Suoccio and societies Tabata Atoll Music and Music in Paris had also filed a complaint for plagiarism. According to them, both "Ma vie fout le camp" and "Frozen" originated in the song "Blood Night" which they composed in 1983.[59] After all three tracks in the case were compared, the final ruling was that the songs were "not sufficiently 'original' to claim" that any plagiarism had taken place.[60] This ruling ended the eight-year ban of the song that was in place in Belgium since 2005.[60]
The album's second single, "Ray of Light", was released on April 27, 1998. It peaked at number one in Spain and attained the top five position in Canada, Finland, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States.[55][61][62] It entered the Hot 100 at number five, becoming Madonna's highest debut on the chart ever.[56] The song was also a hit on Hot Dance Club Play chart, remaining at number one for four weeks, and became the "Top Hot Dance Club Play Single" of 1998.[63] Critically, it also received positive reviews, being praised for its club-perfect, yet "sonically progressive" sound, as well as her powerful vocals.[13]
"Drowned World/Substitute for Love" was released on August 24, 1998, as the third single outside the United States. It reached number one in Spain and the top ten in Italy and the United Kingdom.[55][64] The music video, directed by Walter Stern, caused controversy due to scenes that featured Madonna being chased by paparazzi on motor-bikes, a scenario similar to Princess Diana's death in 1997.[65]
The fourth single, "The Power of Good-Bye", was released on September 22, 1998. It reached the top-ten peaks in Austria, Canada, Netherlands, Finland, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom.[55][66] In the United States, the song peaked at number eleven on the Hot 100.[56] Its music video was directed by Matthew Rolston. "The Power of Good-Bye" was released as a dual single with "Little Star" in the United Kingdom.[67] "The Power of Good-Bye" also charted at number 91 as a standalone single.
"Nothing Really Matters" was released as the album's
sixth and final single on March 2, 1999. It became a top-ten hit in Canada, Finland, Italy, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.[55][68] In the United States, it became Madonna's lowest-charting single on the Hot 100, peaking at number 93, but was a number-one hit on its dance chart.[56] Its music video, directed by Johan Renck, was inspired by Arthur Golden's book Memoirs of a Geisha, and featured Madonna dressed as a geisha.[69]
Legacy[edit]
Ray of Light has been credited for bringing electronica music into global pop culture. The Los Angeles Times noted that "aside from occasional breakthroughs such as Fatboy Slim, electronica wasn't totally mainstream fare when Madonna released Ray of Light."[132] Until the album brought the genre to the top of music charts, according to author J. Randy Taraborrelli, "techno and electronica had, for years, been the music played at so-called raves, hugely popular, illegal underground parties taking place in abandoned warehouse and deserted areas on the outskirts of town all around the world."[133] AllMusic editor Liana Jonas stated that the album's title track has "brought mainstream attention to electronica music, which ascended from its underground status to wild popularity in the early 21st century."[134] The Observer's writer Daryl Deino called Ray of Light "a risk-taking album that helped define mainstream electronic dance music."[135]
Elliott H. Powell in an American Studies for New York University observed that Ray of Light made South Asian culture accessible to the American public in the 1990s.[136] Rhonda Hammer and Douglas Kellner in their book Media/cultural Studies: Critical Approaches recalled that "the phenomenon of South Asian-inspired femininity as a Western media trend can be traced to February 1998, when pop icon Madonna released her video 'Frozen'." They explained that "although Madonna did not initiate the fashion for Indian beauty accessories [...] she did propel it into the public eye by attracting the attention of the worldwide media."[137]
According to Taraborrelli, the album has been hailed as bold and refreshing in music of the late 1990s, which was dominated by boybands and teenage artists such as the Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera.[138] Larry Flick from Billboard said that the album "not only provided the chameleon-like artist with her first universally applauded critical success, it has also proved that she remains a vital figure amongst woefully fickle young audiences."[139] Music critic Lucy O'Brien commented: "1998's Ray of Light certainly rehabilitated Madonna's image. Up to that point she had still been written off as an average pop glamour girl who got lucky, but with this record she reached a whole new audience, proving that she was a good songwriter with an intensely productive talent."[140] Mary von Aue from Stereogum stated that "Ray of Light reestablished Madonna as a groundbreaking artist."[141]
Ray of Light has been featured on numerous critics' lists of greatest albums of all time. Rolling Stone magazine placed the album at number 367 on the list of 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[142] In September 2020, an updated edition of the Rolling Stone list was published, showing the album rising 145 spots, at number 222.[143] In 2001, a quarter of a million music fans on VH1 voted Ray of Light as the 10th of "100 Best Albums of All Time".[144] In 2003, Ray of Light was allocated at number 17 on Q magazine readers' list of "100 Greatest Albums Ever".[145] The album is also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[146] Mojo magazine also listed Ray of Light at number 29 on "100 Modern Classics: The Greatest Albums of Our Lifetime".[147] In 2013, the album was also included at number 241 on NME magazine's list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time".[148] Canadian singer Nelly Furtado stated that she used Ray of Light as a template for her album Loose (2006).[149] English singer Adele named Ray of Light as "one of the chief inspirations" for her third studio album, 25 (2015).[150] In September 2022, Pitchfork ranked Ray of Light as the 55th best album of the 1990s, "Madonna's trying, with all her might, to evoke the blackest depths and most euphoric joys of the human heart. The album's title track sounds like it was forged inside a meteor; the surreal, pitch-black poem 'Mer Girl' is as still as death itself."[151]
Madonna herself has considered Ray of Light the most fulfilling evolution of her career, with her referencing it as the "quintessential Madonna album" in a 2013 Reddit AMA.[152][153]
Additional notes[154]