Revolver (song)
"Revolver" is a song by American recording artist Madonna from her third greatest hits compilation, Celebration (2009). It was released on December 14, 2009, by Warner Bros. Records and marked her final single release with the label, which had been her record company since 1982. The song features American rapper Lil Wayne and was written by Madonna, Carlos Battey, Steven Battey, Dwayne Carter, Justin Franks and Brandon Kitchen. It was produced by Madonna and DJ Frank E.
"Revolver"
December 14, 2009
2009
3:40
- Madonna Ciccone
- Dwayne Carter
- Justin Franks
- Carlos Centel Battey
- Steven Andre Battey
- Brandon Kitchen
- Madonna
- Frank E
The single release included remixes by David Guetta and Afrojack, which won the Grammy Award for Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical category at the 53rd Grammy Awards. This version also appears on the deluxe version of Guetta's album One More Love (2010). The single also included mixes by Paul van Dyk, Tracy Young and included remixes of "Celebration" by Akon and Felguk. The original album version does not appear on any formats of the release and some versions are credited as "Madonna vs. David Guetta".
An electropop song, "Revolver" features Madonna singing the whole song, with a guest appearance by Wayne near the end. The lyrics talk about juxtaposing love with weaponry. Contemporary critics gave a mixed review of the song. Some praised the chorus line "My love’s a revolver" while others felt that it was underwhelming and not on par with Madonna's previous songs. The single charted in the lower regions of the official charts of Belgium, Canada, Finland and the United Kingdom while reaching number four on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs chart of United States. The song was performed on The MDNA Tour in 2012, where Madonna wielded a Kalashnikov rifle onstage. The use of weapons in front of the audience generated controversy after the 2012 Aurora, Colorado shooting.
Background[edit]
In March 2009, Madonna's representative Liz Rosenberg confirmed that Madonna was planning to release a greatest hits album by fall 2009.[1] She also added that Madonna had plans to go to the studio and record new material for the album.[2] The next day, Madonna's manager, Guy Oseary, asked fans on his Twitter for input regarding the track listing of the greatest hits album. It was later confirmed that she wrote three new tracks for the album, with Paul Oakenfold being confirmed as producer for two of the new songs.[3] Warner Bros. Records reported the title of the greatest hits to be Celebration through Madonna's official website.[4] They also reported that the final song on the collection was to be "Revolver", a collaboration with Lil Wayne and whose demo version was already present in the net. It was present alongside the title track.[5] Before the album was released on September 29, 2009, the original version of "Revolver" was released on the internet; the track had previously appeared in May as a demo recording.[6][7] In December 2009, NME confirmed "Revolver" as the second single from Celebration.[8] The song was released digitally in the United Kingdom on December 14, 2009, by Warner Bros. Records along with a digital maxi single release worldwide on December 29, 2009, featuring remixes by David Guetta and Afrojack,[9] Paul van Dyk and Tracy Young.[10]
Recording and composition[edit]
"Revolver" was written by Madonna, Carlos Battey, Steven Battey, Lil Wayne, Justin Franks and Brandon Kitchen, and produced by Madonna and DJ Frank E. In an interview with Hiphopupdate.com, Frank E recalled that he had gone to the recording session two hours before his scheduled meeting with Madonna to set up and give the audio files to the recording engineer, and he said that the ensuing wait was incredibly nerve-racking for him.[11][12] After Madonna arrived, they recorded her vocals and the song was finished the next day. Reminiscing about the session, he said: "I will never forget the feeling of leaving that session after vocal producing Madonna, and thinking to myself, 'It can’t it really get any harder than this.' I've taken that mentality into every other session I've been in, and it's helped me make the session and song more of a success. Unfortunately, the mix sounded like crap and the song flopped, but hey, you win some and you lose some."[11]
The audio mixing was done by Demacio Castellon while the Pro Tools editing was arranged by Ron Taylor from Warner Bros. Records.[13] The chorus of the song has Madonna singing the line "My love's a revolver, my sex is a killer, do you wanna die happy?" Wayne has a verse towards the end of the song, and sings the lines with reference to ammunitions, and Auto-Tune is used in his vocals.[7] According to Houston Chronicle, the song is electropop in its composition style.[14] The song is set in the time signature of common time, with a moderate tempo of 120 beats per minute. As per the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by Alfred Publishing Co., Inc., the song is composed in the key of B♭ minor, with Madonna's voice spanning from the tonal nodes of A♭3 to E♭5.[15] "Revolver" follows in the basic sequence of B♭m–D♭–A♭–B♭m–D♭–A♭ as its chord progression.[15]
Chart performance[edit]
The song charted on the Canadian Hot 100 for one week at position 95 on the issue dated October 17, 2009, but fell off the chart the next week.[25] On the Billboard issue dated January 16, 2010, the song made a re-entry on the chart at a higher position of 47, and was the highest debut of the chart.[26] It made a top-20 debut on the official chart of Finland, at position nineteen[27] and moved to 18 after two weeks. In the United Kingdom, the song was initially positioned at number 188, but after a few weeks it jumped up to a position 130 on the UK Singles Chart.[28] The One Love remix of "Revolver", featuring David Guetta, debuted on the Belgian Singles Chart at Flanders region at position 37. After a few weeks, the song reached number 26 on the Flanders chart and 25 on the Wallonia chart.[29] The song debuted at number 41 on Billboard's Hot Dance Club Songs chart on the issue dated January 16, 2010 as the highest debut of that week,[30] and reached a peak of four, staying for two weeks at the same position.[31] In Italy, the song reached number 12 on the singles chart and was certified gold by the Federation of the Italian Music Industry (FIMI) for shipment of 15,000 copies of the single.[32][33] The song also charted in Ireland, at position 41.[34] In Spain the song reached 39 on the chart, for one week only.[35] In the Czech Republic, "Revolver" debuted at number 66, and reached a peak of number 22 after seven weeks.[36]