Secret (Madonna song)
"Secret" is a song by American singer Madonna from her sixth studio album, Bedtime Stories (1994). It was released by Maverick Records on September 26, 1994, as the lead single from the album. The singer originally recorded the song as a demo with producer Shep Pettibone. However, Dallas Austin replaced Pettibone's role as the producer and reworked its composition, earning him a writing credit alongside Madonna. It was a departure from Madonna's previous musical style, since up to that point in her career, her music had mostly consisted of big-sounding dance tracks and melodic ballads. "Secret" combined the pop and R&B genres with instrumentation from an acoustic guitar, drums and strings, while lyrically talking about a lover having a secret.
"Secret"
"Let Down Your Guard"
September 26, 1994
April–June 1994 (New York City and Atlanta, Georgia)
5:04
Shep Pettibone
- Madonna
- Dallas Austin
The song was released accompanied by eight different remixes by DJ Junior Vasquez, who re-used Madonna's vocals, but changed the composition of the track completely. Unusual for a singer in the mid-1990s, Madonna talked about the new single on the Internet, leaving an audio message for her fans as well as a snippet of the song. "Secret" received favorable reviews from music critics, who praised Madonna's vocal delivery and its mid-tempo R&B groove, deeming it seductive and soulful. The song was also a commercial success. In the United States, it peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). In the United Kingdom, it reached a peak of number five, becoming her record-breaking 35th consecutive top-ten single on the UK Singles Chart. Elsewhere, it reached number one in Canada, Finland, and Switzerland, and the top five in Australia, Denmark, France, New Zealand and Spain.
With the single's cover art and its accompanying music video, Madonna ushered in another image change, inspired by the look of Hollywood actress Jean Harlow. The black and white video was directed by photographer Melodie McDaniel, who was chosen by the singer due to McDaniel's previous short films. It features Madonna as a singer in a nightclub in Harlem, New York City. Interspersed with scenes of daily life in the neighborhood, the video ends with Madonna uniting with her lover and their supposed child. The video sparked academic discussions about what might constitute the lyrical secret of the song.
Madonna performed "Secret" on tour for the first time during her 2001 Drowned World Tour. It was later performed at the Houston stop of her Sticky and Sweet Tour in November 2008 as a fan request, and seven years later on some shows of the Rebel Heart Tour.
Recording and composition[edit]
"Secret" was written and produced by Madonna and Austin. It was recorded from April to June 1994 at Axis Studios in New York and DARP Studios in Atlanta, GA.[18][19] Alongside the production work, Austin also played the drums and the keyboards, while Tommy Martin played the acoustic guitars. Fred Jorio and Mark "Spike" Stent worked on the programming and engineering of the track while Tony Shimkin was the editor. Jon Gass and Alvin Speights mixed the song and finally Jessie Leavey, Craig Armstrong and Suzie Katayama did the strings and conducting sessions.[19]
"Secret" was a departure from the style of music that Madonna had previously released; up to that point in her career her music had mostly consisted of big-sounding dance tracks and melodic ballads.[20] In the track, she mixed pop and R&B together, while also incorporating elements of hip hop and funk.[21][22] It begins with the sound of an acoustic guitar and wah-wah and just the sound of Madonna's voice singing over it, before opening up to a sparse, retro rhythm section.[20][23] A descending chord sequence follows and around the one minute mark, the drums start with Madonna singing the chorus "Something's coming over, mmmmmmmm". It is entirely supported by the strings. According to Rikky Rooksby, author of The Complete Guide to the Music of Madonna, the descending chords are supported by the ascending strings—an example of contrary motion used in music. During the middle section, another wah-wah guitar solo is added alongside the strings. Near the end, the melodies add an upper harmony for differentiation with the verses.[20]
According to Musicnotes.com, the song is set in the time signature of common time and progresses in 96 beats per minute. The composition is set in the key of E♭ minor with Madonna's vocal ranging from G♭3 to G♭4. "Secret" contains a basic sequence of B♭7–E♭m7–D♭–Cm7–C♭ during the opening verses, and B7–Em–D–C during the chorus its chord progression.[24] Madonna's voice remains at the center of the song's production, as she sings lyrics such as "happiness lies in your own hand". Lyrically it talks about a lover having a secret as well as how Madonna realized that one's happiness is under one's control.[20] Madonna said: "This is a song about spirituality and self-empowerment. It contains an Indian/Hindu philosophy which says that God lives within all of us and that happiness lies in our own hands."[16] In Madonna the Companion: Two Decades of Commentary, authors Allen Metz and Carol Benson write that the tone that Madonna uses when singing these lyrics suggests that she is discussing "self-determinism, not auto-eroticism". Throughout the song Madonna also sings the lyrics "My baby's got a secret," however, she never discloses what the secret may be.[25]
Remixes[edit]
Madonna released more than eight remixes of the song in different formats.[20] At the time, "Secret" was experiencing success on the US record charts, to keep the song current in dance clubs, Madonna requested remixes of the song from Junior Vasquez, who was a DJ at the Sound Factory nightclub in New York. According to him Madonna's representatives "sent me a cassette of the song, just to get an idea what the song was... [A]nd when it was 100 beats per minute I said, 'Oh god, what am I gonna do with this?'"[26] Vasquez and his team of engineers first experimented with the track by making remixes closer to the original version. Then he used only Madonna's vocals for the mixed versions, and re-wrote and composed the music as brand new.[26] He was sure of doing house mixes of the track but had to "speed-up" Madonna's vocals. Recording engineer Dennis Mitchell explained, "To do that we have to digitally manipulate her vocals, which is time compression... It just digitally goes in and snipes out tiny little digital slices of the actual sound and squeezes it together so that her tempo is a new tempo but her pitch stays the same." According to Vasquez, Madonna was "on top of everything" including the house mixes as well as the other mixes created.[26]
The song also had dance mixes created by Vasquez. There are two versions of "Junior's Luscious Mix", those being a single edit and a longer version, which has a piano introduction and turns "Secret" into a dancefloor track.[12] According to Billboard these versions have "vibrant keyboards and an elastic bassline".[27] Like the house mixes, here also Madonna's vocals were re-edited to fit in with the faster beats. According to Jose F. Promis of AllMusic, the sped-up vocals made Madonna's voice have a "robotic, detached feel that the original doesn't have."[12] Promis also noted that Vasquez's "Sound Factory Mix" had "swirling instrumentals recalling flashing lights in a nightclub".[12] This remix also incorporated tribal percussion sounds and synth looping.[27] Similarly he noted that the "Some Bizarre Mix" gave the song a "groovier, funkier spin", while the "Allstar Mix", gave it "a cold, hip-hop feel".[12] Billboard was positive towards all the remixes, noting that "this single is a promising preamble to what will likely be a cool, new chapter in the career of dance music's most successful graduate."[27]
Accolades[edit]
NME magazine ranked "Secret" at number 30 in their list of the best songs of 1994.[39] Similarly, Slant Magazine listed it as the 42nd best single of the 1990s, stating that its "one of the most organic-sounding singles of Madonna's career, taking its sweet time to get where it's going and not giving up too much along the way. The arrangement gets off on being withholding, and, at least for one glorious single, so does Madonna: When she sings, "You knew all along/What I never wanted to say," she sounds positively rapturous.[40] Scott Kearnan of The Boston Globe included the track at number 30 on his list of "Best Madonna Songs", stating "its slinky R&B groove made 'Secret' something special, even if it's not remembered for an accompanying scandal or bawdy 'moment'. We like to talk about her ability to produce controversy and headlines, but at the end of the day, here's what Madonna makes best: pop music".[41] Louis Virtel of The Backlot listed the song at number 14 on his list of "The 100 Greatest Madonna Songs", calling it "meditative, moving" and "sexy as hell".[42] Jude Rogers from The Guardian called it a "sultry, persuasive R&B number", highlighting Madonna's "deep" vocals. She placed it at number 33 on her ranking of Madonna's singles, in honor of her 60th birthday.[43] Entertainment Weekly's Chuck Arnold listed "Secret" as the singer's 27th best single, writing that "[producer Dallas] Austin brought the hip-hop swagger, but it was [Madonna] who revealed her soul".[44] In August 2018, Billboard picked it as the singer's 35th greatest single, calling it "accessible without giving the whole game away, building its chorus around haunting harmonies borrowed from Nirvana's "Something in the Way" [...] it showed that Madonna could rebound from the bad press of the Erotica era without reverting to playing it safe".[45]