Something to Remember
Something to Remember is a compilation album by American singer Madonna, released by Maverick Records on November 3, 1995. The album was conceived after a highly controversial period in Madonna's career, during which many critics speculated that her career was in decline. The compilation of ballads presented a softer image for the singer and span over a decade, including a reworked version of "Love Don't Live Here Anymore" as well as three new songs: "You'll See", "One More Chance" and a cover of Marvin Gaye's "I Want You". The singles "I'll Remember" and "This Used to Be My Playground", were also included, marking the first time these songs were featured on a Madonna album.
Something to Remember
For producing the new songs for the album, Madonna worked with David Foster and Nellee Hooper. She stated that the concept for the album was to make fans and critics alike remember her musical talent rather than her media controversies. Something to Remember was well received by music critics who were impressed with Madonna's vocals and the album's cohesiveness. It was also a commercial success, topping charts in Australia, Austria, Finland, Italy, and Singapore, and peaking within top ten elsewhere. In the United States, it reached number six on the Billboard 200 and was certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments of three million units. Worldwide, Something to Remember has sold over ten million copies.
Four singles and one promotional single were released to promote the album. Originally intended as the album's lead single, "I Want You" was released as the promotional single preceding the album, with a music video directed by Earle Sebastian. "You'll See" was released as the album's first single on October 23, 1995, accompanied by a Spanish version titled "Verás" and a music video directed by Michael Haussman. The song peaked at number six on the Billboard Hot 100, while reaching the top five in Austria, Canada, Finland, Italy and the United Kingdom. "Oh Father", "One More Chance" and "Love Don't Live Here Anymore" were released as the follow-up singles, but gained little commercial response; the latter received a music video directed by Jean-Baptiste Mondino.
Singles[edit]
"I Want You" was released as a promotional single from the album on October 2, 1995. It was originally intended as the album's first single, but cancelled due to contract problems between Madonna's label and Motown Records, the copyright owner of the song.[6] The music video for the song was directed by Earle Sebastian and was nominated for the MTV Amour category at the MTV Europe Music Awards 1996.[29]
"You'll See" was released as the album's lead single on October 23, 1995.[30] The song reached the top five position in Austria, Canada, Finland, Italy and the United Kingdom.[31] The single managed to peak at number six on the Billboard Hot 100, making Madonna the third act in history (after Aretha Franklin and Marvin Gaye) to have a hit peak at each position from one to ten on the chart.[32] An accompanying music video was directed by Michael Haussman as a sequel to Madonna's previous music video for "Take a Bow".[33]
"Oh Father" was released as the second single for European market on December 21, 1995. It became a top ten hit in Finland and achieved top 20 placement in the United Kingdom, but charted weakly in the rest of the continent, resulting a low peak of number 62 on the European Hot 100 Singles chart.[34]
"One More Chance" received a limited single release in Australia and several European countries on March 7, 1996. The song peaked inside the top 40 in Australia, Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
"Love Don't Live Here Anymore" was released as the final single from the album on March 19, 1996. The song received poor commercial reception, peaking at number 78 on the Billboard Hot 100, while reaching the top forty in Australia and Canada.[35][36] Its accompanying music video was directed in by Jean-Baptiste Mondino at the Confitería El Molino in Buenos Aires, Argentina, during Madonna's day off from filming Evita. It was shot in a single frame portraying Madonna in an empty suite of an abandoned hotel.[33]
Impact[edit]
According to Billboard, Something to Remember was a leading and precursor example in the trend of releasing compilations of ballads. Its influence was clear in afterward albums such as If We Fall in Love Tonight by Rod Stewart.[74] Writing for Metro Silicon Valley, critic Gina Arnold deemed the release as a "triumph", labeling it as a "rare collection that has both a theme—ballads—and a measure of inspiration". She further praised her cohesive manage of compilation releases up that point, saying Madonna "is not the artist who will simply slap a bunch of hits together".[75] Author Mark Bego also praised its thematic, saying "is a beautiful album, graced with a strong unifying feeling in the ballad realm".[76]
Timothy White from Billboard ranked Something to Remember as the fifth best album of 1995.[77] In a poll conducted by Jornal do Brasil, it ended as the best foreign album of 1996 and Madonna as the best female foreign artist.[78] American magazine Hits included the compilation in their 1996 list of the "Top 50 Albums of the Year".[79] By February 1996, Something to Remember was the third best-selling folio from Warner Bros. Publications.[80]