You Must Love Me

Madonna, who starred in the title role of the film, had tried to change the lyrics of the track to create a sympathetic portrayal of Perón, but was unsuccessful. She also undertook vocal lessons to record the songs for the film. "You Must Love Me" features instrumentation from cello and piano which accompanies Madonna's vocals. The song garnered positive response from music critics, many of them highlighting Madonna's enhanced singing ability. It went on to win the Golden Globe and the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1997.


Commercially, "You Must Love Me" became a top-10 hit in some countries including Finland, Italy, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom, while reaching the top 20 in the United States. It was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments of 500,000 physical units. A music video, directed by Alan Parker, was released as promotion for the single. Madonna has performed the song at the 69th Academy Awards and on her 2008–09 Sticky & Sweet Tour.

Recording and composition[edit]

Recording sessions for the film's songs and soundtrack began in September 1995, and took place at the CTS Studios in London; Madonna was accompanied by her co-stars Antonio Banderas and Jonathan Pryce. However, trouble arose as Madonna was not completely comfortable with laying down a "guide vocal" simultaneously with an 84 piece orchestra inside the studio. She was used to singing over a pre-recorded track and not have musicians listen to her. Also, unlike her previous soundtrack releases, she had little to no control over the project; "I'm used to writing my own songs and I go into a studio, choose the musicians and say what sounds good or doesn't [...] To work on forty-six songs with everyone involved and not have a big say was a big adjustment", she recalled.^[11] An emergency meeting was held between Parker, Lloyd Webber and Madonna where it was decided that the singer would record her part in a more contemporary studio while the orchestration would take place somewhere else. She also had alternate days off from the recording.^[12]


"You Must Love Me" starts with the sound of orchestra and piano, as Madonna sings the opening verses. She continues singing the lyrics, which talk about Perón's discovery that her husband Juan had actually loved her all along and not merely seen her as a political prop.^[13] Madonna disliked the lyrics since she wanted to portray Perón as a sympathetic figure, rather than the "shrewd manipulator" that Parker had in mind. She was also concerned about her own image, and was successful in getting many portions of the script altered. However, Rice declined to change the song's lyrics, but rewrote its instrumentation five or six times. He recalled, "I remember taking the lyrics to Madonna and she was trying to change them... The scene can be interpreted in different ways, but my lyrics were kept, thank God!"^[14]


Other instrumentation for the song includes cello, which was played by a live orchestra.^[11] As the song moves towards the chorus, the piano sounds stop and the cello plays with Madonna belting out the lyrics: "Deep in my heart, I'm concealing, Things that I'm longing to say, Scared to confess what I'm feeling, Frightened you'll slip away", when the piano and the orchestra sounds come back again. It proceeds in the same way and gradually fades out.^[13] "You Must Love Me" is set in common time, with a moderate tempo of 92 beats per minute. It is composed in the key of B♭ major, with Madonna's vocals spanning from G₃ to B♭₄. The song has a basic sequence of B♭–E♭/B♭–F♭/B♭–B♭ in the beginning and changes to B♭–F♭ when Madonna sings the opening verse "Where do we go from here?".^[15]

Chart performance[edit]

In the United States, "You Must Love Me" was serviced to radio on October 9, 1996. It was met with a positive response, garnering 118 plays the first week, and debuting at number 55 on the Hot 100 Airplay chart. The CD single was released on October 29, following public demands about the song; "Rainbow High" from the film was added as its B-side.^[6] It debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 22 the week of November 14, 1996, ultimately peaking at number 18 after two weeks.^[33] In its opening week, "You Must Love Me" sold 29,000 units.^[34] It also ranked at number 99 on the year end chart for 1997.^[35] According to Billboard, "You Must Love Me" was Madonna's fourth highest debuting single of her career, following "You'll See" (number 8 in 1995), "Erotica" (number 13 in 1992) and "Rescue Me" (number 15 in 1991). It was also the highest charting Lloyd Webber-Rice collaboration since Helen Reddy's rendition of "I Don't Know How to Love Him", which reached number 13 in 1971.^[36] It eventually received a gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on October 22, 1998, for shipments of 500,000 copies.^[37] In Canada, the song debuted at number 36 on the RPM Top Singles chart, and reached a peak of number 11 on the week of December 16, 1996.^[38][39] It was present for a total of 14 weeks on the chart.^[40]


In the United Kingdom, the song reached a peak of number 10 on the UK Singles Chart the week of November 2, 1996, and was present on the top 100 for a total of 9 weeks.^[41] According to the Official Charts Company, the song had sold 90,428 copies by August 2008 in there.^[42] In Australia, "You Must Love Me" peaked at number 11 on the ARIA Singles Chart the week of November 10, 1996, staying on this position for one week and a total of 9 weeks on the chart.^[43] In Italy, it reached the fifth position on the Musica e dischi chart.^[44] "You Must Love Me" reached a peak of number 4 in Finland, and also reached a peak of number 21 on the Irish Singles Chart, where it remained for 2 weeks.^[45][46] In Germany, it became one of Madonna's lowest charting singles, peaking at number 78.^[47]