Madonna's music has been the subject of much analysis and scrutiny. Robert M. Grant, author of "Contemporary Strategy Analysis" (2005), commented that what has brought Madonna success is "certainly not outstanding natural talent. As a vocalist, musician, dancer, songwriter, or actress, Madonna's talents seem modest." He asserts Madonna's success is in relying on the talents of others, and that her personal relationships have served as cornerstones to the numerous reinventions in the longevity of her career. The author believed that Madonna's approach was far from the music industry wisdom of "Find a winning formula and stick to it". Her musical career has been a continuous experimentation with new musical ideas and new images and a constant quest for new heights of fame and acclaim.
Musical style and songwriting
Madonna
Madonna | Musical style and songwriting
disco, dance music,  punk rock She is referred as  "Queen of Pop" Rock music, classical music, dance music, punk rock and many more. Madonna's music has been the subject of much analysis and scrutiny.
who played anne hathaway's boyfriend in the devil wears prada
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Adrian Grenier
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which year did the movie realease ?
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June 2006
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who were the main actors of this film?
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Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway
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what role did the former actress play?
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She plays Miranda Priestly, a powerful fashion magazine editor
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what is the story line of the film?
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An aspiring journalist Andrea lands a job as junior personal assistant to Miranda Priestly, the editor-in-chief of "Runway" magazine. Andy plans to put up with Miranda's excessive demands and humiliating treatment for one year in the hopes of getting a job as a reporter or writer somewhere else.
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which countries is this film shot in?
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United States, France
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why did they go to the later mentioned country?
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Fox originally refused permission to let Frankel shoot some scenes from the third act in Paris, where it is set, due to the low budget. But after six "nightmarish" weeks of shooting, he had an editor cut a "sizzle reel" of highlights. That convinced the studio to increase the budget to allow for limited shooting overseas
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did the movie have any songs by any famous singer?
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Yes - U2's 'City of Blinding Lights'; Madonna's 'Vogue' & 'Jump';  KT Tunstall's "Suddenly I See"
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what is the second singers style of music?
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The album's songs reveal several key trends that have continued to define her success, including a strong dance-based idiom, catchy hooks, highly polished arrangements and Madonna's own vocal style. Her second album, "Like a Virgin" (1984), foreshadowed several trends in her later works. It contained references to classical works (pizzicato synthesizer line that opens "Angel"); potential negative reaction from social groups ("Dress You Up" was blacklisted by the Parents Music Resource Center); and retro styles ("Shoo-Bee-Doo", Madonna's homage to Motown). Her mature artistic statement was visible in "True Blue" (1986) and "Like a Prayer" (1989). In "True Blue", she incorporated classical music in order to engage an older audience who had been skeptical of her music.
Madonna | Musical style and songwriting
Lott has cited Celine Dion, Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston as major influences on her style of singing. For her second album, Lott told Digital Spy that the sound was "a little more soulful. That's the kind of thing that I'm into. That influence is stronger on this album."
Pixie Lott | Musical influences
For the second verse, the lyrics reflect on this recurring pattern of being evicted out of men's lives, and the final verses have a more positive outlook toward's the subject's life. The song finishes with the mistress asking the question, "Where am I going to?" as a male voice pacifies by saying, "Don't ask, anymore". In 2004, author Rikky Rooksby released the book, "The Complete Guide to the Music of Madonna", where he wrote his thoughts about the popularity of the song: Eva is the center of attention [in the song] but the lyric does not allow a transfer of meaning outside of the context of her story.
Another Suitcase in Another Hall | Music composition
The Second Viennese School, especially Alban Berg and Arnold Schoenberg, pioneered a technique called Sprechstimme in which singers are half-talk, half-sing, and only approximate pitches.
Vocal music | Extended techniques that involve lyrics
Possessing a mezzo-soprano vocal range, Madonna has always been self-conscious about her voice, especially in comparison to her vocal idols such as Ella Fitzgerald, Prince, and Chaka Khan. Mark Bego, author of "Madonna: Blonde Ambition", called her "the perfect vocalist for lighter-than-air songs", despite not being a "heavyweight talent." According to MSNBC critic Tony Sclafani, "Madonna's vocals are the key to her rock roots. Pop vocalists usually sing songs "straight," but Madonna employs subtext, irony, aggression and all sorts of vocal idiosyncrasies in the ways John Lennon and Bob Dylan did." Madonna used a bright, girlish vocal timbre in her early albums which became passé in her later works.
Madonna | Voice and instruments
Madonna had her own opinion of how the different musical instruments should be played to achieve the sound that she envisioned. Pratt recalled that after the middle chorus was recorded, she notified the musicians of some changes in the production. "Jonathan, do less of the high-hat in the middle eight, and more of a fill towards the end. Guy, I want duck eggs [semibreves] on the end, and Chester, bring in your guitar on the second verse," she instructed. The team checked the instructions once more, and did a final recording with vocals and one with the strings. Gaitsch heard Madonna telling Leonard that no further recording was to be done for the song.
Like a Prayer (song) | Recording
Also combining rap with synthesizer music, Minaj's second album had a number of electro-hop and electro pop songs: "HOV Lane", "Whip It", "Automatic", "Come on a Cone", "Young Forever", "Fire Burns", "Roman Holiday" and "Beez in the Trap"; while "Starships" is a eurodance song. She collaborated with other artists, producing more electronic songs: "The Boys" with singer Cassie and "Beauty and a Beat" with Justin Bieber.
Nicki Minaj | Musical style
Despite comparing Wilde's bared midriff on the front cover to Madonna and noting the influence of Michael Jackson in "The Thrill of It", "Smash Hits" found the sound on the album to be "firmly entrenched in her old "Kids in America" style" and described "You Keep Me Hangin' On" as a "brutal massacre of the old Supremes classic". A short review in "Just Seventeen" described the singer as "The girl who was Madonna before Madonna ever thought about making records". "Q" described the first track as "a remarkably drab version" and said of the sound of the record – "if you've followed her career to date you've practically heard this album already -bassy synths, crunching guitars and the rebel-by-numbers yell you'd expect to hear emanating from a leather clad blonde."
Another Step | Critical response
Referencing fashion and wealth in the album, the singer name-drops several designers who she considered inspirations in her personal career, such as John Galliano and Vivienne Westwood. Her second studio album "The Sweet Escape" resembles musically its predecessor while exploring more modern pop sounds, dabbling heavily into genres such as dance-pop and rap. It carried on the same themes developed in "Love. Angel. Music. Baby.", and was criticized for doing so. "This Is What the Truth Feels Like", the singer's third album, continued Stefani's endeavors with the pop genre, while incorporating music from a variety of other genres including reggae, disco, and dancehall, as well as the use of guitars.
Gwen Stefani | Artistry
She encountered her own worst possible scenario, becoming a victim of male violence, and thereafter turned that full-tilt into her work, reversing the equation at every opportunity." Madonna said that the first song to ever make a strong impression on her was "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" by Nancy Sinatra; she said it summed up her own "take-charge attitude". As a young woman, she attempted to broaden her taste in literature, art, and music, and during this time became interested in classical music. She noted that her favorite style was baroque, and loved Mozart and Chopin because she liked their "feminine quality".
Madonna | Influences
Authors Allen Metz and Carol Benson noted in their essays on Madonna, how she decimated "patriarchal, racist and capitalist constructions", by the way she pronounced the word "self" in "Express Yourself". They added that the opening line "Don't go for second best, baby" transformed the song into a postmodernist anthem. Scholar Sheila Whiteley noted in her book "Women and Popular Music: Sexuality, Identity, and Subjectivity", that Madonna's acknowledgment of the pastiche and of being capable of imitating musical style was interesting to her, but given Madonna's ability to manipulate image, the musical exuberance of "Express Yourself" did not appear surprising.
Express Yourself (Madonna song) | Critical reception
She also had alternate days off from the recording. Madonna's version of the song begins with the same soft strummed guitar in broken chords. Madonna sings in a breathy voice, giving her character more vulnerability. The first vocal entrance leads into an engaging melody with the opening phrase, "so what happens now?", being repeated twice. According to the sheet music published by Musicnotes.com, the song is set in common time, with a slow tempo of 50 beats per minute. It is composed in the key of C major, with Madonna's vocals spanning from A to E. The song has a sequence of C–F when Madonna sings the opening verse "I don't expect my love affairs to last for long".
Another Suitcase in Another Hall | Recording and composition
For the second phrase, which includes a dramatic crescendo, rhythm and ambient electronic effects are added gradually. Santiago Fouz-Hernández and Freya Jarman-Ivens, authors from "Madonna's Drowned Worlds", commented that the song is strongly inspired by different forms of classical music, notably contemporary classical music such as neoromanticism, as well as Italian opera composers and pieces such as Puccini's "Madama Butterfly" and Verdi's "Aïda". Madonna's vocals throughout the song lack vibrato, and have drawn comparisons to medieval music. Tom Ewing of "Freaky Trigger" described Orbit’s drum and electronic programming as "extraordinarily abstract for a global smash – a kind of cold, bassless dub approach, where the gaps, echoes and drop-outs matter as much as the beats, which spread sharply, like sudden cracks on a frozen surface.
Frozen (Madonna song) | Composition
"Secret", the second song, begins with just the sound of Madonna's voice singing over a rhythmic, folksy guitar in descending chord sequence, before opening up to a sparse, retro rhythm section. A deep percussion starts around the one minute mark, accompanied by wah-wah ascending string line, supporting the descending guitar. Towards the end, an upper harmonic melody is added to display variance. Madonna's voice remains at the center of the song's production, as she sings lyrics such as "happiness lies in your own hand". Throughout the song, Madonna also sings the lyrics "My baby's got a secret", however she never discloses what the secret may be.
Bedtime Stories (Madonna album) | Music and lyrics
However, her insecurities about her childhood showed up in anxieties during her vocal performance. Meyers said that if Madonna bended a note or sang flat in a certain spot, she would go on doing that consistently as she did not like to vary her voice or change the tone. Madonna recalled that Leonard thought of the melody for the song. After the mixing was over, Meyers complimented Madonna by saying that it was her "strongest" vocal performance. For the baroque pop ballad, Madonna uses a contrast of timbre, her higher smoother voice with her lower one. The song begins with the sound of violins for about 20 seconds.
Oh Father | Recording and composition
Madonna's vocals are heavily processed and is accompanied by a crackling sound, which has a "tactile roughness" therefore making the mix sound "like a musical sandpaper", Rooksby wrote. The vocals are often isolated and are backed by laser noises and an octave bass. A "burbling" synth arrives at the 2:30 mark, and then the chorus of "I'm in a trance" is repeated, ending the song with a solo vocal phrase. The song has lyrics like "I like to singy, singy, singy, Like a bird on a wingy, wingy, wingy", as electronic keyboard riffs and dance beats swirl the whole composition.
Impressive Instant | Music and lyrics
The second song "Sihirli Aşk" is a cover of the soft rhythm disco song "Mystery of Love" ("Donna Summer", 1982) by Donna Summer, an American disco singer, and its lyrics that describe the magic of love are also under the influence of the lyrics of the original song. The keyboard sounds at the introduction and right after the chorus are samples from Bach's "The Well-Tempered Clavier", Book I No. 2: Prelude and Fugue in C minor, BWV 847. The following song "Düşünme Hiç"s musical composition is taken from Italian singer Mina's song "Il Cigno Dell'Amore" ("Italiana", 1982) and the way Pekkan performs the song in jazz form is similar to Mina's original performance of the song.
Süperstar '83 | Music and lyrics
According to Carol Gnojewski, her first attempts at songwriting are perceived as an important "self-revelation". Madonna later became the sole writer of five songs on her debut album, including "Lucky Star" which she composed on synthesizer. As a songwriter, she has registered a total of 287 songs to ASCAP, including 18 songs written entirely by herself. "Rolling Stone" has named her "an exemplary songwriter with a gift for hooks and indelible lyrics." According to Freya Jarman-Ivens, Madonna's talent for developing "incredible" hooks for her songs allows the lyrics to capture the attention of the audience, even without the influence of the music.
Madonna | Musical style and songwriting
Reviewing for "Rolling Stone" in 1974, Gordon Fletcher said Lynyrd Skynyrd performs a consistent style of Southern music-influenced blues rock similar to the Allman Brothers Band but lacks that group's "sophistication and professionalism. If a song doesn’t feel right to the Brothers, they work on it until it does; if it isn’t right to Lynyrd Skynyrd, they are more likely to crank up their amps and blast their way through the bottleneck." Fletcher concluded that "Second Helping" is distinct from "(Pronounced 'Lĕh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd)" "only by a certain mellowing out that indicates they may eventually acquire a level of savoirfaire to realize their many capabilities".
Second Helping | Critical reception
After the first verse, the sound of keyboard is heard during the effect. It continues like this through the second verse, which is followed by an interlude featuring vocal echos, a piano segment and violin phrases. Madonna follows the music played by the piano and utters the words "Pa-da-pa-da-pappa pappa pa pa" in the same melody. The lyrics deal with Madonna making the listener remember that "Everybody is a Star" and that if one wants to be famous and be under the "Spotlight", the person should sing about it and reality may catch up with him or her. According to the sheet music for the song, it is set in the time signature of common time, with a tempo of 100 beats per minute.
Spotlight (Madonna song) | Composition
In the track, she mixed pop and Contemporary R&B genres. 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. 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.
Secret (Madonna song) | Recording and composition
In this song roles with contrary approaches to sexuality and inter-personal relationships (i.e. the child, the woman and the emancipated carer) are combined. Musically, her second album moves away from pop and concentrates more on the French-German chanson-tradition. Bal-musette, Tango and Bossa Nova rhythms give the songs diversity. Unobtrusive backings allow the often breathy voice of Louisan to remain prominent.
Annett Louisan | Style
"Like a Prayer" introduced live recorded songs and incorporated different genres of music, including dance, funk, R&B and gospel music. Her versatility was further shown on "I'm Breathless", which consists predominantly of the 1930s Broadway showtune-flavored jazz, swing and big band tracks. Madonna continued to compose ballads and uptempo dance songs for "Erotica" (1992) and "Bedtime Stories" (1994). Both albums explored element of new jack swing, with Jim Farber from "Entertainment Weekly" saying that "she could actually be viewed as new jack swing's godmother." She tried to remain contemporary by incorporating samples, drum loops and hip hop into her music.
Madonna | Musical style and songwriting
He did not want "Hollywood" to sound like the music being played at the nightclubs, so he recorded Madonna's vocals with heavy compression in her headphones. Two machines were used for the vocal editing in "Hollywood". Madonna preferred the Antares Auto-Tune plug in, while Ahmadzaï chose an AMS pitch shifter. Madonna wanted Auto-Tune because she wanted "Hollywood" to have a more dance-like feel to it, although Ahmadzaï was against it. The track "I'm So Stupid" had gentle vocals, then the singing was frozen using a Roland VP-9000. When Madonna sings "Aaaaaahhhhhh", the vocals freeze and the process sounds natural, but in reality is not.
American Life | Recording and mixing
As she begins to sing the first verse, the bass pedal changes to C major, changes back to F during the chorus, and back to D minor during the chorus closure. This process is repeated during the second verse and chorus, which abruptly ends in a silence, with only the low and lifeless sound of the synthesizer, set in D minor. Madonna then starts to sing the bridge (or middle part)—"If I ran away, I'd never have the strength"—between the tonal keys of D and F, closing with the repetition of the chorus until the song gradually fades out. The original composition of the song did not have the background synths, instead Leonard created a basic structure on piano, and Madonna added the words on top of it.
Live to Tell | Composition
A choir provides background vocals that heighten the song's spiritual nature, and a rock guitar keeps the music dark and mysterious. The second track, "Express Yourself", talks about rejecting material pleasures and only accepting the best for oneself; throughout the song, subtexts are employed. According to the singer, the track is a tribute to Sly & the Family Stone. The third track, "Love Song", is a duet with recording artist Prince. The song was co-written by Madonna and Prince and features the artist's "signature scratchy disco guitar breaks through Madonna's synths". Originally titled "State of Matrimony", the song Till Death Do Us Part" talks about the violent dissolution of Madonna's marriage.
Like a Prayer (album) | Composition
Ciara is known for her often "breathy soprano" vocals. With the release of her debut single "Goodies", Ciara was referred to as the Princess of Crunk&B. Allison Stewart of "The Washington Post" commented that she has a "reedy, agile voice, capable of conveying the only three emotions (sexy, sassy, sad) an R&B singer needs. Randall Roberts of the "Los Angeles Times" said that she "has been the most synthetic of the R&B divas over the past decade, an electro-leaning vocalist whose instrumental palate has heavily favored stark 808 beats, sassy and seductive vocal lines." In reviewing her second album "", Jody Rosen of "Entertainment Weekly" wrote: "Ciara's comfort with rave-inspired beats sets her apart from Cassie, Amerie, Rihanna, and other would-Beyoncés...[Her] singing is nimble throughout: She whispers, coos, wails, and reels off speedy syncopations worthy of Beyoncé herself." Her third album, "Fantasy Ride", saw the singer showcasing a new pop and dance direction.
Ciara | Vocals and musical style
Madonna's voice spans from G to C. Throughout the chord changes progression to give Madonna's vocals dominance in the song, and after a minute the percussion starts with a tremolo guitar added later. String synths and drums build the track further with the second verse seeing the singer harmonizing with herself. During the recording of the track, the singer used her vocal lessons for "Evita"; she said "If you listen to those songs, you can hear how I was trying to absorb and utilize what I was learning for the recording [of "Evita"]." Lyrically the song talks of independence after the end of a love affair stating that Madonna will go onto greater things.
You'll See | Recording and composition
Jackson commented in January 2010 that she would employ a different vocal style to her second album, which would also contain different musical influences. "The type of music I like now is completely different. I don't listen to 80s music any more. Obviously I still do but not the same type of 80s music. I've listened to a lot more Italo-disco and old funk", she said. Speaking to Spinner in October 2010, Jackson declared that she did not intend to "make synth music for the rest of [her] fucking life" and that "[t]he whole genre is so over", adding that she wanted the second album to be "more human, more open, warmer".
Trouble in Paradise (La Roux album) | Style and influences
In a review of Madonna's second hits compilation, "GHV2" (2001), Cinequemani wrote: Like no other Madonna hit in recent memory, the frenetic “Ray of Light” found the singer in a celebratory tech-frenzy. Whether it was an epiphany of the spiritual or sonic kind, her elation was unmistakable. Orbit’s cycles of analog synths and electric guitar licks perfectly supplemented the elasticity of Madonna’s newly-trained vocal chords. Not since “Deeper and Deeper” had she reached such dizzying heights.
Ray of Light (song) | Critical reception
By the second chorus, Madonna's back-up vocalists started singing atop the benches wearing similar kimonos. During the song's bridge interlude, a man entered the stage and started performing with flamed rope. When Madonna won the award for Best Pop Vocal Album at the same ceremony, she came onstage with Orbit to accept the award in the red kimono. The live performance received positive reviews from most music critics; Jason Kaufman from NY Rock commented, "Her constant nationality morphing has got to go. With her geisha-girl-gone-club-hopping outfit last night, [...] the woman proved she's a walking Epcot Center, long on fashion and short on culture.
Nothing Really Matters | Live performance
Rikky Rooksby, author of "The Complete Guide to the Music of Madonna", commented that "Like a Prayer" was the most complex track that Madonna had ever attempted at that point. He believed that the complexity builds up more after the second chorus, when the choir fully supports Madonna's vocals and she re-utters the opening lines, but this time accompanied by a synthesizer and drum beats. While singing "Just like a prayer, your voice can take me there, Just like a muse to me, You are a mystery", an R&B-influenced voice backs Madonna. The song ends with a final repetition of the chorus and the choir gradually fading out.
Like a Prayer (song) | Composition
According to "Billboard", Madonna's vocals "binds a mind-blowing melange of hyperactive beats, grooves, and stinging percussive elements" in the track. The magazine adds that the song is also "saturated" with the influence of Cameo, Herbie Hancock, Nitzer Ebb and Roger Troutman.
Music (Madonna song) | Recording and composition
On their second album, S.E.X. Appeal changed their style from the now unusual Eurodance to the modern vocal trance. But there are some exceptions, for example: "Let me feel your sexappeal" is a Eurodance song, while "Do you love me" is a disco song.
Sensuality (album) | Musical style
lang, Sarah McLachlan, Beth Orton, Pink, Bonnie Raitt, Shakira, Shingai Shoniwa, Joss Stone, Sugababes, KT Tunstall and, Martha Wainwright. Since accommodating all the singers would have posed a scheduling challenge, Lennox asked them to contribute vocals on the chorus of the song. When she received the recorded vocals from Madonna, Lennox found that Madonna had not only sung during the chorus, but also contributed by singing the second verse. She "was really touched – for Madonna is very rigorous in what she gets involved in and for her to do that for me, I was thrilled to bits". Lennox also admitted that featuring Madonna would bring a bigger audience for the song, thereby helping the cause.
Sing (Annie Lennox song) | Recording and composition
Critically, it is said to have Madonna's most full-bodied vocals. The opening track and third single, "Drowned World/Substitute For Love", is a downtempo ballad drawing influences from jungle, drum and bass and trip hop music. The title is inspired by J.G. Ballard's post-apocalyptic science fiction novel "The Drowned World" (1962). "Swim", the second song, has a spiritual tone. She sings: "Swim to the ocean floor/So that we can begin again/Wash away all our sins/Crash to the other shore". "Ray of Light", the third track and second single, is an uptempo electronic dance-pop song with strong techno and trance influences. A "sonically progressive" track, it also incorporates elements of rock, with a prominent electric guitar riff.
Ray of Light | Composition
In "Over and Over", Madonna sings about determination and picking yourself up from disappointments. The song consists of instrumentation from drums, synths and has a three-chord progression. An emotional moment occurred in the recording studio when Madonna covered the 1978 Rose Royce song "Love Don't Live Here Anymore". Rodgers recalled: "Madonna had never performed with a live orchestra before. I was very much into doing everything live, so I just said, 'Madonna, you go out there and sing and we will follow you.' At first Madonna was hesitant, but the live setting ended up producing memorable results. She sang and she was overcome with emotions and she started crying, but I left it on the record." The song features Madonna's vocals supported by acoustic guitars and synth strings, with Thompson playing the drum in the second verse.
Like a Virgin (album) | Composition
As the song ended, she started with "Impressive Instant", accompanied by her dancers wearing gas masks and encased in rolls of black mesh, chasing the singer around the stage. According to Stuart Lenig, author of the book "The Twisted Tale of Glam Rock", Madonna merged choreography with narrative in the performance, as she and her dancers crossed the stage. The 1984-style robotic movements denoted fascism with the dancers stalking and then trying to grope Madonna; in the end one dancer dressed as a robot grabbed a big hosepipe and thrust it between the singer's legs, as it emitted fog towards the audience.
Impressive Instant | Live performances
The songs on the album reflect Madonna's showgirl personality where her singing ranged from "rootsy, rocking" in nature to slow, "laid-back and soulful" vocals. A studied approach was evident in most of them, which O'Brien compared to "an actress playing a part and performing a vocal exercise in technique". Some of the songs had Madonna pitching her vocals and belting the notes only when necessary. A dryness was prevalent in most of the singing, which was required for the songs and the setting. Guy Pratt, who also played bass, said that the singer "was in character and started smoking. She actually ponced a cigarette off me.
I'm Breathless | Recording and composition
The texture grows with addition of drums and synths, until after a minute the instrumental is pulled out, leaving just Madonna's vocals and the acoustic guitar accompaniment where she alludes to the Beatles’ Norwegian Wood During the final sequence, Madonna raps, as is featured in the first song, with the repeated phrase "Push the button". Lyrically, like the first track, it discusses American culture and greed focusing on Hollywood, California, as a place of stars and illusory dreams. The next track "I'm So Stupid" features an introduction with a two-chord electric guitar which leads to a minor drum beat, with the guitar later changing to a three-chord.
American Life | Music and lyrics
"Flower" in the second season, Patti LaBelle, said she selected some songs herself but was disappointed in those the producers chose for her, finding it difficult to disguise her natural voice while singing them. Barry Zito, "Rhino" in the third season, remarked he sometimes fought with producers over his musical direction but appreciated being pushed outside of his comfort zone. Songs are chosen and practiced in "blocks"; some may be unsung if a celebrity is eliminated before having the opportunity to perform all of them. Before the competition begins, vocal coaches and choreographers work with the celebrities for multiple days to determine their strengths and help improve their technique.
The Masked Singer (American TV series) | Pre-performance
Madonna performed "Who's That Girl", "Causing a Commotion," and "The Look of Love" on her 1987 Who's That Girl World Tour. It was her second concert tour, promoting "True Blue" and the soundtrack. Madonna trained herself physically with aerobics, jogging and weight-lifting, to cope with the choreography and the dance routines. For the costumes, she collaborated with designer Marlene Stewart, expanding on the idea of bringing her music video characters to life onstage. The stage was huge, with four video screens, multimedia projectors and a flight of stairs in the middle. Leonard became the music director and encouraged Madonna to go with the idea of rearranging her older songs and presenting them in a new format.
Who's That Girl (soundtrack) | Tour
Bare-chested male dancers encircled her, as she posed on the hood of the truck and danced. The vocoder effects on Madonna's voice was removed for the live performance, which Jennifer Vineyard from "Rolling Stone" felt made the singer's vocals sound "less ridiculous". A similar performance was enacted at Brixton Academy. When Madonna embarked on her Drowned World Tour in 2001, "Impressive Instant" was added as the second song in the set list. The costumes were designed by Jean-Paul Gaultier, and had varied accessories like spiked dog collars, Swarovski crystal-encrusted bracelets and tattered tops. Madonna opened the show with the punk section, wearing tattered black garments and a tartan kilt and belting out the first song, "Drowned World/Substitute for Love".
Impressive Instant | Live performances
Starting with Madonna's androgynous voice saying "Hey Mr. DJ, put a record on, I wanna dance with my baby". Above this lyric, Madonna's voice electronically manipulated asks "Do you like to boogie woogie?". According to Santiago Fouz-Hernández in his book "Madonna's Drowned Worlds: New Approaches to Her Cultural Transformations", "Music" is a 'disco anthem, and the beat commands [the people] to get up and dance'. He also said that the song is an expression to her public and it is one of Madonna's catchiest singles of her career. The second track "Impressive Instant" is a club-savvy stomper marked by futuristic keyboard lines and vocals that darken from distorted, and robotic passages.
Music (Madonna album) | Music structure and lyrics
Throughout the 1970s, the duo Milionário & Jose Rico systematized the use of elements of traditional Mexican mariachi with violin and trumpet flourishes to fill spaces between sentences and strokes of the glottis which produces a sobbing voice. Other names, such as duo Pena Branca & Xavantinho, followed the ancient tradition of rustic, while the singer Tião Carreiro innovated by fusing the genre with samba, coco and calango de roda.
Música sertaneja | Second era
The song starts with a C major chord sequence and is used on the flattened seventh key of the sequence. But the actual key of the song is D major. It is set in a time signature of common time with a moderate tempo of 120 beats per minute. Madonna's voice spans from F to G. A much stronger arrangement of drums are used in the second verse. The chorus uses the chord sequence of D–G–Bm–A while the first two lines of each verse uses the chord progression of C–D–C–D–C–D–Bm–A. During the intermediate line "I learned to let go of the illusion that we can possess", the structure changes to D/F–Bm–G–D–A–G–A.
I'll Remember | Composition
In 2017, Gallagher admitted that had it not been for pop singer Madonna, he would have never entered the music industry. Recalling a childhood anecdote, he said he was "blown away" the first time he heard her song "Like a Virgin".
Liam Gallagher | Musical style
It contains a "slow-verse-fast-chorus" sequence. According to Rooksby, "the chorus bursts into life, with Madonna clearly relishing the lyrics about good guys finishing last... the coldness of her delivery is apt for the topic." Her vocals are accompanied by muted trumpet sounds and a saxophone solo. "More" is the second Sondheim number where Madonna recites the materialistic-themed lyrics with irony, over a bouncy two-beat with tap-dancing during an instrumental break. The track consists of syncopated chord structure, tempo changes and lyrical rhymes. The arrangement switches between slow and fast tempo, requiring proper enunciation by Madonna. The final Sondheim song, "What Can You Lose", is the duet with Patinkin.
I'm Breathless | Recording and composition
The bassline also has some similarity with Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" especially during the second verse. Madonna sings the song in her high register while drum arrangement by Tony Thompson is heard alongside the bassline, which is also supported by a synthesizer arrangement, giving it a circular progression through all the seven diatonic chords of I–IV–vii–iii–vi–ii–V–I. Regarding the lyrics, Madonna had commented: "I like innuendo, I like irony, I like the way things can be taken on different levels." This statement highlighted the ambiguity of the lyrics of the song, which is hung on the word 'like'. Rooksby interpreted the meaning of the song in different ways to different people.
Like a Virgin (song) | Composition
According to Tony Sclafani from MSNBC, "It's worth noting that before Madonna, most music mega-stars were guy rockers; after her, almost all would be female singers ... When the Beatles hit America, they changed the paradigm of performer from solo act to band. Madonna changed it back—with an emphasis on the female." Howard Kramer, curatorial director of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, asserted that "Madonna and the career she carved out for herself made possible virtually every other female pop singer to follow ... She certainly raised the standards of all of them ... She redefined what the parameters were for female performers." According to Fouz-Hernández, subsequent female artists such as Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Kylie Minogue, the Spice Girls, Destiny's Child, Jennifer Lopez, and Pink were like her "daughters in the very direct sense that they grew up listening to and admiring Madonna, and decided they wanted to be like her." Madonna has also influenced male artists, inspiring rock frontmen Liam Gallagher of Oasis and Chester Bennington of Linkin Park to become musicians.
Madonna | Legacy
Nakamura is notable for the two different styles in which she sings. Her first style is a modern rock/pop sound. Her second style is an enka-inspired sound; thus far her enka-styled ballads have been her largest successes. Her singles have thus far alternated between these two styles.
Ataru Nakamura | Musical style
"Music" is the future of sound." Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic felt that ""Music" blows by in a kaleidoscopic rush of color, technique, style and substance. It has so many depth and layers that it's easily as self-aware and earnest as "Ray of Light"." The album took the number-one position in more than 20 countries worldwide and sold four million copies in the first ten days. In the U.S., "Music" debuted at the top, and became her first number-one album in eleven years since "Like a Prayer". It produced three singles: the Hot 100 number-one "Music", "Don't Tell Me", and "What It Feels Like for a Girl".
Madonna | 1998–2002: "Ray of Light", "Music", second marriage, and touring comeback
"The Guardian"s Jude Rogers wrote that "Madonna’s wavering vocal goes full collywobbles"; placing the track at number 69 on her ranking of the singer's singles, in honor of her 60th birthday. Finally, "Billboard" picked it as the singer's 98th greatest single; "the delicate composition and high-register vocal make this exquisite breakup ballad a rare moment of true fragility in Madonna's catalog". "Slant Magazine"s Paul Schrodt placed it at number 77 in his ranking of the singer's singles, calling it "a sleepy travelogue set to schmaltzy acoustic guitar and saxophone and a male chorus echoing Eva Perón’s —and by extension Madonna’s— self-pitying complaints about moving from one place to another.
Another Suitcase in Another Hall | Release and reception
It is followed by the sound of percussion and a high register note, contrasting with the bassline. The song continues in this way until the last verse, which is backed by the sound of an acoustic guitar. A two-part vocal is found in the line "No where to run, no place to hide". Rooksby felt that Madonna's voice sounded "expressive" when she sings the line "From the look of love" and utters the word "look" over the D minor chord present underneath. The word is sung in a higher note of the musical scale, thus giving an impression of the suspension like quality of the minor ninth chord, dissociating it from the harmony of the other notes.
Who's That Girl (soundtrack) | Composition
Chinese singers Hua Chenyu and Wang Feng were placed second and third, respectively.
Singer 2018 | Introduction
The band's music has been described as folk rock, folk pop, and indie pop. Solomon's vocals have been compared with Andrew Bird. Songs on the second album have drawn comparisons to Yo La Tengo and Bruce Springsteen
Communist Daughter | Musical style
Second Chorus is a 1940 Hollywood musical comedy film starring Paulette Goddard and Fred Astaire and featuring Artie Shaw, Burgess Meredith and Charles Butterworth, with music by Artie Shaw, Bernie Hanighen and Hal Borne, and lyrics by Johnny Mercer. The film was directed by H. C. Potter and produced independently for Paramount Pictures by Boris Morros, with associate producers Robert Stillman and (uncredited) Fred Astaire. The film's copyright expired in 1967 and it is now in the public domain, with the result that, prior to its recent restoration, it tended to circulate in seriously degraded prints.
Second Chorus | Introduction
Charli XCX's influences include Avril Lavigne, Britney Spears, Shampoo, No Doubt, t.A.T.u., the Donnas, Bikini Kill, Martika, Belinda Carlisle, the Cure, the Feminine Complex, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Donna Summer, Marilyn Manson, Bread, the Spice Girls, All Saints, Uffie, Brooke Candy, Lil Wayne, Kate Bush, "Twin Peaks", Paris Hilton, Justice, Crystal Castles, Calvin Harris, Björk, Quentin Tarantino and Siouxsie Sioux. She has named singer Siouxsie Sioux as her "hero" and Rihanna as her "favorite pop girl." The Hives, Weezer, Ramones and 1960s yé-yé music all influenced her second album. She has said that "the best artists are the ones who constantly change—Madonna, [David] Bowie" and that her "dream collaboration would be with someone like Björk, Kate Bush, or even Dionne Warwick".
Charli XCX | Influences
He went on to compare the second version to the work of his previous band Gyllene Tider – specifically "Hjärta utan hem" from 2004's "Finn 5 fel!" – and said "We took that kind of arrangement and it works really well, [the second version has] more like a sixties feel to it. We couldn't decide which one we preferred, so we actually used both." Stefan Weber of Monsters and Critics contrasted the two versions, calling the first a "stale Erasure copy", and the second a "beautiful and timeless pop number. ... And if you had to give Roxette a hint for continued success, then it's this: please focus on the songs and the harmonious vocals—and not on the over-produced studio sound." Both versions of the song have an allegro-ranged tempo of 122 beats per minute.
It's Possible | Composition and style
"Hollywood" is a "bouncy" folk rock, synth-pop, electro-folk, electropop and psychedelic folk song. Ken Micallef of "Electronic Musician" described it as "a clubby disco beat underpin[ning] a mammoth bass line with freaky percussion, queasy arcing tones and madly treated vocals." It also contains house beats with elements of space age and retro music. Following the sound of twittering birds, the song opens with a four-chord sequence played on a Martin D-28 acoustic guitar; the riff was compared to the music of the Red Hot Chili Peppers by Rikky Rooksby, author of "The Complete Guide to the Music of Madonna". It is followed by the sound of drums and synthesizers until after a minute, when the arrangement is pulled out, leaving just Madonna's vocals and the acoustic guitar accompaniment.
Hollywood (Madonna song) | Composition
"Cherish" is a doo-wop style pop shuffle song and opened the second side of "Like a Prayer". It begins with the sound of synths and keyboard and Madonna repeatedly singing the words "cherish, cherish". This is followed by the sound from drum machine, as percussion and guitars accompany her voice. During the bridge, Madonna sings the line "Cupid please take your aim at me", as the keyboard sound becomes pronounced. The drum changes its rhythm and Madonna moves into the chorus, "Cherish the joy/of always having you here by my side", accompanied by background vocals and a bass guitar. The second verse continues in the same way, with Madonna singing the line "Romeo and Juliet/they never felt this way I bet/So don't underestimate my point of view." As the second chorus ends, a saxophone starts playing as Madonna softly asks the listener, "Who? You! Can't get away, won't let you", followed by Leonard's Association-inspired line.
Cherish (Madonna song) | Composition
Duran Duran's glossy videos would come to symbolise the power of MTV. Billy Idol became an MTV staple with 1983's "White Wedding" and 1984's "Eyes Without a Face" and his second album "Rebel Yell" sold two million copies. Pop rock songs that topped the charts included Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart", John Waite's "Missing You", Robert Palmer's "Addicted to Love", and Spandau Ballet's ubiquitous ballad "True." Girl group Bananarama had hits with "Cruel Summer" and "Venus", the latter reaching number one. New Music became an umbrella term used by the music industry to describe young, mostly British, androgynous, and technologically oriented artists such as Culture Club and Eurythmics.
Second British Invasion | The Invasion
The first song on the album is "Spotlight" which begins with the sound of drums, bass synths and handclaps, followed by Madonna uttering the words "Spotlight, shine bright". After the first verse, the sound of keyboard is heard during the chorus. It continues like this through the second verse, which is followed by an interlude featuring vocal echoes, a piano segment and violin phrases. Madonna follows the music played by the piano and utters the words "Pa-da-pa-da-pappa pappa pa pa" in the same melody. The lyrics deal with Madonna making the listener remember that "everybody is a star" and that if one wants to be famous and be under the "spotlight", the person should sing about it and reality may catch up with him or her.
You Can Dance | Composition
Sometimes she looks to a video screen behind her which plays the scenes from the film, as if to take inspiration for her singing. Other times she is accompanied by her back-up singers, mainly during the chorus, and sometimes she sings alone. The music video ends with a shot of Madonna watching herself recording the song. In this last scene she is dressed in a long black coat and holds a cigarette in her hand. Scholars noted that this last shot clearly illustrates the gender paradox of Madonna, because as she watches her female form singing the song, she herself is dressed in an androgynous way, holding a cigarette, which is associated as one of the symbolic forms of male supremacy.
I'll Remember | Music video
Author J. Randy Taraborrelli complemented Madonna's singing in the book, "", describing her vocals as "supple and strong". This view was shared by author Lucy O'Brien in "" who said that "the sweetness and the power of Madonna's voice comes out as never before on these tracks". It also received positive review from Paul Verna of "Billboard", who listed the "flamenco flavored" song as a highlight from the soundtrack. For the 2006 First West End Revival of "Evita", actor Matt Rawle portrayed Che and sang the song. Michael Billington from "The Guardian" received it negatively, saying that "Lacking any coherent idea, the show is motored by a succession of Lloyd Webber songs: 'Another Suitcase in Another Hall', ...
Oh What a Circus | Cover versions
The duo are known for giving a modern, feminist spin to historic and sometimes patriarchal or misogynistic ballads from Great Britain, Appalachia, and the Ozarks region by giving greater voice to the songs' female protagonists. They have also chosen to record other songs with problematic lyrics as instrumentals only. Examples of this include the traditional murder ballad "Two Sisters", as a harmony for guitar and banjo in 2019, and songs "The Cursed Soldier" and "Rainbow 'Mid Life's Willows." Artists whose songs they have reinterpreted include Robert Burns, Dillard Chandler, and Shirley Collins. Shirley and Dolly Collins' 1978 album "For as Many as Will" is specifically credited as an inspiration for their second album, as was Swedish psychedelic group Pärson Sound.
House and Land | Musical style
Spears is described as a pop artist and generally explores the genre in the form of Following her debut, she was credited with influencing the revival of teen pop in the late 1990s. Rob Sheffield of "Rolling Stone" wrote: "Spears carries on the classic archetype of the rock & roll teen queen, the dungaree doll, the angel baby who just has to make a scene." In a review of "...Baby One More Time", Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic referred to her music as a "blend of infectious, rap-inflected dance-pop and smooth balladry." "Oops!... I Did It Again" saw Spears working with several R&B producers, which led to "a combination of bubblegum, urban soul, and raga." Her third studio album, "Britney" derived from the teen pop niche "[r]hythmically and melodically", but was described as "sharper, tougher than what came before", incorporating genres such as R&B, disco and funk.
Britney Spears | Musical style
Faithful to her "old" master and partner Crescentini's musical ideals, Grassini would always stand beside such singers as the castrato Gaspare Pacchiarotti, the tenors Matteo Babini, Giovanni Ansani and Giacomo David, the prime-donne Brigida Banti and Luísa Todi de Agujar. These were the singers who opposed the "belcanto" drift of the second half of the 18th century, with its break-neck run after extremely high notes and aimlessly pyrotechnic, inexpressive, and therefore absurd "coloratura"; and who endeavoured, instead, to recover “the passion and vigour” that had permeated the golden age of singing of the first half of the century. She was therefore one of a particular group of leading singers who in this way helped to establish a new artistic trend, which soon evolved into 'the Rossini grand finale' of an entire musical era.
Giuseppina Grassini | Artistic style
Ibarra said selecting which songs they sing is a collaborative process; both the performers and producers submit "ideas [which] merge as [the songs] go through the clearance process". In the first season, music publishers were reluctant to grant licenses as they were not told who would be performing their songs; this process became easier by the second. Producers gravitate towards songs "that help tell the overall story" of one's costume and ask those who are famous singers to select songs of a different genre than they are known for so viewers will be surprised when they are revealed. Tyler "Ninja" Blevins, "Ice Cream" in the second season, stated he "definitely got to pick the songs", but producers wanted them to be mainstream so the show's viewers would connect to them.
The Masked Singer (American TV series) | Pre-performance
Diamandis is known for her mezzo-soprano vocal abilities. As a child, she would take inspiration from the differing musical tastes of her parents – Dolly Parton, Enya and George Michael from her mother, and Haris Alexiou from her father – while also admiring pop acts of the era including the Spice Girls, Britney Spears and S Club 7. Diamandis has said that "Madonna was the reason I wanted to be a pop star from the age of 15"; however she also stated that she did not listen to music "properly" until the age of 19, when she took influence from acts including PJ Harvey, Fiona Apple and The Distillers.
Marina Diamandis | Musical style and influences
According to Madonna, the song inspired her to produce the documentary "I Am Because We Are". The song features vocals by Timberlake and Timbaland. An uptempo dance song with an urban, hip hop style, it also incorporates Timbaland's bhangra beats. The instrumentation used in the song includes brass, foghorns and cow bells. The song's lyrics carry a message of social awareness, inspired by Madonna's visit to Africa and the human suffering she witnessed. In "Give It 2 Me", the album's second single, Madonna merged bounce-beats and a funky bassline. "If it's against the law, arrest me", she sings "If you can handle it, undress me." The song has a short interlude where Madonna continuously repeats the words "Get stupid", as Williams chants, "To the left, to the right".
Hard Candy (Madonna album) | Music structure and composition
Musician Stuart Price, who worked the song for Madonna's 2001 Drowned World Tour, added that the rhythmic structure of "Music" was inspired from Kraftwerk's 1977 single, "Trans-Europe Express". Harmonically, "Music" has a time signature of common time, and its composition is based on a static key of G minor with a moderate tempo of 120 beats per minute. Madonna's vocals range from G to two-lined note of D, with a basic sequence of Gm–F–Gm–F as its chord progression. According to the book "Madonna's Drowned Worlds", written by Santiago Fouz-Hernández and Freya Jarman-Ivens, "Music" is a "disco anthem, and the beat commands [the people] to get up and dance".
Music (Madonna song) | Recording and composition
The Second Book of Songs (alternative title: "The Second Booke of Songs or Ayres of 2, 4 and 5 parts: with Tableture for the Lute or Orpherian, with the Violl de Gamba") is a book of songs composed by Renaissance composer John Dowland and published in London in 1600. He dedicated it to Lucy Russell, Countess of Bedford. The music is often described as lute songs, but this is somewhat misleading. The title page offer options regarding the instruments to be used. Also, Dowland tends to offer options as regards whether his songs are for a solo singer or not.
The Second Book of Songs | Introduction
He contrasts Poppo and Tsukio's nonchalant suicides with the "michiyuki"—the dramatic, poetic final walk of the lovers—in the traditional theater. Desser also points out the interesting use of music in the film. At one point, Tsukio sings a song to his mother. American standards like Gershwin's "Summertime," and the traditional spiritual "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child" as well as Patty Waters' avant-garde jazz arrangement of "Black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair" are heard on the soundtrack.
Go, Go, Second Time Virgin | Themes and style
Stipe commented in 1984, "It's just the way I sing. If I tried to control it, it would be pretty false." "That voice. It's an extraordinary voice", said U2's lead singer Bono in 2003. "I often tell him I think he's a crooner, and he doesn't like that very much. But it is sort of one part some sort of Bing Crosby '50s laid-back crooner, and one part Dolly Parton", he added, laughing. Stipe insisted that many of his early lyrics were "nonsense", saying in a 1994 online chat, "You all know there aren't words, "per se", to a lot of the early stuff.
Michael Stipe | Musical style
According to Rikky Rooksby, author of "The Complete Guide to the Music of Madonna", the harmonic and melodic styles of the songs she developed with Sondheim were more "complex" than her usual recordings, hence Madonna found it difficult and demanding. She spoke about the "wilderness" of the tunes, saying that she was not confident of doing justice to the songs, and neither was Sondheim. But he kept on encouraging the singer so that the recording sessions would not be affected. Madonna also recruited producer Patrick Leonard and engineer Bill Bottrell to help her with the project. She and Leonard toiled to create music that would fit the style and production of the film, set in the era of the Untouchables.
Sooner or Later (Madonna song) | Composition
In 1996, Madonna starred in the film adaptation of the musical, titled "Evita", playing the role of Eva; she had desired to play the part for a long time and even wrote to director Alan Parker, explaining how she would be perfect for the part. After securing the role, she underwent vocal training with coach Joan Lader since "Evita" required the actors to sing their own parts. Lader noted that the singer "had to use her voice in a way she's never used it before. "Evita" is real musical theater — its operatic, in a sense. Madonna developed an upper register that she didn't know she had." Unlike the musical, in the film the song is performed by Eva after ending her relationship with Agustín Magaldi, deciding she wants to improve her life.
Another Suitcase in Another Hall | Background and development
She doesn't pursue only one music genre as she wanted to achieve multi-genre singer. She was one of a few singers that could balance well between artistic and entertainment. People often considered her to be singing deep ballad songs. Her medium vocal was feminine, soft and she often adjusted her voice to fit any song.
Hiền Thục | 2010-now
Her influences include The Beatles, Aimee Mann, Elvis Costello, Ben Folds and Lucinda Williams. Thornley's second album, "My Glass Eye", contains two songs not written by Thornley or Rob Cairns; "Got The Time" (Joe Jackson) and "Eleanor Rigby" (The Beatles).
Beth Thornley | Music
They have their likes and dislikes...I guess because they didn't think it would sell." The singer pressed on through the early 1980s with more albums of new material that had unimpressive sales, as was the case with "Right from the Heart", which became only his third out of 55 studio releases that did not make one of the album charts in "Billboard". In 1983 Linda Ronstadt took a break from recording contemporary music in order to make an album of standards with conductor Nelson Riddle, and their collaboration, "What's New" went triple Platinum. Barbra Streisand's 1985 release "The Broadway Album" reached number one and went on to quadruple Platinum certification, so a renewed interest in what came to be known as traditional pop was evident.
Johnny Mathis discography | The second Columbia phase
Alexis Petridis of "The Guardian" noted Madonna's vocals in the song are "high-pitched [to sound like a] little-girl", with the intention of "[underlying] the notion of innocence lost".
Hollywood (Madonna song) | Composition
It opens with a keyboard rich intro and a catchy synth melody provided by Fred Zarr. Bass player Anthony Jackson doubled Dean Gant's synth bass to provide a solid and more complex texture. The chords in the song were inspired by Seventies disco sound in Philadelphia as well as Elton John's musical style during the mid-seventies. The chord sequences cite from Bachman–Turner Overdrive's song "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" while the synth phases display her typical musical style. The third track "Burning Up" has a starker arrangement, brought about by bass, single guitar and Linn drum machine. The drum beats used in the song were reminiscent to the records of singer Phil Collins.
Madonna (Madonna album) | Music and lyrics
Madonna's voice glides over pop beats throughout the song. During the final sequence, Madonna's singing is slowly morphed lower in pitch into a distorted, robotic voice and she raps, with the repeated phrase "Push the button". According to the sheet music published at Sheetmusicplus.com, "Hollywood" is written in common time with a moderately fast tempo of 126 beats per minute. It is composed in the key of C major with Madonna's voice spanning from B to C. An abrupt shift of key takes place at about three minutes into the song, from B minor to C minor, which according to Rooksby was utilized to give the song's closing choruses a different treatment.
Hollywood (Madonna song) | Composition
Many composers wrote for her, including Sebastian Raval and Luca Marenzio, as well as, of course, her husband and Cavalieri. Giulio Caccini and Jacopo Peri claimed that she had sung their music, in order to help their claims to supremacy in composition, as well as to being the best writers in the "seconda prattica" style. Sigismondo d'India also wrote of her skill in singing. She apparently sang in the new style, including many ornaments and "passaggi". She sang with Francesca Caccini and Settimia Caccini in an imitation of the "concerto delle donne" in Florence for a period.
Vittoria Archilei | Introduction
She also played the acoustic guitar during some songs and played the wrong chords at the beginning of "X-Static Process". The next year, Madonna performed the song on the Re-Invention World Tour as the first song from the acoustic segment of the concert. She arrived on stage dressed in a black Stella McCartney suit and accompanied by an acoustic guitar to sing the song. Jane Stevenson from "Toronto Sun" described Madonna as a "solitary figure", as it was her alone playing the acoustic guitar. Bret McCabe from "Baltimore City Paper" described it as a "warm-up" performance. During the concert in Ireland, she wore a black coat and was protected by an umbrella while performing the song during the rain.
Nothing Fails | Promotion and live performances
From 2006 on, Caporaso has used two separate singing styles using two separate performing names. When singing as "Luciana", Caporaso's vocal style often revolves around sassy, playful, rhythmic speech-song, often with intentionally brazen lyrics and speaking quality, interspersed with bits of outright singing. Because of the lack of tonal quality to this style, the backing music for many of her songs incorporate bass and synth licks that move through chromatic scale segments, giving the music an unusual, edgy sound that contrasts the completely tonal (or modal) music that forms nearly all of the music by other artists in the dance/electronic and pop genres.
Luciana (singer) | Vocal style
This is nonsense; it misses how Madonna conflated notions of spontaneity and calculation. Rodgers is the ideal collaborator." Stephen Holden from "The New York Times" said: "With a tough-cookie voice that's both coy and streetwise, Madonna's singing harks back to the rock-and-roll "girl-group" tradition that preceded the Beatles. But where girl groups, from the Shirelles to the Ronettes, worshipfully extolled their boyfriends' cars, haircuts and rebel poses, Madonna's point of view is decidedly more self-interested. In matters of love, she is a comparison shopper with a shrewd sense of her own market value. The words 'shiny and new' describe not only the way the love-smitten singer feels in the title song but the sound of the album." Matt Damsker from "Los Angeles Times" commented: "Madonna's beating vibrato sometimes makes her sound so robotic in the album." Lou Papineau, while writing for "The Providence Journal", said that "In "Like a Virgin", Madonna proves she's shallow, but spunky." Sal Cinquemani from "Slant Magazine" gave a positive review, saying "Though not as innovative as her debut, "Like a Virgin" stands as one of the most definitive pop artifacts from the indulgent Reagan Era.
Like a Virgin (album) | Critical reception
Conjuring the atmosphere of a smoky nightclub, the song finds Madonna in her lowest range as the melody shifts continuously. "Hanky Panky", the third song and second single, deals with sadomasochistic themes and is centered around a girl who celebrates the pleasures of a "good spanking". It is performed in an almost comical style, and stemmed from a line in the film, where Breathless says to Tracy, "You don't know whether to hit me or kiss me". The following track on the album, "I'm Going Bananas", is a Carmen Miranda-ish song done in a Spanish accent. A salsa rhythm is predominant, with Madonna squeezing her vocal cords while singing, backed by percussion and brass.
I'm Breathless | Recording and composition
The authors noted that the music was the central identification for the song, with its "splashes of electronica and production tricks" from reverse cymbal crescendo, and "tightly quantized" pitch and sounds from a Hammond organ. Madonna sung with her mouth close to the recording microphone, which Fouz-Hernández found gave the track a natural sound. Barry Walters from "Billboard" found the composition to also contain a blend of French electronica and 1970s electro funk, while Richard S. He of the same publication described the record as "postmodern, escapist dance-pop". The instrumental riff in the track is created by a 1970s analogue Moog synthesizer, which ultimately leads to the song fading out.
Music (Madonna song) | Recording and composition
"Billboard" magazine praised Wilde for combining "techno-pop with a torch-styled edge" and described the sound as "somewhere between Sheena Easton and Debbie Harry". "Rolling Stone" described the "randy" lyrics for "The Second Time", written by Wilde's brother and father, as "somewhat perverse" and found her "too bland and docile a singer to generate much heat or to enliven Ricki's stale wall-of-synths production." However, the reviewer reserved praise for Kim's self-written efforts, writing that "Fit In" and "Shangri-La" "have the passive, yearning tone of a jailhouse diary" and expressed hope that the "vivacious, earnest singer might be smart enough to cut loose her puppet strings."
Teases &amp; Dares | Critical response
It is a torch song where Patinkin supplies the male voice while Madonna sings during the second verse with strings and harmonics.
I'm Breathless | Recording and composition
Madonna sings over a synth line the first verse, "Silky smooth lips as sweet as candy, baby/Tight blue jeans, skin that shows in patches" in a mellow and feminine tone, which is driven by a "cool beat" and filtered bass licks. The ambient production has a number of sounds floating in-and-out of the track, long echos and vocals being pulled back. As the pre-chorus ends, the drums are pulled out and added immediately the chorus starts, washed over by tidal keys and pads, and Madonna asking the question, "Do you know what it feels like for a girl?". Phil Dellio from "The Village Voice" noticed the presence of "gossamer-like" synthesizer in the background, while author Rikky Rooksby highlighted the equalized bass guitar in the center of the production.
What It Feels Like for a Girl | Recording and composition
Music critics have described Charli XCX's music in a variety of terms including dance-pop, electropop, pop punk and alternative pop. Her early recordings were described as a blend of dark wave and witch house. As her career progressed, she showcased several other musical styles such as gothic pop and synth-pop in her debut album, her second album was described as pop punk containing elements of punk rock, new wave and power pop. Her latest projects explored an avant-pop direction, "Vroom Vroom" contained elements of Eurodance, meanwhile "Number 1 Angel" showed influences of trap, R&B, electropop, synth-pop and experimental pop. Charli XCX's singing voice has been compared to that of Gwen Stefani and Marina and the Diamonds.
Charli XCX | Musical style
The second verse starts with Madonna crawling along the hallway, getting entangled in balloons, meeting Diplo again and finally the camera pans away to reveal a number of sock puppets in neon glow swaying together to the song. During the second chorus, Madonna and her dancers go from the hallway to a bar where the singer forcefully makes Kortajarena drink a beverage, dry humps a dancer and continues dancing. The guest appearances start with Cyrus pointing her middle fingers towards the camera wearing glitter around her eyes, followed by Wang, Diplo and Rocco in the bar, Beyoncé posing like Madonna's music video for "Vogue" (1990), Perry moving around to the song, and David dancing while Madonna and the others cheer him; all of them mouth the song name while they appear onscreen.
Bitch I'm Madonna | Synopsis
Her character smoked, so therefore she did." O'Brien said that the songs on "I'm Breathless" had a "coquettish" and "pandering nature", and was the polar opposite to Madonna's previous release, "Like a Prayer", which had an introspective composition. "I'm Breathless" opens with the sound of an intercom and a shuffle, and power ballad "He's a Man" starts, a song which Madonna sings as if she was a "hooker stalking the boulevard". Also, Madonna's "haunting" vocals continue after the music has faded. One of the Sondheim songs, "Sooner or Later", is a 1930s jazz ballad with comping piano, brushed drum sounds, double bass and horns.
I'm Breathless | Recording and composition
Madonna claimed that the song was the hardest to write. Madonna sings, "I like to singy, singy, singy, like a bird on a wingy, wingy, wingy", with childlike abandon amid a vibrant, celebratory swirl of electronic keyboard riffs and thumpy dance beats. The third track, "Runaway Lover", is a trance/house rave track. It is one of Madonna's collaborations with William Orbit for the album. The following track, "I Deserve It", is an acoustic-framed track that is anchored by a hip-hop inflected groove. Madonna said the track "has the strangest juxtaposition of this folky, simple song and this high-tech, ominous synth line." The song lends weight to rich, introspective lyrics, such as the chorus lines: "Many miles, many roads I have traveled, fallen down of the way/Many hearts, many years have unraveled, leading up to today." "Amazing", the fifth track, is a vibrant tempo-shifter that opens with a soft, music-box-like keyboard/string flourish.
Music (Madonna album) | Music structure and lyrics
Lavigne possesses a soprano vocal range. Themes in her music include messages of self-empowerment from a female or an adolescent view. Lavigne believes her "songs are about being yourself no matter what and going after your dreams even if your dreams are crazy and even if people tell you they're never going to come true." On her debut album, "Let Go", Lavigne preferred the less mainstream songs, such as "Losing Grip", instead of her more radio-friendly singles, such as "Complicated", saying that "the songs I did with the Matrix ... were good for my first record, but I don't want to be that pop anymore." Lavigne's second album, "Under My Skin", had deeper personal themes underlying each song, saying that "I've gone through so much, so that's what I talk about ...
Avril Lavigne | Musical style and songwriting
These effects came at the expense of live singing." Edna Gundersen of "USA Today" reported: "The most obvious example is Madonna's Blond Ambition World Tour, a visually preoccupied and heavily choreographed spectacle. Madonna lip-syncs the duet "Now I'm Following You", while a Dick Tracy character mouths Warren Beatty's recorded vocals. On other songs, background singers plump up her voice, strained by the exertion of non-stop dancing." Similarly, in reviewing Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation World Tour, Michael MacCambridge of the "Austin American-Statesman" commented "[i]t seemed unlikely that anyone—even a prized member of the First Family of Soul Music—could dance like she did for 90 minutes and still provide the sort of powerful vocals that the '90s super concerts are expected to achieve."
Lip sync | Examples
Rowland has cited Whitney Houston and Janet Jackson as her biggest musical influences. She stated that Houston "was the woman that inspired me to sing." Rowland is also inspired by Sade Adu and says that "she has a style that's totally her own." Martin Luther King, Jr., Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige, Naomi Campbell, and Oprah Winfrey, whom she describes as "the female version of God." Rowland has discussed how living in Miami has influenced her style, growth, and music. From a fashion perspective, Rowland credits Halle Berry, Jennifer Lopez, Beyoncé, Oprah, and her grandmother as her style icons. Rowland cited Whitney Houston, Beyoncé, and Brandy as vocal inspirations for her second solo album "Ms.
Kelly Rowland | Influences
Mim Udovitch of "Blender" called it "lackluster". While ranking Madonna's singles in honor of her 60th birthday, "The Guardian"s Jude Rogers placed the song at number 71, writing that "[Madonna] is usually better when she’s striding alone. This duet with Britney is all raunch and no solid roots".
Me Against the Music | Critical response