Who's That Girl (Madonna song)
June 30, 1987
Who's That Girl is a pop song by the American singer Madonna from the soundtrack album Who's That Girl of the eponymous film Who's That Girl ( in which Madonna plays a major role ). The song was released by Sire Records as the first single from the album on June 30, 1987. The song is included in addition to the EP The Holiday Collection in 1991, which was published parallel to the best-of album The Immaculate Collection of 1990. In addition, the song takes place on the 2- disc edition of their greatest hits album, Celebration of the year 2009. During the filming of the movie Who's That Girl commissioned Madonna songwriter Patrick Leonard to produce a uptempo pop song, the protagonist of the the film describes. Madonna later added more text passages and vocals to the demo tape of Leonard and decided to call the film and the song Who's That Girl.
Some passages of the song are held in Spanish. Who's That Girl was Madonna's sixth number-one hit in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and reached the top of the charts in other countries such as United Kingdom, Canada, the Netherlands, Ireland and Belgium.
Background
In 1986, when Madonna filming began for the film Who's That Girl, she needed songs for the soundtrack album of the film. She contacted Patrick Leonard and Stephen Bray, who for her third studio album True Blue wrote and produced in 1986. Madonna told them that they would need a uptempo song and a downtempo song. She came into the studio one Thursday, when Leonard produced the refrain of the song. He gave Madonna a cassette with the previous recordings. She went into the back room and completed the melody and the remaining passages of the song, while Leonard was still working on other parts of the song. After the text was done to the song, Madonna explained that the song Who's That Girl had the same name and the film also and not Slammer ( Original title of the film). According to his own statements Who's That Girl should be a better title for the film as Slammer. In Fred Bronson's The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits Leonard explained that the song was recorded in just one day with Madonna, which finally contributed vocals to the song at the end. The guitars and percussion have been added to the tune of Leonard and Bray later. For the development of the music for the film said Madonna
"I had some specific ideas: music that is somewhat independent, yet goes well with the film to enhance the relationship of music and film, and to see what happened to form on the screen and the only way that, in reality, was to have a hand when she wrote the melodies themselves. [ ... ] The songs are not about Nikki [name of the character by Madonna in the film ] or were written so as to sing, but the music is a spirit that contains the idea of the film and the character and combines so comes the contents of the film and the person's thoughts to the music over, I think. "
" I had some very specific ideas in mind, musicthat would stand on its own as well as support and Enhance what what happening on screen and the only way to make that a reality thing to have a hand in writing the tunes myself. [ ... ] The songs Are not Necessarily about Nikki [ her character name in the movie ] or written to be sung by someone like her, but there 's a spirit to this musicthat Both captures what the film and the characters are about, I think. "
Composition
The song is a typical Madonna Pop Composition with Dance and Latin pop elements. The tune was recorded with a drum machine, a bass, a synthesizer and string instruments. Three sections of the song, the bridge, where Madonna sings " what can help me now", the chorus and the verse flow strongly together. The song is Madonna's continuing interest in the Hispanic culture, which began with the publication of La Isla Bonita. It contains some passages in Spanish, in the chorus, while the trumpet use for the second verse, as well as an instrumental break in the middle of the song. The song uses the effect of the double vocals, the previously groups such as The Beach Boys on their singles God Only Knows (1966) and I Get Around (1964 ) and REM in Fall On Me ( 1986) and Near Wild Heaven ( 1991) used. Who's That Girl used this effect in the last chorus.
Reception
Criticism
The song was recorded mixed by critics. In his book The Complete Guide to the Music of Madonna, author Rikky Rooksby describes the Who 's That Girl Madonna's best pop song. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic commented that Who's That Girl, Causing a Commotion, together with, not Madonna's best singles. J. Randy Taraborrelli Biografer, described the song in his book Madonna: An Intimate Biography as an "interesting Madonna music " and " Funky, casual and melodic, with a Latin accent. " Said Noah Robischon of Entertainment Weekly that the film and the song Madonna made stronger. Bill Lamb of About.com said that the song was with the second single from the soundtrack album Causing a Commotion, not an example of Madonna's best music.
Commercial success
Who's That Girl was released in the United States in June 1987. It debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 43 and reached after seven weeks at No. 1 and stayed for a week at the top. Overall, the song spent 16 weeks on the Hot 100, it was Madonna's sixth number-one hit in the U.S., so she became the first artist / in, which published six number-one hits in the 80s and the first female artist of so many number one hits enter. The song reached # 2 on the U.S. dance charts. In 2000, the song came to a choice on place 10 of the best Madonna songs.
In Canada, the song debuted on July 11, 1987 and reached number 38 on August 29, 1987 for a week # 1 and spending a total of 23 weeks in the charts. In the UK, Who's That Girl was released on July 14, 1987 and debuted at No. 3 singles in the UK chart, the following week the song reached # 1 and was Madonna's fifth number -one hit in the United Kingdom. In Europe reached Who's That Girl # 1 in Belgium, Italy, Ireland and the Netherlands, as well as in Austria, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland top five.
Music Video
The music video was shot over two days in the Gray Hall Mansion in Beverly Hills ( California). Madonna presented itself for the film with new blond hair style, which she used in the music video. They wanted to remember their own way to the heroines of Screwballkomödien 1930. Just like the song, the music video also contains elements of the Hispanic culture. Madonna wears typical Spanish clothing and plays a young woman in search of treasure. She describes it as a partial continuation of the La Isla Bonita music videos. In the video, Madonna is also wearing a hat along with a Spanish bolero. This combination should be the fashion trend later.
The directing the music video, Peter Rosenthal. The video starts with Madonna enters a park. Once it has taken two children and a young, they pull through the park and Madonna sings the song. These scenes alternate with scenes from the film. In the scenes Madonna's character Nikki Fynn appears. A little later, Madonna is looking for an Egyptian treasure. After some time, Madonna finds a huge diamond. She looks happy on to the children. At the end of the video Madonna dances with the two children.
The music video shows Madonna in a different role than in the film. The video has been criticized for allegedly not " the right Madonna " show. According to Vincent Canby of The New York Times Madonna wanted to be like Marilyn Monroe at this time, but with the " comical lasciviousness " of Jean Harlow. This personality type is shown in the second half of the film Who's That Girl. The music video should not be the "right Madonna" and their " quality " and not the " film promotion " for the song and the music video were created. The video should only the thoughts and personality of Madonna's movie character from the first half of the film show and thereby comment on the content of the film.
Live performances
Madonna sang the song live only on her Who's That Girl World Tour in 1987. The outfits for the performances were designed by Marlene Stewart. During the performances to the song Madonna danced around the stage and always communicated with the audience. Two different live versions of the song are on the video Who's That Girl - Live in Japan, filmed in Tokyo on June 22, 1987, Ciao, Italia! - Live from Italy, filmed in Turin on 4 September 1987.