I just watched this 5 times in a row.
It's funny because when I was fifteen-going-on-sixteen, Take A Bow was one of the songs that roped me in as a proper fan. I sought it out because I'd read it was a huge hit for her and when I listened it was like, "OH, THIS IS HER???" I just remembered it from the Friends first season finale. It's always had a special place in my heart and I've always considered it a true blue Madonna song.
It's not the most Madonna of Madonna songs, but I do think the single effect plays into it. Songs hit differently with more memories and nostalgia. I remember accepting the small wins as an M stan when I heard this song on the radio (one of those oldies and hits mix~ stations) with friends in the car and one of them surprisingly knew all the words.
It’s quite bizarre to think that in the early Ray of Light sessions she considered that BabyFace Take A Bow sound again with Never Love a Stranger.
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It's part of that "tracing a throughline" thing that's so present on her 90s albums and lasted for around twenty years (!!) -
She was working with Shep Pettibone on Bedtime Stories before Babyface and Dallas Austin entered the picture
Ray Of Light was more AC-oriented from the early demos, like you said
William Orbit was significantly more involved in the early Music sessions before she hit it off with Mirwais for that album and American Life
Mirwais worked on a few early Confessions demos before she went with Stuart Price
She was working with Stuart (and supposedly PSB) on Hard Candy before Timbaland/Pharrell/JT
I find it really fascinating. I think MDNA is where it changed, because she hadn't worked with William in nearly fifteen years by that point.
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Good point actually! Yeah I still feel a bit sorry for Shep Pettibone, not that they finished on bad terms or anything, I guess more the end of an era. I really hope we get to hear his version of Secret one day.
I guess Nellie Hooper was another thread if it weren’t for his apparent ego, As said by Madonna in her letter to Pat Leonard.
William Orbit coming back for MDNA felt a bit like fan service, at that point it was like “omg Ray of Light 2.0 is coming!” But for obvious reasons it didn’t really work, I don’t blame Orbit, if anything it was the tight deadline and Madonna’s lack of creative input due to WE, he basically said this himself.
Mirwais coming back for Madame X however actually felt genuine to me, and it shows on those tracks, they had a special bond when working on those songs.
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It's a gorgeous track but you're totally right - for a woman who's so adament about not repeating herself it's strange she even recorded what is ostensibly Take A Bow 2.0
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Whenever the next album comes I really hope she keeps with Mirwais. They've still got some unexplored territory, I think.
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I wouldn’t mind that. Honestly though, I know it’s been said so I’m sorry for that, but I really do just want to hear her natural voice again whenever the next album happens. I’m kind of worn out on vocoder and auto tune.
'90s Madonna is my favorite era of Madonna. I'm sure that 1990-2000 being my first ten years of life has a lot to do with that (seeing as she was one of the first artists I ever fell in love with), but if anyone asks me the sound of Madonna that resonates the most with me, it's from Vogue through Music, with everything in between falling into it.
Same. 1992-2001 specifically represents my favorite epoch in her career. The first decade made her a star but the second decade made her. After that extraordinary initial run when the road gets rockier, every choice counts. And she made LEGEND choices.
I love this. So true.
The video made the song for me. I remember being home sick from school one day and watching the MTV making of the video all day and it cemented my love for the song. I haven’t watched it in ages, but I remember her being fairly relaxed and funny behind the scenes with Kurt Loder and it made me like it all even more
