| |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
True Blue is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter Madonna, released on June 30, 1986 by Sire Records. She worked with Stephen Bray and Patrick Leonard on the album while co-writing and co-producing all the songs. Deemed as Madonna's most girlish album, True Blue deals with her visions of love, work, dreams as well as disappointments, and was inspired by her then husband Sean Penn, to whom Madonna dedicated the album. Musically, the songs on the album took a different from her previous endeavours, incorporating classical music in order an older audience who had been sceptical of her music.
The album features instrumentation from acoustic guitars, drums, synthesizers and Cuban musical instruments. The topic for the songs range from love, freedom, and in the case of "Papa Don't Preach", social issues like teenage pregnancy. After its release, True Blue received positive reviews from critics. They complimented the album, with one calling it great dance-pop, and described it as the archetype of the late 80's and early 90's pop albums. They also praised the fact that Madonna's voice sounded stronger that it did on her previous efforts, while commending Madonna's skills as a singer, songwriter and entertainer.
True Blue was an immediate global success, reaching number one in then record-breaking 28 countries across the world, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Untied Kingdom and the United States. It spent 34 consecutive weeks at the top of the European Top 100 Albums chart, longer than any other album in history. It became the world's top'selling album of 1986 and remains one of the best-selling of all time with sales of more than 25 million copies worldwide. All five singles released from the album reached the top five on the Billboard Hot 100, with "Live to Tell", "Papa Don't Preach", and "Open Your Heart" peaking at #1, 'True Blue' peaking at #3, and 'La Isla Bonita' peaking at #4
The album was promoted on Madonna's second concert tour, the Who's That Girl World Tour, which visited cities of North America, Europe and Asia in 1987. The album's singles and their accompanying music videos have sparked debates among scholars and social groups, especially "Papa Don't Preach" for the theme of teenage pregnancy in its lyrics and "Open Your Heart" for portraying a minor entering a strip club in its music video. True Blue is credited as being the album which made Madonna truly into a superstar and cemented her reputation among the consummate musical figures of the 1980's. The album also gave her first appearance on the Guinness Book of World Records.
Singles[]
Live To Tell was released as the first and lead single from True Blue on March 26th, 1986 and was praised by critics and fans alike from its release and was one of most requested songs on radio after it was pushed to radio which lead to a debut of #28 on the 'Billboard Adult Contemporary' and later went on to peak at #1 for a 3 week time-span, eventually spending 18 weeks on the chart. The song also debuted of #49 on the 'Billboard Hot 100' on the same week eventually reaching #1 for the week of June 7, 1986 - becoming the first #1 hit of the True Blue era and marking Madonna's third #1 on the chart in less than a 18 month period of time. Live To Tell charted for 18 weeks, becoming her 5th longest stay on the Hot 100 at that point.
Papa Don't Preach was released as the second single from True Blue on June 11th, 1986 and received praise from critics at the time for her vocals on the song, and upon release was immediately added to 174/226 pop radio stations at the time. Radio play would cause the song to debut at #42 on the 'Billboard Hot 100'. Only one month later, the song had reached the top 10 of the Hot 100, breaking records as her 9th consecutive top 10 singles, only being done by 3 other female artists at the time. Later in August, the song reached #1 and would keep that position for 2 weeks, not only becoming her 4th #1 hit, but also becoming her 4th #1 in less than 2 years as well as her 2nd song that stayed atop the Billboard Hot 100. The song would then chart for a few weeks longer, ending with a 18 week stay on the chart. The song would also be nominated for 'Best Female Vocal Performance' at the 27th Grammy Awards, but lost. Papa Don't Preach would garner major controversy at the time as it tackled subjects such as teenage pregnancy.
True Blue was released as the third single from True Blue on September 27,th, 1986 and received generally positive reviews from critics and the public. The song would debut at #40 on the 'Billboard Hot 100' on the week of October 4th, 1986 and was one of the highest debuts on the chart in the entire year. Just 1 month later, the song would reach the top 10 of the chart, continuing Madonna's streak of consecutive top 10 singles. True Blue would later stall at #3 for 3 weeks and lasted 16 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100. The song entered some other charts, such as 'Billboard Dance Club' and 'Adult Contemporary' charts.
Open Your Heart was released as the fourth single from True Blue on November 12th, 1986 and opened with positive critical and public reviews. Open Your Heart debuted at #51 on December 6th, 1986 and would quickly climb up the chart, reaching the top 10 little over a month later, and then by February 7th, 1987, it would become her 5th #1 hit on the chart - staying there for a week and leaving with 18 weeks on the chart. It would once again continue her 11 streak of top 10 singles. Open Your Heart also saw huge successes on other charts, such as reaching #1 on the 'Billboard Dance Club' chart.
La Isla Bonita was released as the fifth and final single from True Blue on February 25th, 1987 and would receive positive reviews, many of which calling the song 'One of her best and most romantic songs'. La Isla Bonita would open at #49 on the 'Billboard Hot 100' and would reach the top 10 by April 25th. La Isla Bonita would reach a peak of #4, holding that position for a further 3 weeks before slowly declining and eventually leaving the Hot 100 after 17 weeks on the chart. La Isla Bonita would also reach #1 elsewhere, such as the 'Adult Contemporary' chart, being only her second #1 on the chart, after the lead single of True Blue, Live To Tell, The song would continue many of Madonna's single streaks, such as being her 11th single to be the highest debut the week it entered the Hot 100 (a streak started by Lucky Star in 1984), and her 12th single to reach the top 10 of the Hot 100, a streak started by Borderline in 1984. La Isla Bonita has been credited as laying the groundwork for Latin Pop in the mainstream, which would begin to emerge in the Mid to Late 1990s.
.jpg "True Blue (song).jpg (217 KB)")
 | ||
|---|---|---|