Madonnapedia
"Vogue"
Released March 20, 1990
Length 4:50 (I'm Breathless/Single version)
5:15 (Celebration version)
Writer(s) Madonna
Shep Pettibone
Producer(s) Madonna
Shep Pettibone

track listing

Now I'm Following You (Part II)
-

"Vogue" is a song by Madonna from her second soundtrack album I'm Breathless for the movie Dick Tracy. It was released as the lead single from the album on March 20, 1990.

Background[]

"Vogue" was originally written as a B-side for "Keep It Together". Fortunately for Madonna, her record company realized the song had a lot of hit potential and they released it in late March 1990. They quickly added it to I'm Breathless, though it had nothing to do with Dick Tracy and had a completely different sound from the other tracks.

Composition[]

The song is written in the key of A♭ major, has a tempo of 116 beats per minute, and in it, Madonna's vocal range spans from C4 to E♭5.

Vogue made it's debut performance on the Blonde Ambition World Tour. The song was performed in a stripped down arrangement using some of the samples from the original recording accompanied by the band performing the song at 120BPM. The arrangement uses the introduction from the Immaculate Collection all throughout with the ending from the I'm Breathless / Single version.

During the MTV Video Music Awards, a month after the tour, Madonna uses an edited version of the original recording using the Immaculate Collection version as a base followed by an interlude using the 12" mix before returning to the former during the rap section with the song ending with the arrangement from the I'm Breathless version.

Three years later, Vogue was the third song on the setlist of "The Girlie Show" using an intro using tribal percussions which later transitions to the song. Like the Blonde Ambition tour, The Girlie Show's arrangement of the song is also accompanied by the band's instruments. The arrangement consists of the percussions, later accompanied by the first half of the first bassline and the snap sample before playing the intro of the song which leads to the opening lines of the song. In that section, Madonna says "Strike a pose" three times before singing the entire song. The second verse interpolates the use of claps during the end of each bar. The rap section was preceded by a short interlude using the percussions, the snaps and synth samples and middle eastern instruments. The rap section uses the intro's basslines accompanied by the drums from the band. The song ends with a cymbal and middle eastern style crashes.

For the Reinvention Tour, Vogue was used as the opening song for the concert. The tour's musical director Stuart Price's arrangement for the song uses the Immaculate Collection version as a base, while he lowers the song's original key to an F# instead of the original G#, adds additional sounds, omits the percussion sample used by Shep Pettibone and also reprograms the original TR-909 drum arrangement to an updated version. After the bridge and rap section, comes a short interlude before heading towards the finale. This is also the first time Madonna uses the original BPM in any of her tours.

The Sticky and Sweet Tour's version uses 4 Minutes as a base while combining stems from the original recording alongside the stems from the Bette Davis Dub into the mix. The song's key is one pitch lower than the original which is also used in Madonna's later shows. Before the bridge, an interpolation of Timbaland's song "Give It To Me" is used before heading to the rap section. After the rap section, the last two chorus lines uses the M1 Korg Piano chords of the song before ending with the "Give It To Me" sample played alongside 4 Minutes until the very end.

In the SuperBowl Halftime Show, Vogue was used as the opening song. The song uses the original recordings while maintaining the key used in the Sticky and Sweet Tour. The intro uses the Immaculate Collection and Celebration version accompanied by faint soldier stomping noise in the background and horns, which stops with the opening line "What are you looking at" preceding "Strike a pose". The opening verse was preceded by a small interlude of the phrase "Don't just stand there, let's get to it" being looped. During the verse and chorus, several swords and various sound effects were played along with a harp. During the bridge, middle eastern instruments were also playing and the drums would stop during the line "Ginger Rogers, dance on air", and a small bell ding during "Bette Davis, we love you!". The song ends with the extended piano chords from the Immaculate Collection version which ends with the lines "Move to the music" before fading into "Music".

In the MDNA Tour, the song uses the SuperBowl Halftime Show's arrangement. This time, the song was also accompanied by various camera shutter sounds in the background. During the "Don't Just Stand There" interlude, the Orchestral hit sample plays before Madonna sings her opening lines. Unlike the one in the SuperBowl, Madonna also sings the second verse while omitting the bridge and heading towards the rap section. The ending has Madonna saying "Strike a pose, there's nothing to it" eventually accompanied by the snap sample played all until the opening lines of "Candy Shop".

The song made an appearance at the Rebel Heart Tour during the song "Holy Water". As soon as Madonna says the "Ladies with an attitude line" (as it was also sampled in the latter, Madonna starts singing the chorus of "Vogue" twice before reaching the rap section. The arrangement uses a recreation of the string arrangement along with trap style drums before shifting to tech house style drums for the rap section accompanied by new snap samples. After the rap section, a harpsichord plays as "Holy Water" continues.

An edited version of the song was played during Madonna's appearance at Carpool Karaoke with James Corden using the pitch from the Sticky and Sweet Tour ending with the rap section.

For the World Price New York City Show and the Madame X Tour, Vogue's arrangement uses the Immaculate Collection and Celebration versions as a base with the pitch from the Sticky And Sweet Tour. The intro uses a modified version of the MDNA Tour arrangement omitting the stomping sample and cameras as they were replaced by typewriter sounds during the percussions section before uttering the line "What are you looking at?". Madonna uses new versions of the Orchestral Hit sample throughout the song. Like the version on the MDNA Tour, Madonna sings the first and second verse and choruses, rap section while omitting the bridge and third chorus, while the ending consists of the piano chords playing four times accompanied by the typewriter sounds and ending with the orchestral hit arrangement from the Immaculate Collection and Celebration version (the hihats were omitted during the Madame X Tour version) and the pre-recorded sample of Madonna saying "I'm Madame X" plays in the background.

In it's latest appearance on the Celebration Tour, The song was preceded by the scrapped track of Erotica, "Up Down Suite" played by Madonna's youngest daughter Estere on the DJ Booth accompanied by samples of the Love Break horns used in Vogue and vocal samples from "Let It All Out 2012" by MikeEQ which later transitions to Vogue. Vogue's arrangement was once again directed by Stuart Price with it's BPM at 120BPM since The Rebel Heart Tour and the Girlie Show Tour to match the BPM of "Up Down Suite" in order to accommodate to the transitioning of the two songs and uses the pitch from the Sticky and Sweet Tour. It uses a much extended intro which interpolates the Queens Remix of Beyonce's "Break My Soul" which also sampled Vogue. It is also accompanied by the latter's sample "Explode" by Big Freedia recited by Bob The Drag Queen followed Vogue's piano chords creating a buildup as sample from "Walk For Me" by Tronco plays during the build up leading to Madonna singing the first verse. Madonna only sings the first verse leading to a newer arrangement that leads to the rap section followed by the second chorus and eventually an extended instrumental segment to accommodate to the Ballroom portion of the show which uses the samples of "Let It All Out 2012", "Walk for Me", and "Everybody Everybody". During one of the ballroom categories, the drum arrangement shifted to a trap style drum arrangement while most of the categories incorporated the usual drum arrangement along with Ballroom style ones. The song ends with the outro of Vogue followed by police sirens wailing in the background.

Remixes[]

  • ???
  • ???
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Cross references[]

  • "Vogue" is indirectly referenced, along with eleven other songs, in Madonna's "Deeper And Deeper", "Veni Vidi Vici", and "I Don't Search I Find".
  • Madonna sampled one of the stems of the song for "I Don't Search I Find".

Music Video[]

Music Video Information
Madonna_-_Vogue_(video) Released March 29, 1990
Length 4:53
Director David Fincher
Production Co Vicki Niles
Choreographer N/A
Filmed N/A
Location N/A
VEVO views 45+ Million Views

Lyrics[]

Strike a pose
Strike a pose
Vogue, vogue, vogue
Vogue, vogue, vogue

Look around, everywhere you turn is heartache
It's everywhere that you go (look around)
You try everything you can to escape
The pain of life that you know (life that you know)

When all else fails and you long to be
Something better than you are today
I know a place where you can get away
It's called a dance floor, and here's what it's for, so

Come on, vogue
Let your body move to the music (move to the music)
Hey, hey, hey
Come on, vogue
Let your body go with the flow (go with the flow)
You know you can do it

All you need is your own imagination
So use it, that's what it's for (that's what it's for)
Go inside, for your finest inspiration
Your dreams will open the door (open up the door)

It makes no difference if you're black or white
If you're a boy or a girl
If the music's pumping it will give you new life
You're a superstar, yes, that's what you are, you know it

Come on, vogue
Let your body groove to the music (groove to the music)
Hey, hey, hey
Come on, vogue
Let your body go with the flow (go with the flow)
You know you can do it

Beauty's where you find it
Not just where you bump and grind it
Soul is in the musical
That's where I feel so beautiful
Magical, life's a ball
So get up on the dance floor

Vogue (vogue)
Let your body move to the music (move to the music)
Hey, hey, hey
Come on, vogue (vogue)
Let your body go with the flow (go with the flow)
You know you can do it

Vogue (vogue)
Beauty's where you find it (move to the music)
Vogue (vogue)
Beauty's where you find it (go with the flow)

Greta Garbo, and Monroe
Dietrich and DiMaggio
Marlon Brando, Jimmy Dean
On the cover of a magazine

Grace Kelly, Harlow, Jean
Picture of a beauty queen
Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire
Ginger Rogers, dance on air

They had style, they had grace
Rita Hayworth gave good face
Lauren, Katharine, Lana too
Bette Davis, we love you

Ladies with an attitude
Fellows that were in the mood
Don't just stand there, let's get to it
Strike a pose, there's nothing to it

Vogue, vogue, vogue
Vogue, vogue, vogue

Oooh, you've got to
Let your body move to the music
Oooh, you've got to just
Let your body go with the flow
Oooh, you've got to
Vogue, vogue, vogue


Singles | Tour | Photoshoots

"He's a Man"
"Sooner or Later"
"Hanky Panky"

"I'm Going Bananas"
"Cry Baby"
"Something to Remember"

"Back in Business"
"More"
"What Can You Lose"
(Duet with Mandy Patinkin)

"Now I'm Following You (Part I)"
(Duet with Warren Beatty)
"Now I'm Following You (Part II)"
(Duet with Warren Beatty)
"Vogue"