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Ray of Light

Development

The working title for this album was The Drowned World, inspired by the novel by J. G. Ballard. It was primarily produced by Madonna, William Orbit, and Patrick Leonard. The album featured a new musical direction for Madonna, as well as personal lyrics about motherhood, fame, and spirituality. Madonna's vocal range was also stronger, because of the voice training she underwent during Evita. Madonna began writing songs with Leonard in 1997, the first time the two had worked together since "I'll Remember", three years earlier. Unlike her previous albums, Leonard's song writing collaborations were accompanied by very little studio input. Madonna believed that Leonard's production "would have lent the songs more of a Peter Gabriel vibe", a sound that she did not want for the album.
Madonna began working on Ray of Light in May 1997, meeting with Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, whom she had previously worked with on her 1994 album Bedtime Stories. The two wrote a couple of songs together before Madonna decided the collaborations were not going in the musical direction she wanted for the album. According to Edmonds, the songs "had a 'Take a Bow-ish' kind of vibe, and Madonna didn't want, or need, to repeat herself."Walter, Barry. Spin. "Most Daring In Years", April 1998. After abandoning the songs she had written with Edmonds, Madonna turned to musician Rick Nowels, who had previously co-written songs with Stevie Nicks and Celine Dion. The collaboration produced seven songs in three days, but did not display the album's future electronic musical direction. Instead, Madonna took her collaborations with Nowels and Leonard to British electronic music musician William Orbit. Madonna had been a fan of Orbit's work, and loved the "sort of trancy, ambient quality" he gave to the songs he worked on. She began working with Orbit after he had sent her tapes of musical snippets he was working on, which were usually eight or sixteen-bar phrases and stripped down versions of tracks that would later be heard on the album. Madonna would listen to the samples over and over again until she would be inspired to write lyrics. Once she had an idea about the lyrical direction of the song, she would take her ideas back to Orbit, and they would expand on the original music ideas. The album's title track "Ray of Light" was the only song on the album that Madonna did not have anything to do with creatively, and the last track, "Mer Girl", was the only other song where Madonna did not compose the music along with her collaborators, writing only the lyrics.

Recording

The album was recorded over four and a half months in Los Angeles, California in 1997, the longest Madonna had ever worked on an album. For most of the recording process, only three other people were in the studio with Madonna: William Orbit, engineer Pat McCarthy, and his assistant engineer, Matt Silva. The recording process was initially plagued with machinery problems, as Orbit preferred to work with samples, synth sounds, and Pro Tools, and not with live musicians. The computers would break down, and recording would have to be delayed until they could be repaired. Orbit recorded the bulk of the album's instrumentation over the four-month period. Orbit recalls playing the guitar and having his fingers bleed during the long hours he spent in the studio. After some errors in her pronunciation of Sanskrit shlokas on Ray of Light, the BBC, London, arranged for her to take telephonic lessons to learn the basic correct pronunciation of Sanskrit words from eminent scholar Dr B P T Vagish Shastri. She then made the necessary pronunciation corrections on the album.

Madonna performed "Drowned World/Substitute for Love", "Ray of Light", "Candy Perfume Girl", "Sky Fits Heaven", "Frozen", and "Mer Girl" on her 2001 Drowned World Tour; "Frozen" on her 2004 Re-Invention World Tour; "Ray of Light" and "Drowned World/Substitute for Love" on her 2006 Confessions Tour, "Ray of Light" and "Frozen" on her 2008 Sticky & Sweet Tour. (Note: "Frozen" was performed during the 2009 leg of the tour)

Critical response and awards

Upon release, the album received positive responses from international music critics. Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine described the album as "one of the great pop masterpieces of the '90s" and stated that: "Its lyrics are uncomplicated but its statement is grand" and "Madonna hadn't been this emotionally candid since Like A Prayer". Roni Sarig, in a review for Amazon.com, stated that Ray of Light "is her richest, most accomplished record yet." He was most impressed by Madonna's vocal range, depth, and clarity which had become stronger since her voice lessons for the film Evita (1996). Rob Sheffield's review for Rolling Stone was mostly positive, but he did point out the weak aspects of the album. Sheffield called the album "brilliant", but was critical of Orbit's production, stating that he "doesn't know enough tricks to fill a whole CD, so he repeats himself something fierce." Stephen Thomas Erlewine from Allmusic called Ray of Light Madonna's "most adventurous record" and her "most mature and restrained album." In his review he gave the album four out of five stars. David Browne of Entertainment Weekly gave the album an A- stating "For all her grapplings with self-enlightenment, Madonna seems more relaxed and less contrived than she's been in years, from her new Italian earth-mother makeover to, especially, her music. Ray of Light is truly like a prayer, and you know she'll take you there." Writing for Melody Maker in February 1998, Mark Roland drew comparisons with the music of St Etienne and Björk's Homogenic album, highlighting Ray of Lights lack of cynicism as its most positive aspect; "It's not an album turned on the lathe of cynical pop manipulation, rather it's been squished out of a lump of clay on a foot-powered wheel. Lovingly teased into life, "Ray Of Light" is like the ugly mug that doesn't match but is all the more special because of it." Despite noting an improvement in quality over 1994's Bedtime Stories, Andy Gill of The Independent wasn't overly impressed by Ray of Light. He drew parallels with Brian Eno's music of the 1970s and Beloved's albums of the early 90s, and, although he surmised that it marked a more mature and subdued sound for Madonna, he went on to describe the record as "lightweight disco-pop".
In 1999, Ray of Light won three Grammy Awards for "Best Dance Recording", "Best Pop Album", and "Best Recording Package", and was nominated for Album of the Year. In addition, the album's title track won a Grammy for "Best Short Form Music Video and was nominated for Record of the Year."Grammy Awards . Retrieved April 23, 2006. In 2002, VH1 viewers in the United Kingdom voted Ray of Light as the tenth greatest album of all time. That year Rolling Stone readers also voted the album as the twenty-ninth best recording ever. Later, the magazine ranked Ray of Light at #363 on its list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time."
Chart performance
Ray of Light debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 chart on the issue dated March 21, 1998 and was present on the chart for seventy-eight weeks. Since its release, it has been certified 4x Platinum in the U.S., where after fifty-nine weeks, it descended from the top one hundred. In Canada, the album debuted at number one, and has since been certified 7x Platinum. It became Madonna's first album since Erotica to reach the top position in Canada. Retrieved August 1, 2007.
In Australia, Ray of Light also debuted at number one, and became Madonna's seventh album to reach the top spot. Retrieved August 1, 2007. It has since been certified 3x Platinum. In Germany, the album reached number one, and remained there for seven weeks, where it achieved 3x Platinum status. Retrieved August 1, 2007. It has since become Madonna's highest selling album in Germany. Ray of Light failed to reach the top position in France, managing to reach number two, where it remained for seven weeks, and was certified 3x Platinum. In the United Kingdom, Ray of Light debuted at number one on the albums chart, remaining in the top spot for two weeks. In January 2003, the album was certified 6x Platinum with 1,897,000 copies sold.
Singles
"Frozen", the lead single from the album, became Madonna's eighth number one single on the UK Singles Chart, and reached number two on the US Billboard Hot 100. Co-written by Patrick Leonard, the song featured Madonna's vocals over layers of string arrangements and synthesizers. In 2005, a Belgian court ruled that the opening four-bar theme to the song was plagiarized from the song "Ma vie fout le camp", composed by Salvatore Acquaviva. The ruling forbid the sale of the single and the entire Ray of Light album, as well as other compilations that included the track in Belgium.

The second single, "Ray of Light", based on the track "Sepheryn", written by Clive Maldoon & Dave Curtiss (Curtiss Maldoon) in the 70s, was 20 years later reworked by Clives' cousin Christine Ann Leach and William Orbit and featured a combination of high-energy techno sounds and electric guitar riffs. It debuted at No. 2 in the UK.The Official UK Charts Company . Retrieved on August 3, 2007 It reached the top 5 in the U.S., and was certified Gold in both countries. Retrieved August 1, 2007. Retrieved August 1, 2007. The song was also a dance hit in the U.S., remaining at number one for four weeks, and became the top Hot Dance Club Play single of 1998.Billboard magazine . Retrieved on August 3, 2007 The song was nominated for "Record of the Year" at the 1999 Grammy Awards, but lost to Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On."
"Drowned World/Substitute for Love" became the third release outside of North America, and was a top-ten hit in the UK. The music video, directed by Walter Stern, caused controversy due to scenes that featured Madonna being chased by paparazzi on motor-bikes, a scenario similar to Princess Diana's death in 1997.

The fourth single, "The Power of Good-Bye", a ballad reflecting on a painful breakup, became a modest chart success, peaking at number six in the UK, and number eleven in the U.S. It was released in the UK with "Little Star", a song about Madonna's daughter, as an AA side.

"Nothing Really Matters", the fifth and final single release, became a top-ten hit in the UK, reaching number seven. In the U.S., however, the song became Madonna's lowest charting single on the Hot 100, although it reached number one on the Hot Dance Club Play chart. Its music video, directed by Johan Renck, was inspired by Arthur Golden's book Memoirs of a Geisha, and featured Madonna dressed as a geisha.
Track listing
Japanese CD bonus track

Additional notes
"Drowned World/Substitute for Love": contains a sample of "Why I Follow The Tigers" performed by the San Sebastian Strings.
"Shanti/Ashtangi": adapted from text by Shankaracharya, taken from the Yoga Taravali. Additional text: Traditional, Translation by Vyass Houston and Eddie Stern.
"Mer Girl": contains an interpolation and elements from "Space" performed by Gábor Szabó.
"Has to Be": was also available as the B-side to the "Ray of Light" single.
Charts and certifications
Notes: ¹ CD box set: Ray of Light and The Immaculate Collection.
Release details
All editions released by Maverick and Warner Bros. Records.

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