Like A Prayer (1989)

Like A Prayer (1989)

By the late ’80s, Madonna’s music videos were an artistic medium in their own right, giving her a portal to further explore themes of sex, gender, race, and religion with imagery. Unlike past singles that backed suggestive lyrics with equally evocative videos, the album’s title track had been considered a graceful move towards spirituality.

When the music video for Like A Prayer finally aired, critics were shocked that the spirited and prayerful hymn to Madonna’s late mother could lend itself to a video that included burning crosses, plot lines of racial profiling, and a fantasy of making out with a saint in the pews. Pepsi immediately cancelled Madonna’s sponsorship contract and took her commercials off the air, while the Vatican one again condemned her lyrics, reminding us that she’s still an apostate.

Similar to Like A Virgin, Madonna defiantly used religious symbolism to explore more relevant, contemporary themes.  Despite the eruptive controversy, the album retains its dance pop qualities while conveying her most deeply personal lyrics. “Promise To Try,” “Keep It Together,” and “Oh, Father” are all discussing her struggles of adolescence, often including the effects of growing up under strict Catholicism. This is most evident in the harrowing chorus of “Oh Father,” where she reminds dad “I lay down next to your boots and I prayed/ For your anger to end/ Oh Father I have sinned/ You can’t hurt me now/ I got away from you.” She also reveals a history of violence and abuse in her failed marriage to Sean Penn in “Till Death Do Us Part.” and later confronts the issue of AIDS in her memorial “Pray for Spanish Eyes.”  Lyrically, she was at her most vulnerable, adding spiritual checkpoints to songs about each major crossroad in her life.

While the title track catapulted Madonna into new levels of controversy, the album’s opus is undoubtedly “Express Yourself.”  Not only does the track clearly define the album’s modus operandi, it’s the hymn best equipped to sum up her entire musical career. It is a dance anthem that plays with themes of lackluster romance and the habit of being silenced as a woman, and settles on a resolution of unapologetic noise.