One more time, with Madonna came the scandal. And she knew it. 'Justify my love' was actually an “innocent” love letter written by Ingrid Chavez (Prince collaborator) to Lenny Kravitz. A letter that was never sent to him. He was married to Lisa Bonet. TO Madonna liked it and recorded it for 'The Immaculate Collection' his first 'greatest hits' (one of the best-sellers of all time and the best-selling compilation by a solo artist). His video contained, among other things, “nudity, bisexuality, sadomasochism, polyamory…” And of course, MTV censored him. For any particular scene? No. They rejected everything completely.
In 1990, Madonna decided that his next project would be a 'greatest hits', the first of his career. It would be called 'Ultra Madonna'. However, Warner Brothers torpedoed that plan. They were worried that she would be confused with a then-popular artist named Utra Naté. Thus, the compilation that included 15 hits – from 'Holiday' (1983) to 'Vogue' (1990) – ended up being titled 'The Immaculate Collection'. It contained two new songs: 'Rescue me' and 'Justify my love' (the first and controversial single).
'Justify my love' had been conceived by Lenny Kravitz the collaborator by princeIngrid Chavez (with whom Lenny supposedly had an affair outside of his marriage to Lisa Bonet) and producer André Betts. “Writing the song was one of those magical moments,” Ingrid revealed on Vibe. “André and Lenny asked me if I had anything I wanted to say. I had a letter (my letters were like poems) and “I went to the microphone and basically read the letter.”. In a single shot. It was his declaration of love to Kravitz that he had never sent him.
WECB Classic
WECB Classic
Kravitz took the demo to Virgin. Months later he informed Ingrid that Madonna would publish his composition and asked him to sign a document: I would receive 12.5% in royalties, but it would not be in the credits. She signed and was invited to the studio. She was shocked when she saw that Madonna copied her voice exactly from the demo version. ““He did an amazing job copying my voice.”he said on Vibe. Madonna added some lyrics; and Kravitz, in addition to the chorus from which the song takes its title, was also in charge of the production with André Betts. Subsequently, Chavez and Betts filed lawsuits against Kravitz for not appearing in the credits. The case was resolved with a extrajudicial agreement.
On November 6, 1990, 'Justify my love' was the lead single from 'The Immaculate Collection'. Before, in September, Madonna had posed – with cap and black leather suit – for the purpose of Patrick Demarchelier. The result was an iconic and sensual cover that captured his image masculine/feminine.
With influences from hip hop, dance, trip hop, trance and experimental pop, it is a “spoken” song – except in the chorus – in which Madonna plays songs from sexual fantasies in which the woman is the only one has sexual control.
The video was shot in the Hotel Le Royal Monceau de Paris and is directed by Jean-Baptiste Mondino. He participated then boyfriend of the singer, Tony Ward. Includes sadomasochistic imagery, voyeurism or bisexuality, and was censored by MTV and other international networks due to their sexually explicit nature. “I think sexuality is something that Americans they would rather sweep it under the rug” the artist would say on ABC.
Mondino described the peculiarities of filming in 'Rolling Stone': “The idea was lock ourselves in this hotel for three days and two nights. Without any rules. We rent the entire upper floor of the hotel. We slept and lived in those rooms… there may have been 15 of them. One was the makeup room, another was the locker room. No one was allowed to leave. There was tables with food. There were no rules – we had alcohol, we could smoke. I didn't have any preconceived ideas, I just knew that Madonna would arrive at the hotel tired and leave full of life, full of energy…It was very strange because We didn't know when we were making the film or when we were living a real situation. “Everything was mixed.”
On November 27, MTV formally announced that it was banning the broadcast of the video. “We respect Madonna's work as an artist and believe she makes magnificent videos,” they said in a statement. “This one is not for us.” That same day, in a telephone interview with the New York Times, the artist answered: “These fantasies and thoughts exist in every person. Why are people willing to watch a movie in which someone gets blown up for no reason and Nobody wants to see two girls kissing or two men caressing each other.?”
Madonna and her team came up with a plan to get around the MTV problem: 'Justify my love' would be released as a “video single” in VHS format (Queen had done it four years earlier in the United Kingdom, but No one had ever done it in the United States.). With the same Demarchelier cover, the tapes were published at the end of December. They cost 9.98 dollars. It quickly became the best-selling video single of all time.. The first to receive the multi-platinum certificate. Despite '0' broadcasts on MTV, The song reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on January 5, 1991. Madonna's ninth in the United States.
On December 3, 1990, the ABC program 'Nightline' aired the censored video followed by a live interview with Madonna. When host Forrest Sawyer asked if he was making more money selling the video on VHS than if it had been broadcast on MTVshe, half jokingly, responded “Yes, how lucky I am!”.
