Justify My Love (1990)

Directed by

Madonna

Genre

trip hop

Country

United States

Runtime

5 min

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

Madonna sings and speaks about sexual fantasies from a woman's point of view. The song blends hip hop and trip hop influences with a slow, hypnotic beat.

sensualassertivehypnoticspoken-wordatmosphericseductiveconfidentmoody

What happens

"Justify My Love" is a song by American singer Madonna from her first greatest hits album, The Immaculate Collection (1990). The song was written by Lenny Kravitz and Ingrid Chavez, with additional lyrics by Madonna; Kravitz also handled the production alongside André Betts. It was released as the lead single from The Immaculate Collection on November 6, 1990, by Sire and Warner Bros. Records. Initially, Chavez was not credited on the song; this led to a lawsuit against Kravitz that resulted in an out-of-court settlement. Influenced by hip hop, dance, trip hop, trance and experimental pop, it features spoken word vocals by Madonna touching on sexual fantasies and implying the position of a woman as the one sexually in control. The song's commercial release was accompanied by different remixes; "The Beast Within" remix was condemned as anti-semitic by some Jewish organizations. "Justify My Love" received generally positive reviews by music critics, who appreciated Madonna and Kravitz's collaboration as well as its sensual nature, and was retrospectively noted as one of Madonna's best singles. The song was a commercial success, becoming Madonna's ninth number-one single on the US Billboard Hot 100, and also peaked at number one in Canada; it also reached the top 10 in several countries including Australia, Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The accompanying music video, shot in Paris and directed by Jean-Baptiste Mondino, is a tribute to the film Bay of Angels (1963). It features Madonna's then-boyfriend Tony Ward and portrays the singer as a woman walking in a hotel hallway, looking distressed and tired from work, until being seduced into having sex with a mysterious man and woman. The video contained imagery of sadomasochism, voyeurism and bisexuality, and was subsequently banned from MTV and other networks internationally due to its sexually explicit nature. In response, the video was released as a video single on VHS and became the first-ever short-form video to be certified multiplatinum in the US by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). "Justify My Love" and "The Beast Within" remix have been included on four of Madonna's concert tours, the last being 2023–2024's Celebration Tour. It was covered and sampled a number of times by artists such as Vita, Ashanti, and Jay-Z. The music video was parodied on an episode of Saturday Night Live and was also seen by critics as feminist, as well as considered one of the sexiest videos of all time by some publications. "Justify My Love" was included on Madonna's greatest hits albums Celebration (2009) and Finally Enough Love: 50 Number Ones (2022). (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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