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Erotica (album)

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Erotica is the fifth studio album and ninth recording by singer Madonna, which was released on October 14, 1992. The album has sold an estimated five million copies worldwide.

Contents

Album information

Erotica is a concept album about sexuality. Each track explores a different facet of sexuality, usually involving sexual relationships. Lyrically, the album does not tie sex and sexual relationships with the traditional ideals of romance. A dance record by all accounts, the album showcases hip hop- and jazz-affected club production from co-producers Shep Pettibone and André Betts. The album is Madonna's first to bear a parental advisory label, and a separate "clean" version was released without the song "Did You Do It?".

Controversy

While Madonna had always expressed her sexuality suggestively through her art -- primarily through music and promotional music videos -- she was never as explicit as she had been during the Erotica period of her career. Erotica was one of a trio of sexually oriented mainstream projects released within a few months of each other. Nearly simultaneously released with Erotica was the coffee table book Sex, which featured the singer in softcore photographs depicting simulations of sexual acts and BDSM. Less than four months following Erotica and Sex, a poorly received film titled Body of Evidence was released to theatres, which featured Madonna fully nude and in scenes where she was engaged in simulated sexual acts.

Notably, Madonna was an empowered orchestrator of the circumstances in which she explicitly exposed her sexuality, a relatively rare situation for an objectified female in erotic and pornographic imagery.

Critical reception

The controversial sexuality presented to the mainstream by Madonna during the Erotica period was not well received. Madonna had always been considered an expert at pushing buttons and using controversy to further her career, but many thought she had greatly misstepped here. At the time of Erotica's release, she was widely condemned in the media for having pushed the limits of sexuality too far and was no longer considered acceptably suggestive, but lewd.

Interestingly, the sexual imagery Madonna put forward in both Erotica and Sex was widely criticized for not actually being erotic, but sterile and calculating. Madonna has not made clear whether that was the intent of those projects.

Erotica reviews were mixed as some viewed the album as an extension of her critically reviled Sex book and slated it accordingly. In hindsight, both fans and critics have warmed to the album over the years, with some even considering it to be amongst her best work.

Commercial reception

The surrounding massive media and critical backlash hurt Erotica's sales. While sales were initially brisk, the album stalled over the long-term, selling a disappointing two million copies in the USA. Erotica also became the first album since her debut to yield no number one hits in either the UK or the USA. In fact, the #36 Billboard Hot 100 peak of "Bad Girl" made it the first Madonna single to fail to reach the U.S. top 20 after 29 consecutive releases stretching back to "Holiday" in 1983 had done so. Nonetheless, the album produced six singles and was well received on the dance club circuit.

Track listing

  1. "Erotica" (Madonna, Pettibone) - 5:18
  2. "Fever" (Cooley, Davenport) - 5:00
  3. "Bye Bye Baby" (Madonna, Pettibone) - 3:56
  4. "Deeper and Deeper" (Madonna, Pettibone, Shimkin) - 5:33
  5. "Where Life Begins" (Betts, Madonna) - 5:57
  6. "Bad Girl" (Madonna, Pettibone, Shimkin) - 5:23
  7. "Waiting" (Betts, Madonna) - 5:46
  8. "Thief of Hearts" (Madonna, Pettibone) - 4:51
  9. "Words" (Madonna, Pettibone) - 5:55
  10. "Rain" (Madonna, Pettibone) - 5:24
  11. "Why It's So Hard" (Madonna, Pettibone) - 5:23
  12. "In This Life" (Madonna, Pettibone) - 6:23
  13. "Did You Do It?" (Betts, Madonna) - 5:32 (Omitted from the "clean" version)
  14. "Secret Garden" (Betts, Madonna) - 5:32 (Track 13 on the "clean" version)

Personnel

Production

Chart performance

Chart (1992) Peak
Position
Australia albums chart 1 (7 wks)
Austria albums chart 10
Canada albums chart 3 (3 wks)
France albums chart 1 (2 wks)
Germany albums chart 5 (2 wks)
Mexico albums chart 8
Norway albums chart 11 (2 wks)
Portugal albums chart 3
Spain albums chart 5
Switzerland albums chart 5 (2 wks)
UK albums chart 2 (3 wks)
USA Billboard Top 200 2

Certifications

Country Certification
Australia 3x Platinum
Austria Gold
Brazil Gold
Canada 2x Platinum
France Platinum
Germany Gold
Italy 2x Platinum
Mexico Platinum
Nederlands Gold
Poland Gold
Singapore 2x Platinum
South Africa Gold
Spain Platinum
Switzerland Gold
UK 2x Platinum
USA 2x Platinum

Trivia

References

Madonna
Discography | Albums | Singles | Videography | Tours | Filmography | Achievements/awards | Bibliography | Trivia | Unreleased songs | Controversies

 

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