RAY OF LIGHT RELEASED: March 1998
Madonna worked with Peruvian fashion photographer Mario Testino on the cover photography for the album. Shot at the Paris Theatre, Miami in November 1997, Madonna had reinvented herself as an “Earth Mother”, complete with long-tousled locks and tan (albeit fake) for a radically different image from the alabaster Monroe-look of previous albums.
Wearing a range of designer outfits by the likes of Dolce & Gabbana and Jean-Paul Gaultier, the pair didn’t feel they had their key image until a relaxed moment towards the end of the day.
This would be the first release to be art directed by Kevin Regan, who also created the clean, classic typography for the sleeve and a design that followed through the first two singles of the campaign.
Undoubtedly Madonna’s magnum opus, ‘Ray Of Light’ arrived at a time when – whilst not written off – Madonna’s career had made a huge diversion from the pop scene. With no tour to support ‘Bedtime Stories’ (1994), Madonna had turned to ballads and a musical soundtrack, leading many to believe that the raunchy popstar-turned-mother had mellowed. In reality, she had spent the previous year creating an album that would finally establish her as a songwriter and producer with her finger on the pulse, creating a sound that would influence the direction popular music would take.
She began writing with long-term collaborator Patrick Leonard, composing songs like Frozen and Nothing Really Matters. Melodically on a par with their ‘80s hits, Leonard had struggled with Madonna’s desire to have a more modern production sound. She had been heavilyinspired by British trip-hop artists and wanted to find a new direction that melded those beats with her new vocal range – even richer since the birth of her first child, Lourdes Leon.
Writing more songs with Stevie Nicks collaborator Rick Nowels, who she had met on a shopping expedition in New York, the material was there, but it wasn’t until her then-A&R rep, Guy Oseary, suggested a meeting with British Producer William Orbit that Madonna found the direction she was seeking.
The pair entered the studio in Los Angeles that summer. Orbit reworked the existing songs, adding his signature bleeps and beats and often restructuring the songs completely. For The Power of Goodbye, he transposed Nowels’ chorus from a minor key to a major, completely altering its feel.
As well as writing a handful of new songs together, Madonna added her vocal and additional production to a few tracks Orbit had in his arsenal. Candy Perfume Girl is almost note-for-note the same as Susannah Melvoin’s demo, but it was the song Ray Of Light that would prove pivotal. Brought to Orbit the previous year by singer Christine Leech, it had started life as a folk track, written by her uncle in the early 1970s. Madonna may have added only a few lyrics to her version, but her changes to the production and astonishing vocal performance – possibly her greatest ever – transformed the song.
Released the following year, ‘Ray Of Light’ was a critical and commercial success, launching a second phase for Madonna’s career with a newfound respect from the previously sometimestepid musical press. The album would win four of its six Grammy nominations and, at last count, sold over 16 million copies.