“Ray of Light” is the second single of the American singer Madonna from the album of the same name. The song was written by Madonna herself, Orbit, Clive Muldoon, Dave Curtis and Christina Litchi. The producers of the song were Madonna and Orbits.
| Ray of light | |||||||
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| Madonna's Single from the album Ray of Light | |||||||
| Side B | "Has to Be" | ||||||
| Released | May 6, 1998 | ||||||
| Format | CD , maxi single, video single , 7 " , 12" | ||||||
| Recorded by | 1997 | ||||||
| Genre | EDM | ||||||
| Duration | 5:21 a.m. | ||||||
| Producer | Madonna, William Orbits | ||||||
| Songwriter | Madonna, William Orbit , Clive Muldoon, Dave Curtiss, Christine Leach | ||||||
| Label | Maverick , Warner Bros. | ||||||
| Timeline of the Madonna Singles | |||||||
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This is a tempo electro-pop song with techno, trance, euro dance and disco influences. “Ray of Light” contains elements of rock music that were created in comparison with the work of the Oasis band. The lyrics of the song have a theme of freedom. The song received mostly positive reviews. Critics praised the song for its positivity, dance, noting that with all this, that the lyrics say that the Madonna has already matured spiritually. Also, the song has many nominations and awards. The song was nominated for 3 Grammy nominations, namely: “Record of the Year”, “Best Dance Composition”, “Best Short Music Video” and won in the last two. The song was featured on the Billboard hot 100, where it peaked in 5th place. Also, the song was in the top 5 of Canada, Finland, Italy and Britain. In Spain, the song peaked in 1st place.
The video was directed by Jonas Åkerlund. The clip presents the daily life of people, which sweeps at a fast pace. The video has been rated as one of the best videos of all time. The video was nominated for a Grammy, nominated for 8 nominations 1998 MTV Video Music Award, where he won in 5 nominations, including: "Video of the Year" and "Best Female Video". But despite all this, a lawsuit was put forward, as the video was considered plagiarized on the clip “Non è Mai Stato Subito” by Italian singer Biagio Antonacci.
The song was performed on three tours of the singer: “Drowned World Tour”, “Confessions Tour” and “Sticky & Sweet tour”, at the 1999 VMAs, live 8, live Earth, at the Oprah Winfrey show. The song was recognized as one of the best songs of the 90s.
Like a single, the song was released on May 6, 1998. B-side - "Has to be". Label - Maverick, Warner Bros.
Criticism about the song
Ray of Light has received critical acclaim since its release. Liana Jonas from Allmusic called the song “a damn good club song,” emphasizing that the listener would be pleased to listen to it. Stephen Thomas Erlewine described the song "Addictive." Rob Sheffield put the song alongside other songs from the album, namely “Swim” and “Drowned World \ Substitute for love”, emphasizing “powerful positivity”. Sal Cinquemani from "Slant Magazine" called the song "Insanely Festive". Also, “Slant Magazine” recognized the song as one of the best songs of the 90s.
In 1999, the song won two Grammy Awards. The song was also nominated for Record of the Year, but lost to Celine Dion’s My Heart Will Go On.
Chart appearances
The song peaked at number 5 on the Billboard hot 100. It reached number one on the US Billboard hoy dance club songs. The song was a success in other countries.
Music video
Background
The director of the video is Jonas Auckland. Filming took place from March 25-25. Location - Los Angeles. The video contains footage from Los Angeles, London, New York, Stockholm. The footage was also used to create a video series for the song “Runaway Lover” during a promotional tour in support of the album “Music”.
Contents
This video clip shows the ordinary everyday life of a person. The video starts at sunrise. The following shows how people live: a noisy metropolis, work, traffic jams, rest. Then evening comes and people return home. Next, the action is transferred to a night club. There we are shown how the Madonna dances in the company of the people around her. Madonna is dressed in jeans, a white T-shirt. She has golden hair.
Receive video
The video took number 40 in the “100 Great Music Videos” which belongs to channel VH1. The video was also nominated for 8 nominations of the VMA Music Video Awards, where it won 5: “Best Choreography”, “Best Female Video”, “Best Editing”, “Best Direction”, “Video of the Year”.
Litigation with Non è Mai Stato Subito
In July 1998, Stefano Salvati blamed Madonna's Warner Bross label. The prosecution said the music video was copied from a Biagio Antonacci video titled “Non è Mai Stato Subito”. As it turned out, both videos were at a fast pace with a quick change of pictures.
Contributed to the creation of the video.
- Director - Jonas Auckland
- Producer - Nicola Doring
- Executive Producer - Billy Poveda
- Horreography - Genich Hanvarson
- Editorial - Jonas Auckland
VHS Release
On June 23, 1998, the video was released on VHS in a limited edition of 40 thousand copies.
Live
Live performance was recorded during the “Confessions Tour”. Published January 25, 2007. Taken on August 16, 2006.
Another live performance was published March 25, 2010 on Yahoo! Music ”, as a promo for“ Sticky & Sweet tour ”. Recorded in December 2008 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Cultural Impacts
The song was performed in numerous advertising campaigns, in the advertising campaign of Windows XP. It was also used in the animated series "Family Guy"
Live performances
The song was performed live during:
- Drowned world tour
- Confessions tour
- Sticky & sweet
Was performed on
- VMAs 1999 (Together with Shanti / Ashtangi
- Live 8
- Live earth
- Oprah Winfrey Show
Performances were also planned during the "RE-Invention Tour", but subsequently Madonna refused, because according to her, she could damage her voice. During Turning Up the Hits (MDNA Tour), an excerpt from the song sounded.
Official
- Album version (5:19)
- Radio Edit (4:33) (promo, GHV2, Celebration)
- William Orbit Liquid Mix (8:08)
- William Orbit Liquid Mix Radio Edit (5:13) (promo)
- William Orbit Ultra Violet Mix (7:00)
- Victor Calderone Club Mix (9:29)
- Victor Calderone Club Mix Radio Edit (4:55) (promo)
- Victor Calderone Drum Mix (5:29)
- Victor Calderone Video Mix (Promo)
- Sasha's Ultra Violet Mix (10:48)
- Sasha's Ultra Violet Mix Radio Edit (5:10) (promo)
- Sasha's Stripped Down Mix (5:04)
- Sasha's Twilo Mix (10:59)
- Version with "Confessions Tour"
- Version with Sticky & Sweet tour
Chart Positions
Peak
| Chart | Peak |
|---|---|
| Australia ARIA Singles Chart | 6 |
| Austrian singles chart | 31 |
| Belgian Flemmish Ultratop 50 | 25 |
| Belgian Wallonie Ultratop 40 | 33 |
| Canadian Singles Chart | 3 |
| Dutch Top 40 | 17 |
| European Hot 100 | 9 |
| Finnish singles chart | 2 |
| French SNEP Singles Chart | 18 |
| German singles chart | 28 |
| Irish singles chart | sixteen |
| Italian FIMI Chart | 2 |
| Japanese Oricon International Singles | five |
| New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart | 9 |
| Spanish singles chart | one |
| Swedish Singles Chart | 14 |
| Swiss singles chart | 32 |
| UK Singles Chart | 2 |
| US Billboard Hot 100 Airplay | 26 |
| US Billboard Hot 100 | five |
| US Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs | one |
| US Billboard Hot Singles Sales | five |
End of Year Positions
| Chart (1998) | Position |
|---|---|
| Australia ARIA Singles Chart | 57 |
| French Singles Chart (SNEP) | 93 |
| Italian Singles Chart | 59 |
| US Billboard Hot 100 | 75 |
| UK Singles Chart (The Official Charts Company) | 47 |
Sales and Certifications
| A country | Certification | Sale \ Shipment |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | Gold | 35,000 |
| Great Britain | Silver | 200,000 |
| USA | Gold | 500,000 |
Recording Staff
- Writing - Madonna, Orbits, Clive Muldoon, Dave Curtis, and Christine Leach.
- Producers - Madonna, Orbits
- Recording Engineer - Pat McCartney
- Design - Kevin Regan
- Photo by Mario Testino