Album: True Blue (1986)
Songwriters/producers: Madonna/Stephen Bray

One can’t help but feel sorry for True Blue. Title tracks rarely get this short-changed - only performed on a single tour, never even released on a compilation… Its relative obscurity really is a shame - despite lacking the sheer power of the album’s other four singles, its light, girl-group feel is a natural extension of the last few tracks on Like a Virgin. Though it may be built on synthesizers, the slight shuffle to the beat sounds distinctively retro, quite unlike most pop music of the time (though Michael Jackson did the same at least as well on The Way You Make Me Feel a year later). Madonna’s vocals are passionate as usual, but she steps it up in the lush “no more sadness” bridge, which really takes the song to another level.

It’s too bad those devotional lyrics never stayed true - as strong as it is on its own, the song is just indelibly associated with Madonna’s marriage to Sean Penn. Listening with the outcome of their relationship in mind, the unwavering optimism sounds eerily naive, though far from a dishonest or contrived love song. In a way, the song’s lack of ongoing relevance to Madonna is sadly understandable - I guess it’d be hard for her to hear it without thinking of a failed, though not necessarily bitter past.

The video. Ohhhhhhhh, man, the video. Sure, the ’60s retro may suit the song, but it far from does it justice. Quite simply, from the butt-shaking (which is admittedly very flattering with the girls’ insanely tight pants) to the dance moves, the car, the awkward haircut - it may well be the campest thing Madonna ever put out (to the masses, that is; Cry Baby and I’m Going Bananas sink painfully lower). It crosses the thin line between cute and cutesy - but beyond that, it’s not even terribly compelling in its minimalism. Maybe that’s why MTV organised a “Make My Video” contest - shame the winning entry doesn’t seem to be on YouTube. Somehow the contest promo somehow manages to surpass even the original video’s camp - but one thing’s for sure; they both equally feel like relics, an epoch away, with little to presently relate to compared to Madonna’s other videos of the time.