Art, Art, Art... "Ray of light" is Madonna's great masterpiece. The album with which the public loved her again and with this album Madonna closed the mouths of the heaters and critics. My favorite song on the album is "Frozen" and on Madonna's entire career.
Ray of Light revitalized Madonna’s career, featured her best vocals and elevated songwriting, garnered her first Grammy awards, and was her highest selling (non-compilation) album of the 90s. A definitive albums in Madonna’s discography. One of her most successful and impactful reinventions.
RAY OF LIGHT is not for everybody It is somewhat of an acquired taste... like a fine wine Some people connect with it instantly, others learn to appreciate it with time But everybody knows it is a masterpiece
Very well said! Actually, I have become a fan of Madonna in 2000 when i was 13 and Music album was released. When I went back and listen to her previous albums, I was highly disappointed with Ray of Light after the very first listen. It just didn't click with me at all. It took time to understand all topics she is singing about and appreciate really not-that-mainstream sound of album, but once it clicked with me, I really cannot describe the feeling. It is truly the masterpiece, mature album and the best work in pop music in past 50 years.
@@maddy1111sk Yep, as I said, it is like tasting wine (for the very first time) ;; No one can say they enjoy it the first time around, but then you learn to appreciate it and one day you decide to buy a bottle and then two... and then you can't stop.... and then you need it everyday.... every hour, all the time .... you just can't make it through the day without it...... Sorry... I think I got carried away here so I'll stop. Now if you will excuse me, I think I'm gonna go listen to ROL some more. Bye!
Mer Girl is the closer because the album gives you this theme of new found peace and joy, the euphoria of finding a new explanation to life a new belief system that supposedly motivates you to keep fighting but at the end she realizes none of that is what keeps her going. it's the loss of her mother which is her original trauma that kept her feeling abandoned that motivates her. everything that she went through was nothing but a tool to fill the void the death of her mother left in her.
I bought the Japanese edition with the sublime closer Has To Be and it adds more to the album like an epilogue as well. If you're not familiar with Japanese edition CDs in the 90s onwards, they're really a find for music lovers all over the world. It costs more than the imported US versions in like say Tower Records, but not just because of the bonus tracks but of the quality of the CDs themselves which are more durable and long lasting along with more additional features like rare photos, notes and articles. Still have this in pristine condition.
Ray Of Light is not for everybody and it's also a grower because most of it is not anywhere close to mainstream Pop. It shows her artistic growth again perfectly though and where she was as a person at the time. Won her 4 Grammys, 6 VMA's and sold over 16 million worldwide.
Sold over 16.5 million as 1999! It already crossed the 20 million for sure being her 2nd best selling studio album in Europe. It returned to charts in many countries with each new album and tour in many European countries. It's among TOP 40 Best Selling Albums of All Time in both UK and Germany!
I think if you listen to this album without the context or without trying to understand the themes you only get half the experience. Songs like Nothing Really Matters, Mer Girl, Little Star and Shanti become some of her most emotionally potent songs once you understand what she was going through. So many of the choices she makes on the album make sense when you understand what the concept she’s trying to get across actually is. Ray Of Light is not only a well produced album, it has masterful storytelling and great sequencing. The best way to experience it is laying in your bed in the dark, letting the music completely overtake you and trying to let the music and lyrics form a picture in your head. Doing it while filming a video and acting for the cameras is not ideal, in my opinion. Once I let the album play without any expectations it finally clicked for me completely, after not really liking half the songs the first couple times I listened to it.
I think that's only half true. This is one of my favorite albums of all time, but tbh, if you need to learn the context behind a work like this in order to enjoy it... maybe it means something. Still one of the best of all time, in my opinion!
The Power Of Goodbye is one of her greatest achievements. Often overlooked, it’s beautiful in every way and just a companion piece, the video is extremely gorgeous! Ahhhhhh!!!!!!!!❤️
It missed the TOP 10 in US peaking at #11 due to an increase of airplay ratio on the Hot 100 at the week it was going to rise to TOP 10 (airplay was contributing almost 90% to the chart compared to sales at the time - at the time Billboard still did how the alterantive chart would have been without the methodology change and the song would have been #10). In European Hot 100 (sales based only) the song peaked #02.
Madonna herself has called this album “drug music without the drugs!” Adding “none of us (the people in the studio) are on anything!” What is hard to comprehend now is how HUGE the shift was in the sonic landscape that she created for pop music when releasing this album. This was not just A game changer, it was THE game changer. I haven’t heard you discuss the lyrical content of the album in this review. Which is also one of the reasons many people see this as one of her best. Because musically and lyrically she is at her best here. For me, this album made me a HUGE Madonna stan, and always has a special place in my heart. Curious to see what your thoughts are on the next three albums. Because she is going to take you on a damn ride! This era was MAGIC for her!
When I first heard this album, everyone had previously praised it to me. Even people that didn’t own a Madonna album were saying, “You gotta get this.” So I did, it was playing in the background and I wasn’t really vibing it much. But then I had it playing again and again. Suddenly something started changing in me with it. Songs were standing out in a massive way. It only kept growing from there where I started saying, “Damn this is an incredible album.” It wasn’t just sonically, but lyrically. Hearing and reading the lyrics was like having a spiritual awakening where you just question everything around you. It was deep and philosophical. It was something that grew on me over time to the point that I was beyond impressed. It’s like an art piece that changes shape with each experience with it. Try smoking a joint with it and get carried away in it. This album is like getting on a ride that takes you into the furthest regions of space. It starts off slow, then builds up to lightning speed where it coasts, and then gradually softens and fades away, which is why the momentum of the last few tracks slow down significantly. Because you’re coming to the end of the ride. Now I find this to be one of her top best albums. And the “Music” album that comes after this is a great extension. This one is ethereal and “Music” explodes out of that etherealness into something cosmic.
Ray Of Light and Music really was an amazing time for her both commercially and criticly. Probably the years when she was most acclaimed and even the people who tried to end her when Erotica came out admitted defeat and that she was here to stay and had more talent than just shock value and controversy.
Madonna's sound is so diverse that every fan out there has his/her favourite album, without mentioning her loooong career. In my case, I love the trilogy Ray of Light/ Music/ American Life, the most avant garde, experimental, ahead of their time work ever! I remember listening to ROL for the first time, I was so confused, kinda dissapointed, until my eyes were open! Since then I love the experimental Madonna, the one who's not afraid to do things nobody does; unconventional, crazy and risky things, that's the Madonna I adore.
1:21 - Drowned World/Substitute for love 5:13 - Swin 8:36 - Ray of light 12:19 - Candy perfume girl 13:57 - Skin 16:40 - Nothing really matters 18:43 - Sky fits heaven 20:46 - Shanti/ Ashtangi 23:14 - Frozen 27:25 - The power of Good-bye 30:25 - To have and not to hold 34:56 - Little Star 37:14 - Mer girl
It still sounds so fresh to me. Bought it the day it came out. Though the next album, Music, is my favorite in her catalog, this one is very close behind it.
I think one of the issues here is that you didn't really comment on any of the lyrical content and as a result you kinda missed much of the journey that Madonna was taking you on (the lyrics to the first song are really important for setting the album up as a reflection on her life/career/fame, and the reason she chose Mer Girl to end the album is pretty obvious when you listen to the lyrics i.e its about death. loss and longing). It's a concept album rather than a collection of fire bops which is why it is the album that music critics and fans tend to applaud the most. Personally I think Mer girl is hauntingly brilliant although certainly not an easy listen, and little star is like an electro lullaby (for her newly born daughter), saccharine sweet and bubbly. I like Bedtime Stories, but I think Ray of Light is far superior in terms of maturity, experimentalism, originality and especially lyrical content (when Bedtime stories was released that R&B sound was already around, although Madonna certainly put a new spin on it. Where as with Ray of Light, there was nothing in pop music that sounded anything like that and it kinda paved the way for a lot of electro sounds/effects to make their way into the pop sphere). I agree that it is not an easy listening album but I think music that challenges and perhaps makes one think and reflect is more valuable in some ways. And yes, maybe try smoking a joint and taking a second listen....lol
Ray Of Light is one of greatest albums ever!!! That sound is a true mental-spiritual journey!!! Drowned World, Swim, Ray of Light, Nothing Really Matters, Sky Fits Heaven, Frozen and The Power of Goodbye my favorites ❤️❤️
When the album 1st came out, I was living out in the desert near an aqueducts that had water constantly flowing through. At night I would play the album, light candles, open my bedroom window. The music, candles, the water sound and wind blowing created such an ethereal feeling/effect.
Sounds great. I was in a weird transition. Living in hotels during a divorce, basically nocturnal. This oddly kept me sane. Lots of nights on balconies enjoying cityscapes.
Nothing Really Matters might be the best song she’s ever written. So catchy, insanely classic house production with a gothic twist, simple but meaningful lyrics. It’s an experience, you always get more the more you listen to it.
I think Nothing Really Matters is the most pop friendly song on the album but far from her best written. Songs like Live To Tell, Like A Prayer and Frozen completely beat it as well as stuff she’s written since
Ray of Light is probably my favorite Madonna album. I connect with it the most but I do think it’s not for everyone and that’s not a bad thing. Great review, excited for the rest!
I've never been a big fan of "Little Star" (I would have swapped that one or "Shanti" out with "Has to Be," which is amazing), but "To Have and Not to Hold" has grown on me over the years. It's subtle but really brilliant. And I don't know what to say about anyone not appreciating "Mer Girl." Do you want to sing or dance along to it? No. But it's lyrically and vocally so breathtaking and vulnerable. The perfect way to end the album IMO. This isn't pop music. It's art.
I agree with your comment about MER GIRL PERFECT way to close out THIS album Notice I said "perfect WAY"... not "perfect SONG" For me this was an artistic touch in the form of poetry that compliments the rest of the songs
@@walterhigo7658 Not only that, but considering the lyrics and the overall message of the album thought of as a traveling enlightenment, and it was. In the end she's basically saying: I still haven't found it and haven't quite figured it out. Brilliant. But he doesn't listen to the lyrics of the song at all and I've noticed that in his other reviews and therefore he misses a lot
@German Morawski THIS! Omg especially after the amazing American life she was playing it so safe, American life is my fav Madonna album and confessions is my least fav tbh
@German Morawski and that's exactly why you'll never understand. Your description fits more with Lady Gaga's 'Chromatica'. But we are talking about Madonna and this is one of the most acclaimed albums not only by fans, but by critics precisely because it is not just a danceable and generic album. But an album with a very rich personality and influences in the right dosage.
I remember buying the album the day it was released, and I still remember the first time I listened to it - it didn't sound the Madonna we used to know. Although she has always reivented her image and sound from the beginning, Ray of Light was a rebirth for her. Such a timeless masterpiece.
I think fans constantly oversell ROL to non fans. It is a complete masterpiece, but much of it’s impact was if you were a Madonna fan when it dropped. It blew everyone’s mind at the time because no one thought Madonna was capable of such a radical departure, sound & voice-wise. It definitely needs a few listens to grow on you. And as Madonna said herself during promo, “it’s drug music without the drugs.” ✌️
The album was 'revolutionary' for Madonna as an artist at the time, and I think for younger people such as some of those on TH-cam who react to/review her albums one by one, they get a version of the impact we all had at the time. Ray of Light marked many changes for Madonna as an artist, including her adoption of an underground trance/electronic song genre and successful attempt to use it for mainstream pop that got radio play, her incorporation of Kabbalah-based philosophies that related to new motherhood-related sentiments and a kind of all-is-love existentialism she had never demonstrated before, and for the first time ever a willingness to let a little loose with her vocals and sound 'ugly' for effect on the title song rather than having perfectly polished vocals throughout. It seemed like Madonna had had some kind of illumination if not enlightenment, and as someone who was in college at the time this came out and was into electronic dance and trance music, I recall being really impressed with Madonna's artistry. I son't know if it is 'oversold,' exactly. It does need to be considered in the context of her work and how new the sound was to the mainstream in order to really understand how innovative and especially how successful it was in its time. I wouldn't consider the album 'oversold,' but I would consider that most people who just give a cursory review of older artists rather than taking a 'deep dive' may not 'get' why this album is appreciated as much as it is because many prior singles are more immediately likable and may stand out as superior in that way. Taken on their own, 'Like a Prayer,' 'Take a Bow,' 'Vogue' and probably 30 other earlier Madonna songs all lined up probably seem much stronger as a collection than this album does, but this album is appreciated for its innovation and for its artistic integrity, as a cohesive spiritual meditation rather than a collection of singles engineered to be radio hits. So I'd say that the people who 'oversell' it don't mean to exaggerate how good it is, but rather they just have a deep appreciation for it because it introduced a version of Madonna who seemed more than an expert song-and-dance pop artist-more of a maternal and inward-looking human being. And perhaps especially because Madonna gave that up and went back to making less thoughtful music and focusing today on superficial interests, the album still stands out as a career high mark.
@German Morawski Yes! That's how I remember it too. What was/is also so different with ROL is that Madonna personalized techno in a way that hadn't been done before. She brought a depth of subjectivity to an otherwise type of music that could be robotic and impersonal.
The album was really huge in Europe being her 2nd best selling studio album in Europe (selling over 8 million copies in Europe alone until the end of 1998). In Germany is Madonna best selling album and in UK comes at 3rd best selling (after TIC and True Blue) being among TOP 40 Best selling albums of all time in both countries. Sales of the album were over 16.5 million copies by the end of 1999 worldwide. I'm sure it already crossed 20 million copies worldwide (just waiting for Warner to update her numbers worldwide to know where it stands). I have many friends that are not Madonna fans and this is their favorite Madonna album. This is a late 90's landmark that influenced most European music for the following 5 years and is Madonna favorite album for many Europeans (not just Madonna fans).
I feel like you are listening to this without knowing the background of it all. The birth of her daughter (her first child), the realizing of losing her mother being one of the biggest aspects of her life that continues to be the struggle even as she becomes a mother herself. She paced the album in the way of a journey she had. And so many undone reflections she had at the time. I see the album about life in all forms. And a journey to you. And it can be uplifting while breaking your heart all at once.
Ray of Light is Madonna’s less “easy listening album “ ( along with American life and Madame X maybe ). Musically, Is the most complex and deep. William Orbit did an incredible job. This Is ART.
Yeah and let's not forget this is the guy's first time listening to the album. When I bought the album, I had never paid attention to Madonna musically, but I was really into "Frozen" so I was curious... I love the album, but I didn't enjoy "Mer Girl" or "Little Star" on my first few listenz either... LS felt too sappy and MG sounded too weird and dark at first, an unexpected way to finish the album (it has the mood of Bjork songs, almost). But it made sense after several listens. It's definitely not an album for instant consumption, but it's brilliant as a listening experience.
When I first bought the album as a young teen, I didn’t fully comprehend this album either. As I grew older and am now in my mid-30s, I’ve had such a two-decade or so journey of discovery with various epiphanies with this album as my life became more complex and heavy with experiences, highs, lows, and regrets as I revisit the album from time to time. Ray of Light requires multiple listens and it’s one of those albums that resonates more as you grow older and start to experience what she had experienced as she reached 40, but have some distance to reflect and gain some insight into those experiences. If you’re still living it now, it may not have the same impact. I also disagree that you need mind-altering drugs. I’ve never done drugs and I love and fully appreciate this album. It’s not meant to be one where you’re sitting and trying to analyze on the spot for the camera. You need to be in an introspective mood, lie down, and just listen with some good ear buds and let the journey just take you where it goes. It also requires heavy listening to the lyrics. I’m going to give you my understanding of the story Madonna is telling us with this album: The album starts off with her feeling like she’s drowning and underwater with all the crap her life is throwing at her…and things she courted herself and it’s becoming too much that she can’t breathe (Drowned World). She keeps trying to find things outside of herself to satisfy her because deep down she wants love but doesn’t have it. She keeps looking for substitutes of it. She’s trying to find meaning outside of herself and is swimming against the tide to find fulfillment through charity and political work around the world, but the world is complicated and not within any one person’s control and it only frustrates a person who wants to see the world improve (Swim). However, then she reaches the land with “Ray of Light” and discovers an ecstasy and a new purpose. She starts the cycle of again finding a new love with all flirtations and expectations that this time it will be different and that love will be enough to fulfill her. “Candy Perfume Girl” is the initial attraction and spark that brings them together. “Skin” is the lust phase where they reel each other in and enter into physical bliss but something is missing because Madonna is now older, wiser, and has been through this many times before. She even asks “why do all the stupid things I say sound like all the stupid things I’ve said before?” Despite being physically fulfilled, her mind is still hungry for more and she herself recognizes that it’s kind of the same crap she’s been through already and she’s seeing the same signs it’ll probably end the same as all her other romantic relationships. And yet that physical fulfillment is that good. “Nothing Really Matters” is her doubling down on what she found with “Skin. Finding love is Madonna’s whole mantra and what she’s been singing about consistently since her first album. She has bought into the idea that all she needs is love even though she is now older and should know that’s not true. But at this moment, this relationship makes her feel generous in her love that she wants nothing more than to keep giving it as at the time, she feels as though all the love she’s giving comes back to her. That all said, the love she has found is not enough for her, so she starts looking for spiritual fulfillment and dips her toes into other types of belief systems and even religions with “Sky Fits Heaven” and “Shanti/Ashtangi”. She thinks she’s reaching a high place in her life and you’ll observe later in this deep dive that her exploration into alternate religions from the Catholicism she grew up with really has had a profound impact on her and to this day she still practices kaballah and considers herself a student, looking into and discovering new meanings into those religious doctrines/teachings. Then the warning signs she saw in “Skin” come back and again, there’s no substitute for love. “Frozen”, “The Power of Goodbye” and “To Have and Not to Hold” are a trilogy of heartbreak. She’s trying to salvage a dying relationship with an emotionally and psychologically unavailable partner (Frozen) but realizes it’s an exercise in futility and the only answer is to let him go (The Power of Goodbye). After they break up, she reflects back and realizes he really was only a man she could have at the time but she was never meant to really hold on to him, and their relationship really hurt her deeply (To Have and Not to Hold). All the love she gave in “Nothing Really Matters” wasn’t really returned to her after all and depleted her energy and spirit. “To Have and Not to Hold” is sung in such a sad, low energy way to mirror draining that entire experience was as many of us know how that feels once we’ve left a truly formative relationship that demanded so much from us. Despite the pain she’s in, something positive came out of it. Her daughter, Lourdes. “Little Star” is basically a mother’s tribute to her baby who she helped her get over her broken heart and find new depths to her own love. And that theme of love is again so important to Madonna because she reminds Lola (Lourdes’ nickname) that to never forget that she was born out of love. Although the relationship didn’t work out, at the time, they were so in love with each other and they created Lola out of that love. It’s really such a potent message. IMO, “Mer Girl” was a brilliant closure to the album as it shows Madonna at her most naked and vulnerable and yet ironically, it shows she kind of ends where she left off…just running away and thus the cycle starts over again despite the entire journey she went through that had changed her forever. In the closing song, Madonna even complains about motherhood adding to the stress of her life too despite just singing a song about how much she cared for her baby and how grateful she is to be a mother and to carry such love for another. It kind of brings everything back to reality and shows Madonna still has a lot of work left to do to find happiness, if there is such a thing. Such a brilliant album. Even the production adds to the storytelling. The start sounds like she’s singing underwater and drowning. The title track is the first song where her voice isn’t filtered and she’s singing out loud to the point of screaming. However, after that, the rest of the album has this almost distant, detached sound to it as if Madonna is reflecting back and trying to figure out what went wrong or what she learned from the experiences each song portrays. It’s a very reflective album and the way it sounds purposefully mirrors that intention.
I was into trance and house music when this album came out, and so this album was my first experience of a 'pure' music genre being appropriated by a pop artist and refined for mainstream appeal. Madonna has done this throughout her career, mainly with music from throughout the world that isn't known to the English-speaking world. I was impressed with William Orbit's production and with Madonna's choices, and when the album came out, it was received widely as a major advancement for Madonna and for the 'techno' genre, as the music and lyrics are electronic but also warm and they fit the spiritual lyrics, largely new for Madonna-she has written many religiously themed lyrics but this was a new kind of spiritualism inspired by her interest in Jewish mysticism and her motherhood. I recall a lot of reviews credited Orbit and her for doing the impossible by making electronic music emotional, and those reviews (not the music itself) did bother me because I always found a lot of good trance music such as that by BT to be emotionally evocative in a way similar to classical music. I liked Madonna a lot as a young child in the early- and mid-80s and then sort of regarded her as radio/background music from that point on until Ray of Light. This album brought her to my attention as never before, and this album plus her work on Evita really showed her talents. Unfortunately (This is just my personal opinion and I realize everyone won't share it.), I feel like Madonna set such a high bar with this album and put on a convincing show that she had evolved from 'the Material Girl' into a spiritual seeker and someone who was pursuing personal development in a deep and meaningful way that she inevitably set herself up for disappointment with future albums that feel superficial by comparison and which sometimes show pettiness and cattiness that reveals the 'zen' attitudes demonstratec on Ray of Light to have been either an artistic construct or just a passing phase. I think a lot of Madonna's fans took this album very seriously as a sign that motherhood had matured her and had revealed that she is an insightful, thoughtful person, and many of us look at her Instagram antics today and wonder what happened to Ray of Light Madonna. 😟
Happy birthday Ray of Light! The Masterpiece of the Masterpieces. Everything on this album is fucking amazing. Vocals, lyrics, production, visual, videos... The best M album in my opinion.
Ray of light is thé best album she ever made. There's not a single bad song on it. Frozen is one of my favorite songs ever and the video clip is simply a masterpiece !
I remember listening to this back in 1998 as a 14 year old and being totally taken aback by this album, at that age it really was an eye opener. Now I’m 38 and loved watching your reaction, took me back. The album is a masterpiece and probably the best in her career, give it another listen and try and take in as much as possible
Ray of Light is a monumental work of art. One of the best records ever made in music history. Madonna's artistry was on another level with the release of this album, so give it a second chance to appreciate this masterpiece.
I think you need to revisit this album on your own time soon. This is not an album you can just understand in one sitting, it’ll take some time to truly appreciate each song and the message she conveys.
When u mentioned self discovery u nailed it on the spot. She had just gave birth to her first child the prior year and it changed her outlook on life. Before it was literally all about her own life. Then everything flipped and the “new” Madonna was here.
Whenever I see those first time listening videos of Madonna albums, I think: how could people possibly have lived on this planet for the last 20 years without ever having heard frozen, vogue or like a prayer...?!?!
Brother i totally respect your opinion on ROL. Madonna fans love it because , i think, we were understanding and were with here during her personal journey when it was happening. The last 3 songs are probably my favorites. Little Star we all new was about her born, we new Mer Girl was about the death of her mother so we emotionally connected. We are all very bias and protective of Madonns so we think everything is great. Your perspective is honest and un-bias which i think we can accept and respect. A lot of people super hyped the album for you and with that, always comes some sort of let down. Anyway i think “Music” will be more up your alley. You still rock and i agree with your critique……most of time. 😜 keep up great work
I remember the first time I heard this album, I was scratching my head wondering what was going on. But each time I listened to it afterwards it grew and grew on me and became my favorite Madonna album ever. Definitely my most listened to Madonna album and I’ve never had to take anything to enjoy it. 😂
Es una Obra maestra!!!! Madonna merece dedicarle tiempo y escuchar su discografía y no quedarse solo en la superficie por que tiene una calidad impresionante, está infravalorada, sus mejores joyas son anónimos y desconocidas. Ha sido siempre muy valiente sobre todo en la produccion de sonidos. Cuando alguien me pone cara sarcastica y la menosprecia porque solo conoce cuatros canciones de ella me rio para mis adentros y pienso que no saben lo que se pierden!!! Maravillosa!!! Y este disco ya es un nivel impresionante!!!
Mer Girl is about Madonna is trying to come to terms with her mother's death even as she entered into her 40s. The last line: 'I ran and I ran, I'm still running away' hits hard when you know that she's still running from it. She sang about her mom's death in Promise to Try and how it affected her relationship with her father in the video for Oh Father. She told her producer William Orbit to pare down the production so that it is raw and not so polished. For her, it's making a piece of art close to her heart. Rather than trying to impress people sonically.
The best thing about Madonna's work is that many of songs grow on you after a few listens..her best albums have great singles but the album tracks are better in time
This album was made to take everybody out of confort zone, that is why its not easy to listen. Taste is personal, but i desagree with u in one point, do not use drugs, wine or something else to free ur mind, that is what the album doing, making u think about ur life, your choises ... pay attention in the last song, where u say .. why close with this song? "MER GIRL", because people run away .. escape... to not deal with reallity. Life is now... life is what ur doing with your time .. are u Frozen? To Have not to Hold... everything is free.. even love.. everything change and its ok... nobody can stop this ... The Power of Goodbye...
I think you've missed the spirit of this album completely. It's Like A Prayer part 2, with an even deeper dive into her personal journey through life. Her spiritual quest to reconcile her mother's death has always been the driving force in her life. It was the catalyst that formed and informed her journey. And now, here she is, soon to be a parent with baby Lola in her womb. And the cycle of life and death and rebirth is running through her. From the opening song Drowned World/Substitute For Love questioning her faith and fame (similar to Like a Prayer opener) through relationships (Frozen/Power of Goodbye/To Have not to Hold echo Love Song/Till Death Do Us Part), the lullaby for her friend's child (Dear Jessie) echoed in the lullaby for her own (Little Star), and finishing with examining the effect of the death of her mother (Mer Girl) echoing Promise to Try.
If you loved the video for Bedtime Stories, you're going to enjoy the FROZEN video! 😊 glad you're highly enjoying her music. I always advise people who've never heard her music to start from the very beginning to appreciate her work!
I remember when I told my mom I loved listening to madonnas music and how Ray light was my fav album back in 2021, she was so shocked cuz it’s old school music and I’m only 15 lmao
Ray of light sold 16 million albums worldwide. Won 4 Grammy awards including best pop album. It scored two top 10 singles frozen which peaked at no.2 and Ray of light which peaked at No.5 on the billboard charts
There was also alot of great demos recorded...Gone Gone Gone and Revenge, Like A Flower, then the demos of some of the album tracks give them a whole new feeling
I know what you're feeling. Sometimes I get the urge to get into the Ray of Light spaceship, but it's not that album you're always urging to listen to, as a whole, from beggining to end. Not the same can be said about some of the songs, like Ray of Light and Frozen, which are always on my current playlist. It's okay to acknowledge the great body of work that Madonna and Orbit gave us, without having to put this one on the top. It is really a masterpiece. Doesn't mean I love everything about it. When I think about the fact that this album has around 24 years, it is mindblowing how it aged so well, even though it's a heavy one, sonically speaking. I agree with you, I think I like Erotica and Bedtime Stories better. But I will always applaud how Madonna always tried to give us something unique and outdid herself almost everytime. From now onwards, her discography gets a little tricky, Confessions it is the only real highlight. Nothing wrong with her trying to chase the modern trends, I have so much fun with her recent works. But it is a shock if compared with the first half of her works. But I'm glad Madame X came to be her best work since Confessions.
For me Madonna has never made a bad album… I have loved every single era and each album/ era I guess reminds me of key moments/memories in my life. I feel Madonna and her many personas and alter egos are my ‘Disney Inside Out’ crew in my brain 😅 I just get Madonna, I get the music, I get the songs. It’s just works for me no matter what she does. I do have albums I listen to more than others but I would find it very difficult to rank them. I feel I’m one of the only Madonna fans of a certain age who enjoys and listens to her newer catalogue over the 80s material? 🙈 I’m rambling now 😂
This is not an album you can judge in just one listening. It's like fine art and it will grow on you if you give it the chance. I was there when it came out and I'm amazed how after 24 years I still find new details and perspectives on this album. It also talks to you in different ways depending on the stage of life you are at the moment. Definitely Madonna's magnum opus for me.
My personal vote for the best album ever made. I simply can't get enough of it. This is where my fandom for M shot into the stratosphere. Pop masterpiece.
The fact that he had never listened to Frozen, and says wow at the beginning, i's driving me crazy. ¡where have you been! anyway very interesting to listen to the album with you, thumbs up
So nice to hear a different opinion to an album that has only been praised. For me, growing up in the 90’s only listening to all the electronic bands like Massive Attack, Tricky, Portishead, Underworld, Bjork etc I loved Madonna bringing this sound to the mainstream. So for me no drug reference at all. Next to that I was a huge Madonna fan so lyricly this was the most interesting album so far. And yeah, not easy pop like Bedtimes Stories☺️
This is my favourite Madonna album for sure! The video clip for Frozen is just pure art. I would be so happy if you reacted to MARINA's Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land, I really enjoy watching your take on music. I bet all MARINA fans have been waiting for this reaction. Hoping the best for you!
This album is a palate cleanser for me. Anytime I turn on the radio and listen to crap I go back to this album to remind me what real music is all about.
It's astonishing to me that you completely ignored every single lyric she sang. You were halfway through, listening to a song not even in English, before you realized this was a journey of self discovery and self exploration. Honestly, that was laid out in the first line of the first track. You didn't fully comprehend the beginning and that's why you didn't understand the ending. Can't call this a "deep dive" if you're not fully paying attention. Also you've totally ignored Evita. Understandably it's not a studio album of original material. But had you listened to just one song from Evita, you'd have understood that vocally, you'd be hearing very different Madonna going forward. And as a recovering drug addict, I can assure you this album is just as important to my sobriety as anything I might have enjoyed about it when I was high (and yes, I enjoyed it plenty when I was high!) But to suggest that that's the ONLY way to fully appreciate an experience is, frankly, lazy. Not only is it dismissive of the artist and the music, it can be dangerously triggering, as well. I'm not trying to say you "should have liked it more"...that would be ridiculous. It just seems you were only listening for something pretty on the surface and you didn't bother to go deeper. Which is ironic, given the name of your channel.
Great comment. I’d have to add though: you kinda had to be there to “get” Ray of light. She had been slung through the mud in the early 90s, softened her image in the mid 90s, grew so much vocally during evita, had a baby, discovered Kabbalah …these were all things that culminated into an explosion on Ray of light. being a fan in 1998 was SUCH a treat because we endured such crap with her and the payoff was epic. She was a completely different artist now. The critics loved her. She lost a lot of fans during erotica, but If you went through all the hard times with her, it was such a reward to make it to Ray of light.
I love this album, but it is a big change from her musically. You’ll probably enjoy Music much better as it experiments with the electronic sound but has more of a catchy, pop sensibility to it. Give this album a couple more listens though, and it’ll totally grow on you now that you know what to expect from it.
Madonna, after suffering great disillusionment from her waning record sales from Bedtime Stories (Yes, I know you loved that album even though the rest of us who'd been following her since she began found it a bit sleepy) realized she was but a mere human. Record sales had fallen at the same time that she'd experienced the two greatest triumphs of her life, Evita and the birth of her first child, Lourdes. It was a LOT to handle. The rebuke of her fans and the greatest love of her life, her child. She became disillusioned with the concept of "celebrity" and, for the first time since the beginning of her career, felt the absence of love from her once adoring public. She crawled into a hole of detachment from the world she had constructed and began the search for what "really mattered." (Again, sorry if you missed the meaning of Nothing Really Matters). She found new meaning for her life in the Kabbalah and emerged with a Life Lesson worth sharing. New definitions of happiness and self-fulfillment, along with the joy of Motherhood (Little Star is a song written for and about her new daughter Lourdes. You missed that too. Not your fault). It is my personal belief, having been drawn into the Rave Scene of the time, that choosing William Orbit to flesh out this rebirth she was experiencing was pure genius. Madonna has ALWAYS worn her heart on her sleeve and Ray Of Light is no exception. This "direction change" is not just an artistic decision, it is that and much more. It is a new canvas upon which she will continue to paint on for a number of years (and albums) to come. Just you wait. You haven't even reached Confessions On A Dance Floor yet. PS: I was completely sober when I heard Ray Of Light and it still sent me soaring.
You need to listen to HAS TO BE. it was the 14th track on the Japanese version .. and was CRIMINALLY left off the main album. Note: this is her post EVITA album hence her new found sounding vocals.
When ART meets POP it's going to be a MASTERPIECE! Ray of Light for me is the best album of all time. No album can top Ray of Light. It's not an easy listen body of work because the album had so many intricacies that's why it aged like fine wine. It's not a TikTok kids bop where songs are 2 minutes long and you bop to it and move on - it's not generic, it's not for general public. It's very thematic and will probably awaken your creative dimensions. It's transcendental. It's timeless. It's Madonna's MAGNUM OPUS!
I think you would get more out of all albums, but particularly one like this, if you paid attention to the lyrics. You tend to focus only on production and vocals, so you're missing out on a third dimension to the music. I've never smoked anything listening to this, but I can still close my eyes and just zone out to songs like the last three.
I can't believe to what I'm listening from you. When I listened to it, and I had just done it for the first time, I had never felt that way before. I was so excited and sure that I had never listened to a so gorgeous album before, in my entire life. I think you undervalued the power of these songs. Frozen for instance, is a piece of art,a song without time, this is so great and unique and gave me incredible feelings. Bedtime stories can't approach to this masterpiece. There's no element there which can be compared to this monumental perfection.And I'm talking of the greatest part of these songs. I know that tastes are personal and unique, but I think your review is not right. Simply. I can't vibe with you this time 😅
This album is a grower; I understand your reaction but I find lots of occasions to listen to it: winter, summer, party, chilling, headphones, singing... I listen to it high and sober and gets me everytime. try again ;)
Art, Art, Art... "Ray of light" is Madonna's great masterpiece. The album with which the public loved her again and with this album Madonna closed the mouths of the heaters and critics. My favorite song on the album is "Frozen" and on Madonna's entire career.
@@chriswoods1955 anyway many users understood me, and I'm not going to correct it.
By the way; Ch/nga tu maus3r met/do.
@@isaaklondon7720 No offense to you was just trying to help out.I'm sorry if you took offense to that
Agreed 100 100
She needs a another Ray of Light!
Ditto.
Ray of Light revitalized Madonna’s career, featured her best vocals and elevated songwriting, garnered her first Grammy awards, and was her highest selling (non-compilation) album of the 90s. A definitive albums in Madonna’s discography. One of her most successful and impactful reinventions.
Quite a feat for something that's not exactly full of top 40 Pop or Easy Listening songs to do that well.
She had already won a Grammy in 1991, though.
@@fajarzakri4936Although that Grammy was more for the camera work and production by HBO then it was for Madonna.
RAY OF LIGHT is not for everybody
It is somewhat of an acquired taste... like a fine wine
Some people connect with it instantly, others learn to appreciate it with time
But everybody knows it is a masterpiece
Well spoke!
Very well said! Actually, I have become a fan of Madonna in 2000 when i was 13 and Music album was released. When I went back and listen to her previous albums, I was highly disappointed with Ray of Light after the very first listen. It just didn't click with me at all. It took time to understand all topics she is singing about and appreciate really not-that-mainstream sound of album, but once it clicked with me, I really cannot describe the feeling. It is truly the masterpiece, mature album and the best work in pop music in past 50 years.
Facts
All her albums are like that ( with the exception of American life and bedtime stories ) they always grow on you - AL and BS are forgettable for me 🥺
@@maddy1111sk
Yep, as I said, it is like tasting wine (for the very first time) ;;
No one can say they enjoy it the first time around, but then you learn to appreciate it and one day you decide to buy a bottle and then two... and then you can't stop.... and then you need it everyday.... every hour, all the time .... you just can't make it through the day without it...... Sorry... I think I got carried away here so I'll stop. Now if you will excuse me, I think I'm gonna go listen to ROL some more.
Bye!
Mer Girl is the closer because the album gives you this theme of new found peace and joy, the euphoria of finding a new explanation to life a new belief system that supposedly motivates you to keep fighting but at the end she realizes none of that is what keeps her going. it's the loss of her mother which is her original trauma that kept her feeling abandoned that motivates her. everything that she went through was nothing but a tool to fill the void the death of her mother left in her.
Exactly, his reaction is merely superficial, he has no idea of how exquisite the whole album is
I bought the Japanese edition with the sublime closer Has To Be and it adds more to the album like an epilogue as well.
If you're not familiar with Japanese edition CDs in the 90s onwards, they're really a find for music lovers all over the world. It costs more than the imported US versions in like say Tower Records, but not just because of the bonus tracks but of the quality of the CDs themselves which are more durable and long lasting along with more additional features like rare photos, notes and articles.
Still have this in pristine condition.
@@carlheese I have it too and has to be is one of my fave songs from this album
Exactly
Son of a dead mother here. Let me tell you one thing: you're absolutely right.
“Swim” is so fucking underrated. One of my absolute faves from her ever.
Easily her greatest album. This is the best pop album ever released
I think Like a Prayer might be her greatest album
Ray Of Light is not for everybody and it's also a grower because most of it is not anywhere close to mainstream Pop.
It shows her artistic growth again perfectly though and where she was as a person at the time.
Won her 4 Grammys, 6 VMA's and sold over 16 million worldwide.
Sold over 16.5 million as 1999! It already crossed the 20 million for sure being her 2nd best selling studio album in Europe. It returned to charts in many countries with each new album and tour in many European countries. It's among TOP 40 Best Selling Albums of All Time in both UK and Germany!
this album would have no chance of success nowadays, thank god for the 90´s
I think if you listen to this album without the context or without trying to understand the themes you only get half the experience. Songs like Nothing Really Matters, Mer Girl, Little Star and Shanti become some of her most emotionally potent songs once you understand what she was going through. So many of the choices she makes on the album make sense when you understand what the concept she’s trying to get across actually is.
Ray Of Light is not only a well produced album, it has masterful storytelling and great sequencing. The best way to experience it is laying in your bed in the dark, letting the music completely overtake you and trying to let the music and lyrics form a picture in your head. Doing it while filming a video and acting for the cameras is not ideal, in my opinion. Once I let the album play without any expectations it finally clicked for me completely, after not really liking half the songs the first couple times I listened to it.
Facts!
THIS !
👍🏻👍🏻
I think that's only half true. This is one of my favorite albums of all time, but tbh, if you need to learn the context behind a work like this in order to enjoy it... maybe it means something.
Still one of the best of all time, in my opinion!
@@AlvaroMispireta you got a point there 🤔
I mean, how could someone NOT heart "Frozen"? It's one of the greatest songs in history.
Also. How have you heard "The Power of Goodbye" sometime before and never heard "Frozen" or "Ray of Light"?
24:59
The Power Of Goodbye is one of her greatest achievements. Often overlooked, it’s beautiful in every way and just a companion piece, the video is extremely gorgeous! Ahhhhhh!!!!!!!!❤️
It missed the TOP 10 in US peaking at #11 due to an increase of airplay ratio on the Hot 100 at the week it was going to rise to TOP 10 (airplay was contributing almost 90% to the chart compared to sales at the time - at the time Billboard still did how the alterantive chart would have been without the methodology change and the song would have been #10).
In European Hot 100 (sales based only) the song peaked #02.
One of my favorites
The impact of this album worldwide is phenomenal. I believe this should have won Album of the Year in Grammy's
Probably my favorite Madonna album!
Well, this is the best Madonna album ;)
Madonna herself has called this album “drug music without the drugs!” Adding “none of us (the people in the studio) are on anything!” What is hard to comprehend now is how HUGE the shift was in the sonic landscape that she created for pop music when releasing this album. This was not just A game changer, it was THE game changer. I haven’t heard you discuss the lyrical content of the album in this review. Which is also one of the reasons many people see this as one of her best. Because musically and lyrically she is at her best here. For me, this album made me a HUGE Madonna stan, and always has a special place in my heart. Curious to see what your thoughts are on the next three albums. Because she is going to take you on a damn ride! This era was MAGIC for her!
When I first heard this album, everyone had previously praised it to me. Even people that didn’t own a Madonna album were saying, “You gotta get this.” So I did, it was playing in the background and I wasn’t really vibing it much. But then I had it playing again and again. Suddenly something started changing in me with it. Songs were standing out in a massive way. It only kept growing from there where I started saying, “Damn this is an incredible album.” It wasn’t just sonically, but lyrically. Hearing and reading the lyrics was like having a spiritual awakening where you just question everything around you. It was deep and philosophical. It was something that grew on me over time to the point that I was beyond impressed. It’s like an art piece that changes shape with each experience with it. Try smoking a joint with it and get carried away in it.
This album is like getting on a ride that takes you into the furthest regions of space. It starts off slow, then builds up to lightning speed where it coasts, and then gradually softens and fades away, which is why the momentum of the last few tracks slow down significantly. Because you’re coming to the end of the ride.
Now I find this to be one of her top best albums. And the “Music” album that comes after this is a great extension. This one is ethereal and “Music” explodes out of that etherealness into something cosmic.
Ray Of Light and Music really was an amazing time for her both commercially and criticly. Probably the years when she was most acclaimed and even the people who tried to end her when Erotica came out admitted defeat and that she was here to stay and had more talent than just shock value and controversy.
Madonna's sound is so diverse that every fan out there has his/her favourite album, without mentioning her loooong career. In my case, I love the trilogy Ray of Light/ Music/ American Life, the most avant garde, experimental, ahead of their time work ever! I remember listening to ROL for the first time, I was so confused, kinda dissapointed, until my eyes were open! Since then I love the experimental Madonna, the one who's not afraid to do things nobody does; unconventional, crazy and risky things, that's the Madonna I adore.
Yup! I, too, love the experimental Madonna.
I also love that trilogy from 98 to 2003, I dont get the permanent American Life hate
@@vzvincentvz Indeed! American Life is a gem. It has the most beautiful low tempo songs Madonna has ever written. Btw its sound is mesmerizing!
@@vzvincentvz I will also never understand why American Life was so torn up. I love the American Life era
1:21 - Drowned World/Substitute for love
5:13 - Swin
8:36 - Ray of light
12:19 - Candy perfume girl
13:57 - Skin
16:40 - Nothing really matters
18:43 - Sky fits heaven
20:46 - Shanti/ Ashtangi
23:14 - Frozen
27:25 - The power of Good-bye
30:25 - To have and not to hold
34:56 - Little Star
37:14 - Mer girl
Ray of light is an experience, not just an album. You have to be in some kind of great state of mind to fully appreciate the full journey.
It still sounds so fresh to me. Bought it the day it came out. Though the next album, Music, is my favorite in her catalog, this one is very close behind it.
I think one of the issues here is that you didn't really comment on any of the lyrical content and as a result you kinda missed much of the journey that Madonna was taking you on (the lyrics to the first song are really important for setting the album up as a reflection on her life/career/fame, and the reason she chose Mer Girl to end the album is pretty obvious when you listen to the lyrics i.e its about death. loss and longing).
It's a concept album rather than a collection of fire bops which is why it is the album that music critics and fans tend to applaud the most. Personally I think Mer girl is hauntingly brilliant although certainly not an easy listen, and little star is like an electro lullaby (for her newly born daughter), saccharine sweet and bubbly.
I like Bedtime Stories, but I think Ray of Light is far superior in terms of maturity, experimentalism, originality and especially lyrical content (when Bedtime stories was released that R&B sound was already around, although Madonna certainly put a new spin on it. Where as with Ray of Light, there was nothing in pop music that sounded anything like that and it kinda paved the way for a lot of electro sounds/effects to make their way into the pop sphere).
I agree that it is not an easy listening album but I think music that challenges and perhaps makes one think and reflect is more valuable in some ways. And yes, maybe try smoking a joint and taking a second listen....lol
lol
lol
Ray Of Light is one of greatest albums ever!!!
That sound is a true mental-spiritual journey!!!
Drowned World, Swim, Ray of Light, Nothing Really Matters, Sky Fits Heaven, Frozen and The Power of Goodbye my favorites ❤️❤️
“nothing really matters” is best work by Madonna. GENIUS. 👑
When the album 1st came out, I was living out in the desert near an aqueducts that had water constantly flowing through. At night I would play the album, light candles, open my bedroom window. The music, candles, the water sound and wind blowing created such an ethereal feeling/effect.
Sounds great.
I was in a weird transition. Living in hotels during a divorce, basically nocturnal.
This oddly kept me sane. Lots of nights on balconies enjoying cityscapes.
Nothing Really Matters might be the best song she’s ever written. So catchy, insanely classic house production with a gothic twist, simple but meaningful lyrics. It’s an experience, you always get more the more you listen to it.
I laughed when he said “this song was fun”, “it is alright” .... 😂😂😂 NRM is a masterpiece!
Nothing really matters and frozen are the only two songs I like on this album.
I think Nothing Really Matters is the most pop friendly song on the album but far from her best written. Songs like Live To Tell, Like A Prayer and Frozen completely beat it as well as stuff she’s written since
I agree. One of the top 10 Madonna's songs for me
Anthony I can't hear a sentence like that sorry but I can't. This album is a piece of art from the beginning to the end. Period
Ray of Light is probably my favorite Madonna album. I connect with it the most but I do think it’s not for everyone and that’s not a bad thing. Great review, excited for the rest!
I've never been a big fan of "Little Star" (I would have swapped that one or "Shanti" out with "Has to Be," which is amazing), but "To Have and Not to Hold" has grown on me over the years. It's subtle but really brilliant. And I don't know what to say about anyone not appreciating "Mer Girl." Do you want to sing or dance along to it? No. But it's lyrically and vocally so breathtaking and vulnerable. The perfect way to end the album IMO. This isn't pop music. It's art.
I agree with your comment about MER GIRL
PERFECT way to close out THIS album
Notice I said "perfect WAY"... not "perfect SONG"
For me this was an artistic touch in the form of poetry that compliments the rest of the songs
To have and not to hold took several years to understand it,but it became one my favourite m song
@@walterhigo7658
Not only that, but considering the lyrics and the overall message of the album thought of as a traveling enlightenment, and it was. In the end she's basically saying: I still haven't found it and haven't quite figured it out. Brilliant. But he doesn't listen to the lyrics of the song at all and I've noticed that in his other reviews and therefore he misses a lot
Little Star is dedicated to Lourdes and i think it’s a cute song
I'm the opposite. I looove Little Star and can't get into To Have And Not To Hold.
Madonna's holy trinity is Like A Prayer, Ray of Light and Confessions On A Dance Floor. These 3 albums are true materpieces.
I love like a prayer, but swap LAP for Erotica
@German Morawski THIS! Omg especially after the amazing American life she was playing it so safe, American life is my fav Madonna album and confessions is my least fav tbh
@German Morawski
and that's exactly why you'll never understand. Your description fits more with Lady Gaga's 'Chromatica'. But we are talking about Madonna and this is one of the most acclaimed albums not only by fans, but by critics precisely because it is not just a danceable and generic album. But an album with a very rich personality and influences in the right dosage.
Erotic and Rebel Heart are very good too, and Hard Candy
Confessions its not that good..
I remember buying the album the day it was released, and I still remember the first time I listened to it - it didn't sound the Madonna we used to know. Although she has always reivented her image and sound from the beginning, Ray of Light was a rebirth for her. Such a timeless masterpiece.
I think fans constantly oversell ROL to non fans. It is a complete masterpiece, but much of it’s impact was if you were a Madonna fan when it dropped. It blew everyone’s mind at the time because no one thought Madonna was capable of such a radical departure, sound & voice-wise. It definitely needs a few listens to grow on you. And as Madonna said herself during promo, “it’s drug music without the drugs.” ✌️
Agreed, I'm a huge madonna fan and only care for 6 or 7 songs off of this album. Wasn't great start to finish but I understand where her vision was.
The album was 'revolutionary' for Madonna as an artist at the time, and I think for younger people such as some of those on TH-cam who react to/review her albums one by one, they get a version of the impact we all had at the time. Ray of Light marked many changes for Madonna as an artist, including her adoption of an underground trance/electronic song genre and successful attempt to use it for mainstream pop that got radio play, her incorporation of Kabbalah-based philosophies that related to new motherhood-related sentiments and a kind of all-is-love existentialism she had never demonstrated before, and for the first time ever a willingness to let a little loose with her vocals and sound 'ugly' for effect on the title song rather than having perfectly polished vocals throughout. It seemed like Madonna had had some kind of illumination if not enlightenment, and as someone who was in college at the time this came out and was into electronic dance and trance music, I recall being really impressed with Madonna's artistry. I son't know if it is 'oversold,' exactly. It does need to be considered in the context of her work and how new the sound was to the mainstream in order to really understand how innovative and especially how successful it was in its time.
I wouldn't consider the album 'oversold,' but I would consider that most people who just give a cursory review of older artists rather than taking a 'deep dive' may not 'get' why this album is appreciated as much as it is because many prior singles are more immediately likable and may stand out as superior in that way. Taken on their own, 'Like a Prayer,' 'Take a Bow,' 'Vogue' and probably 30 other earlier Madonna songs all lined up probably seem much stronger as a collection than this album does, but this album is appreciated for its innovation and for its artistic integrity, as a cohesive spiritual meditation rather than a collection of singles engineered to be radio hits. So I'd say that the people who 'oversell' it don't mean to exaggerate how good it is, but rather they just have a deep appreciation for it because it introduced a version of Madonna who seemed more than an expert song-and-dance pop artist-more of a maternal and inward-looking human being. And perhaps especially because Madonna gave that up and went back to making less thoughtful music and focusing today on superficial interests, the album still stands out as a career high mark.
@German Morawski This album (ROL) made me a fan...and I didn't listen to it until 2001 around the time of her Drowned World tour.
@German Morawski Yes! That's how I remember it too. What was/is also so different with ROL is that Madonna personalized techno in a way that hadn't been done before. She brought a depth of subjectivity to an otherwise type of music that could be robotic and impersonal.
The album was really huge in Europe being her 2nd best selling studio album in Europe (selling over 8 million copies in Europe alone until the end of 1998). In Germany is Madonna best selling album and in UK comes at 3rd best selling (after TIC and True Blue) being among TOP 40 Best selling albums of all time in both countries. Sales of the album were over 16.5 million copies by the end of 1999 worldwide. I'm sure it already crossed 20 million copies worldwide (just waiting for Warner to update her numbers worldwide to know where it stands).
I have many friends that are not Madonna fans and this is their favorite Madonna album. This is a late 90's landmark that influenced most European music for the following 5 years and is Madonna favorite album for many Europeans (not just Madonna fans).
I feel like you are listening to this without knowing the background of it all. The birth of her daughter (her first child), the realizing of losing her mother being one of the biggest aspects of her life that continues to be the struggle even as she becomes a mother herself. She paced the album in the way of a journey she had. And so many undone reflections she had at the time. I see the album about life in all forms. And a journey to you. And it can be uplifting while breaking your heart all at once.
Imagine calling Mer Girl a “lackluster finish”!! LOL
Tasteless indeed
Right
Ray of Light and Confessions on a Dance Floor are masterpieces!
Ray of Light is Madonna’s less “easy listening album “ ( along with American life and Madame X maybe ). Musically, Is the most complex and deep. William Orbit did an incredible job. This Is ART.
Madonna co produced. William himself said Madonna is a better producer than him or something like that
@German Morawski the material Madonna and William created together on Music is incredible and different to ROL
Yeah and let's not forget this is the guy's first time listening to the album. When I bought the album, I had never paid attention to Madonna musically, but I was really into "Frozen" so I was curious... I love the album, but I didn't enjoy "Mer Girl" or "Little Star" on my first few listenz either... LS felt too sappy and MG sounded too weird and dark at first, an unexpected way to finish the album (it has the mood of Bjork songs, almost). But it made sense after several listens. It's definitely not an album for instant consumption, but it's brilliant as a listening experience.
When I first bought the album as a young teen, I didn’t fully comprehend this album either. As I grew older and am now in my mid-30s, I’ve had such a two-decade or so journey of discovery with various epiphanies with this album as my life became more complex and heavy with experiences, highs, lows, and regrets as I revisit the album from time to time. Ray of Light requires multiple listens and it’s one of those albums that resonates more as you grow older and start to experience what she had experienced as she reached 40, but have some distance to reflect and gain some insight into those experiences. If you’re still living it now, it may not have the same impact. I also disagree that you need mind-altering drugs. I’ve never done drugs and I love and fully appreciate this album. It’s not meant to be one where you’re sitting and trying to analyze on the spot for the camera. You need to be in an introspective mood, lie down, and just listen with some good ear buds and let the journey just take you where it goes. It also requires heavy listening to the lyrics.
I’m going to give you my understanding of the story Madonna is telling us with this album:
The album starts off with her feeling like she’s drowning and underwater with all the crap her life is throwing at her…and things she courted herself and it’s becoming too much that she can’t breathe (Drowned World). She keeps trying to find things outside of herself to satisfy her because deep down she wants love but doesn’t have it. She keeps looking for substitutes of it. She’s trying to find meaning outside of herself and is swimming against the tide to find fulfillment through charity and political work around the world, but the world is complicated and not within any one person’s control and it only frustrates a person who wants to see the world improve (Swim).
However, then she reaches the land with “Ray of Light” and discovers an ecstasy and a new purpose. She starts the cycle of again finding a new love with all flirtations and expectations that this time it will be different and that love will be enough to fulfill her. “Candy Perfume Girl” is the initial attraction and spark that brings them together. “Skin” is the lust phase where they reel each other in and enter into physical bliss but something is missing because Madonna is now older, wiser, and has been through this many times before. She even asks “why do all the stupid things I say sound like all the stupid things I’ve said before?” Despite being physically fulfilled, her mind is still hungry for more and she herself recognizes that it’s kind of the same crap she’s been through already and she’s seeing the same signs it’ll probably end the same as all her other romantic relationships. And yet that physical fulfillment is that good. “Nothing Really Matters” is her doubling down on what she found with “Skin. Finding love is Madonna’s whole mantra and what she’s been singing about consistently since her first album. She has bought into the idea that all she needs is love even though she is now older and should know that’s not true. But at this moment, this relationship makes her feel generous in her love that she wants nothing more than to keep giving it as at the time, she feels as though all the love she’s giving comes back to her.
That all said, the love she has found is not enough for her, so she starts looking for spiritual fulfillment and dips her toes into other types of belief systems and even religions with “Sky Fits Heaven” and “Shanti/Ashtangi”. She thinks she’s reaching a high place in her life and you’ll observe later in this deep dive that her exploration into alternate religions from the Catholicism she grew up with really has had a profound impact on her and to this day she still practices kaballah and considers herself a student, looking into and discovering new meanings into those religious doctrines/teachings.
Then the warning signs she saw in “Skin” come back and again, there’s no substitute for love. “Frozen”, “The Power of Goodbye” and “To Have and Not to Hold” are a trilogy of heartbreak. She’s trying to salvage a dying relationship with an emotionally and psychologically unavailable partner (Frozen) but realizes it’s an exercise in futility and the only answer is to let him go (The Power of Goodbye). After they break up, she reflects back and realizes he really was only a man she could have at the time but she was never meant to really hold on to him, and their relationship really hurt her deeply (To Have and Not to Hold). All the love she gave in “Nothing Really Matters” wasn’t really returned to her after all and depleted her energy and spirit. “To Have and Not to Hold” is sung in such a sad, low energy way to mirror draining that entire experience was as many of us know how that feels once we’ve left a truly formative relationship that demanded so much from us.
Despite the pain she’s in, something positive came out of it. Her daughter, Lourdes. “Little Star” is basically a mother’s tribute to her baby who she helped her get over her broken heart and find new depths to her own love. And that theme of love is again so important to Madonna because she reminds Lola (Lourdes’ nickname) that to never forget that she was born out of love. Although the relationship didn’t work out, at the time, they were so in love with each other and they created Lola out of that love. It’s really such a potent message.
IMO, “Mer Girl” was a brilliant closure to the album as it shows Madonna at her most naked and vulnerable and yet ironically, it shows she kind of ends where she left off…just running away and thus the cycle starts over again despite the entire journey she went through that had changed her forever. In the closing song, Madonna even complains about motherhood adding to the stress of her life too despite just singing a song about how much she cared for her baby and how grateful she is to be a mother and to carry such love for another. It kind of brings everything back to reality and shows Madonna still has a lot of work left to do to find happiness, if there is such a thing.
Such a brilliant album.
Even the production adds to the storytelling. The start sounds like she’s singing underwater and drowning. The title track is the first song where her voice isn’t filtered and she’s singing out loud to the point of screaming. However, after that, the rest of the album has this almost distant, detached sound to it as if Madonna is reflecting back and trying to figure out what went wrong or what she learned from the experiences each song portrays. It’s a very reflective album and the way it sounds purposefully mirrors that intention.
I was into trance and house music when this album came out, and so this album was my first experience of a 'pure' music genre being appropriated by a pop artist and refined for mainstream appeal. Madonna has done this throughout her career, mainly with music from throughout the world that isn't known to the English-speaking world.
I was impressed with William Orbit's production and with Madonna's choices, and when the album came out, it was received widely as a major advancement for Madonna and for the 'techno' genre, as the music and lyrics are electronic but also warm and they fit the spiritual lyrics, largely new for Madonna-she has written many religiously themed lyrics but this was a new kind of spiritualism inspired by her interest in Jewish mysticism and her motherhood. I recall a lot of reviews credited Orbit and her for doing the impossible by making electronic music emotional, and those reviews (not the music itself) did bother me because I always found a lot of good trance music such as that by BT to be emotionally evocative in a way similar to classical music.
I liked Madonna a lot as a young child in the early- and mid-80s and then sort of regarded her as radio/background music from that point on until Ray of Light. This album brought her to my attention as never before, and this album plus her work on Evita really showed her talents.
Unfortunately (This is just my personal opinion and I realize everyone won't share it.), I feel like Madonna set such a high bar with this album and put on a convincing show that she had evolved from 'the Material Girl' into a spiritual seeker and someone who was pursuing personal development in a deep and meaningful way that she inevitably set herself up for disappointment with future albums that feel superficial by comparison and which sometimes show pettiness and cattiness that reveals the 'zen' attitudes demonstratec on Ray of Light to have been either an artistic construct or just a passing phase.
I think a lot of Madonna's fans took this album very seriously as a sign that motherhood had matured her and had revealed that she is an insightful, thoughtful person, and many of us look at her Instagram antics today and wonder what happened to Ray of Light Madonna. 😟
Not only her best album but one the greatest of the music history!
18 millions copies sold this album. Into 15 years in her career. Fire.
RAY OF LIGHT: "Drug music without drugs" ~ Madonna
Happy birthday Ray of Light! The Masterpiece of the Masterpieces. Everything on this album is fucking amazing. Vocals, lyrics, production, visual, videos... The best M album in my opinion.
Ray of light is thé best album she ever made. There's not a single bad song on it. Frozen is one of my favorite songs ever and the video clip is simply a masterpiece !
Shanti / Ashanti sucks ass and is disjointed to the rest of the album. ( someone had to say it) 🤷🏻♂️ skin should of been cut out too
I remember listening to this back in 1998 as a 14 year old and being totally taken aback by this album, at that age it really was an eye opener. Now I’m 38 and loved watching your reaction, took me back. The album is a masterpiece and probably the best in her career, give it another listen and try and take in as much as possible
Little Star was written for her daughter Lola.
Mer Girl is about her mom who died when she was 5
i love how Madonna’s best albums all have a song about her mother… “Promise to Try”, “Mer Girl” and “Mother and Father”
@@AlexeBriand2002 You forgot "Inside of me"
@@i.c.s.8531 i purposely didn’t include that one because Bedtime Stories is not in my top 5 favorite albums
@@AlexeBriand2002 Same here, but still it belongs in that group
Ray of Light is a monumental work of art. One of the best records ever made in music history. Madonna's artistry was on another level with the release of this album, so give it a second chance to appreciate this masterpiece.
From here every album will be so different, not just queen of pop but QUEEN OF REINVENTION
Just be aware of that
Everything is so different since Like a Prayer
Truly!
Masterpiece!! I have the beginning of Sky Fits Heaven's lyrics tattooed.
Ray of Light is too artistic and crafted for him. It's not an album for a quick listening.
It’s the kind of album you need to focus on and listen at least a couple times to even begin to get it.
This is the album that will forever make me respect her as an artist. Timeless.
I cannot believe it. I'm speechless. And Mer Girl, one of my favourite songs. Lol
I think you need to revisit this album on your own time soon. This is not an album you can just understand in one sitting, it’ll take some time to truly appreciate each song and the message she conveys.
When u mentioned self discovery u nailed it on the spot. She had just gave birth to her first child the prior year and it changed her outlook on life. Before it was literally all about her own life. Then everything flipped and the “new” Madonna was here.
Whenever I see those first time listening videos of Madonna albums, I think: how could people possibly have lived on this planet for the last 20 years without ever having heard frozen, vogue or like a prayer...?!?!
Ray of Light album is a MASTERPIECE period.
Brother i totally respect your opinion on ROL. Madonna fans love it because , i think, we were understanding and were with here during her personal journey when it was happening. The last 3 songs are probably my favorites. Little Star we all new was about her born, we new Mer Girl was about the death of her mother so we emotionally connected. We are all very bias and protective of Madonns so we think everything is great. Your perspective is honest and un-bias which i think we can accept and respect. A lot of people super hyped the album for you and with that, always comes some sort of let down. Anyway i think “Music” will be more up your alley. You still rock and i agree with your critique……most of time. 😜 keep up great work
I remember the first time I heard this album, I was scratching my head wondering what was going on. But each time I listened to it afterwards it grew and grew on me and became my favorite Madonna album ever. Definitely my most listened to Madonna album and I’ve never had to take anything to enjoy it. 😂
This album changed my life when it was released! I wish she still made amazing music. I miss her!
Es una Obra maestra!!!! Madonna merece dedicarle tiempo y escuchar su discografía y no quedarse solo en la superficie por que tiene una calidad impresionante, está infravalorada, sus mejores joyas son anónimos y desconocidas. Ha sido siempre muy valiente sobre todo en la produccion de sonidos. Cuando alguien me pone cara sarcastica y la menosprecia porque solo conoce cuatros canciones de ella me rio para mis adentros y pienso que no saben lo que se pierden!!! Maravillosa!!! Y este disco ya es un nivel impresionante!!!
Shanti/Ashtangi is a real perfect example of cultural aprpeciation. It is amazing.
Mer Girl is about Madonna is trying to come to terms with her mother's death even as she entered into her 40s. The last line: 'I ran and I ran, I'm still running away' hits hard when you know that she's still running from it. She sang about her mom's death in Promise to Try and how it affected her relationship with her father in the video for Oh Father. She told her producer William Orbit to pare down the production so that it is raw and not so polished. For her, it's making a piece of art close to her heart. Rather than trying to impress people sonically.
The best thing about Madonna's work is that many of songs grow on you after a few listens..her best albums have great singles but the album tracks are better in time
This album was made to take everybody out of confort zone, that is why its not easy to listen. Taste is personal, but i desagree with u in one point, do not use drugs, wine or something else to free ur mind, that is what the album doing, making u think about ur life, your choises ... pay attention in the last song, where u say .. why close with this song? "MER GIRL", because people run away .. escape... to not deal with reallity. Life is now... life is what ur doing with your time .. are u Frozen? To Have not to Hold... everything is free.. even love.. everything change and its ok... nobody can stop this ... The Power of Goodbye...
Finally the react most fans have been waiting for!
You MUST watch the Ray of Light live on Oprah, it's her best vocal ever!
And the origin of a classic Oprah GIF
@@michaelmcdonald2326 YEEEEESSS! The gif that everybody saw but never knew where it came from! HAHAHA
My absolute favourite madonna album
It’s like playing experimental electronica to someone from the middle ages. He’s lost lol.
Mt favorite complete album of hers.
Frozen is one of my fav Madonna songs. Glad you showed it so much love
I think you've missed the spirit of this album completely. It's Like A Prayer part 2, with an even deeper dive into her personal journey through life. Her spiritual quest to reconcile her mother's death has always been the driving force in her life. It was the catalyst that formed and informed her journey. And now, here she is, soon to be a parent with baby Lola in her womb. And the cycle of life and death and rebirth is running through her. From the opening song Drowned World/Substitute For Love questioning her faith and fame (similar to Like a Prayer opener) through relationships (Frozen/Power of Goodbye/To Have not to Hold echo Love Song/Till Death Do Us Part), the lullaby for her friend's child (Dear Jessie) echoed in the lullaby for her own (Little Star), and finishing with examining the effect of the death of her mother (Mer Girl) echoing Promise to Try.
Her best album 👌👌
If you loved the video for Bedtime Stories, you're going to enjoy the FROZEN video! 😊 glad you're highly enjoying her music. I always advise people who've never heard her music to start from the very beginning to appreciate her work!
This was the album that made me a forever madonna fan. Pure art
I remember when I told my mom I loved listening to madonnas music and how Ray light was my fav album back in 2021, she was so shocked cuz it’s old school music and I’m only 15 lmao
I'm just watching all your reactions on Madonna, they are amazing, thanks man! And this is THE BEST Madonna album, I love her and this is her best.
Ray of light sold 16 million albums worldwide. Won 4 Grammy awards including best pop album. It scored two top 10 singles frozen which peaked at no.2 and Ray of light which peaked at No.5 on the billboard charts
There was also alot of great demos recorded...Gone Gone Gone and Revenge, Like A Flower, then the demos of some of the album tracks give them a whole new feeling
SWIM listen when it came out she captured everyone straight guys rocked to ray of light trust me it was epic
There are many reasons Madonna is a legend. This album is up near the top.
I know what you're feeling. Sometimes I get the urge to get into the Ray of Light spaceship, but it's not that album you're always urging to listen to, as a whole, from beggining to end. Not the same can be said about some of the songs, like Ray of Light and Frozen, which are always on my current playlist. It's okay to acknowledge the great body of work that Madonna and Orbit gave us, without having to put this one on the top. It is really a masterpiece. Doesn't mean I love everything about it. When I think about the fact that this album has around 24 years, it is mindblowing how it aged so well, even though it's a heavy one, sonically speaking. I agree with you, I think I like Erotica and Bedtime Stories better. But I will always applaud how Madonna always tried to give us something unique and outdid herself almost everytime. From now onwards, her discography gets a little tricky, Confessions it is the only real highlight. Nothing wrong with her trying to chase the modern trends, I have so much fun with her recent works. But it is a shock if compared with the first half of her works. But I'm glad Madame X came to be her best work since Confessions.
Music, American Life, Confessions, Rebel Heart all great albums imo.
@@Marc-zi5cq Absolutely! Love those 4 albums too!
M A D👑N N A
For me Madonna has never made a bad album… I have loved every single era and each album/ era I guess reminds me of key moments/memories in my life. I feel Madonna and her many personas and alter egos are my ‘Disney Inside Out’ crew in my brain 😅 I just get Madonna, I get the music, I get the songs. It’s just works for me no matter what she does. I do have albums I listen to more than others but I would find it very difficult to rank them. I feel I’m one of the only Madonna fans of a certain age who enjoys and listens to her newer catalogue over the 80s material? 🙈 I’m rambling now 😂
I agree.
I love each one for different reasons.
This is not an album you can judge in just one listening. It's like fine art and it will grow on you if you give it the chance. I was there when it came out and I'm amazed how after 24 years I still find new details and perspectives on this album. It also talks to you in different ways depending on the stage of life you are at the moment. Definitely Madonna's magnum opus for me.
My personal vote for the best album ever made. I simply can't get enough of it. This is where my fandom for M shot into the stratosphere. Pop masterpiece.
Mer girl is a piece of art
Best album!!!!
The fact that he had never listened to Frozen, and says wow at the beginning, i's driving me crazy. ¡where have you been! anyway very interesting to listen to the album with you, thumbs up
So nice to hear a different opinion to an album that has only been praised. For me, growing up in the 90’s only listening to all the electronic bands like Massive Attack, Tricky, Portishead, Underworld, Bjork etc I loved Madonna bringing this sound to the mainstream. So for me no drug reference at all. Next to that I was a huge Madonna fan so lyricly this was the most interesting album so far. And yeah, not easy pop like Bedtimes Stories☺️
This is my favourite Madonna album for sure! The video clip for Frozen is just pure art. I would be so happy if you reacted to MARINA's Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land, I really enjoy watching your take on music. I bet all MARINA fans have been waiting for this reaction. Hoping the best for you!
Madonna and Ray of light is masterpiece, queen 👑 of pop, best album the 1998
This album is a palate cleanser for me. Anytime I turn on the radio and listen to crap I go back to this album to remind me what real music is all about.
Your Madonna reactions are so accurate, sincere, genuine and so on point! Just the best ;)
It's astonishing to me that you completely ignored every single lyric she sang. You were halfway through, listening to a song not even in English, before you realized this was a journey of self discovery and self exploration. Honestly, that was laid out in the first line of the first track. You didn't fully comprehend the beginning and that's why you didn't understand the ending.
Can't call this a "deep dive" if you're not fully paying attention.
Also you've totally ignored Evita. Understandably it's not a studio album of original material. But had you listened to just one song from Evita, you'd have understood that vocally, you'd be hearing very different Madonna going forward.
And as a recovering drug addict, I can assure you this album is just as important to my sobriety as anything I might have enjoyed about it when I was high (and yes, I enjoyed it plenty when I was high!) But to suggest that that's the ONLY way to fully appreciate an experience is, frankly, lazy.
Not only is it dismissive of the artist and the music, it can be dangerously triggering, as well.
I'm not trying to say you "should have liked it more"...that would be ridiculous. It just seems you were only listening for something pretty on the surface and you didn't bother to go deeper. Which is ironic, given the name of your channel.
Great comment. I’d have to add though: you kinda had to be there to “get” Ray of light. She had been slung through the mud in the early 90s, softened her image in the mid 90s, grew so much vocally during evita, had a baby, discovered Kabbalah …these were all things that culminated into an explosion on Ray of light. being a fan in 1998 was SUCH a treat because we endured such crap with her and the payoff was epic. She was a completely different artist now. The critics loved her. She lost a lot of fans during erotica, but If you went through all the hard times with her, it was such a reward to make it to Ray of light.
@@albertj7 well said! I was 13 when I saw her on American Bandstand and was hooked immediately.
100% this: "Can't call this a "deep dive" if you're not fully paying attention."
I love this album, but it is a big change from her musically. You’ll probably enjoy Music much better as it experiments with the electronic sound but has more of a catchy, pop sensibility to it. Give this album a couple more listens though, and it’ll totally grow on you now that you know what to expect from it.
Madonna, after suffering great disillusionment from her waning record sales from Bedtime Stories (Yes, I know you loved that album even though the rest of us who'd been following her since she began found it a bit sleepy) realized she was but a mere human. Record sales had fallen at the same time that she'd experienced the two greatest triumphs of her life, Evita and the birth of her first child, Lourdes. It was a LOT to handle. The rebuke of her fans and the greatest love of her life, her child. She became disillusioned with the concept of "celebrity" and, for the first time since the beginning of her career, felt the absence of love from her once adoring public. She crawled into a hole of detachment from the world she had constructed and began the search for what "really mattered." (Again, sorry if you missed the meaning of Nothing Really Matters). She found new meaning for her life in the Kabbalah and emerged with a Life Lesson worth sharing. New definitions of happiness and self-fulfillment, along with the joy of Motherhood (Little Star is a song written for and about her new daughter Lourdes. You missed that too. Not your fault). It is my personal belief, having been drawn into the Rave Scene of the time, that choosing William Orbit to flesh out this rebirth she was experiencing was pure genius.
Madonna has ALWAYS worn her heart on her sleeve and Ray Of Light is no exception. This "direction change" is not just an artistic decision, it is that and much more. It is a new canvas upon which she will continue to paint on for a number of years (and albums) to come. Just you wait. You haven't even reached Confessions On A Dance Floor yet.
PS: I was completely sober when I heard Ray Of Light and it still sent me soaring.
You need to listen to HAS TO BE.
it was the 14th track on the Japanese version .. and was CRIMINALLY left off the main album.
Note: this is her post EVITA album hence her new found sounding vocals.
Imagine if Madonna and Orbit made another Ray of Light for the 2020s...
Ray of Light is my favorite album of all time!
When ART meets POP it's going to be a MASTERPIECE! Ray of Light for me is the best album of all time. No album can top Ray of Light. It's not an easy listen body of work because the album had so many intricacies that's why it aged like fine wine. It's not a TikTok kids bop where songs are 2 minutes long and you bop to it and move on - it's not generic, it's not for general public. It's very thematic and will probably awaken your creative dimensions. It's transcendental. It's timeless. It's Madonna's MAGNUM OPUS!
THIS! THIS!!!!!!
@@susantv3905 Ray of Light was that bitch!!
This album is a masterpiece. It helped me through a difficult time. For me, Nothing Really Matters is the anthem at all
Her most important and creative record she has ever made. Absolutely brilliant album.
I think you would get more out of all albums, but particularly one like this, if you paid attention to the lyrics. You tend to focus only on production and vocals, so you're missing out on a third dimension to the music. I've never smoked anything listening to this, but I can still close my eyes and just zone out to songs like the last three.
I can't believe to what I'm listening from you. When I listened to it, and I had just done it for the first time, I had never felt that way before. I was so excited and sure that I had never listened to a so gorgeous album before, in my entire life. I think you undervalued the power of these songs. Frozen for instance, is a piece of art,a song without time, this is so great and unique and gave me incredible feelings. Bedtime stories can't approach to this masterpiece. There's no element there which can be compared to this monumental perfection.And I'm talking of the greatest part of these songs. I know that tastes are personal and unique, but I think your review is not right. Simply. I can't vibe with you this time 😅
The way she did this album is so unique, a real masterpiece!!
This album is a grower; I understand your reaction but I find lots of occasions to listen to it: winter, summer, party, chilling, headphones, singing... I listen to it high and sober and gets me everytime. try again ;)