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Madonna · S3 E2
Holiday
The song Jellybean Benitez pushed her to record, and why she almost turned it down
Sigma Sound Studios, Manhattan, late 1983. John "Jellybean" Benitez slides a cassette across the mixing console, and Madonna listens to a song called "Holiday" that she does not want to record.
"Ray of Light", official music video (1998). Fifteen years after "Holiday," Madonna releases another song about pure release. The video is a time-lapse of Los Angeles moving at impossible speed while she stands still at the center. The willingness to trust the right collaborator, first Jellybean, then William Orbit, produces career-defining moments both times.
The Song She Did Not Write
"Holiday" is written by Curtis Hudson and Lisa Stevens of the group Pure Energy. Madonna does not co-write it and initially does not want it. She has been building her identity as a songwriter, and recording someone else's material feels like a step backward. Jellybean, her boyfriend and one of New York's most in-demand remixers, convinces her that hits are what she needs right now.
“I told her, forget about who wrote it. Does the song make you want to dance? She said yes, so I said, then record it.”
— John "Jellybean" Benitez
TAP TO REVEAL: What role did Jellybean actually play on the debut album beyond "Holiday"?
Jellybean Benitez was one of New York's most famous DJs when he started working with Madonna. At which legendary nightclub was he the resident DJ?
I Know It
The deep cut that sits next to "Holiday" on the debut album and sounds like it comes from a different planet. Where "Holiday" is polished and radio-ready, "I Know It" is raw, restless, and closer to the Music Building demos. One foot in the underground, one foot reaching for the mainstream.
"Holiday" gets her on the radio, but radio is audio and she needs to be seen. Next episode: the "Lucky Star" video invents the visual language of early Madonna, and a generation of teenage girls starts cutting up their gloves.
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