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Madonna · S6 E5
Take a Bow
Seven weeks at #1 — her longest-running chart-topper at that point, and proof the audience hadn't actually left
Skibo Castle, Scottish Highlands, December 22, 2000. Madonna walks down the aisle in an ivory Stella McCartney gown while their four-month-old son Rocco sleeps in a side room, oblivious to the fact that his mother just became Mrs. Ritchie.
"Cherish" (1989). One of Madonna's sunniest singles, directed by Herb Ritts on a Malibu beach with mermen and sea spray. In the context of this episode, it is the sound of a woman who has finally found something worth holding onto. No provocation, no controversy, just joy.
Mrs. Ritchie
Madonna moves to London, buys a home in Marylebone, and begins living a life that looks nothing like the one she left behind in Los Angeles. She sends Lourdes to a British school, takes up yoga with religious devotion, and develops a faint British accent that the tabloids will mock for years. For the first time in her career, she is trying to disappear into a life rather than perform one.
“I didn't want to do a greatest hits show. I wanted to do something that reflected who I am now, not who I was ten years ago.”
— Madonna, on designing the Drowned World Tour (2001)
Cherish, Madonna (1989)
"Cherish" is built on a simple bass hook and layers harmonies that owe more to the Beach Boys than to dance music. The video, shot by Herb Ritts in black and white on Paradise Cove in Malibu, radiates a joy that feels completely unforced. Listen for the way Madonna's vocal sits right on top of the mix, unprocessed and warm, without a single studio trick to hide behind. In a career full of armor, this song is the rare moment where she lets the guard all the way down.
TAP TO REVEAL: What classic hits did Madonna refuse to play on the Drowned World Tour?
Skibo Castle, Scottish Highlands
The 19th-century castle where Madonna and Guy Ritchie marry on December 22, 2000. The guest list includes Gwyneth Paltrow, Sting, and Stella McCartney, who designs the bride's ivory gown. The Scottish Highlands are about as far from the Lower East Side of Manhattan as Madonna has ever been.
The London Years Begin
Gone
From Music (2000). The closing track of the album, and one of the most underrated recordings of Madonna's career. "Gone" is a sparse, aching ballad about leaving everything behind, co-produced with Mirwais and built on little more than a guitar loop and her voice. It was one of the standout performances on the Drowned World Tour, and it captures the exact feeling of this chapter: walking away from one life and into another.
Gone, Madonna (2000)
Read the lyrics while you listen. The song is structured as a farewell, and every verse sheds something else. By the final chorus, there is almost nothing left except the voice and the decision to move forward.
How many years passed between Madonna's Girlie Show Tour and the Drowned World Tour?
In the spring of 2003, Madonna records an album that attacks American materialism, consumer culture, and the Iraq War. She pulls the music video for the title track at the last minute, and American Life becomes the most divisive release of her career since Erotica.
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