TOGETHER

COURAGE

Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814 is the fourth studio album by Janet Jackson, released on September 19, 1989, by A&M Records. Despite demands from label executives for material similar to her previous album, Control (1986), she insisted on creating a concept album addressing social injustice. Collaborating with her producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, she co-wrote six of the album’s tracks. Its remaining songs were written by Jam and Lewis, with the exception of “Black Cat”, which is Jackson’s composition. She also co-produced the album, with label executive John McClain serving as executive producer. While writing lyrics for the album, Jackson, Jam and Lewis drew inspiration from news media, exploring subject matter such as racism, poverty and substance abuse. Although critics viewed the album’s theme as transparent—too generalized to adequately address any of these issues—she was hailed as a role model for youth because of her socially conscious lyrics.

Produced during the height of the new jack swing genre, the album blends rhythm and blues with industrial music and the utilization of rap vocals, swing note, synthesized percussion and the use of sample loop. The title track “Rhythm Nation” embodies each of these traits, laying the foundation for trends in R&B music throughout the decade. Other songs on the album range from mechanized dance rhythms to soft balladry, giving it the broad appeal of multi-radio format regarding airplay. Due to its innovative production and lyrical exploration, critics have regarded the album as the pinnacle of Jackson’s artistic achievement. It became her second consecutive album to hit number one on the Billboard 200, as well as the top of the charts in Australia and the top ten in Japan, New Zealand and the UK. Certified sixfold platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), it has sold over fourteen million copies worldwide. It has been named by Rolling Stone magazine as one of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and is listed in the Quintessence Editions Ltd. reference book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Its seven commercial singles all peaked within the top five on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the first album to achieve that feat. Jackson received nine Grammy Award nominations, winning Best Music Video, Long Form for “Rhythm Nation” in 1990. Music videos for the singles, which displayed a mix of Broadway-style choreography and militant imagery gained heavy rotation on MTV; Jackson was presented with the MTV Video Vanguard Award in 1990 for significant contribution to the art form. The supporting Rhythm Nation World Tour became the world’s most successful debut concert tour by a recording artist. It proved her to be a consummate performer rather than a studio-only phenomenon, as well as a fashion icon among young women.

LONELY STAR

“Take a Bow” is a song by Madonna from her sixth studio album Bedtime Stories. Released as the second single from Bedtime Stories in December 6, 1994, the song appears on her compilation albums Something to Remember (1995), GHV2 (2001) and Celebration (2009). It was written and produced by Madonna and R&B singer-songwriter Babyface and became her longest running number one hit in the United States. It was her first single to reach number one in the United States after “This Used to Be My Playground” (1992), and it was her last number one song in the United States in the 1990s.

The music video for “Take a Bow” was directed by Michael Haussman in Ronda and the bullring of Antequera, Spain. The plot sees Madonna as a bullfighter’s neglected lover, played by real-life Spanish bullfighter Emilio Muñoz, yearning for his presence. The video won Best Female Video honors at the 1995 MTV Video Music Awards. Madonna performed “Take a Bow” live with Babyface at the 1995 American Music Awards and at the 1995 San Remo Festival in Italy.

FINISH LINE

COSMIC

MAGICAL

LOS ANGELES, July 25, 2012 — Following overwhelming demand for tickets to Madonna’s intimate club show scheduled to take place on Thursday, July 26th at the historic Olympia in Paris, the Material Girl has invited her fans around the world to see her performance via a live global stream through LoveLive’s YouTube channel beginning 10:15pm Paris time CET; 4:15pm ET. There will also be a post stream of the show where the footage can be viewed in its entirety.

The show, which was confirmed by Live Nation – Madonna’s MDNA international tour partner -, will include songs from the artist’s current album, MDNA, along with her new single, “Turn Up The Radio” as well as several classics. MDNA which was released by Universal Records debuted at No. 1 in over 40 countries. The Olympia, founded in 1888 has been the site of legendary shows by performers such as Marlene Dietrich, Edith Piaf and Charles Aznavour.

LET ME SHOW YOU

DISMISSED

“Lose My Breath” is an R&B and hip hop song performed by Destiny’s Child. It was written by Beyoncé Knowles, Kelly Rowland, Michelle Williams, Rodney Jerkins, LaShawn Daniels, Fred Jerkins III, Sean Garrett, and Shawn Corey “Jay-Z” Carter for Destiny’s Child’s fourth studio album, Destiny Fulfilled (2004). The song was already developed by Jerkins before it came to Destiny’s Child. After hearing the song, they altered it with help from Jay-Z.

“Lose My Breath” was released as the album’s lead single in late 2004, considered as their comeback after a three-year hiatus. The single was critically and commercially successful, receiving positive responses from critics and the public. “Lose My Breath” reached the top spot on most charts in Europe, making it one of Destiny’s Child’s most successful single releases.

The song was nominated at the 2005 Grammy Award for “Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo Or Group”. The single’s music video, which features Destiny’s Child in three characters, also received nominations.

ILLUSION

“Get Together” is a song by Madonna from her tenth studio album Confessions on a Dance Floor. Produced by Madonna and Stuart Price, the song was released as the third single from the album by Warner Bros. Records on June 6, 2006. The decision was spurred by the fact that “Get Together” was the third most downloaded song from the album. It was also released to coincide with the start of Madonna’s Confessions Tour. Inspired by Stardust’s single “Music Sounds Better with You”, “Get Together” portrays an anthem-like picture with its lyrics, about the different possibilities of finding love on the dance floor.

Contemporary critics appreciated the song, calling it fluid in nature and a wonderful dance track. They complimented Madonna’s ability to turn cliché comments into pop slogans with the song. After its worldwide release, the song became a success on the dance charts of the United States but failed to enter the official Billboard Hot 100 chart, only peaked at #6 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart. It reached the top ten in countries like Canada, the United Kingdom and Italy and topped the chart in Spain.

The accompanying music video incorporated Madonna’s performance of the song at London’s Koko Club, but it was animated to make it different visually. The video showed Madonna singing the song amongst graphical visuals portraying volcanoes erupting and a cityscape. Madonna performed the song on her Confessions Tour where she was accompanied by two dancers wearing horse reins around their head. In 2007, the song was nominated in the category of Best Dance Recording at the 49th Grammy Awards but lost to Justin Timberlake’s 2006 single “SexyBack”.

DANCE

HEARTBREAK

NOBODY’S PERFECT

“Don’t Tell Me” is a song by Madonna. It was released as the second single from her eighth studio album Music on November 21, 2000 by Maverick Records. It received positive reviews from music critics, most of whom called it a highlight of the album. In 2005, the song was placed at #285 on Blender magazine’s list of “The 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born”.

Recognized as Madonna’s first mainstream country-inspired song, “Don’t Tell Me” was commercially successful. It reached the top five slots in several international charts including Finland, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States, and topping the charts in Canada, New Zealand, Ireland and South Africa. It topped the Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs chart. It would remain Madonna’s last top ten hit until 2002’s “Die Another Day”. The single has sold around 4.5 million copies to date. Madonna has performed the song live on the Don’t Tell Me Promo Tour (2000), the Drowned World Tour (2001) and the Re-Invention World Tour (2004).

The music video for “Don’t Tell Me” was directed by Jean-Baptiste Mondino, who worked with Madonna in her videos for “Open Your Heart”, “Justify My Love”, “Human Nature” and “Love Don’t Live Here Anymore”, and filmed in October 2000. The choreography was done by Alex Magno, who also collaborated on the Drowned World Tour. The tour designers Dsquared and Arianne Phillips also designed Madonna’s cowgirl costume. The video features Madonna walking down an automated treadmill walkway in front of a projection screen, while cowboys dance and play on the sand in the video played on the screen behind her. Later, they join Madonna in front of the screen in a choreographed dance routine. The iconic final scene of the video depicts a cowboy riding a Skewbald horse in slow motion getting thrown to the ground, and getting up again.

ALL OF YOU

UNFOLD ME

SILLY GAME

“Ex-Factor” is the third single from Lauryn Hill from her debut solo album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998). The song incorporates elements of R&B, neo soul and hip hop soul. “Ex-Factor” was written and produced by Lauryn Hill and it features replayed elements of “Can It Be All So Simple” performed by Wu-Tang Clan. Although not as successful as her previous single “Doo Wop (That Thing)”, the song still garnered widespread success, and acclaim. This song spent 22 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 and peaked at 21 on the week of April 10, 1999. It also charted on the R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, spending 31 weeks and peaking number 7 on March 13, 1999. It reached number 4 on the UK Singles Chart.

TALK TO ME

WEIGHTLESS

DANCE AND SING

On October 6th, 1982, Madonna released her very first single titled “Everybody”. October 6th, 2012, will mark her 30th Anniversary in the entertainment world. “I was living on the Upper West Side, 99th and Riverside, and about 7:00 at night I had the radio on in my bedroom, on WKTU, and I heard ‘Everybody’. I said ‘Oh, my God, that’s me coming out of that box.’ It was an amazing feeling.” Madonna talking about hearing “Everybody” first time on radio.

BREATHLESS

SECRETS

“In the Closet” is a song by Michael Jackson from his 1991 Dangerous album. The song became that album’s second number one R&B single and its third top ten pop single, hitting number six on the Billboard Hot 100. “In the Closet” was originally conceived as a duet between Jackson and Madonna. According to a 1992 interview with British journalist Jonathan Ross, Madonna said she worked on some lyrical ideas for the song but when she presented them to Michael, he decided they were too provocative and they decided not to continue with the project. In the sepia colored music video, directed by Herb Ritts, Jackson is seen dancing with supermodel Naomi Campbell. The video was filmed in late March 1992 in Salton Sea, California and premiered on April 23, 1992. This video was Jackson’s most sexually provocative piece ever. This video was banned in South Africa due to its imagery. The video is featured on Dangerous – The Short Films and Michael Jackson’s Vision.