Remixed Prayers - Music Videos

Music Videos

Author John Semonche explained in his book Censoring sex that with True Blue and Like a Prayer, Madonna pushed the envelope of what could be shown on television, which resulted in increase of her popularity. Madonna tried to experiment with different forms and styles with the videos and in the process constructed a new set of image and identity. The lead single from the album, "Like a Prayer", was featured in a television advertisement for soft drink manufacturer Pepsi, as a part of Madonna's endorsement deal with the company. The video "set a media circus in motion, stirring up just those issues of sexuality and religiosity that Madonna wanted to bring up." In response to the controversial music video, the Vatican condemned the video. Critics accused it of sacrilege and heresy. Religious groups sought to ban the commercial and boycott Pepsi products. Pepsi revoked the commercial and canceled her sponsorship contract. However, she was allowed to retain her fee of five million dollars. Madonna commented, "Art should be controversial, and that's all there is to it." It was said that the video for "Like a Prayer" could be "read as an indictment of a white male patriarchal Christianity in the name of what has happened to 'white' women and to Black men." The iconic images have "proven to be some of the most striking, unforgettable images in music video history and serve only to further the clip's condemnation of racial profiling and religious guilt."

The music video for "Express Yourself", directed by David Fincher, was the most expensive music video at the time of its creation. Named the greatest video of all-time by Slant Magazine, it was said to be "as conceptually audacious as Metropolis because it celebrates both the power of the female sex and its ability to cripple the machine that dehumanizes it." Inspired by the Fritz Lang film Metropolis (1927), Madonna exerted her artistic control and oversaw every aspect of production. She said:

"This one I had the most amount of input. I oversaw everything—the building of the sets, everyone's costumes, I had meetings with make-up and hair and the cinematographer, everybody. Casting, finding the right cat—just every aspect. Kind of like making a little movie. We basically sat down and just threw out all every idea we could possibly conceive of and of all the things we wanted. All the imagery we wanted—and I had a few set ideas, for instance the cat and the idea of Metropolis. I definitely wanted to have that influence, that look on all the men—the workers, diligently, methodically working away."

"Cherish" was accompanied by a music video directed by Herb Ritts, who previously shot the iconic photograph used for Madonna's True Blue album art. The video is "a playful mermaid-inspired beach romp." It was followed by the black-and-white video clip for "Oh Father", directed again by Fincher, which drew inspiration from Orson Welles' cinematic masterpiece Citizen Kane (1941). Mirroring the album's autobiographical themes, "the video alludes to the singer's devout Catholic upbringing, the death of her mother and her abusive marriage to Sean Penn." "Dear Jessie" was accompanied simply by an animated video.

The album's music videos earned seven nominations at the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards, including Video of the Year ("Like a Prayer") and Best Female Video ("Express Yourself"). The video for "Oh Father" was nominated the Best Short Form Music Video at the 1991 Grammy Awards.