Background
In 1992, Madonna released her controversial Sex book and her fifth studio album Erotica, both featuring a highly sexual image of Madonna. She also starred in the erotic thriller Body of Evidence. The three were critically panned by critics and fans alike., calling her a sexual renegade and claiming that "she had gone too far" and that her career was over. In early 1994, she released the single "I'll Remember", which was used as the theme from the movie With Honors, in hope to soften her public image. The song was well received by critics and was Madonna's first positive step into reconnecting with the general public. However in March 1994, not long after releasing "I'll Remember", her appearance on David Letterman was highly controversial due to her constant use of profanity and references to sex that needed to be censored on television. During that year, Madonna started recording her sixth studio album. At first, it started as a collaboration with Shep Pettibone and was to be stylistically similar to Erotica, but due to Madonna's wish and need to soften her public image at the time, she decided to move towards an R&B sound collaborating with well-known R&B producers and took a more appropriate image for the general public. In September 1994, "Secret" was announced and released as the lead single from Bedtime Stories. The song was written by Madonna, Dallas Austin and Shep Pettibone. It was later included in the compilation albums GHV2 and Celebration in its Deluxe edition. Unusual for the mid-1990s, Madonna talked about the new single on the Internet, with a 30-second sample of "Secret" and the cover image of the then-unreleased Bedtime Stories. She also left a message with the following words:
Hello, all you Cyberheads! Welcome to the 90's version of intimacy. You can hear me... You can even see me... But you can't touch me... do you recognize my voice?... It's Madonna. Often imitated, but never duplicated. Or, should I say, often irritated? If you feel like it, you can download the sound file of my new single "Secret", from my new album, "Bedtime Stories", which comes out next month. I just shot the video in New York, and will be premiering an exclusive sample of it online. So check back soon. In the meantime, why don't you post me a message and let me know what you think of my new song. And by the way, don't believe any of those online imposters pretending to be me... ain't nothing like the real thing. Peace out.
The last part of her message referred to a brief trend of AOL chatroom users impersonating her; this was confirmed by MTV News.
Read more about this topic: Secret (Madonna Song)
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