True Blue (Madonna Album) - Background and Development

Background and Development

On March 6, 1986, at the Kensington Roof Gardens in London, during a press conference for Shanghai Surprise, Madonna confirmed that she was working on a new album named Live to Tell, which would be later changed to True Blue. She again collaborated with Stephen Bray who had worked on her previous album Like a Virgin, and began to work with Patrick Leonard for the first time. Madonna wrote or co-wrote every song on the album, although writing involvement on some songs such as "Papa Don't Preach" and "Open Your Heart" was limited to adding lyrics. She was also credited with co-producing every track. The album was recorded between December 1985 and April 1986, during the first year of Madonna's marriage to American actor Sean Penn. She dedicated the album to Penn saying, "This is dedicated to my husband, the coolest guy in the universe." With this album Madonna tried to appeal to an older audience who had previously been sceptical of her music by experimenting with her image, adopting a more 'traditional' look, and incorporating classical music in her songs.

Deemed as Madonna's most girlish album yet, True Blue deals with Madonna's view of love, work, dreams as well as disappointments. According to Madonna, True Blue takes its title from a favorite expression of her then husband Sean Penn and his very pure vision of love. The album was a direct tribute to him as well and was inspired by her "unabashed valentine" for Penn. Most of the songs on the album reflect this idea. Each song on True Blue was developed separately. The album's first track, "Papa Don't Preach", was written by Brian Elliot, who described it as "a love song, maybe framed a little bit differently". The song is based on teen gossip he heard outside his studio, which had a large front window that doubled as a mirror where schoolgirls from the North Hollywood High School in Los Angeles regularly stopped to fix their hair and chat. "Open Your Heart" was the first recorded cut for the album, as early as December 1985 and ultimately made it to the final released tracklist; it was originally intended for Cyndi Lauper. The third track "White Heat" was dedicated to actor James Cagney and named after the film of the same name from 1949. Two quotations from the original soundtrack were included in the song. The fourth track "Live to Tell" was originally written by Patrick Leonard for the soundtrack of Paramount's romantic drama film Fire with Fire, but after the company declined it, Leonard showed the song to Madonna. She decided to use it for At Close Range, the new film of her then-husband, actor Sean Penn. Madonna made a demo of the song and, when the film's director, James Foley, heard it he asked Leonard to write the score for the film, as suggested by Madonna.

True Blue was the first album where Madonna included Spanish themes as evident in the song "La Isla Bonita". The song was previously written for Michael Jackson's Bad album, but he had turned it down. While working with Leonard on the album, Madonna accepted it in Jackson's place and re-wrote the song's lyrics, thus earning herself a co-writing credit. Madonna described the song as her tribute to the "beauty and mystery of Latin American people". Originally intended as the first single, "Love Makes the World Go Round" closes the album and was first performed at Live Aid a year earlier in July 1985. The song recalled the antiwar music of the sixties.