Madonna, Justify My Love | Controversial Tunes 😈🎶

On the 33^rd edition of Controversial Tunes, we explore the controversy behind the song, “Justify My Love” by Madonna.   

B

ring on the controversy, won’t you? Controversial Tunes 😈🎶 is a column that provides background information and insight into songs that raised eyebrows and totally stirred the pot.  The records that grace Controversial Tunes are old and new alike, with all genres of music welcome.  On the 33^rd edition of Controversial Tunes, we explore the controversy behind the song, 🎵 “Justify My Love” by 🎙 Madonna.

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Theme & Lyrics ✍ 

“Wanting, needing, waiting / For you to justify my love.”  Reading the lyrics on the page, it doesn’t sound nearly as sexy and lustful as when 🎙 Madonna performs them.  The words hail from the chorus of one of the sexiest (and most controversial) songs of her illustrious career, 🎵 “Justify My Love.” “Justify” appears on her 1990 compilation, 💿 The Immaculate Collection. Another no. 1 hit single for Madge, it stands out the first time you hear it. Notably, it was written by her, 🎼✍ Ingrid Chavez, and 🎼✍ Lenny Kravitz.

Madonna mostly provides spoken word, in an erotic, horny way.  None of the lyrics are extraordinarily risqué – it was 1990 – but the personality she infuses elevates the temperature. “I want to run naked in a rainstorm,” she asserts on the first verse, adding, “Make love in a train cross-country / You put this in me / So now what, so now what?” Hmm, “You put this in me” doesn’t seem like a coincidence!  Madge also makes it clear on this Controversial Tune 😈🎶 fit for After Dark 🕛 🌃, that she “Don’t want to be your mother /…sister either / I just want to be your lover.” Woo! The third verse seems the most progressive, particularly the end:

“I’m not afraid of who you are
We can fly!
Poor is the man
Whose pleasures depend
On the permissions of another
Love me, that’s right, love me
I want to be your baby.”

Those lyrics seem to match the LGBTQ component of the music video 🎶📼, which features same-sex couples enjoying love just like Madge does.

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Music Video 🎶📼 

“Justify My Love” doesn’t sound controversial alone.  In the 21^st century, those lyrics are tame, even if you can read between the lines!  But Madonna ensured the controversy arrived with the music video.  Remember, it’s 1990, not 2021!  Sex is written all over it whether it’s merely Madge and her stud lover, threesomes, or gay and lesbian couples wanting to “justify their love.”  Unsurprisingly, “Justify My Love” experienced that glorious thing known as censor-shit… I meant censorship!

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Final Thoughts 💭 

Madonna and sex go together perfectly.  Also, Madonna and controversy – a match made in heaven.  Again, revisiting “Justify My Love” in 2021, it’s not controversial in my opinion.  However, back in the day, with the lusty music video, you can see why folks had their panties in a twist!

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🎙 Madonna • 💿 The Immaculate Collection • 🏷 Warner • 🗓 1990
Madonna, “Justify My Love”: Controversial Tunes 😈🎶 No. 33 [📷: Aidan Feddersen on Unsplash, Brent Faulkner, The Musical Hype, Warner]

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