"Drowned World/Substitute for Love" is a song recorded by American singer Madonna for her seventh studio album, Ray of Light (1998). It was written and produced by Madonna and William Orbit, with additional songwriters including Rod McKuen, Anita Kerr and David Collins. McKuen and Kerr received the credits due to the usage of a sample from one of their songs, "Why I Follow the Tigers". "Drowned World/Substitute for Love" is an ambient pop song which lyrically describes Madonna's spiritual transformation to seek authentic love over superficial alliances.

"Drowned World/Substitute for Love" was released as the album's third single on August 24, 1998, worldwide, except in the United States. It became Madonna's seventh number-one single in Spain, while charting within the top ten in Iceland and the United Kingdom Singles Chart. The B-side of the single, "Sky Fits Heaven", reached number 41 on the US Dance Club Songs chart.

An accompanying music video was released for the song, featuring Madonna running away from the paparazzi until she arrives at home. The video faced strong reaction in the media due to the paparazzi chase sequences, a scenario similar to Diana, Princess of Wales's death in 1997. The song was performed in two of Madonna's tours, these being the Drowned World Tour (2001) and the Confessions Tour (2006). She also performed the track at the London stop of her Rebel Heart Tour (2015–16), in memory of Collins, as well as the 2016 Madonna: Tears of a Clown show in Melbourne.

Background and release

Since 1996, Madonna went through a number of "life-changing experiences". She gave birth to her daughter Lourdes Leon, became interested in Eastern mysticism and Kabbalah, and was enlisted for the title role of Eva Perón in the film adaptation of the musical Evita (1996). The album would reflect the singer's changed perspectives about life. Author Carol Benson noted that it was a "deeply spiritual dance record", with the crux of it based on liberation of Madonna from her own career and the many identities she had assumed over the years. Motherhood had softened the singer emotionally, which was reflected in the songs. She started talking about ideas and used words which implied deep and personal thoughts, rather than the regular dance-floor anthemic tunes she had composed.

"Drowned World/Substitute for Love", the first song on the album, was written and produced by Madonna and Orbit, with additional writers including Rod McKuen, Anita Kerr and David Collins. The vocal sample was of a man uttering the words "you see", later confirmed by him to be actor Jesse Pearson. Both McKuen and Kerr received co-writing credits on "Drowned World/Substitute for Love" due to the inclusion of the sample, and also because thematically the track follows a plotline that transpired in "Why I Follow the Tigers". Madonna was a great admirer of Collins's interior designing and had commissioned for designing a friend's night club located in Miami. He later ended up as one of the writers on the song.

The most important track on the album according to the singer, "Drowned World/Substitute for Love" was released as the third single from Ray of Light on August 24, 1998, worldwide, except in the United States. In the latter market, the album's second single "Ray of Light" had been released with a one-month delay, so Madonna's record label decided to release "Drowned World/Substitute for Love" outside of North America, thereby closing the one-month gap between the next single "The Power of Good-Bye" (1998). The song received remix treatment from musicians like Brian "BT" Transeau and Sasha, and according to Billboard was one of the most expected tracks to be remixed.

Recording and composition

"Drowned World/Substitute for Love" was recorded, with the rest of the album, at Larrabee North Studio in North Hollywood, California. It was mastered by Ted Jensen at Sterling Studios in New York. The final version progressed significantly from the DAT demo, which Orbit described as "serendipity". However they kept the initial roughness, resisting adding too many tweaks. The producer added random echoing and pulsating effects, and the drum fills were created from splicing small fragments of music. Madonna and Orbit had conducted a drummer session in Los Angeles, but it did not work out. Instead, Orbit commissioned Fergus Gerrand to play drum samples in London. Orbit fed these into his workstation and cut them manually, instead of using auto-editing software like ReCycle.

The song begins with ambient music and the stereo sound oscillating. This continues for 40 seconds. The music is interspersed with trip hop and psychedelic elements, both at the foreground and background.

thumb|The guitar on the song was compared to that by [[Jimi Hendrix.|alt=Black-and-white picture of Jimi Hendrix standing]]

Throughout the song, her vocals are subdued in nature, emoting a thoughtful imagery, with the melody being laid out gently for the listener. According to the sheet music published on Musicnotes.com, the record is set in time signature of common time with a key of B major. It has a slow tempo of 72 beats per minute with Madonna's vocals ranging from the notes of F<sub>3</sub> to A<sub>4</sub>. The track begins with a basic chord progression of F5–G<sub>5</sub>–E<sub>5</sub>–A<sub>5</sub>–G<sub>5</sub>, which changes into A<sub>5</sub>–G<sub>5</sub>–B–Cm<sub>7</sub> during the rest of the verses and A–E<sub>9</sub>–B in the chorus.

Lyrically "Drowned World/Substitute for Love" finds Madonna taking accountability of her life, fame and adulation, while assessing her career and journey. It is a summary of her experience of fame, exemplified by lines such as, "I got exactly what I asked for [...] Running, rushing back for more [...] And now I find, I've changed my mind". In an interview for Q magazine, Madonna explained:

<blockquote>"I realise, and I've been realising this for years, that the approval – the headiness of being swept up and being popular and loved by people in universal ways – is absolutely no substitute for truly being loved. But if you have to have a substitute, it's about the best there is."</blockquote>

Critical reception

thumb|left|Madonna opening the [[Drowned World Tour with the performance of "Drowned World/Substitute for Love"|alt=Faraway image of a woman in a short red skilt and black top standing on a stage. Smokes billow around her feet.]]

O'Brien commended the usage of electronic sounds and bleeps in the track as well as the "bell like clarity" in Madonna's vocals, saying they were "a result of the training she had received from her Evita days". Allen Metz wrote in the book, The Madonna Companion, that the lyrics did not give an impression of "sophisticated wordplay", but was commendable for telling the truth about Madonna's life and career. David Browne from Entertainment Weekly described the track, along with "Frozen" from the album, as "breathtaking", complimenting its beats. Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine found Madonna's belting to be the most "emotionally candid" she has been since Like a Prayer (1989). In a review of Madonna's hits album GHV2 (2001), Charlotte Robinson from PopMatters commended Orbit's production work on the track along with others from Ray of Light. She added that the songs are "a testament to his ability to use gadgets and electronic wizardry not to alienate listeners, but to draw them in".

'Substitute for Love', Stuart Maconie wrote in a Q review of Ray of Light, "emerges languorously from a fog of enigmatic samples and the low-key burbling that are Orbit's forte… prayer bells tinkle and snare fills skim the surface tension of the song in a nod to drum 'n' bass." In 2003, fans voted for their top 20 Madonna singles in Q, and awarded "Drowned World/Substitute for Love" the number 17 spot. In a retrospective review of Ray of Light, Idolator's Stephen Sears described the track as "the first chapter of a great novel" setting the tone for rest of the record. Rolling Stone placed the track at number 20, on their ranking of Madonna's 50 Greatest Song in 2016, describing it as "a ballad exploring epiphanies about fame and family". While ranking Madonna's singles in honor of her 60th birthday, The Guardians Jude Rogers placed the song at number 12, calling it "majestic, reflective and sung in a subdued style for Madonna [...] this meditation on fame with a Ballardian reference in its title soars quietly and gorgeously".

Chart performance

thumb|upright|Madonna performing an acoustic version of the song on the [[Confessions Tour (2006)|alt=Madonna sitting down and singing, her eyes are closed.]]

In the United Kingdom, "Drowned World/Substitute for Love" debuted and peaked at number 10 on the UK Singles Chart on September 5, 1998. It quickly descended down the charts, being present for a total of nine weeks within the top-100.

In mainland Europe, "Drowned World/Substitute for Love" entered the official Spanish Singles Chart at number 10 on the issue date August 29, 1998. The next week, it jumped to number one, where it stayed for one week. It was the third single from Ray of Light to reach the top of the chart—Madonna's seventh single overall—following "Frozen" and "Ray of Light". In Austria, the song peaked at number 34, staying in the charts for only one week. climbing to its peak of number 16 the following week before descending down the charts.

Music video

thumb|left|Madonna being chased by [[paparazzi in the music video, a scene reminiscent of the incidents that led to the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.|alt=Refer to caption]]

The accompanying music video for "Drowned World/Substitute for Love" was directed by Walter Stern and filmed in June 1998 at London's Claridge's Hotel and Piccadilly Circus. It includes cameo appearances by Anita Pallenberg and Steve Strange. It was released in September 1998, and features Madonna leaving her home and being chased by paparazzi. Madonna's publicist Liz Rosenberg said that the clip had nothing to do with Diana's death and was instead about "Madonna's relationship to fame [...] There are paparazzi in the video. But it's not like Madonna hasn't had experience with them. It's a day in the life of Madonna."

The clip was initially reported by Billboard to be released in the US outlets after the release of the video for "The Power of Good-Bye", but the plan did not materialize. It was finally included on the DVD compilation, The Video Collection 93:99. In 2013, a poll by Logo TV about "Madonna's 55 Best Music Videos" listed the clip at number 11, describing it to be "just as much about the ugly comforts of celebrity and its reality-distorting side-effects. This underrated clip is one of Madonna's most personal statements, and her vocals are downright chilling". The manga like distorted

faces of the celebrities in the clip was listed by Dazed magazine as one of "five favourite manga-eyed moments from pop videos".

Live performances

thumb|Madonna performing the song during her [[Madonna: Tears of a Clown|Tears of a Clown concert in Melbourne, Australia in March 2016]]

On November 23, 1998, Madonna appeared on the Spanish RTVE show El Séptimo de Caballeria and performed "Drowned World/Substitute for Love", along with her other song "The Power of Good-Bye". Three years later, Madonna named her 2001 Drowned World Tour after the song, and performed it as the opening number. She entered the stage amidst billows of dry ice, dressed in a sleeveless black top, crossover top with one net sleeve, jeans with zips and bondage straps, a studded dog collar and a tartan kilt and performed the song standing on a rising platform on the middle of the stage. Also during this same tour, the last lyrics from the song ("Now, I find I changed my mind/This is my religion") were used at the end of the performance of "Ray of Light". The performance at The Palace of Auburn Hills in Auburn Hills, Michigan on August 26, 2001, was released in the live video release, Drowned World Tour 2001. Michael Hubbard from MusicOMH gave the performance a positive review, saying it was sung beautifully. Joshua Clover from Spin described Madonna's arrival during the performance as "[the singer] taking the style war to stage".

During the Confessions Tour in 2006, Madonna sat down on the middle of the stage and performed an acoustic, stripped-down version of the song. She was joined by Yitzhak Sinwani of the London Kabbalah Centre, who had also been present earlier in the show for the performance of the song "Isaac". Writing for Pitchfork Media, Stephen Deusner complimented Madonna's singing, saying that " she's got a deeper, heartier range that works best on ballads like 'Drowned World'". The song was not included on the NBC special, The Confessions Tour: Live from London, which aired on November 22, 2006, but it was present on the full-length DVD release. The track was performed on the London stop of the Rebel Heart Tour, on December 2, 2015, at The O<sub>2</sub> Arena, in memory of Collins who had died in 2013. The following year, it was included on the setlist of her Madonna: Tears of a Clown show in Melbourne, Australia. Madonna entered the stage riding around on a tricycle and wearing a clown costume consisting of a yellow dress, stockings, a pink wig and a clown nose.

Track listings and formats

  • UK and European 12-inch vinyl
  1. "Drowned World/Substitute for Love" (BT & Sasha's Bucklodge Ashram Remix)&nbsp;– 9:28
  2. "Sky Fits Heaven" (Sasha Remix)&nbsp;– 7:21
  3. "Sky Fits Heaven" (Victor Calderone Remix Edit)&nbsp;– 5:50
  • EU, UK and Japanese CD single 1
  1. "Drowned World/Substitute for Love" (Album Version)&nbsp;– 5:09
  2. "Drowned World/Substitute for Love" (BT & Sasha's Bucklodge Ashram Remix)&nbsp;– 9:28
  3. "Sky Fits Heaven" (Sasha Remix Edit)&nbsp;– 4:08
  • EU and UK CD single 2
  1. "Drowned World/Substitute for Love" (Album Version)&nbsp;– 5:09
  2. "Sky Fits Heaven" (Sasha Remix)&nbsp;– 7:21
  3. "Sky Fits Heaven" (Victor Calderone Remix Edit)&nbsp;– 5:50
  • Digital single (2023)
  1. "Drowned World/Substitute for Love" (Album Version)&nbsp;– 5:09
  2. "Drowned World/Substitute for Love" (BT & Sasha's Bucklodge Ashram Remix)&nbsp;– 9:29
  3. "Sky Fits Heaven" (Sasha Remix Edit)&nbsp;– 4:09
  4. "Sky Fits Heaven" (Victor Calderone Remix Edit)&nbsp;– 5:50
  5. "Sky Fits Heaven" (Sasha Remix)&nbsp;– 7:24

Credits and personnel

Credits are adapted from the Ray of Light album liner notes.

  • Madonna&nbsp;– main vocals, songwriter, producer
  • William Orbit&nbsp;– songwriter, producer
  • Rod McKuen&nbsp;– songwriter, background vocals
  • Anita Kerr&nbsp;– songwriter
  • David Collins&nbsp;– songwriter
  • Steve Sidelnyk&nbsp;– drum programming
  • Mark Endert&nbsp;– engineer
  • Jon Ingoldsby&nbsp;– engineer
  • Patrick McCarthy&nbsp;– engineer
  • Dave Reitzas&nbsp;– engineer
  • Matt Silva&nbsp;– engineer
  • Ted Jensen&nbsp;– mastering
  • Rankin&nbsp;– photographer
  • Kevin Reagan&nbsp;– art direction

Charts

Weekly charts

{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

|+Weekly chart performance for "Drowned World/Substitute for Love"

!Chart (1998)

!Peak<br/>position

|-

|-

|-

|-

!scope="row"|Canada (Nielsen SoundScan)

|18

|-

!scope="row"|European Hot 100 Singles (Music & Media)

|22

|-

|-

|-

!scope="row"|Hungary (Mahasz)

|4

|-

!scope="row"|Iceland (Íslenski Listinn Topp 40)

|2

|-

!scope="row"|Italy (FIMI)

|5

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

!scope="row"|Spain (AFYVE)

|24

|-

!scope="row"|Italy (Musica e dischi)

| 100

|-

!scope="row"|Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)

| 216

|}

See also

  • List of number-one singles of 1998 (Spain)
  • List of UK top 10 singles in 1998

References

Bibliography