Like a Virgin is the second studio album by American singer Madonna, released on November 12, 1984, by Sire Records. Following the success of her 1983 eponymous debut album, Madonna was eager to start working on its follow-up. She selected Nile Rodgers to produce the album due to his work on Let's Dance (1983) by David Bowie, of which she was a fan. To ensure it was exactly as she envisioned it, Madonna chose all the songs for the album: she penned five of her own, four of which were co-written with former boyfriend and collaborator Stephen Bray, and four were written by other artists. Recording sessions took place at Power Station studio in New York City. Rodgers enlisted the help of his former Chic bandmates Bernard Edwards and Tony Thompson.
Upon release, Like a Virgin received mixed reviews from music critics: Rodgers's production received praise, but Madonna's vocals were criticized. It became Madonna's first number-one album on the Billboard 200, as well as the first album by a female artist to sell over five million copies in the United States. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) later certified it diamond for shipments of ten million units. Internationally, it reached number one in Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom. With sales of over 21 million copies worldwide, Like a Virgin remains one of the best-selling albums of all time. In the United States, four singles were released from the album —all reached the top five of the Billboard Hot 100, with the title track becoming Madonna's first number one, and "Material Girl" reaching number two.
The album was promoted on Madonna's first concert tour, the Virgin Tour (1985), which visited cities across North America. Like a Virgin is credited with establishing Madonna as a superstar and proving she was not a one-hit wonder, while her fashion style during this era was widely emulated by teens and young women. In 2023, the Library of Congress selected the album for preservation in the National Recording Registry, citing its "cultural, historical, or aesthetic significance."
Background
thumb|Madonna chose [[Nile Rodgers (pictured) to produce Like a Virgin, due to his work with David Bowie.]]
Following the release of her 1983 self-titled debut album, and hit singles like "Holiday", "Lucky Star" and "Borderline", Madonna became, according to author Craig Rosen, "one of the most exciting new artists of the 1980s". Of her upcoming second album, she told British magazine NME: "The production won't be so slick, because where Reggie [Lucas] and Mtume come from is a whole different school. I want a sound that's mine", and even hinted at working with a British producer. To ensure the album be exactly as she envisioned it, Madonna asked her label, Sire Records, to allow her to produce the album herself, a request that was immediately denied. Rodgers had previously met Madonna after attending one of her gigs at a New York City nightclub, and was impressed with her stage presence; "I kept thinking to myself, 'Damn, is she a star', but she wasn't at that time. I always wanted to work with her and this seemed like the perfect opportunity". However, when the time came he initially hesitated, as he had been warned by several people that Madonna was a "totally self-centered bitch" and a "pain in the ass to work with". Madonna "loved" the song right away, but Rodgers wasn't convinced. He felt it was "really queer", and that the line like a virgin wasn't a "terrific" hook, nor an "all-time catch phrase". Both Rodgers and Madonna were reluctant, but ultimately decided that a ballad could be a good move to bring "diversity" to the album. Inspired by the dance floor and a Puerto Rican boy the singer was attracted to, it was used on the Susan Seidelman-directed film Desperately Seeking Susan, in which Madonna starred. Rodgers envisioned a "simpler set-up" and, after hearing Madonna's demos, came to the conclusion they were too similar to what she had done on her debut: Heavily sequenced and synthesizer-led. He decided that the singer needed a "more streetwise sound", and to record with a live band. Rodgers subsequently assembled a rhythm section consisting of himself on guitar, Chic colleagues Bernard Edwards and Tony Thompson on bass and drums, respectively. Sessions took place in the afternoon, as Rodgers would attend late-night parties and wasn't used to working in the morning. It was Jason Corsaro, the album's audio engineer, who persuaded the producer to use digital recording, a new technique he believed was going to be the "future" of recording. Noted as an "80s teen-pop" take on Marilyn Monroe's "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend", opener "Material Girl" is a synth-pop song with disco and new wave elements. A tongue-in-cheek satire on the superficiality and materialism of the 1980s, Madonna sings in a shrill voice about how she won't accept men who cannot provide her with wealth and luxuries, because "we are living in a material world". Throughout the song, a robotic male voice repeats the hook "living in a material world".
The title track, "Like a Virgin", is a "mildly titillating" dance-rock song, in which the singer talks about how true love can make a girl feel "shiny and new". The drums, played by Tony Thompson, give the track "far more wallop than a drum machine ever could", according to Rikky Rooksby, author of The Complete Guide to the Music of Madonna. Madonna sings in a "tearful, angsty" tone as the track "builds and the strings undulate, belting that last anymore until she's literally panting for breath". "Dress You Up" is a "drum machine-driven" dance song with a nu-disco beat, consisting of a two-chord verse. It features a guitar solo on its bridge, while Madonna sings about clothes she would like to drape over her lover, so that she can cover him with "velvet kisses", and caress his body with her hands. Author Graham Thompson felt that the title makes a "provocative link" between the singer's own religious name—Madonna as the Catholic title for Jesus' mother Mary—and the Christian concept of the virgin birth. The artwork for Like a Virgin was shot by Steven Meisel at a suite in the St. Regis New York. The sepia-tinted cover shows the singer lying on a satin bed, decked out in a wedding dress, with a tight-fitting bustier, full-length gloves, and a belt buckle that reads "Boy Toy"; she stares directly at the camera with heavy makeup and messy hair. The singer herself referred to the photograph as a "statement of independence, if you wanna be a virgin, you are welcome. But if you wanna be a whore, it's your fucking right to be so". From Billboard, Joe Lynch named it Madonna's second best album cover.
Although it was completed by the beginning of May, the release of Like a Virgin was held back due to the success of "Borderline" and the continuing sales of Madonna's first album, which at that point exceeded one million copies in the United States. Rodgers himself recalled: "We finished [Like a Virgin], but Madonna (the album) was still the focus [...] then 'Borderline' hit out of the clear blue sky. We didn't expect that". On October 6, the release date was reported as October 29. Like a Virgin was officially released on November 12, 1984. In August 1985, it was reissued outside North America with the additional track "Into the Groove", which at the time had sold over a million copies and reached number one in the UK. It was reissued on clear vinyl on November 8, 2019.
Promotion
Live performances and tour
thumb|Backstage picture of Madonna and her entourage during [[the Virgin Tour.]]
On May 16, 1984, after recording was complete, Madonna sang "Like a Virgin" and "Dress You Up" at a party hosted by artist Keith Haring at New York's Paradise Garage. During the number, she slithered and writhed across the floor, with her dress going up and her underpants showing. The singer explained that this was not intentional, as one of her shoes had come off at the beginning and she had simply tried to reach for it; "I thought, 'Well, I'll just pretend I meant to do this', and I dove on the floor and I rolled around", she later recalled. On December 13, Madonna sang "Like a Virgin" on British television program Top of the Pops, decked out in a pink wig and golden metallic jacket. It was named the second-best performance in the show's history.
Like a Virgin was further promoted on the Virgin Tour, Madonna's first concert tour, which visited cities in the US and Canada from April through June 1985. The tour received mixed critical reviews but was a commercial success, with Billboard reporting a gross of $3.3 million ($ million in dollars); all 17,672 tickets for the concert at New York City's Radio City Music Hall sold out in a record-breaking 34 minutes. One of the Detroit concerts was filmed and released on VHS as Madonna Live: The Virgin Tour.
Singles
left|thumb|Madonna performing title track "[[Like a Virgin (song)|Like a Virgin" on the Rebel Heart Tour (2015–2016). The song became her first number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100.]]
In the United States, the title track, "Like a Virgin," was released as the lead single on October 31, 1984. In most European countries, it was issued on November 11. Upon release, it received generally positive reviews from critics, who singled out Madonna's vocals and deemed it her first signature song. Additionally, it became her first number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100. The accompanying music video was directed by Mary Lambert, and shows the singer sailing down the canals of Venice in a gondola, and roaming around a castle in a white wedding dress.
Second single "Material Girl" was first released in the US on November 30, whereas in Europe it was published on February 18, 1985. AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine said it's one of the songs that made Madonna an icon, along with "Like a Virgin". Commercially, it was successful, reaching number two on the Hot 100, and number three on the UK Singles Chart.
"Angel" was released as the third single on April 10, 1985. It received generally mixed reviews from critics, with some calling it a "classic" and others deeming it sub-par compared to the singer's previous works. "Angel" became Madonna's fifth consecutive top-five single on the Hot 100. "Into the Groove" was released in the UK on July 15. It was not released in the US; instead, it was issued as B-side to the 12-inch maxi-single of "Angel", and was therefore ineligible to enter the Billboard Hot 100. "Angel"/"Into the Groove" reached number one on the Dance Club Songs chart. Billboard readers voted "Into the Groove" the best dance single from the 1980s decade.
Final single "Dress You Up" was released on July 24, 1985. Critics reacted positively toward the track, referring to it as irresistible. Despite positive feedback, "Dress You Up" was added to the Parents Music Resource Center's "Filthy Fifteen" list due to perceived sexual innuendo in its lyrics. It fared well commercially, reaching number five on both the Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart.
Video compilation
A VHS video compilation titled Madonna was made available in December 1984; it included the videos for "Borderline", "Burning Up", "Like a Virgin", and an extended mix of "Lucky Star". The release topped Billboards Music Videocassette chart from April 13 to November 9, 1985, and was the year's best-selling music videocassette. Additionally, Madonna was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments of 100,000 units, and was recognized as the "Best Selling Video Cassette Merchandised as Music Video" by the National Association of Recording Merchandisers. According to The Saturday Evening Post, the video has sold over one million copies. To promote the release, a party was held at Chicago's Cabaret Metro on February 9, 1985. Dubbed "The Virgin Party", it drew a crowd of around 1,200 people; attendees were encouraged to wear white, and for $5 admission, were able to view the Madonna videocassette and the "Material Girl" music video. The event was organized as a drive to promote music videos, which at that point did not have a large market share.
Critical reception
Reviews of Like a Virgin were mixed upon release. From Billboard, Brian Chine called it a "fine" second album, even though Madonna "does no searching whatsoever in her singing [...] [She] hits her notes straight on, and with a pretty enough melody". Also from Billboard, Michael Paoletta praised Rodgers' "sleek but snewy rhythm arrangements". From The New York Times, Stephen Holden was pleased with the "handsomely produced" record and the singer's voice, which he felt echoed the "rock-and-roll girl-group tradition that preceded the Beatles", but while these "worshipfully extolled their boyfriends' cars, haircuts and rebel poses, Madonna's point of view is decidedly more self-interested". "The words 'shiny and new' describe not only the way the love-smitten singer feels in the title song but the sound of the album", concluded Holden. Debby Miller from Rolling Stone opined that, "[d]espite [Madonna's] little-girl voice, there's an undercurrent of ambition that makes her more than the latest Betty Boop [...] Her light voice bobs over the heavy rhythm and synth tracks like a kid on a carnival ride". Author J. Randy Taraborrelli applauded Madonna's voice for being "reflectively sharper" than on her debut, and felt Like a Virgin reflected her as a "more versatile and artistic performer". From streaming service Tidal, John Murph described the album as "far warmer, fuller and more soulful than the often cold and tinny synth sounds that typified a lot of underground dance music" of the time.
The album was described as "smart, funny, sexy and irresistible" by Q magazine, while for The Nationals Saeed Saeed, it is a "ruthlessly focused collection of pop songs [...] featuring at least three pop classics". Alexis Petridis referred to Like a Virgin as "provocative, fun, [and] witty [...] [It's also] the last album on which Madonna sounded like a product of the environment that birthed her". It was deemed a "masterpiece" by Joseph Earp from Australian website Junkee. WhatCulture's Reece Shrewsbury felt the songs on Like a Virgin are stronger than those on Madonna. To Matthew Rettenmund, "[Like a Virgin] is not Madonna's strongest album, but its nine tracks feature [her] at her least self-conscious and most cleverly effervescent". Daryl Easlea praised Rodgers' production, but felt the album "tapers off, veering toward filler" on its second half. Despite being home to some of the "catchiest, not to mention most iconic tracks in pop music", Like a Virgin is made up of "mostly fillers", according to the staff of Instinct magazine.
Pete Bishop from The Pittsburgh Press wrote that in Like a Virgin, Madonna "sort of hum-de-dums her way through [...] a lot of simple love lyrics over a lot of lightweight, pop-style fun-rock [...] sometimes sounding like a one-woman Pointer Sisters and sometimes like Cyndi Lauper with her nose pinched shut". Despite naming it "pleasant enough", Bishop concluded that its main "weakness" is that, "you could put these [songs] behind any decent-voiced singer. Like a Virgin does not establish Madonna as anything special". Taraborrelli added that, when compared to Madonna's subsequent records, Like a Virgin "does come across as a bit repetitious and immature". Both Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine and Stephen Thomas Erlewine felt it is not as "innovative" as Madonna's first record, with the former adding: "[On the first album], she stunned with style and a certain joy. Here, the calculation is apparent, and while that's part of [her] essence - even something that makes her fun - it throws [Like a Virgin]'s balance off a little too much for it to be consistent". The staff of The Advocate concluded that, "this could have been the best EP of the '80s, with generation-defining songs [...] Instead it was a nine-song album with five great singles and four tracks that unbelievably escaped the cutting room floor". In the same vein, Erlewine added that the singles "overshadow" the rest of the album, which "vacillates wildly in terms of quality".
Commercial performance
In the United States, Like a Virgin debuted at number 70 on the Billboard 200 on December 1, 1984. The following week, it climbed to number ten. The album reached the chart's first spot on February 9, 1985, where it spent three weeks. Fourteen weeks after its release, Like a Virgin had sold over 3.5 million copies. By July 1985, it had become the first album by a female to sell over five million copies in the United States. The record came in at the third spot on the Billboard 200 year-end chart for 1985. Another 882,000 units were sold at the BMG Music Club, which are not counted by the Nielsen SoundScan. Along with True Blue (1986) and The Immaculate Collection (1990), Like a Virgin is one of Madonna's best-selling albums in the United States. it climbed up the chart and eventually reached the third spot on February 16, 1985.
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Legacy
Like a Virgin has been referred to as the album that made Madonna a superstar. Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote: "Madonna had hits with her first album [...] but she didn't become an icon, until Like a Virgin".
Stephen Holden wrote: "No phenomenon illustrates more pointedly how pop music history seems to run in cycles than the overnight success of Madonna. The month before Christmas [...] Teen-agers were lining up in stores to purchase [Like a Virgin] the way their parents had lined up to buy Beatles records in the late 60's". Chris Smith, author of 101 Albums That Changed Popular Music, where Like a Virgin was included, added that it helped Madonna "steal the spotlight toward herself. [Asserting] her sexuality as only male rock stars had done before, moving well beyond the limited confines of being a pop artist, to becoming a focal point for nationwide discussions of power relationships in the areas of sex, race, gender, religion, and other divisive social topics". For The Guardians Caroline Sullivan, Madonna became the "biggest thing to hit pop" since "a woman in control of her sex life and career was such a new idea".
According to Santiago Fouz-Hernandez, one of the authors of Madonna's Drowned Worlds, following the album's release and Virgin tour, young girls everywhere started emulating Madonna's style. The singer herself recalled that women would show up to the concerts with "flap skirts on and tights cut off below their knees and lace gloves and rosaries and bows in their hair and big hoop earrings. I was like, 'This is insane!'" In 2017, NPR named Like a Virgin one of the greatest albums ever made by a woman, with Alison Fensterstock writing: "All that came with [the album], made it clear that there would never be a pop music landscape without the impact and influence of Madonna again". Consequence of Sound considered Like a Virgin the second best sophomore album of all time, with Michael Roffman saying it "carved out the throne, the crown, and the title that would be Madonna's forever: The Queen of Pop". Chuck Arnold, writing for Billboard, concluded that, "Madonna has definitely made better albums than Like a Virgin — among them, Like a Prayer [and] Ray of Light — but her second LP changed the course of pop history". According to Taraborrelli, "every important artist has at least one album in his or her career whose critical and commercial success becomes the artist's magic moment; for Madonna, Like a Virgin was just such a defining moment". Finally, in 2023, Like a Virgin was selected for preservation in the United States' National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress due to it being considered "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Track listing
All tracks are written by Madonna and Stephen Bray, except where noted. All tracks are produced by Nile Rodgers, except where noted.