FEATURE:
Don't Go for Second Best, Baby…
Madonna’s Express Yourself at Thirty-Three: Her Greatest Ever Single?
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ANY Madonna fan…
will tell you how hard it is to rank her singles. Like some artists, I don’t think there is one song that definitively tops the list when it comes to deciding the best one. Maybe Vogue (featured on her 1990 greatest hits collection, The Immaculate Collection), and Ray of Light (from the 1998 album of the same name) comes close – they are both iconic in their own ways. My favourite song of hers is Take a Bow (from 1994’s Bedtime Stories). The one I first heard was Material Girl (from 1984’s Like a Virgin). Everyone has unique experiences with her music. As her 1989 single, Express Yourself, celebrates its anniversary on 9th May, I wanted to spend time with it. To many, this magnificent single is the very best thing that she did. The second single from the Like a Prayer album (1989), it went to number two in America. I always thought this song should be number one! Written with Stephen Bray, it is the second track on Like a Prayer (after the title track). An important song released in a year when there was no Pop artist bigger and more important than Madonna, I do feel that more people should examine and spotlight the importance of Express Yourself. An inspiring and timeless cut that has an equally iconic video – which I shall come to soon -, one gets a real blast of positivity from this single!
I was only six when the single came out (in fact, my birthday is 9th May!), so my early memories of Express Yourself are quite dim. During childhood, certainly, the song became more played and clearer in my mind. I think that the Like a Prayer album is one of her very best (second only to Ray of Light), and its array of themes and sounds is astonishing! A definite expansion and step up from 1986’s excellent True Blue, this was a confident, commanding and loved artist reaching new heights! As Express Yourself is about to turn thirty-three, I thought I would go a bit deeper I want to look at some of the lyrics, as they are quite standout and empowering. Before that, there are a couple of features that are worth mentioning. The first was written in 2019. It suggests that the incredible video for Express Yourself is as relevant now as it was in 1989:
“In an almost forty-year career, 1989 remains one of Madonna’s most controversial.
Her 1986 album, True Blue, had been dedicated to and largely inspired by then-husband Sean Penn. But by 1989, the artist had filed for divorce from the actor, starred in more than one poorly-received film, and turned 30—the age at which her mother had died when she was a child. There was a lot going on, and so Madonna channelled the lot of it into Like a Prayer, an album that traded largely in familial trauma and Catholic guilt.
In March of that year, she kicked off the album with its title track, a gospel-infused rock song that was accompanied by one of the most controversial videos in pop music history. It was protested by a number of religious and family groups, which led to Pepsi pulling a commercial that she was featured in. Her Blond Ambition World Tour would later be denounced by none other than the Pope himself, who called on the people of Italy to boycott the star. “Like a Prayer” wasn’t the first time that Madonna had scandalized the public; as The New York Times put it, she was already known to “[stir] up just enough controversy to advance her career without tipping the balance of public opinion against her.” Still, the drama demanded that everyone pay attention to whatever she had planned for the rest of the album.
The follow-up single to “Like a Prayer” was “Express Yourself,” a clubby empowerment anthem in which Madonna advised listeners not to “go for second best” in their relationships, to find a man who “[makes them] feel like a queen on a throne.” Fair enough for a summer pop song, but its visual accompaniment complicated the message somewhat.
David Fincher’s video for “Express Yourself” made its MTV debut 30 years ago today. It was only the first of Fincher’s Madonna videos (out of four in total) but would remain his most high-concept project for the star. It was the most expensive music video ever made at that point (and, in 2019, ranks only in third place, behind another Madonna video). As Raza Syed wrote for Vice, “Two notoriously exacting talents—the ingénue, the wunderkind—seized on each other’s velocity at precisely the right moment.”
Inspired by Fritz Lang’s 1927 film Metropolis, “Express Yourself” depicts Madonna as the wife of a factory overseer; a balding, stern-looking man who wears a suit and monocle. In a green evening gown, she and her pet cat gaze out of a penthouse and down at the sweaty, muscly men who work for her husband. The camera pays special attention to one of these workers (played by model Cameron Alborzian), careful to highlight that he’s the hotter of the video’s male leads. Two things then happen in tandem. One is that Madonna’s cat escapes the penthouse, eventually ending up in Alborzian’s care. The second is that she changes out of her evening wear and into a suit and monocle, à la her husband. She shows up on the factory floor in said outfit and performs the song’s now-famous choreography, which she’d more or less stick to for live performances from then on (including on the tour, where her iconic cone bra made its first appearance). In the context of the video, the dance summons Alborzian (still holding the cat) up the elevator and to her bedroom, where the two have sex. It ends with her husband noticing his employee’s absence, and, presumably, putting two and two together.
So, what did it all mean? Depends who you ask. For her part, Madonna told a BBC interviewer that “pussy rules the world” when asked about the video’s cat fixation. The sequence where she crawls on the floor and laps up milk out of a bowl—which Britney Spears would later nod to in “Slumber Party”—was one of its most discussed, as was the one where she’s quite literally chained to her bed. When an ABC anchor asked her to explain herself to the people “upset by that,” she was visibly annoyed: “There wasn’t a man that put that chain on me, I did it myself. […] I crawled under my own table, you know, there wasn’t a man standing there making me do it. I do everything by my own volition. I’m in charge, okay?”
IN THIS PHOTO: Madonna in New York in 1989/PHOTO CREDIT: Larry Busacca/WireImage
Regardless of how one feels about the video’s specifics, most behind-the-scenes anecdotes back up Madonna’s claim that she ran much of the show. "I oversaw everything—the building of the sets, everyone's costumes, I had meetings with make-up and hair and the cinematographer, everybody,” she told author Mick St. Michael. She’d made memorable videos before, having already been one of MTV’s biggest stars for half a decade, but “Express Yourself” set a new bar for music artists who were equally serious about their videos. It wasn’t uncommon in the 1980s for performers like Michael Jackson and David Bowie to splurge on ones that they had major creative control over, but Madonna was really the first woman in pop to see herself as an auteur. The business and creative strategies that we now expect from artists like Beyoncé and Lady Gaga once had to be broken in by Madonna.
As with many Madonna videos, “Express Yourself” is iconic largely for its costumes. The “gender-bending” pantsuit that she chose for her big dance number was another hot topic upon the video’s release. Combined with the crotch-grabbing in the choreography, critics wondered whether she was arguing for “gender fluidity as a road to gender equality.” Her outfit is probably the video’s most visible legacy: Updated takes on it have appeared in everything from Lady Gaga’s “Alejandro” to Beyoncé’s “Haunted.” Christina Aguilera overtly referenced the look—monocle and all—in “Not Myself Tonight,” a Madonna tribute that references some of the most sexually explicit moments from the latter’s career. As Erica Russell wrote for MTV News, “[Madonna’s] music, imagery, and confrontational boldness may not seem so revolutionary today in the age of modern feminism, but that’s because she made it so”.
A remarkably fresh and compelling song that does not sound dated – even with the 1980s production -, Express Yourself is an anthem that was taken to heart by many. Wikipedia have an article that collates critical reception of the song. The line, “Don't go for second best, baby”, underlines the fact that Madonna’s single (which she co-produced with Stephen Bray, and has inspired the likes of Spice Girls, Lady Gaga and Christina Aguilera) is a feminist anthem:
“Express Yourself" received mainly positive reviews from critics. J. Randy Taraborrelli, author of Madonna: An Intimate Biography called the song a "funky dance anthem" and reacted positively to its message of a "female call-to-arms in communication and self-respect." Stephen Holden of The New York Times observed that Madonna repudiated the philosophy of her previous single "Material Girl" (1985) in "Express Yourself", which he described as "a 30-year-old's view of life unshadowed by rebellion and lingering lapsed Catholic pain." In another article from the same newspaper, Carn James declared it as one of her most exuberant songs. Santiago Fouz-Hernández and Freya Jarman-Ivens, authors of Madonna's Drowned Worlds, complimented the lyrics of the song, and added that it apparently espouses "gender fluidity as a road to gender equality.” In his book Madonna As Postmodern Myth, journalist Georges Claude Guilbert described "Express Yourself" as a hymn to freedom, "an encouragement for all women and all oppressed minorities to resist, to express their ideas and their strength faced with tyranny."
IN THIS PHOTO: Lady Gaga (whose 2011 song, Born This Way (from the album of the same name), shares similarities with Madonna’s Express Yourself
Biographer Mary Cross noted in her book Madonna: A Biography, how the song paved the way for its music video and became a testament to freedom. Authors Allen Metz and Carol Benson noted in their essays on Madonna, how she decimated "patriarchal, racist and capitalist constructions", by the way she pronounced the word "self" in "Express Yourself". They added that the opening line "Don't go for second best, baby" transformed the song into a postmodernist anthem. Scholar Sheila Whiteley noted in her book Women and Popular Music: Sexuality, Identity, and Subjectivity, that Madonna's acknowledgment of the pastiche and of being capable of imitating musical style was interesting to her, but given Madonna's ability to manipulate image, the musical exuberance of "Express Yourself" did not appear surprising. Mark Bego, author of Madonna: Blond Ambition declared that "the song that most reflected the Madonna everyone had come to know and be shocked by was 'Express Yourself'." O'Brien was impressed with the song, and gave a detailed review.
"Express Yourself" is a feminist call to arms, complete with muscular brass-playing and soulful voice. Here Madonna is the anti-materialism girl, exhorting her audience to respect themselves. That means having a man who loves your head and your heart. If he doesn't treat you right (and here's the revolutionary rhetoric) you're better off on your own. Like a female preacher, Madonna emphasizes each word of the chorus, invoking God and the power of orgasm. In parts Cosmo-woman, girl-talk, and swinging dance track, it presages the deliciously declarative stance of "Vogue" and shows Madonna moving from introspective to survivalist mode.
IN THIS PHOTO: Madonna in 1989
Professor Maury Dean wrote in his book Rock 'n' Roll Gold Rush: A Singles Un-Cyclopedia, that the main appeal of "Express Yourself" lay in its teen appeal, although he understood that at its core, it was addressing a very important issue of female liberation. Kevin Phinney from Austin American-Statesman commented that with "Express Yourself", Madonna struck out her "Material Girl" persona, there by demonstrating once more that no image of hers is concrete. Based on the lyrics of the song, Ken Blakely of Philadelphia Daily News declared the song as a rare example of good taste and good advice from Like a Prayer. Andy Goldberg from The Jerusalem Post was impressed with Madonna's vocals on the song, complimenting the soul inlfluences. Rolling Stone's J. D. Considine called "Express Yourself" an unabashed groove tune and felt that it seemed "smart and sassy, right down to Madonna's soul-style testimony on the intro: 'Come on, girls, do you believe in love?" Don McCleese from Chicago Sun-Times declared the song as one of the highlights of the album, feeling that it would become anthemic. Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine while reviewing Like a Prayer, announced "Express Yourself" as the "most soulful performance" of Madonna's career. He added that the song "turned Madonna's 'Material Girl' image on its head, denouncing material things for a little r-e-s-p-e-c-t." Stephen Thomas Erlewine from Allmusic wrote that the song consisted of "deep funk" music”.
A song that will remain one of Madonna’s best-loved and most important songs because of its strong messages and incredible sound, she truly commits to every line and syllable! Perhaps retorting when it comes to her famous single, Material Girl – where it was more about wealth, excess and money -, Express Yourself is a more mature and wiser Madonna talking about real worth and personal value: “You don't need diamond rings or eighteen karat gold/Fancy cars that go very fast, you know they never last, no, no/What you need is a big strong hand/To lift you to your higher ground/Make you feel like a queen on a throne/Make him love you 'til you can't come down”. I do feel Like a Prayer was an album moved away from the themes and sound of her first few albums. Although songs like Cherish and Express Yourself have a bubblier, lighter and joyous sound, they are definitely deep and inspiring. Express Yourself is a very important song in Madonna’s catalogue. A song that eschews anything material and empty, it is no wonder Express Yourself made a huge impression and showed Madonna to be this artist with proper substance and power (though this was evident prior to Express Yourself): “Long stem roses are the way to your heart, but/He needs to start with your head/Satin sheets are very romantic/What happens when you're not in bed?/You deserve the best in life/So if the time isn't right, then move on/Second best is never enough/You'll do much better, baby, on your own”. On the thirty-third anniversary of Express Yourself, there will be a lot of new love and appreciation of one of Madonna’s…
DEFINING songs.