In late January 1985, Madonna made her first-ever trip to Japan. She'd just released Like a Virgin, the follow-up album to her self-titled debut, with Nile Rodgers as a co-producer, and traveled to Tokyo to promote the record. For most fans of Madonna, this is likely the pop icon's most identifiable era, especially visually speaking: teased hair, wedding dresses with fingerless gloves, references to Jean Paul Gaultier and Vivienne Westwood, the "Boy Toy" belt. And it was during this watershed moment that Playboy magazine tapped the photographer @kenjiwakasugi to shoot her on January 23rd 1985. The Osaka native was allotted 45 minutes with Madonna in a spare studio space, where he set up a pink couch covered in plastic and a flash unit—that was all in terms of props and equipment. There were no stylists, nor a glam team; Madonna came to the shoot bringing her own clothing with her (a black bustier, the famous Healthy shirt and Boy Toy belt, 2 different skirts, Takara Kronoform robot watch and Maripol's layered braclets and crucifix jewelry). As Wakasugi recalled, her energy and vibrant spirit did more than enough to fill the room. "Madonna was very modest, had a great manner, and seemed powerful," the photographer said. "I adored her smile." The contents of that promotional shoot, considered relatively bare bones at the time, are now enshrined beautifully in recently published limited-edition books Adore 1 and 2, by @njg_studio. Kenji's soft-focus touch and tendency to capture people in their most natural state comes through in the Madonna photographs. On set, Wakasugi recalled that he wasn't able to communicate with the star further than a few words of encouragement, but her "vigorous" personality told him everything he needed to know. She was more than comfortable in front of the camera. ❤👑📸☄🔥💃@madonna#madonna#womeninmusic#madonna80sarchive#madonna80s#icon#80smadonna#madonnastyle#musicicon#BoyToy#musicroyalty#madonnamusic#madonnafans#Madonna#iconic#madonna80squeen#bossbitch#bitchimmadonna#slayqueenslay#allhailthequeen#madonnaphotos#rebel#madonnapictures#bowdownbitches#mlvc#madonnalove#whenmadonnarule
What’s It Like to Remix a Madonna Song? Producers share their experiences to Billboard Magazine 24th August 2022 - Shep Pettibone:
BM: When you listen to these songs now, where does it take you?
SP: They still sound so fresh. I mean, this is 32 years later, and the songs still sound as good as they did when they came out, which is pretty amazing. They don’t sound dated. I’m very proud that out of the 50 number ones, she chose to have my remix of “Into The Groove” released as the first digital single, way ahead of the album release.
BN: In the grand scheme of dance music, what role do you think Madonna occupies?
SP: She deserves her queen diva status there. Everything she has done dance-wise is always been a big, big hit. I’m particularly happy that I got to do what I did at the pinnacle of her career. You know, when out of the blue, Beyoncé is re-singing her song over my music [on “Break My Soul (The Queens Remix)”] — they didn’t even try to recreate the music. They just lifted the music right off the instrumental track. I was blown away. Then re-doing the rap to include all the the legends and people she’s talking about, that’s one of the kind.
BM: It’s such a nod to your work that they didn’t change anything. They didn’t try to redo it, it was just like, “This is perfect. Let’s just like take the source material and give it straight up, because you’re not gonna improve upon it."
SP: Right. They didn’t even ask for the masters to remix it. They just took it right off the record, the way it was mixed 32 years ago.❤👑📸☄🔥💃@madonna#madonna#womeninmusic#madonna80sarchive#madonna80s#icon#80smadonna#madonnastyle#musicicon#BoyToy#musicroyalty#madonnamusic#madonnafans#Madonna#iconic#madonna80squeen#bossbitch#bitchimmadonna#slayqueenslay#allhailthequeen#madonnaphotos#rebel#madonnapictures#bowdownbitches#mlvc#madonnalove#whenmadonnaruledtheworld#supportmadonna#womeniadmire#madonnastory
What’s It Like to Remix a Madonna Song? Producers share their experiences to Billboard Magazine 24th August 2022 - Shep Pettibone:
SP: I don’t know if I’m being chronological here, but “Express Yourself” came out, and I was, again, “This is a bubblegum, kind of eh kind of song.” I thought it was like, a little hokey. So I did a mix of it with some additional production, and then I did something that nobody had ever done: I wiped all the music, except for the vocals, and totally re-did the music. She loved so much that that became the single version and the video version. It’s very interesting. If you watch the video, to my version of “Express Yourself,” they didn’t change the video. There’s a part where I took all the horns out and replaced them with strings, and they have a carousel of horn players at one point in the video, and there’s nary a horn playing.
BM: I can hear those strings in my head right now.
SP: Dum Dum Dum. So I took a chance. That isn’t what you were really hired to do when you remix, to totally take out the artist’s music and replace it, but it worked.❤👑📸☄🔥💃@madonna#madonna#womeninmusic#madonna80sarchive#madonna80s#icon#80smadonna#madonnastyle#musicicon#BoyToy#musicroyalty#madonnamusic#madonnafans#Madonna#iconic#madonna80squeen#bossbitch#bitchimmadonna#slayqueenslay#allhailthequeen#madonnaphotos#rebel#madonnapictures#bowdownbitches#mlvc#madonnalove#whenmadonnaruledtheworld#supportmadonna#womeniadmire#madonnastory
Happy 39th Anniversary 🥳🥳On July 27 1983, Madonna’s eponymous debut album was released by Sire Records. The record was renamed Madonna: The First Album for the 1985 international re-release of the album. Carin Goldberg — the art director behind Madonna’s debut album cover — spoke to the Cut about her first experience with the then-unknown pop star. "It was ’83, and at that point I had my own small design firm. Warner Bros. called and asked me to do her cover as a freelance designer. Because she wasn’t famous, the budget was not huge at all. I asked her to come dressed in the kind of clothes she would normally wear. I said, “You’ve got your thing, just do it.” There was nothing particularly shocking about what she was wearing at the time. I think she just had a unique style. A lot of people did — Betsey Johnson, Cyndi Lauper, Diane Keaton. There was a lot going on then that was all about women wearing all kinds of weird combinations. We were all doing that kind of eclectic look, but Madonna did it with a much more audacious, sexual edge. It wasn’t so much about trying to be a rock star — it was more just making something from something you had around. Taking some piece of fabric and wrapping it around your head, for example.My memory was that she wore some kind of cut shirt — there was definitely a lot of belly hanging out. And a balloon-y pant with the waist and legs rolled up. A lot of artists really didn’t have very much taste — they don’t always know who they are, and they need to be told — especially these days. Madonna walked in ready-made. She knew who she was. We didn’t have to worry about styling her. She came with a lot of bracelets on, and so I said, “I think we ought to focus on the bracelets, let’s really try to get that in the picture.” That was the one iconic thing about her outfit, besides the rag in her hair. I thought she needed even more, so the girlfriend of the photographer went into her jewelry box and took as many bracelets as she could find, to give it a bit more boom" ❤👑📸☄🔥💃@madonna#madonna#womeninmusic#madonna80sarchive#madonna80s#icon#80smadonna#madonnastyle#musicicon#BoyToy#musicroyalty#madonnamusic#madonnafans