It’s mostly drums and bass as Madonna returns to the groany-voice of Erotica.
The slow funk of Waiting has Madonna pining for an uncertain love. That said, Madonna sings more here, and it’s a good track. After the tone thus far (the joy of exploring sexual freedom) it seems out of step with the album. Madonna sings about a party girl in Bad Girl, a tragic ballad about woman on a brink of disaster. It’s more along the groove of the title track, as a horny Madonna sings – ‘But let me remind you in case you don’t already know/Dining out can happen down below’. Time to slow things down, with the cool beat of Where Life Begins. It sounds a lot like ‘ Vogue‘, especially when that very song is invoked towards the end of the track. The song is a metaphor about a boy coming to accept his homosexuality. The dance beat of Deeper And Deeper re-introduces a more mainstream feel to the album. It seems to be about getting some sweet revenge by cutting off a dysfunctional long-distance relationship. The filter on her vocals make her sound likes she’s singing through an antique radio set. Madonna announces – ‘ this is not a love song’ as she uses a sample from LL Cool J’s ‘Jingling Baby’. It’s one of those going-through-the motions covers that you’ve almost forgotten as you’re actually listening to it. Where the passion was high on the title track, it’s noticeably absent on this muted cover of the Little Willie John song, Fever. “ If I take you from behind/Push myself into your mind/When you least expect it/Will you try and reject it“. With deep bass and a hip-hop beat, Madonna invites us into her parlour of Erotica. With this album and the release of her book ‘Sex’, Madonna created a new artistic persona – a BDSM dominatrix called Dita (inspired by actress Dita Parlow).