Babyface completely carried Madonna in "Take A Bow"

notice how different Madonna sounds live vs. in the recording. Babyface sounds the same, a sign of talent

My favorite song of hers, I don't want to listen to her maim it

I know the point of your thread, OP, was to shit on Madonna, but that's actually a very good performance from her. I'm not the biggest Babyface fan, but you're right that his smooth sound was the perfect complement to hers.

I’ve grown to think that may be her best album. Secret is one of her best songs.

What do Madonna, Meghan, Harry & a regiment of termites have in common? They're boring.

Madonna actually gives a pretty decent live performance in that video, especially considering it's one of the more vocally-challenging songs in her catalogue.

This thread is an obvious ploy to shit on Madonna, but I've always thought she and Babyface complimented each other well on record. Forbidden Love is another terrific song they did together.

I remember the first time I heard Bedtime Stories, I knew Take a Bow would be a huge hit.

The one who deserves an award is the make up person for the cunt, she painted one of her older faces onto the monster she has become.

Did this keep you awake at night, OP?

you can hear Madonna straining and struggling throughout. As for vocally challenging, a decent singer, doesn't even have to be amazing, would have an easy time with this song. It shows how weak she is. Now this wasn't horrible, but it would have sounded much worse had she been on her own without Babyface backing her up.

I’d always thought this song sounded like it could have been a chinese pop number. Now I see it’s actually intentional. Thanks for post OP.

My ears are bleeding.

She tried singing it a few times during her last tour and it was awful. I had always wondered why she had never performed it on tour before, and suddenly I understood - she can’t hold the notes anymore. She must have realized it was terrible too because she only sang it life a few times before pulling it.

It's mainly her timing that's off. Babyface did indeed save her from herself here.

She gets better as the song goes on. To be honest, it sounds like nerves in the beginning more than anything and as pointed out above, her timing is off. It's also the contrast because Babyface sings effortlessly and it's obvious Madonna is really trying. But I don't think this is the most terrible performance of hers by a long shot.

Would you all find it interesting to know that Babyface was suspected of driving the get-away car at a murder?

Madonna is apparently nervous, everything about her body language says nerves. Her worst performance was Nothing Really Matters at the MTV Video Awards in 98 I think. It was awful. Her best live performance was Express Yourself in 1989 and her Oscar performance of Sooner or Later. IMHO

Madonna wouldn't have a career if it wasn't for digital vocal enhancement.

OMG OP thanks for this important and timely information! I will sleep content tonight knowing I am INFORMED.

R17 also great backup singers from Babyface in this song to all others she's had over years. She would never have made it just on her voice standing alone

[quote] Would you all find it interesting to know that Babyface was suspected of driving the get-away car at a murder?

Huh?

Whenever she performs on award shows, she always seems nervous. “You Must Love Me” at the Oscars was a good example.

She was shaking visibly during the 1991 Oscars but turned it around. I think it's the best she's ever sounded. Apparently before she came up, she was fighting with someone - one of the producers. It's told in a book about the Oscars and was one of the reasons she was shaking.

Yeah, she was very nervous during that performance r21. I think Madonna is petrified when she sings for her peers because her shortcomings are exposed unless she can turn it around like in 1991.

Met Gala 2018:

It's a duet, straight up.

Babyface's fave muse was Whitney Houston who would do many of the songs he wrote for her in as few takes as possible. It must've been frustrating to work with Madonna, but unlike OP, I think it turned out well.

I always quite liked this song, in that way that you forget it exists and then when it turns up again, you're like: "Oh this one! I liked this one!" but I think I appreciate it even more after reading that titbit about it being based off of Chinese pop. That's a cool bit of information. I love their look in the video above too. I can only imagine the outrage it would cause in 2020 America.

Watching the clip OP, she really struggled to stay in tune, but for Madonna standards, I think she did well with the bridge. Babyface, on the other hand, is effortless.

Julie Andrews said, "Professionals do it until they can't get it wrong."

Madonna was so cute...it makes me sad.

Take a Bow is Madonna's longest running #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. It may not be as iconic as Like a Virgin, Like a Prayer or Vogue, but it was a huge hit when it was released. Even more impressive was it hit #1 when public opinion of her was at an all-time low.

Madonna has nothing to be ashamed about singing in front of anyone. Gawd, the awful singers who have made millions. Madonna can more or less carry a tune.

I have always said that the Bedtime Stories album was her best album. She did really well with R&B-lite pop music and the songs were age appropriate and suited her voice. There was a reason she had her longest running number one from this album. Too bad she doesn’t go back to a sound like this.

She was so pretty. I loved her and I hate what she's become.

Totally agree r32. Well said. What's interesting about Bedtime Stories was that it acted two-fold: it was a means to soften her image after the Sex/Erotica/Body of Evidence controversy but it was also a very strong album that didn't compromise her music. It still sounds like a natural evolution from Erotica.

I wish she would go back to this style. '90s Madonna was so cool and like r33 said, it's sad to watch how she's devolved.

Her journey from Bedtime Stories to Evita to Ray of Light was great to watch because people actually recognized her for her talent and, um, they generally liked her during this time.

R27 true

Her voice is extremely flat and boring on this song. Just like her song Rain. Really shows that she has no range whatsoever.

She has a hard time singing in front of industry people because she knows they hate her.

Even Marilyn hated her for stealing and cheapening a classic Monroe look.

"Take a Bow" is one of my favorite Madonna songs ("Don't Tell Me" as well). Babyface had the magic touch during that time. I give Madonna credit for singing live (instead of lip-syncing), being nervous about it, caring about it. In contrast, Babyface sung in an effortless manner (higher notes).

Here's Babyface on stage with Whitney Houston, accepting a BET award. Whitney was all over the place. Babyface is behind her, very calm and smiling.

Please sell us, R37, which Marilyn hated Madonna for stealing a Monroe look?

Munster, Manson or McCoo, R37?

Painful. She sounds like shit. She cannot sing. Thank god for studio magic. Yes OP, Bayface carried her. She was off key the whole time. It took everything in her to "sing" even at this level. Pathetic. I did love this song too back in the 90s.

R39 It´s thinking of the wrong M.

So Marlene hated her, Bette Davis loved her.

Who gives a shit?

I am not aware that any of the legendary ladies and gentlemen Miss Ciccone name dropped in vogue has commented on her.

Watching Madonna sing live on awards show always used to give me anxiety as a teenage gayling. I wanted so badly for her to sound great, but you could always tell how nervous she was. I remember in high school I had an English teacher I got along very well with, but she HATED Madonna. When Madonna sang "You Must Love Me" at the Oscars, I remember my teacher the next morning saying to me how terrible Madonna sounded. Listening back now, I think Madonna held her own here. In typical fashion, she starts off shaky and pitchy but finishes strong.

That song always makes me think of Ross and Rachel.

Madonna does get very nervous at awards shows and it shows vocally, but she is fine here. And she sounds fine in demos.

I always thought this was her best duet . . .

One of her best live performances. She sounds so much better when she isn't performing in front of "industry" people.

If you can’t sing live and on key, you can’t sing. But to a sociopath like Madonna, inability was never going to stop her from being famous. She’s a repulsive psycho.

She can sing live and on key but when it comes to performing live in front of industry people, that's when she gets really nervous and struggles.

R45 I remember that...she was decent, not an easy song for her. I wonder what Babs was saying as she was laughing with James Brolin??

I agree about Bedtime Stories, it was a great, strong album. Unfortunately she was still dealing with the Sex fallout and the album didn't get the acclaim it deserved.

[quote] I’ve grown to think that may be her best album. Secret is one of her best songs.

"Bedtime Stories" has long been one of my Top 3 favorite Madonna albums, only the debut and "Like A Virgin" are as listenable.

I think Bedtime Stories did a lot better outside of the US. I was quite surprised when I saw how badly "Bedtime Story" and "Human Nature" did (comparatively) in the US, because they were really big here (Australia) at the time, and I believe in the UK too.

R55, Bedtime Stories only did somewhat better than Erotica. It wasn't until Ray of Light where she really came back. By that time, she was outselling Whitney and Mariah, who were destroying her between 1992 and 1997.

You can see it's on her mind here, R56.

Kurt Loder is so obsequious.

R57, oh yeah! I heard about her saying that. I think by that she accepted that she wasn't the reigning female pop star anymore.

Kurt Loder always gave Madge a tonguebath. He loved her. She was really pretty cool in the early 90's even though the Sex period really damager her. Some of her best music came out of that period. The Nellie Hooper stuff was awesome.

Someone paired her (no, doubt, unauthorized) isolated studio vocals from 'Vogue' with some outtakes from the video. She sounded great.

This Ray of Light performance was very strong. Also... hilarious watching Oprah get her life to the song.

R60 you have low standards. That's great for her but not for real singers. Very thin and nasally voice. I'm sure it took her numerous takes to sound even that mediocre

r50 really made me LOL.

I had never heard this before. Now, I love Madonna and I adore this song, but the magic is mostly from Babyface. His lush, warm backing vocals (that are almost like a duet because he has such prominence in the song), his production, and what he did with Madonna and her voice. She sounds great on the chorus (like the released version) but struggles with the rest.

I really like this song but that demo kind of proves she can’t really pull it off alone. If this is one take, she did manage to stay in key

Bedtime Stories was an underrated album. It's probably my favorite of hers.

It was her biggest Billboard hit, and it's a shame she has abandoned this mature style of music. But it seems she is not taking advice from anyone these days.

It’s an excellent album..a lot of her albums had like 3 strong songs 2 okay ones and then filler. This one had at least 7 strong songs on it and the lush production really complimented Madonnas voice

[quote] it's a shame she has abandoned this mature style of music. But it seems she is not taking advice from anyone these days.

Sadly, she abandoned this age-appropriate style of music (that was excellent and well-suited for her) because she was desperate to appeal to the youth market and stay relevant. It's just embarrassing, Madonna unfortunately lost the plot some time ago. The current generation has no interest in her, she's a dinosaur to them. They think of her the way our generation thought of Ethel Merman or Bing Crosby.