Bedtime Stories

Bedtime Stories is the sixth studio album by Madonna. The album is less sexually-explicit when compared to the previous one, Erotica, and is a mixture of pop and R&B, discussing the themes of love, sorrow, and romance. It debuted and peaked at number three on the Billboard 200 and was certified 3x platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. Four singles were released for the album; “Secret”, “Take a Bow”, “Bedtime Story”, and “Human Nature”.

In an interview with The Face magazine, Madonna explained her inspirations behind Bedtime Stories as well as the reason for teaming up with R&B song producers:

I’ve been in a reflective state of mind. I’ve done lot of soul searching and I just felt in a romantic mood when I was writing for [the album] so that’s what I wrote about… I decided that I wanted to work with a whole bunch of different producers. [Icelandic singer-songwriter] Björk’s album was one of my favorite for years—it’s brilliantly produced. And I also wanted to work with Massive Attack. So obviously, he was on the list. Nellee was the last person I worked with, and it wasn’t until then that I got a grip of what the sound of the whole record was, so I had to go back and redo a lot.

Donna DeLory, Madonna’s backup singer, also talked about the development of the album:

Once she [Madonna] got her ideas out, she was open to your ideas. You didn’t want to go in with her and right off the bat say, ‘Well, I hear this,’ because she was so specific and articulate. She already had the sound in her head. But after she’d spoken, we’d put our two cents in. We always had ideas, like, ‘Can we answer this line with an extra “survival” [in the background]?

Bedtime Stories was nominated for Best Pop Album at the 38th Grammy Awards. Today, the album has sold an estimated eight million copies worldwide.