There really is a Madonna song for any occasion. A birthday? How about her quirky B-side track from the MDNA album featuring M.I.A., Birthday Song? Graduation? I'll Remember, which appears on the With Honors soundtrack. Or even a break up? "There's no greater power than the Power of Goodbye". With Halloween around the corner, you might be looking for some songs to add to your Halloween party playlist (though your party might be a virtual one this year). Look no further. Here are my 7 favourite Halloween appropriate Madonna songs:
Ghosttown
Album: Rebel Heart
Year: 2015
Besides being my favourite song from the rather disjointed Rebel Heart album, the video for Ghosttown is one of the best that Madonna has done in the last decade. Set in a post-apocalyptic ghost town, the video sees Madonna, dressed in Victorian attire with a flowing leather coat and top hat, navigating this "mad mad world" that has "turned to dust" and meeting a fellow survivor, played by Terrence Howard. The video is eerily beautiful as is Madonna's look.
Supernatural
Album: Cherish [Single]
Year: 1989
The Cherish single was released on 7″, 12″, CD and cassette single formats in 1989 and the B-side included a previously unreleased track, the spooky and sensual Supernatural. The song recounts an intimate encounter with what seems to be a presence from another world: Made your acquaintance late one night / You were floating around, you know you gave me quite a fright / You didn't seem like an ordinary man / More like a ray of light.
Devil Pray
Album: Rebel Heart
Year: 2015
This is another underrated song from the Rebel Heart album. The dark pop song includes acoustic guitars and elements of country pop and was co-written and co-produced by the late Avicii. It explores how people are always searching for salvation and connection to a higher power and often turn to substances achieve that. The song also makes references to sin and redemption.
Frozen
Album: Ray of Light
Year: 1998
The Frozen video depicts Madonna as an ethereal shapeshifter with long jet-black hair and mehndi on her hands. She levitates through the desolate landscape and then transforms into a dog and a flock of ravens. Then the sky darkens before she transforms once again into a black liquid that runs through the desert. Jude Rodgers from The Guardian described the mood of the song as "dark, orchestral ambient" - the perfect mood for Halloween.
Bedtime Story
Album: Bedtime Stories
Year: 1994
Bjork was one of the writers of this hypnotic single from Madonna's highly underrated Bedtime Stories album. The electronic and trance elements, along with Madonna's sultry vocals, create a beautiful, ethereal sound. The lyrics describe the futility of language and the euphoria of the unconscious world. The accompanying video, which is one of the most expensive ever made, features surreal imagery including Madonna giving birth to a flock of doves (I just learned that the video is permanently on display at MoMA in NYC).
Gang Bang
Album: MDNA
Year: 2012
This is rather dark and violent electropop track was inspired by Quentin Tarantino with a narrative that centers on a scorned woman's desire for revenge (Kill Bill anyone?). Madonna's aggressive whispers (Like a bitch out of order / Like a bat out of hell / Like a fish out of water / I'm scared, can't you tell) and the thumping beat along with police sirens and gunshots create a suspenseful atmosphere that is perfect for a Halloween playlist.
Voices
Album: Sticky and Sweet
Year: 2008
Although the trip hop-inspired song is really about how people are enslaved by their egos, the lyrics can also be interpreted in a more mysterious and even creepy way: Voices start to ring in your head / Tell me what do they say / Distant echoes from another time / Start to creep in your brain
The song also references being treated like a curse and the struggle with internal demons while rising and subsiding strings create a haunting melody.
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