Do you feel that? Feel it on your fingertips? It’s rain!
Not actual rain, though — a pair of unreleased session takes from what is arguably Queen Of Everything Madonna‘s most immaculate record ever (aside from The Immaculate Collection, of course), Erotica, just dropped from the sky.
While the new-but-actually-very-very-old demos from the Erotica sessions, crafted alongside Shep Pettibone and Tony Shimkin, both appeared in bits and pieces on the fanmade Rain Tapes, these songs have taken over 22 years (!) to surface in full.
That’s right: They’re both older than Ariana Grande.
The first, “You Are The One,” plays like the eager younger cousin to Erotica‘s “Deeper And Deeper” and, truly, sounds like a lost club classic in the making. “You are the one (are the one!)/Make me feel our love is alive/You are the one (are the one!)/Make me feel these feelings inside.” It’s M at her most enraptured, complimented by some oh-so-very-’90’s record scratches and club beats. In fact, it’s so vintage, this sound is already back in vogue (REFERENCE).
Then there’s “Shame,” a self-empowerment anthem hot off the heels of “Express Yourself” — and an early LGBT anthem that never was. “It’s a shame/The way you live your life is a shame,” Madonna laments on repeat. “Hold on to your heart, you can make a brand new start/Just believe in your dreams, make yourself feel love and be happy!”
While both tracks never went beyond the demo stage (a shame indeed!), that unmistakable Erotica-era gritty magic is still very much embedded in their DNA.
Dita says…enjoy.