Johnny has executive produced the LP, which also includes Glume's cover of 'Material Girl', Joon's version of 'Papa Don't Preach', Desire's take of 'Angel', and Italo Disco star Sally Shapiro's rendition of 'Holiday'. Sweden won with Loreen’s ‘ Tattoo’, which remains one of my favourite songs. The UK came second to last, but I can’t remember who came last.” Of course, there have been many Madonna tribute albums in the past. From Virgin Voices to Through the Wilderness (which featured Ariel Pink’s version of “Everybody”), an entire musical genre has been created out of Madonna covers—granted, never ones by anybody really that famous or who could truly outshine the original composition. Until the Italians Do It Better record label came along to remedy the situation.

The Italians Do It Better compilation reflects a deep love and respect for the music of Madonna. Their versions range from faithful remakes to nearly blasphemous reinventions, drawing a throughline between Madonna's many eras and the ostentatious, sensual post-disco upon which Italians Do It Better has built a mini-empire. It's a rare beast, highlighting both the genius of Madonna's work through the years and the legacy she's left on the contemporary electronic music scene. On our initial listen, the standouts have been Sally Shapiro’s “Holiday”, Jorja Chalmers’“Justify My Love” and Pink Gloves’“What It Feel Like For A Girl” – but every song is an unimpeachable banger. Given the IDIB sparkle and swagger only makes them moreso. The Celebration tour will pay tribute to Madonna’s four-decade career. Madonna had never toured without a new studio album to promote. She has never given a greatest hits concert. The tour seems to work to reinforce the artist’s musical legacy. Not only is she responsible for the highest-grossing tours in history, but, with the Blonde Ambition Tour in 1990, she invented the pop concert as we know it today: a theatrical event divided into acts, combining both songs and visual spectacle .The label put together a compilation of 20 covers, recorded by 19 artists, representing 10 different countries. The whole thing was executive produced by Johnny Jewel. (Perhaps this news is less exciting if you consider Chromatics breaking up could’ve been about, say, Jewel refusing to finish Dear Tommy and pursuing projects like this.) The artists take on some very famous hits, although disappointingly there is no “Open Your Heart,” which one would have to imagine would sound pretty great through the Italians Do It Better filter. Madonna was presented as a blank canvas on which to project the fantasies of a decade. Her first album, Madonna (1983), achieved moderate success. It presented her to the world as an irreverent disco diva. She could sing about going on vacation (“ Holiday”) as well as burning with sexual desire (“ Burning Up”). But it was Like a Virgin (1984) that began to build her character: the eponymous single, her first number one, introduced us to her love of double meanings in her titles. “ Material Girl” gave her as much satisfaction as headaches when, in the following decade, she wanted to shed the label. She has only sung the song on two tours in almost 30 years, although in 2022 she released a cover of the song as a duet with rapper Saucy Santana, in which she clarified “a materialistic girl is not tasteless.” The Madonna that we know now Since 2006, listeners have been curious about the origin of our label name Italians Do It Better. Some say it’s an homage to Italo Disco,others guess it’s related to ancestry, but in fact it’s a nod to the iconic T-shirt Madonna wears in the “Papa Don’t Preach”video circa 1986. I’ve the world’s worst memory and knew I’d be terrible at this game, but it was a nice trip down memory lane!”

There are so many small, neat moments like that on Italians Do It Better—like how MOTHERMARY's version of "Like A Virgin" switches to a staggered, wobbly waltz for its verses, or how Jorja Chalmers' adds a cloud of perfumed smoke (and saxophone) to "Justify My Love," making it sound like some long-lost downtempo remix from the '90s. Even at their most faithful, these covers can tease unexpected nuance from the songs. Above all, they lay bare the melodic genius of the originals. It's like hearing them through new ears. This cookie, set by YouTube, registers a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen. Italians Do It Better is owned by Johnny Jewel, who produces, writes, and contributes to all the acts on the label.WRONG. According to Mis-teeq member Su-Elise Nash, the film’s theme song was originally meant to be ‘ Outrageous’ by Britney Spears, but it was scrapped when she broke her knee on the set of the music video. Your debut solo album, 2006’s ‘Fired Up’, never received a physical release in the UK – until this year. What number did it chart at in Japan? Executive produced by Johnny Jewel featuring 19 artists incl. Desire, Glüme, Jorja Chalmers, Sally Shapiro, JOON & more Her first album ( Madonna) became a hit. Her second album ( Like a Virgin) was a runaway success. By the time True Blue (1986) was released, Madonna was already a superstar. Recorded during her first year of marriage to Sean Penn, True Blue is the mold in which Madonna herself was cast. “ Papa Don’t Preach,” the song that launched that album, is one of the strangest in pop history: a danceable number about a young woman who confronts her father because she refuses to have an abortion. Family planning associations criticized the singer, who endeared herself to conservatives, both parties seemingly oblivious to the possibility that the singer was simply claiming the right to choose. In any case, in the video clip for the song, directed by James Foley, Madonna invents her first meme: the T-shirt with the phrase “Italians do it better.” Almost four decades later, an independent Los Angeles music label called Italians Do It Better ended up releasing an album of Madonna covers in which “ Papa Don’t Preach” was an icy, whispered ballad, as if that woman so sure of bringing a baby into the world in 1986 was not really sure of doing so in 2021. Madonna and Sean Penn, then married, in 1987. Ron Galella, Ltd. (Ron Galella Collection via Getty)

A cookie set by YouTube to measure bandwidth that determines whether the user gets the new or old player interface. Italians Do It Better is an independent record label based in Portland and West Hollywood. It was started by Johnny Jewel and Mike Simonetti on July 20, 2006, to focus on Jewel's projects Glass Candy and Chromatics and later Desire, Symmetry and Mirage, in addition to other artists from prior releases. Genres from the label have been described as contributing to the synth-pop, post-punk, and Italo-disco revivals. They have released three label compilations, 'After Dark' (2007), ' After Dark 2' (2013), 'After Dark 3' (2020), and 'After Dark 4' (2022), all of which feature music from their roster. One of the reasons why I started Italians Do It Better is because I didn't want someone telling me when a record was due, or when something needed to be written or recorded. Or when I needed to go on tour. I believe in doing things when it's ready. It’s a dangerous game because the world is moving so fast. But ultimately the only reason we're having this conversation is because I love music. And that's the path that it's led me on in my life. I never set out to be a successful musician, but musical decisions have always guided my life. For that reason, I will stay true to what I really feel… 2007-present [ edit ] Blue were the most fun. They were like our annoying brothers. We’d do kids’ tv shows and were always in and out of each other’s dressing rooms. I remember performing at Miss World with McFly and we were drinking neat tequila and I fell over and injured Dougie [Poynter, McFly member]’s eye, and they had to help me up from the floor. We were living our best lives.” Find sources: "Italians Do It Better"– news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR ( January 2019) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)Label President Megan Louise asked every artist: "If you could cover your favorite Madonna song...What would it be?" This cookie is set by Rubicon Project to control synchronization of user identification and exchange of user data between various ad services. This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.