"The Look of Love" is a song by American singer
Madonna from the
soundtrack
A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack ...
to the 1987 film ''
Who's That Girl''. It was released as the third and final
single from the soundtrack on November 25, 1987, by
Sire Records
Sire Records (formerly Sire Records Company) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group and distributed by Warner Records.
History Beginnings
The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehre ...
. While shooting the film, then called ''Slammer'', Madonna had requested that producer
Patrick Leonard
Patrick Ray Leonard (born March 14, 1956) is an American songwriter, keyboardist, film composer, and music producer, best known for his longtime collaboration with Madonna. His work with Madonna includes her albums '' True Blue'' (1986), ''Who's ...
develop a
downtempo
Downtempo (or downbeat) is a broad label for electronic music that features an atmospheric sound and slower beats than would typically be found in dance music. Closely related to ambient music but with greater emphasis on rhythm, the style may b ...
song that captured the nature of her film persona. She later wrote the lyrics and melody to the
backing track
A backing track is an audio recording on audiotape, CD or a digital recording medium or a MIDI recording of synthesized instruments, sometimes of purely rhythmic accompaniment, often of a rhythm section or other accompaniment parts that live musi ...
developed by Leonard, and the song became "The Look of Love". Madonna was also inspired by
James Stewart's performance in the 1954 film ''
Rear Window
''Rear Window'' is a 1954 American mystery thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and written by John Michael Hayes based on Cornell Woolrich's 1942 short story "It Had to Be Murder". Originally released by Paramount Pictures, the film st ...
'' when writing the song.
Featuring instrumentation from
percussion
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...
, the song begins with a low
bass synth line and a slow backing track, followed by Madonna singing the lyrics. Critically appreciated as a haunting track and noted as a "gem" on the soundtrack, "The Look of Love" reached the top-ten of the charts in Belgium, Ireland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. It also charted in France, Germany and Switzerland, while reaching the top 20 of the
European Hot 100 Singles chart. Madonna's only live performances of the song were on her
Who's That Girl World Tour
The Who's That Girl World Tour (billed as Who's That Girl World Tour 1987) was the second concert tour by American singer and songwriter Madonna. The tour supported her 1986 third studio album '' True Blue'', as well as the 1987 soundtrack ''Who ...
in 1987. During the performance Madonna pretended that she was lost on the stage, like her film character.
Background and development
![Rearwindow trailer 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/Rearwindow_trailer_1.jpg)
In 1986, Madonna was shooting for her third motion picture ''
Who's That Girl'', then known as ''Slammer''. Needing songs for the soundtrack of the movie, she contacted
Patrick Leonard
Patrick Ray Leonard (born March 14, 1956) is an American songwriter, keyboardist, film composer, and music producer, best known for his longtime collaboration with Madonna. His work with Madonna includes her albums '' True Blue'' (1986), ''Who's ...
and
Stephen Bray, with whom she had written and produced her third studio album ''
True Blue'' in 1986.
Madonna explained to them that she needed an uptempo song and a downtempo song. She came to the studio one Thursday, as Leonard developed the
chorus of the songs.
He handed over that cassette to Madonna, who went to the backroom and finished the
melody and the lyrics of the songs, while Leonard worked on the other parts.
The uptempo song developed was "
Who's That Girl", the first single from the soundtrack, and the downtempo song, developed and written the day after, was "The Look of Love". Madonna later changed the film's name from ''Slammer'' to ''Who's That Girl'', preferring the latter.
Regarding the development of the songs for the film, Madonna further explained
"I had some very specific ideas in mind, music that would stand on its own as well as support and enhance what was happening on screen and the only way to make that a reality was to have a hand in writing the tunes myself. ..The songs aren't necessarily about Nikki er character name in the movieor written to be sung by someone like her, but there's a spirit to this music that captures both what the film and the characters are about, I think."
Madonna was inspired by the look that actor
James Stewart gave actress
Grace Kelly
Grace Patricia Kelly (November 12, 1929 – September 14, 1982) was an American actress who, after starring in several significant films in the early to mid-1950s, became Princess of Monaco by marrying Prince Rainier III in April 1956.
Kelly ...
in the 1954 film ''
Rear Window
''Rear Window'' is a 1954 American mystery thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and written by John Michael Hayes based on Cornell Woolrich's 1942 short story "It Had to Be Murder". Originally released by Paramount Pictures, the film st ...
''. Madonna said: "I can't describe it, but that is the way I want someone to look at me when he loves me. It's the most pure look of love and adoration. Like surrender. It's devastating." "The Look of Love" was released as the third single from the soundtrack in the United Kingdom, some European countries and Japan. "I Know It", a track from Madonna's
self-titled
An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''.
Usage of the word
The term ''epon ...
debut album, appeared as the
B-side. In 1989, the song was used as the B-side for the "
Express Yourself" single release.
Composition
"The Look of Love" starts off with a low
bass synth line and a slow
backing track
A backing track is an audio recording on audiotape, CD or a digital recording medium or a MIDI recording of synthesized instruments, sometimes of purely rhythmic accompaniment, often of a rhythm section or other accompaniment parts that live musi ...
. It is followed by sound of
percussion
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...
and a
high register note
Note, notes, or NOTE may refer to:
Music and entertainment
* Musical note, a pitched sound (or a symbol for a sound) in music
* ''Notes'' (album), a 1987 album by Paul Bley and Paul Motian
* ''Notes'', a common (yet unofficial) shortened version ...
, contrasting with the bassline.
The song continues in this way up till the last
verse, which is backed by the sound from an acoustic guitar.
A two-part vocal is found in the line "No where to run, no place to hide". According to Rikky Rooksby, author of ''The Complete Guide to the Music of Madonna'', Madonna's voice sounds "expressive" when she sings the line "From the look of love" and utters the word "look" over the
D minor chord present underneath. The word is sung in a higher note of the
musical scale
In music theory, a scale is any set of musical notes ordered by fundamental frequency or pitch. A scale ordered by increasing pitch is an ascending scale, and a scale ordered by decreasing pitch is a descending scale.
Often, especially in the ...
, thus giving an impression of the
suspension
Suspension or suspended may refer to:
Science and engineering
* Suspension (topology), in mathematics
* Suspension (dynamical systems), in mathematics
* Suspension of a ring, in mathematics
* Suspension (chemistry), small solid particles suspende ...
like quality of the
minor ninth
In music, a ninth is a compound interval consisting of an octave plus a second.
Like the second, the interval of a ninth is classified as a dissonance in common practice tonality. Since a ninth is an octave larger than a second, its ...
chord, dissociating it from the harmony of the other notes.
The song is set in the
time signature
The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note va ...
of common time, with a moderate tempo of 80
beats per minute
Beat, beats or beating may refer to:
Common uses
* Patrol, or beat, a group of personnel assigned to monitor a specific area
** Beat (police), the territory that a police officer patrols
** Gay beat, an area frequented by gay men
* Battery ...
. It is composed in the key of D minor, with Madonna's voice spanning the notes C
5 to B
3. "The Look of Love" has a basic sequence of C–Dm–Fm–B as its
chord progression
In a musical composition, a chord progression or harmonic progression (informally chord changes, used as a plural) is a succession of chords. Chord progressions are the foundation of harmony in Western musical tradition from the common practice ...
.
Reception
Critical response
![Madonna II A 29 (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/Madonna_II_A_29_%28cropped%29.jpg)
Rooksby called the song as "the other gem" of the ''Who's That Girl'' soundtrack along with "
Causing a Commotion," and denoted it as "an expressive, understated track."
J. Randy Taraborrelli, author of ''Madonna: An Intimate Biography'', commented that "'The Look of Love' was an exotic ballad." Don Shewey from ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'' said that the song was "so haunting that it would leave you thinking as to where your life is going." John Evan Seery, author of ''Political theory for mortals: shades of justice, images of death'', commented that the song portrayed Madonna's "discipline of gaze". Brian Hadden from ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...
'' found the song depressing. Tiju Francis from ''
Vibe
''Vibe'' is an American music and entertainment magazine founded by producers David Salzman and Quincy Jones. The publication predominantly features R&B and hip hop music artists, actors and other entertainers. After shutting down producti ...
'' wrote: "For a such a commonly titled song, Madonna’s take does at least offer something a little different.
..'The Look of Love' actually sounds like part of the score – Madonna could well be singing over what was previously just the moody character development background synth music apparently present in every film in the ’80s.
.. But its slow-burn feel means the song is four minutes of not-particularly-intense brooding that never peaks – unlike a ballad." In August 2018, ''
Billboard'' ranked it as the singer's 94th greatest song; Andrew Unterberger opined that its "aqueous production and mysterious melody give it an eerie quality befitting that inspiration, one of Madonna's most bewitching soundtrack compositions". ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
''s Jude Rogers called it "an occasionally interesting tide of tropical sounds". ''
Slant Magazine''s Eric Henderson wrote that "if Madonna indeed wrote this European single in part as a tribute to James Stewart’s character in ''Rear Window'', it’s impossible not to wish she’d instead opted for a lilting ode to
Norman Bates
Norman Bates is a fictional character created by American author Robert Bloch as the main antagonist in his 1959 thriller novel '' Psycho''. He has an alter, Mother, who takes from the form of his abusive mother, and later victim, Norma, wh ...
’s mother".
Chart performance
"The Look of Love" was never released in the United States, and therefore did not enter any ''
Billboard'' charts. In the United Kingdom, it was released on December 12, 1987, and entered the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
at number 15. The next week, it reached a peak of nine on the chart, her first single to miss the top five since "
Lucky Star". The song was present for a total of seven weeks on the chart.
According to the
Official Charts Company
The Official Charts (legal name: The Official UK Charts Company Limited) is a British inter-professional organization that compiles various "official" record charts in the United Kingdom, Ireland and France.
In the United Kingdom, its charts in ...
, "The Look of Love" has sold 121,439 copies in the United Kingdom, as of August 2008.
In Germany, the song debuted on the
Media Control Charts
Media may refer to:
Communication
* Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data
** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising
** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass ...
at number 38 on January 24, 1988, and moved to its peak of number 34, the next week. It was present for a total of seven weeks on the chart.
In Ireland, the song reached the top ten and peaked at number six.
Across Europe, the song reached number nine in Belgium, number 23 in France, number eight in Netherlands and number 20 in Switzerland.
On the
European Hot 100 Singles, the song reached number 17.
Live performance
Madonna performed the song on her 1987
Who's That Girl World Tour
The Who's That Girl World Tour (billed as Who's That Girl World Tour 1987) was the second concert tour by American singer and songwriter Madonna. The tour supported her 1986 third studio album '' True Blue'', as well as the 1987 soundtrack ''Who ...
. It was the seventh song of the setlist. Madonna was dressed in gold
lamé pants and a sleeveless top. As she finished the performance of "
Causing a Commotion", the spotlight was focused on her. The introductory music of "The Look of Love" started and Madonna roamed around the stage, pretending that she was lost. She wanted to portray her ''Who's That Girl'' character Nikki, when she was lost in a similar sequence in the film. After she finished singing the song, Madonna pretended to walk forward by pushing through the air, as the
conveyor belt took her backwards, ultimately taking her away from the stage.
Track listing and formats
*Germany / UK 7" Single
#"The Look of Love" (LP Version) – 4:01
#"I Know It" (LP Version) – 4:12
*Germany / UK 12" Single and Reissue CD Maxi-Single (1995)
#"The Look of Love" (LP Version) – 4:01
#"I Know It" (LP Version) – 4:12
#"
Love Don't Live Here Anymore
"Love Don't Live Here Anymore" is a song written by Miles Gregory and originally recorded by Rose Royce. It was produced by former Motown songwriter and producer Norman Whitfield for Whitfield Records. Lead vocals were sung by Gwen Dickey a ...
(LP Version)" – 4:47*
Covers
In April 2022, Australian singer-songwriter
Darren Hayes
Darren Stanley Hayes (born 8 May 1972) is an Australian singer and songwriter. He was the frontman and singer of the pop duo Savage Garden until their disbandment. Their 1997 album ''Savage Garden'' peaked at number 1 in Australia, number 2 in ...
released his cover version of "The Look of Love". It was included on a 12" extended remix to his comeback single "
Let's Try Being in Love".
Credits and personnel
*
Madonna – writer, vocals, producer
*
Patrick Leonard
Patrick Ray Leonard (born March 14, 1956) is an American songwriter, keyboardist, film composer, and music producer, best known for his longtime collaboration with Madonna. His work with Madonna includes her albums '' True Blue'' (1986), ''Who's ...
– writer, producer, audio mixing
*
Shep Pettibone
Robert "Shep" Pettibone (born 10 July 1959) is an American record producer, remixer, songwriter and club DJ, one of the most prolific of the 1980s.
Career
Shep Pettibone surfaced after his work with Arthur Baker on Afrika Bambaataa & the Jazz ...
– audio mixing, additional production
*
Junior Vasquez
Junior Vasquez (born Donald Gregory Mattern, August 24, 1949) is an American DJ, record producer and remixer. He has been referred to as one of the only DJs of his time to gain international attention.
Career
Mattern moved to New York City a ...
– mixing engineer, audio editing
*Steve Peck – mixing engineer
*Alberto Tolot - photography
Credits adapted from the ''Who's That Girl'' soundtrack and 12" single
liner notes
Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes.
Origin
Liner notes are desc ...
.
Charts
Weekly charts
References
Book sources
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Look of Love, The
1980s ballads
1987 singles
1987 songs
Madonna songs
Pop ballads
Songs written for films
Songs written by Patrick Leonard
Songs written by Madonna
Song recordings produced by Madonna
Song recordings produced by Patrick Leonard