Unreleased songs from the "Ray of Light" sessions surface.

(Photo by Ines Van Lamsweerde and 

Vinoodh Matadin) 

Welcome back on Blogger! 

Unreleased demos from 1997 have surfaced on the Internet! While not providing any download link (obviously), I want to talk about them with you.

Let's jump into them! 

(Photo by Rankin)

You'll Stay: This was such a nice surprise. I'm reading it's a re-worked version of Like a Flower, another beautiful demo. You'll Stay was produced by Madonna and Patrick Leonard. It's an atmospheric and melancholic ballad enriched by a latin guitar, a drum and Madonna's soulful vocals. The lyrics talk about a past love Madonna will never forget (or a dead person, maybe her mother): "There's a hole in my heart / no one can take your place / why would I want them to? /There's a feeling I had that no one can replace / time cannot erase". And then the chorus: "In my heart you'll never go away / you'll stay, you'll stay, you'll stay/ In my soul you'll never go away / you'll stay, you'll stay, you'll stay". As you can see, this demo and Like a Flower are highly similar lyrically, even sharing some verses. 

This song is easily my favorite of the bunch. 

I'll Be Gone: Another great surprise, I'll Be Gone is a mid-tempo r&b track and it features Babyface as a backing vocalist. This song wouldn't have sounded out of place on Bedtime Stories so I can see why Madonna, who doesn't like to repeat herself, scrapped it. Madonna's voice sounds as soulful as ever (reminiscent of I'd Rather Be Your Lover a bit). The lyrics are very straightforward, Madonna sings about a lover who doesn't give her enough attention: "You told me you love me but we're not even friends / this thing can't go on, this has to end / My biggest mistake is that I gave you too much / love can never work without trust". 

Never Love a Stranger: A long-awaited demo, Never Love a Stranger is a slow r&b ballad and it features Babyface as a backing vocalist. I'm going to be honest, this sounds like a new (and lesser) version of the marvelous Take a Bow so, once again, I understand why Madonna decided to scrap it. Her vocal performance on this is "good" but not spectacular. In my opinion her voice is trembling too much at times and she sounds out of breath. Lyrically, the song is about love at first sight and how it can "blind" people, mistaking a one night stand for true love: "Love at first sight only makes you blind / first you lose your senses / then you drop your self-defenses in time". Then the chorus: "Never love a stranger / never put your heart in danger / never fall in love with someone you don't know / love takes time to grow / love takes time". 

A nice addition to Madonna's catalog, though not necessarily my favorite. 

(Photo by Ines Van Lamsweerde and 

Vinoodh Matadin)

In conclusion...

As great as these demos are, I'm glad Madonna totally scrapped not only this material but this direction in general. Had she proceeded with this sound and lyrics, Ray of Light would have been a lesser version of Bedtime Stories. 

Still, it's interesting to see the birth and growth of an album, from r&b to electronica and from simple lyrics about love to actual introspective and deep themes. 

"Let your body move to the music"