HATE TO ADMIT IT, BUT…
Madonna
“Justify My Love”
The Immaculate Collection
1990 | Sire Records

Can a song be lost in the hype surrounding it? When a single is more well-known for the controversy it caused than for the single itself, what happens when the buzz around it dies? Madonna is no stranger to controversy, a household name mainly for the publicity stunts she’s pulled over the last 30 years. She hit one of many career zeniths in 1990, with “Justify My Love,” the lead single off her first greatest hits comp, The Immaculate Collection.

The song, written by Lenny Kravitz, is a low, throbbing number, replete with canned drums that sound like they wouldn’t be out of place on an Enigma record. The lyrics are numbingly repetitive, dull. Most lines end with a semi-moaned, semi-chanted “Justify My Love,” in a two-part harmony that is mostly two-parts off. Seriously, Madonna has done some pretty minimal stuff (“Frozen” and “Bedtime Story,” specifically, come to mind), but this is plain boring.
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