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You might think Madonna‘s first album is simply overloaded with some of the Material Girls‘ best pop songs. According to the album’s producer, you’d be wrong! He said the album actually contains prophecies. Here’s what one musician had to say about the Queen of Pop.

Madonna’s producer wanted to challenge her on her 1st album

Reggie Lucas was a producer who worked with Roberta Flack and Miles Davis. He also served as the producer on Madonna’s self-titled debut album. During a 2013 interview with The Atlantic, Lucas discussed working with the Queen of Pop. “As a producer, you understood that your first job was to support people to achieve that end,” he said. “You challenged the artist just enough to bring out the best in them and introduce them to audiences that they normally wouldn’t be introduced to. 

“When I did [Madonna’s song] ‘Physical Attraction,’ that was just it,” he added. “She was a little different. Madonna was wilder in terms of her look and image; I don’t know if her music was that much wilder than anyone else back then. I think her music was sexually freer, and it predicted what was going to happen in the future. She was definitely an innovator when it came to being more suggestive, which was pretty cool. I thought it was great.” 

Lucas said Madonna was a great collaborator in the studio. For her next album, Madonna decided to work with Chic’s Nile Rodgers. Madonna disappointed Lucas by declining to work with him again.

The album inspired generations of musicians

It’s pretty easy to see Madonna’s influence on subsequent generations of female musicians. While Madonna certainly wasn’t the first female singer to be sexually provocative, her prominence made it standard for female pop stars to have risque public images. Her impact on pop singers like Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, Rihanna, Katy Perry, Britney Spears, Selena Gomez, Mariah Carey, and the Spice Girls is undeniable.

There’s also a case to be made that Madonna inspired some mainstream rappers. Madonna’s album Erotica paved the way for the controversy Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion sparked with “WAP.” Other rappers like Ice Spice, Sexxy Red, Iggy Azalea, Missy Elliott, and Nicki Minaj were clearly influenced by Madonna, directly or indirectly. Notably, Minaj has worked with the Material Girl on several occasions.

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1 song became Madonna’s breakthrough

Madonna reached No. 8 on the Billboard 200. It spent 168 weeks on the chart — more weeks than all of Madonna’s other albums. The fact that the album is simply called Madonna probably added to its appeal when Madonna became one of the biggest celebrities ever.

The record’s first two singles — “Everybody” and “Burning Up”/”Physical Attraction” — did nothing for Madonna commercially. She began her path to stardom with the release of the song “Holiday.” That tune reached No. 16 on the Billboard Hot 100. Madonna hit the top 10 for the first time when the album’s next single, “Lucky Star,” peaked at No. 4, while “Borderline” reached No. 10. While “Holiday” didn’t chart as highly as “Lucky Star” or “Borderline,” it might be the album’s most famous song today. 

Madonna might not have predicted the future per se, but she definitely invented it.

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