"Girl Gone Wild" is a song by American singer Madonna from her twelfth studio album, MDNA (2012). She co-wrote the song with Benny Benassi, his cousin Alle Benassi (known together as the Benassi Bros.), and songwriter Jenson Vaughan, while the Benassi Bros. co-produced the track with Madonna. Vaughan had worked on the lyrics before sending them to Madonna, who developed the demo into the final version of "Girl Gone Wild". The song was confirmed by Madonna as the second single from the album and was released on March 2, 2012, by Interscope Records.
Musically, "Girl Gone Wild" is a mid-tempo electropop, dance, Euro disco, electro, Euro house and techno party track with a four-on-the-floor influence. The song opens with the Act of Contrition prayer and "confession" by Madonna, and features EDM-heavy elements. After the song was released, Joe Francis, creator of the Girls Gone Wild adult entertainment franchise, threatened to sue Madonna for copyright infringement if she sang the song during her performance at the Super Bowl XLVI halftime show. And the song was one of the official theme songs of WrestleMania XXVIII. Madonna's representatives stated that she was not aware of either Francis or the lawsuit, and cited the fact that several songs with the same name had already been recorded or released by other artists.
The song received mixed reviews from critics, who praised its composition and return to dance music for Madonna, but criticized its lyrics and believed it failed as the album-opener of MDNA. "Girl Gone Wild" reached the top-ten of many global charts, including Hungary, Israel, Italy, Russia, South Africa, South Korea and Spain, along with the Billboard digital charts in Greece. It debuted and peaked at number 38 on US Pop Songs due to lack of radio airplay. It also became Madonna's 42nd number-one hit on the Hot Dance Club Songs chart.
A black-and-white music video for the song, directed by Mert and Marcus, was released on March 20, 2012. The video features Madonna with a number of athletic male dancers and models in different looks, and dancing with Ukrainian group Kazaky. The dancing was performed by the male dancers and Madonna in high stiletto heels, with choreography by Tabitha. It received critical acclaim for the editing and the visuals, while reviewers noted that it took inspiration from Madonna's older videos, such as "Erotica", "Justify My Love", "Human Nature" and "Vogue". "Girl Gone Wild" was performed as the opening song during The MDNA Tour (2012), in a Gothic cathedral setting showing religious iconography, with Madonna her dancers executing choreography in high-heels.
Background and release
In December 2010, Madonna posted a message on her Facebook page exclaiming that she was on the lookout for "maddest, sickest, most badass people" as collaborators for making new dance music. On July 4, 2011, her manager Guy Oseary announced that the singer had entered the studio for recording her then unnamed twelfth studio album. Among the collaborators enlisted for the project was Italian record producer Benny Benassi, who at that time was working on the release of his fourth studio album Electroman. His label Ultra Records' head Patrick Moxey felt that the producer's "aggressive" sounds would "work well with some of the major American superstar artists". Moxey asked for some additional tracks from him, and his longtime production partner and cousin, Alle Benassi.
A few demos produced by them were sent to songwriter Jenson Vaughan, who liked the lyrics and the "bass-driven" sound. Vaughan added the top-line on a demo and returned it to Moxey, who shared it with Benassi's European co-manager Paul Sears, who in-turn shared the demo with Oseary. Upon listening, Madonna was impressed with the demos and requested the Benassi Bros. to come to London for a recording session. Moxey commented that the singer "loved [the producer]. Benny is such a quality person; I think that made it all flow so much easier." Two tracks from those sessions, "Girl Gone Wild" and "I'm Addicted", were included on the final track list of the album, named MDNA. Madonna spoke about her experience of collaborating with the Benassi Bros.: Benny was a tricky one because he doesn't speak English very well. I ended up kind of using his cousin Alle as an interpreter. It was a little bit frustrating at first but eventually we found a way to communicate. You figure out a way. With music it's so much about the vibe and the energy and you know when things are working and when they’re not. When you're working with someone for the first time, there's a kind of shyness that everybody has, so with Benny it was more challenging because of that but we figured it out and by the end I felt like I knew him very well. A day after Madonna's halftime show performance on the Super Bowl XLVI, the singer confirmed to Ryan Seacrest that "Girl Gone Wild" would be released as the second single from the album. A lyric video for the song was released on February 27, 2012, while it was available for digital download from March 2, 2012, at the iTunes Store. The cover art for the single was released on February 29, 2012. Shot by fashion photographers Mert and Marcus, who had also created the covers for MDNA, the "Girl Gone Wild" artwork showed Madonna wearing lingerie by English retailer Agent Provocateur. She had chosen the brand's "Raphaella" padded bra, made from French corded lace and pleated tulle. Kyle Anderson of Entertainment Weekly praised the artwork saying that the singer "still wears underwear in public better than most women half her age". Billboard writer Gregory DelliCarpini Jr. felt that Madonna portrayed having fun in "racy undies" on the cover, in spite of being a mother. "Is this the 21st century version of her infamous cone bra? Nah, but it made you look [at her]," he concluded.
Threatened lawsuit On February 4, 2012, Joe Francis, the creator of the Girls Gone Wild video franchisee, threatened to sue Madonna if she sang the song during her halftime show performance. His representatives said that "[Madonna] violated Federal and State trademark laws by making unauthorized use of Mr. Francis' trademark Girls Gone Wild in not only the title, but subject line of her various advertisements in order to lure potential consumers to purchase her latest musical effort." The National Football League (NFL) revealed in their magazine that the song would not be performed at the Super Bowl. On hearing about the allegations, Moxey commented that Francis only wanted attention from the press, adding: "When I looked at ASCAP, I noticed there were approximately 50 records called 'Girls Gone Wild'. This guy just thinks too much of himself."
The song title was slightly modified to the singular "Girl Gone Wild" to which Francis again commented: "Clearly her label was trying to avoid legal action surrounding the song... But [the new title] is still infringement as far as the law is concerned, and we have been in touch with Madonna's people in an effort to resolve this issue." He added that he would pursue new legal action if more changes were not made to the track. Francis' lawyer also said that his client had made a federal trademark for the singular form of the title. Oseary denied that the song's title was changed because of Francis, explaining that Madonna had been completing the final version of MDNA and the renamed title was chosen due to the singular word "girl" in the lyrics. He stated that there are several songs titled "Girls Gone Wild" on iTunes, and that Madonna was not aware of a lawsuit or about Francis. Oseary concluded by saying that the singer was not restricted from performing the song at the Super Bowl, though she did not.
Recording and composition "Girl Gone Wild" was recorded at MSR Studios, New York City and Sarm West Studios, Notting Hill, London. It was written by Madonna, Vaughan and the Benassi Bros., and was produced by the Benassis and Madonna. Demacio "Demo" Castellon recorded and mixed the track. Philippe Weiss and Graham Archer assisted Castellon on the recording, while Angie Teo assisted on the mixing. Stephen Kozmeniuk did the additional editing of the song and arranged the vocoder. Benny Benassi recalled that Madonna would arrive in the studio around 3–4 pm and would work till 11:30 pm. Together they fixed the production of the song, including the layering and stacking of the track. They added more vocals to the composition and during the chorus, decided on how many voices should be duplicated. According to Alle Benassi, Madonna "has clear idea. She knows very well what she wants: where put something, how, why. It's surreal but impressive."
"Girl Gone Wild" is a midtempo electropop, dance-pop, Euro disco, electro, Euro house and techno party track, drawing influence from four-on-the-floor and having a similar sound to tracks from the singer's tenth studio album, Confessions on a Dance Floor (2005). Jason Lipshutz from Billboard noted that it has a "driving beat" and "propulsive hook" reminiscent of the singer's 2005 single, "Hung Up". The song opens with a prayer, and Madonna uttering "Oh my God, I'm heartily sorry", which was a spoken rendition of the last track, "Act of Contrition", from Madonna's fourth studio album, Like a Prayer (1989). During the middle eight, Madonna talks about how "good girls" should not misbehave. NME contributor Ailbhe Malone noted that the composition featured elements from the singer's previous singles, "Music" (2000) and "Jump" (2006). As she sings "forgive me", the beat drops completely with the music disintegrating. Madonna's vocals are processed to appear thin and stretched out.
According to the sheet music of the song published online by Sony/ATV Music Publishing, "Girl Gone Wild" is set in the time signature of common time, with a moderate tempo of 127 beats per minute. It is composed in the key of A minor with Madonna's vocals ranging from Gm to Dm. The song follows a sequence of Gm–Cm–E during the opening prayer verse and Am–Em–G–F for the rest as its chord progression. Mike Senior from Sound on Sound magazine found that along with the predominant synth sounds, there was "a lot" of double tracking present in the song which made the vocals unclear. He felt that this was not pose a problem in stereo sound, but with mono sounds the combined vocals appeared double tracked while the vocal level decreased. The mixing for "Girl Gone Wild" was done mainly for stereo speakers and around the 1:45–2:00 mark, the vocal levels fluctuate with the backing music being dwarfed. Senior also observed that Madonna put the stresses of the words on the beats of the song, hence some of the enunciation are lost with the drum sounds, especially on the title hook.
Lyrically, the song addresses a "good girl gone wild" singing about her "burning hot desire" to have some fun. It was compared to singer Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" (1983), with lyrics like "Girls, they just wanna have some fun" and "The room is spinning / It must be the Tanqueray / I'm about to go astray / My inhibitions gone away". In the intermediate verses, Madonna utters "forgive me", which is a Catholic term used as a sexual reference. The lyrics, once placed in the context of Madonna's career "attains a new meaning" according to Josh Haigh from Attitude magazine. Explaining it, he said that the meaning behind the lyrics was how Madonna, being a Catholic girl herself, decided that she would not be tied down by anyone else's rules, and consequently became one of the most recognizable musical artists.
Critical reception