"Living for Love" is a song recorded by American singer Madonna for her thirteenth studio album, Rebel Heart (2015). It was written and produced by Madonna, Diplo and Ariel Rechtshaid, with additional writing from MoZella and Toby Gad. Originally intended for a Valentine's Day 2015 release, the song was rush-released as the lead single from the album on December 20, 2014, by Interscope Records, after demos recorded for the album leaked on to the internet. An EDM, diva house, disco and electropop track on which Madonna experimented with different musical genres, "Living for Love" contains instrumentation from percussion and piano by singer Alicia Keys, along with a gospel choir. Madonna composed the track as a break-up song, however she wanted to deviate and make the lyrics as uplifting in nature, talking about counteracting negative thoughts with positive responses.
"Living for Love" received positive reviews from critics, who praised its rhythm and lyrics, comparing it to her earlier works. They also considered the song a step-up from her last two lead singles. In the United States, it failed to enter the Billboard Hot 100, but became Madonna's 44th number-one hit on the Dance Club Songs chart, tying her with country singer George Strait as the act with most number-one singles on any Billboard chart. Although United Kingdom's BBC Radio 1 decided not to play it, the song entered the UK Singles Chart at number 26, becoming Madonna's 71st top-forty single, extending her record as the female artist with the most top-forty UK singles. "Living for Love" also reached the top-twenty of the charts in Finland, Hungary, Israel, Japan, Lebanon, and Scotland as well as the top 30 in Italy and Spain.
An accompanying music video was directed by the French duo Julien Choquart and Camille Hirigoyen, together known as J.A.C.K., and was released in February 2015. The storyline incorporates mythological elements and shows Madonna as a matador, fighting her dancers dressed like minotaurs in a red circular stage. It had numerous costume changes, and was critically appreciated for its empowering theme and transcending gender roles. Madonna first performed the song in a similar matador theme at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards; it became the most-watched moment of the night. The second performance was at the 2015 Brit Awards, which made headlines due to the singer's wardrobe malfunction causing her to be pulled down a flight of stairs that made up part of the stage. Alternate versions of "Living for Love" were performed on Le Grand Journal, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and on Madonna's 2015–2016 Rebel Heart Tour.
Writing and development
"Living for Love" was written and produced by Madonna, Diplo and Ariel Rechtshaid, with additional writing from MoZella and Toby Gad. Madonna's collaboration with Diplo was revealed in May 2014 through an image on her Instagram showing her working on her laptop with him. She had invited him for her annual Oscar party, and he could not make it. So he began texting with her about music and sent some music. Madonna replied with a 20-page text containing her anecdotes on the music. Following this they started collaborating for the album. In an interview with Idolator, Diplo explained that Madonna had asked him to provide his "craziest record" for the album. Together they wrote and recorded seven songs and Diplo added that "Those records are gonna be crazy-sounding. We really pushed the envelope with some of the stuff we were doing... [S]he was up for anything. I love when an artist gives a producer the confidence he needs to work with them, and Madonna was very open-minded to my ideas... she was down from day one." According to Diplo, "Living for Love" had almost 20 versions ranging from a piano ballad to an EDM composition, ultimately Madonna and Diplo compromising on a middle level. Rechtshaid and British singer MNEK also joined for writing sessions with them, improving the verse of the song. Madonna denied that there were 20 versions of the song, admitting it "might be a little too high", and commented on how she wanted it to sound: We knew we wanted to make a dance record. But you know, there's so many different levels of dance music and even different categories of house music. So, it was really like, what's the bass line gonna sound like? Is it gonna be really stripped down and sparse, or is it going to be loaded up? Is it gonna be Chicago house? Is it gonna be U.K. house? It's like, all over the place. Is it gonna be a little bit of one vocal line? Is it gonna be a whole choir singing? So we were experimenting and trying out different things. They all sounded good, but at the end of the day, we wanted it to sound timeless, also. Not just something of the moment. In October 2014, American singer Alicia Keys confirmed that she worked on Madonna's upcoming studio album, saying "It was good. I was in here doing a meeting or something and [Madonna] was working with Diplo. They were like, 'Oh, maybe you can play some piano on this thing'. And I was like, 'Alright. I'll try. If you hate it, you can take it off'. It was just like that, casual and cool." Annie from the London Community Gospel Choir provided the female background vocals throughout the song. Madonna also mentioned that new versions would be "coming out, but just not yet". Describing the song as "one of [Diplo's] more mellow productions", Madonna composed "Living for Love" as a break-up song, commenting, "lots of people write about being in love and being happy or they write about having a broken heart and being inconsolable. But nobody writes about having a broken heart and being hopeful and triumphant afterwards. So I thought, how can I do this? I didn't want to share the sentiment of being a victim. This scenario devastated me, but it just made me stronger". She complemented saying that "Living for Love" was "kind of like the old me and the new me all mixed in together".
Release The demo version of "Living for Love" leaked onto the Internet in December 2014, alongside the other twelve demo recordings for Madonna's then untitled thirteenth studio album. On December 20, 2014, the album's title was confirmed to be Rebel Heart and became available for pre-order on iTunes along with six tracks, including "Living for Love" as the album's lead single. Madonna stated that the songs were meant to be "an early Christmas gift". Originally, "Living for Love" was intended to be released on Valentine's Day 2015, with the rest of the record slated for a spring release. However, due to the leak of materials, the release date had to be pushed up. She went on to say she would prefer her fans hear the completed versions of some of the songs instead of the incomplete tracks that were circulating.
Gordon Murray from Billboard reported that two versions of the song were sent to US club DJs on December 21, 2014: the original version and the instrumental. Interscope sent the song as a "soft sell" on December 22 to radio outlets, and it failed to receive airplay at the Top 40 formats, garnering a total of 10 plays due to the rushed out release and being on a Christmas week, when most programmers were on vacation. The label decided to re-service it to radio after 2015 started, with an official adds date to Top 40/Mainstream radio stations on February 10. "Living for Love" was commercially released on February 25 in the United Kingdom. A number of remixes were released for streaming, namely those by Djemba Djemba, Offer Nissim, Mike Rizzo and Drew G.
Recording and composition "Living for Love" is an EDM, diva house, disco and electropop song which starts as Madonna sings over a "regal" piano line which is eventually joined by percussion. The song is set in the simple time signature of 4/4, with a tempo of 123 beats per minute. It is composed in the key of F minor, with Madonna's vocals spanning the range from E3 to C5. "Living for Love" has a I–IV–V–I sequence as its chord progression, with the rhythm flowing as Fm–Cm–D–A–E/A. The song was engineered by Demacio "Demo" Castellon and Nick Rowe, while the former also mixed it. Angie Teo did the additional recording and mixing of the track, with Ann Mincieli. Along with The London Community Gospel Choir, MNEK and Santell also provided backing vocals on the track, while Keys and Gad acted as additional musicians.
Dean Piper from The Daily Telegraph explained that "Living for Love" has "some classic Madonna traits: religious references, a gospel choir, 1990s piano beats and a whirling bass", and was compared to her 1989 singles, "Like a Prayer" and "Express Yourself", by Jason Lipshutz from Billboard. Keys' piano tracks are played along with the electronic music, up to the chorus.
Unlike Madonna's previous two lead singles, "4 Minutes" (2008) and "Give Me All Your Luvin'" (2012), "Living for Love" puts the emphasis on the lyrics and vocals, with the lines on the bridge going like "Took me to heaven, let me fall down/Now that it's over, I'm gonna carry on" and a "throbbing drop" in the middle. Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine described the song as Kiesza meets "Like a Prayer", and noted that there were many changes from the leaked demo version: the throwback house music being replaced by an 808 pulse sound and Keys' piano, as well as handclaps and gospel riffing being removed towards the end of the song. For Jon Lisi from PopMatters, "Living for Love" fitted with contemporary pop music releases and the DIY ethic they displayed, starting from Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off", to Ariana Grande's "Break Free" and Katy Perry's "Roar". The survivor anthem-like nature of the track was evocative of Madonna's survival in her music career. With NRJ the singer herself explained the meaning behind the lyrics: "It's a song having your heart broken but it's about saying you know what I'm going to my life goes on, I will carry on, I won't stop believing in love, I'll pick up my crown, put it back on my head and I will walk through life proudly believing that love, true love does exist."
Critical reception Following its release, "Living for Love" earned critical praise. Lipshutz was appreciative of the song, commending Madonna's "confident" vocal delivery. He said that the song sounded "like a giddy combination of Madonna's past and present, and represents an encouraging sign for a 2015 project that was unexpectedly thrown into jeopardy at the end of 2014." Stern compared the song to Madonna's 1992 single "Deeper and Deeper", noting that unlike the UK dance acts and the teen-pop groups paying homage to 1990s house music, Madonna had lived through that era. Calling the song a "total beast of a collaborative effort", and ended his review saying "Fuck singing about Tanqueray in the club: This is the Madonna we've always known and lived to love, with flares of the future and nostalgic nods to the past." Times Jamieson Cox observed that "Living for Love" was tailor-made for radio, with the increase in popularity of house music and the crossover success of British house musicians.