Like a Virgin is the second studio album by American singer and songwriter Madonna. It was released on November 12, 1984, by Sire Records. Following the success of her 1983 eponymous debut album, Madonna was eager to start working on its follow-up. She selected Nile Rodgers to produce the album due to his work on Let's Dance (1983) by David Bowie, of which she was a fan. To ensure it was exactly as she envisioned it, Madonna chose all the songs for the album: she penned five of her own, four of which were co-written with former boyfriend and collaborator Stephen Bray, and four were written by other artists. Recording sessions took place at Power Station studio in New York City. Rodgers enlisted the help of his former Chic bandmates Bernard Edwards and Tony Thompson.

Upon release, Like a Virgin received mixed reviews from music critics: Rodgers's production received praise, but Madonna's vocals were criticized. It became Madonna's first number-one album on the Billboard 200, as well as the first album by a female artist to sell over five million copies in the United States. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) later certified it diamond for shipments of ten million units. Internationally, it reached number one in Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom. With sales of over 21 million copies worldwide, Like a Virgin remains one of the best-selling albums of all time. In the United States, four singles were released from the album —all reached the top five of the Billboard Hot 100, with the title track becoming Madonna's first number one, and "Material Girl" reaching number two.

The album was promoted on Madonna's first concert tour, the Virgin Tour (1985), which visited cities across North America. Like a Virgin is credited with establishing Madonna as a superstar and proving she was not a one-hit wonder, while her fashion style during this era was widely emulated by teens and young women. In 2023, the Library of Congress selected the album for preservation in the National Recording Registry, citing its "cultural, historical, or aesthetic significance."

Background

Following the release of her 1983 self-titled debut album, and hit singles like "Holiday", "Lucky Star" and "Borderline", Madonna became, according to author Craig Rosen, "one of the most exciting new artists of the 1980s". Despite this, the singer was not entirely pleased with how her first album had turned out, and was eager to start working on its follow-up. Of her upcoming second album, she told British magazine NME: "The production won't be so slick, because where Reggie [Lucas] and Mtume come from is a whole different school. I want a sound that's mine", and even hinted at working with a British producer. To ensure the album be exactly as she envisioned it, Madonna asked her label, Sire Records, to allow her to produce the album herself, a request that was immediately denied.

Angry with the label, the singer would publicly vent during interviews, and refer to her bosses as a "hierarchy of old men [...] a chauvinistic environment to be working in because I'm treated like this sexy little girl". The executives at Sire decided to allow Madonna to work with any producer of her choice. She picked Nile Rodgers, co-founder of American disco band Chic, and main producer of David Bowie's Let's Dance (1983), one of her favorite albums of the time. Rodgers had previously met Madonna after attending one of her gigs at a New York City nightclub, and was impressed with her stage presence; "I kept thinking to myself, 'Damn, is she a star', but she wasn't at that time. I always wanted to work with her and this seemed like the perfect opportunity". However, when the time came he initially hesitated, as he had been warned by several people that Madonna was a "totally self-centered bitch" and a "pain in the ass to work with". When the two actually met, Rodgers quickly changed his mind and said the singer was great and a "true professional". Madonna, by her part, "couldn't believe that the record company actually gave me the money so that I could work with [Rodgers]".

Development

Madonna wanted Like a Virgin to be "stronger" than her debut, hence she chose all the songs herself. She had been penning songs and creating demos with former boyfriend and collaborator Stephen Bray since early 1984. When Madonna first met with Rodgers, she allegedly told him, "if you don't love these songs we can't work together", to which the producer responded: "I don't love them now, but I will when I've finished working on them!". Around the time they began working on the album, Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly were pitching songs to artists. Steinberg had begun a new relationship and came up with the lyrics to "Like a Virgin". He brought the track to Kelly, who created the music and, together, recorded a demo tape. Kelly then met with Warner Bros. A&R executive Michael Ostin and had him listen to the demo; Ostin, who was set to meet Madonna the next day, thought the song was "perfect" for her. Madonna "loved" the song right away, but Rodgers wasn't convinced. He felt it was "really queer", and that the line like a virgin wasn't a "terrific" hook, nor an "all-time catch phrase". Four days later, Rodgers realized that the song was still stuck in his head; "[It] grew on me. I really started to like it. [...] [I] handed [my] apology [to Madonna] and said, 'you know... if it's so catchy, it must be something. So let's do it". Written by Peter Brown and Robert Rans for another Warner Bros. singer, "Material Girl" was also presented to Madonna by Ostin.

Ostin also suggested that the singer covered Rose Royce's "Love Don't Live Here Anymore" (1978). He was driving into work and heard the song on the radio; "I called [Nile and Madonna], they were in the studio. I said, 'I have an idea. You know the old Rose Royce record, 'Love Don't Live Here Anymore'? Why don't you try and record a version of it?". Both Rodgers and Madonna were reluctant, but ultimately decided that a ballad could be a good move to bring "diversity" to the album. The final song to be created for Like a Virgin was "Dress You Up". Rodgers had previously asked songwriters Andrea LaRusso and Peggy Stanziale to write a song for Madonna in the style of Chic but, due to other projects, the composition took time. When the lyrics of the song were submitted, Rodgers turned them down as he felt there was no time to compose a melody and record it for the album; however, Madonna liked them and persuaded the producer to include the track.

"Into the Groove" was written and produced by Madonna and Stephen Bray, and recorded at Sigma Sound Studios. Inspired by the dance floor and a Puerto Rican boy the singer was attracted to, it was used on the Susan Seidelman-directed film Desperately Seeking Susan, in which Madonna starred. The song was originally written for Cheyne, the fifteen-year-old protégée of Mark Kamins, the man who discovered Madonna's debut single "Everybody" (1982) and took her to Sire Records. Madonna then decided to record the track herself and use it on Desperately Seeking Susan, much to Kamins' dismay.

Recording

Recording sessions took place at New York's Power Station studios in April 1984. Rodgers envisioned a "simpler set-up" and, after hearing Madonna's demos, came to the conclusion they were too similar to what she had done on her debut: Heavily sequenced and synthesizer-led. He decided that the singer needed a "more streetwise sound", and to record with a live band. Rodgers subsequently assembled a rhythm section consisting of himself on guitar, Chic colleagues Bernard Edwards and Tony Thompson on bass and drums, respectively. Sessions took place in the afternoon, as Rodgers would attend late-night parties and wasn't used to working in the morning. It was Jason Corsaro, the album's audio engineer, who persuaded the producer to use digital recording, a new technique he believed was going to be the "future" of recording. He brought in a Sony 3324 24-track digital tape recorder and a Sony F1 two-track, which were used for the mixing.

Madonna's vocals were recorded at the studio's small, wooden, high-ceilinged piano room at the back. Corsaro would place gobos around her while using the top capsule of a stereo AKG C24 tube microphone, with a Schoeps microphone preamplifier and a Pultec equalizer. "That was part of the Power Station way" — recalled Corsaro — "nothing was subtle and everything had a particular sound". Once the tracks met with everybody's approval, Robert Sabino added the keyboard parts; he did this by playing a Sequential Circuits Prophet-5, as well as some Rhodes and acoustic piano. Rodgers also played the Synclavier on this part. Corsaro remembered that the final songs "adhered very closely" to the Bray-produced demos, which were "quite simple in structure. All we did was get better musicians". Madonna, although not required, was present every minute of the recording and mixing processes; Corsaro commented: "Nile was there most of the time, but she was there all of the time. She never left". After hearing the album, Madonna's then manager Freddy DeMann pressured her to "put a little more bass on it", and make it sound like Michael Jackson's Thriller (1982). All the singer did was write the words "Bass Up" on the record's box without altering a thing.

Composition Alexis Petridis from The Guardian described Like a Virgin as a "cocktail of post-disco dance music, with a dash of hip-hop and a surprisingly large shot of choppy, angular new wave rock". Nicole Horning, author of Pop Music: Chart-Toppers Throughout History, categorized it as a dance-pop album in a style of new wave, which melded disco, rock, sixties pop, and synthesizer-based electronic music. Noted as an "80s teen-pop" take on Marilyn Monroe's "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend", opener "Material Girl" is a synth-pop song with disco and new wave elements. A tongue-in-cheek satire on the superficiality and materialism of the 1980s, Madonna sings in a shrill voice about how she won't accept men who cannot provide her with wealth and luxuries, because "we are living in a material world". Throughout the song, a robotic male voice repeats the hook "living in a material world". The second track, "Angel", begins with the sound of twinkling synths and giggles. It is an "ode to heavenly love" with a new wave overtone, built on an ascending hook consisting of a three chord sequence, which serves for the verse and refrain. One of the lyrics is taken from Public Image Ltd's "Death Disco" (1979), while Rodgers provides pizzicato guitars.

The title track, "Like a Virgin", is a "mildly titillating" dance-rock song, in which the singer talks about how true love can make a girl feel "shiny and new". The bass-line on the introduction is a reworking of the Four Tops' "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)" (1965). Madonna sings in a "little girl lost" voice the opening line "I made it through the wilderness / Somehow, I made it through / Didn't know how lost I was until I found you". The drums, played by Tony Thompson, give the track "far more wallop than a drum machine ever could", according to Rikky Rooksby, author of The Complete Guide to the Music of Madonna. The lyrics to the fourth track, "Over and Over", talk about determination and picking oneself up from disappointments; "I get up again, over and over", Madonna sings in the refrain. Instrumentation and production are sparse, featuring only a "silky" guitar.