Bedtime Stories (Madonna album)

In 1992, Madonna released her fifth studio album Erotica, the coffee table book Sex, and starred in the erotic thriller Body of Evidence. Due to their sexually explicit nature, all three projects were negatively received by critics and fans alike; some called Madonna a sexual renegade and felt she had "gone too far" and that her career was over.^[2] In March 1994, Madonna appeared on CBS's Late Show with David Letterman. The appearance was noted for an extremely controversial series of statements and antics by the singer, which included many expletives. In particular, she said the word fuck fourteen times throughout the interview. This made the episode the most censored in American network television talk-show history while at the same time garnering host David Letterman some of the highest ratings he ever received;^[3] nonetheless, critics commented that Madonna had reached her "lowest low".^[4] Regarding this controversial period of her career, the singer recalled: "I feel I've been misunderstood. I tried to make a statement about feeling good about yourself and exploring your sexuality, but people took it to mean that everyone should go out and have sex with everyone [...] I decided to leave it alone because that's what everyone ended up concentrating on".^[5] Madonna came to the conclusion that she needed to "soften" her image in order to reconnect with her audience.^[6]

The "first step toward redeeming herself" was the ballad "I'll Remember", recorded for the film With Honors (1994). The song reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100, and received positive critical feedback.^[7] For her sixth studio album, Madonna decided to venture into the R&B and hip hop styles then dominating the charts in the early-to-mid 1990s.^[6] She envisioned the album as being stylistically different from Erotica; "I wanted to make something else [...] an R&B-influenced record, which is in a way going back to my roots, because my very first record was more R&B", she explained.^[8]

Bedtime Stories was recorded at nine different studios: Axis, The Hit Factory, and Soundworks Studios in New York City; Los Angeles' Chappell Studios; the DARP Studios and Tea Room in Atlanta; The Enterprise in Burbank; Hollywood's Music Grinder, and the Wild Bunch Studios in London.^[10][11] The project saw Madonna collaborating with some of R&B's "heavyweights", including Babyface, Dallas Austin, and Dave Hall.^[8] It became one of the few occasions on which she worked with high-profile producers, the first since Nile Rodgers on Like a Virgin (1984).^[12] Initial recording sessions were with Shep Pettibone, who worked with the singer on Erotica. However, she felt that what they were doing was too similar to that album and dismissed Pettibone.^[13]

Being a fan of Babyface's song "When Can I See You" (1994), Madonna decided to work with him because she wanted "lush ballads" for the album.^[9] They worked on three songs at his home studio in Beverly Hills, including "Forbidden Love" and "Take a Bow", both of which ended up on the album.^[9] Recalling the latter's development, Babyface explained: "I wasn't so much thinking about the charts. I think I was more in awe of the fact that I was working with Madonna. It was initially surreal, but then you get to know the person a little bit, and you calm down and then it's just work. And work is fun". In the case of "Forbidden Love", "[Madonna] heard the basic track and it all started coming out, melodies and everything... It was a much easier process than I thought it would be".^[9] Through Babyface, she met Dallas Austin, producer of Ooooooohhh... On the TLC Tip (1992) and The Pendulum Vibe (1994), the debut albums of TLC and Joi.^[14] They created "Secret", "Don't Stop", and "Sanctuary"; the first was produced in its demo form by Pettibone, under the name "Something's Coming Over Me". Austin then reworked the demo and made it a different song musically.^[15] "Human Nature" was written alongside Hall as an answer song to the backlash Madonna had endured over the previous two years for "daring to deal with subjects that are taboo [...] I'm saying [in the song] that I'm turning my back [to the media]. I'm not sorry".^[13] The song "I'd Rather Be Your Lover" was recorded as a duet with rapper Tupac Shakur, whom Madonna was romantically involved with at the time.^[16] The final version, however, replaced Shakur's parts with a verse by Meshell Ndegeocello. Allegedly, Madonna decided to do this to dissociate from any possible controversy after Shakur became involved in a sexual assault case.^[16]

Author Lucy O'Brien noted that, although Madonna was "anxious" to make an impact in the R&B market, "her voice just wasn't powerful enough to hold and bend those deep, soulful notes".^[17] Seeking another "flavor" to expand the album, Madonna turned to the British club scene, where genres such as dub had been growing in popularity through acts such as Icelandic singer Björk, and British bands Massive Attack and Soul II Soul.^[17] She decided to work with several European producers and composers from the electronic scene, including British producer Nellee Hooper, who appealed to Madonna because of his "very European sensibility".^[17] Madonna had Hooper and his assistant Marius de Vries flown to Los Angeles, where they created the songs "Survival" and "Inside of Me".^[17] At the time, Madonna was a fan of Björk's album Debut, and, through Hooper and de Vries, contacted her and asked her to write a track for the album.^[10][18] Björk did not consider herself a fan of Madonna's, but was intrigued by the offer and accepted.^[18] Titled "Let's Get Unconscious", the song was born out of Björk's own criticism of Madonna's aesthetic and included lines such as Today is the last day that I'm using words; the singer recalled that, "I couldn't really picture me doing a song that would suit Madonna [...] I decided to do this to write the things I have always wanted to hear her say that she's never said".^[18] She also added that she never even met Madonna, and wrote the song as a personal favor to de Vries.^[19] After the demo was finished, De Vries and Hooper rearranged the track and the final version was renamed "Bedtime Story". The original demo was later reworked and released as "Sweet Intuition", which appeared as a B-side on Björk's "Army of Me" single, and was remixed on the "It's Oh So Quiet" single.^[20]

Bedtime Stories was described by the singer herself as a "combination of pop, R&B, hip-hop and a Madonna record", with lyrics and themes she described as "romantic and very reflective".^[21][8] According to Music & Media, Madonna paid "particular attention to" the sequencing of the songs, as she wanted to create a "truly cohesive" record.^[8] Opener "Survival" is a "sweetly funky" song in which Madonna sings directly to the public and addresses her feelings about past controversies, according to Rikky Rooksby, author of The Complete Guide to the Music of Madonna.^[22][10] It includes lyrical nods to past songs in the verses I'll never be an Angel/I'll never be a saint, it's true, and Whether it's heaven or hell/I'm going to living to tell.^[22][10][23] The next song is "Secret", which finds Madonna singing in a "husky" alto and features an "unhurried" Memphis soul beat.^[22][24] It begins with the sound of her voice singing over a "rhythmic folksy" guitar, before opening up to a "sparse, retro rhythm" section.^[6] In the singer's own words, "Secret" addresses spirituality and self-empowerment, and contains an "Indian/Hindu philosophy which says that God lives within all of us and that happiness lies in our own hands".^[21]

In the "soulful sass" of "I'd Rather Be Your Lover", Madonna "lusts after the unattainable through processes of negotiation", and lists the relationships she would rather not have: a sister, mother, friend and brother, echoing Erotica track "Where Life Begins", as noted by Matthew Rettenmund, author of Encyclopedia Madonnica.^[22][23][25] The backing vocals and bass are supplied by Ndegeocello, who raps Tell me what you want/Tell me what you need.^[10][25] The fourth song, "Don't Stop", has been referred to as Bedtime Stories's "sole call to the dance floor".^[26] It has two lines that are almost identical to Madonna's debut single "Everybody" (1982), while its plea to get up on the dance floor echoes back to "Vogue" (1990).^[23] "Inside of Me" has the same tempo as "Don't Stop" but its lyrics are more ambiguous.^[27] A "heartfelt tribute to [Madonna's] mother" lies beneath "tear-stained suggestions of sex".^[28] Madonna's vocals are "breathy", while instrumentation features "throbbing bass and jazzy keyboards that come with most of [Nellee] Hooper's productions".^[22] Even though you're gone, love still carries on/love, inside of me, she sings on the refrain.^[29]

'Human Nature'

A 29-second sample from "Human Nature". The singer herself referred to the song as her "definitive statement" in regards to the "incredible payback I've received for having the nerve to talk about the things I did in the past few years".^[27]

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Problems playing this file? See media help.

Deemed an "unintentional sequel" to 1989's "Express Yourself", "Human Nature" is a hip-hop-influenced track that begins with a loop of heavy bass and drums.^[27][30][31] Madonna constantly whispers the phrase express yourself, don't repress yourself.^[27] Described as a song of rebellion, its lyrics explicitly refer to the media frenzies the singer endured, and the contempt she feels for her critics.^[22][27] Phrases such as Oops, I didn't know I couldn't talk about sex and Oops, I didn't know I couldn't speak my mind are sung by Madonna in a thin, nasal voice "dripping with sarcasm".^[22][27] In "Forbidden Love", the album's seventh track, Madonna "dismisses any relationship untouched by taboo".^[26] She sings in an "incredibly enticing" whisper: I know that you're no good for me/That's why I feel I must confess/What's wrong is why it feels so right/I want to feel your sweet caress.^[27][31] Instrumentation is sparse, and Babyface provides backing vocals.^[27] Allegedly inspired by a stripper Madonna met in a club, "Love Tried to Welcome Me" is a song that "fetishizes rejection".^[32][26] The "unusually long" introduction begins with the "lush" sound of strings over acoustic guitar, while wind chimes are present on the verses.^[27] Lyrically, the song addresses turning back from love, loneliness and a sense of self-alienation.^[27] The chorus also paraphrases George Herbert's devotional poem Love (III), about the self-doubting poet's relationship with a loving God. The poem's opening lines "Love bade me welcome. Yet my soul drew back / Guilty of dust and sin." are paraphrased as "But love tried to welcome me / But my soul drew back / Guilty of lust and sin", playing with the original poem's themes of sin and transcendent, unconditional love for the song's discussion of erotic love and loneliness.^[33][34]

"Sanctuary" quotes Walt Whitman's poem Vocalism.^[32] It is a song that draws inspiration from Herbie Hancock's "Watermelon Man" (1962), and aligns love and death.^[26][27] "Assorted odd noises, distant strings, and bits of electric guitar" make up the "atmospheric" introduction.^[27] Verses include Who needs the sun, when the rain's so full of life/Who needs the sky/It's here in your arms I want to be buried, which is backed by a steady, R&B-influenced bassline with a sound effect that is reminiscent of a creaky bed.^[27][31] The ending of "Sanctuary" is linked to the beginning of the next song, title track "Bedtime Story".^[27] Unlike most of the songs on the album, which are heavily R&B-influenced, "Bedtime Story" is an electronica-doused track with a "trippy" vibe.^[31] A hymn to the "joys of unconsciousness and a rejection of the supposed constraints of reason and language", its instrumentation is provided by "skeletal" synth arrangement and a prominent drum machine and programmed handclaps.^[27]

The closing track, "Take a Bow", is a midtempo pop ballad with "a "'Sukiyaki'"-like Japanese touch".^[30] The lyrics talk about a failed affair with either an actor, or someone who's "way too concerned with personal image".^[35] It features "swaying strings and lush harmonies", while Madonna sings with her lower vocal register to evoke a "tender compassion".^[31] The title plays on the verse in the song all the world is a stage and everyone has their part, a reference to the line by William Shakespeare in his play As You Like It: "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women mere players".^[27] Babyface provides backing vocals, making the song "virtually a duet".^[12]

The album takes its title from the Björk-penned "Bedtime Story".^[18][37] The singer chose this title because she thought of "the songs [on the album] as bedtime stories, like a tale, a story to tell".^[8] Academic Georges Claude Guilbert, author of Madonna As Postmodern Myth, saw the title as a pun, and felt that the singer was referring to "(possible erotic) stories told at bedtime (in bed). In a way [the album] is really a book of stories you can tell your kids at bedtime [...] sexuality explained to children".^[38] Fearing backlash, Madonna hesitated and considered changing it. She feared the public would "see innuendo and artifice where none was intended, [imagine it meant] songs for before you have sex". Eventually she gave up on the idea and thought, "fuck it, it's a beautiful title".^[37]

The artwork for Bedtime Stories was shot by French photographer Patrick Demarchelier, under the artistic direction of Baron & Baron Inc., consisting of Fabien Baron and photographer Patrick Lee;^[11] Sam McKnight was in charge of styling.^[39] Sessions took place at the Eden Roc Miami Beach Hotel in August 1994.^[40] McKnight recalled that it was a very "low-key" photo shoot, with an entourage of less than 50 people. As it took place on the singer's birthday, it wrapped up fast so she could attend her party afterward.^[41] The cover depicts her dressed in a "frothy" white negligee, with makeup "designed to flatter", as noted by the staff of Marie Claire; her hair is tousled, and she has a nose ring on.^[42] According to The Advertiser's Anna Vlach, the singer's look was based on American actress Jean Harlow.^[36] British journalist Paul Du Noyer gave a detailed description of Madonna's appearance for the album:

[Madonna] looks both older and younger than she does in the photos and the videos: a little more lined and possibly tired, but also less mature and grand. Her manner is quite teenaged, not femme fatale. She seems up for mischief, and yet quite conscious of her power. At the same time, her very frankness is almost innocent. These combinations are odd, and they give her the air of a prematurely wise child. Her current style is 1930s Hollywood meets early 1970s flash: Jean Harlow and Angie Bowie. She is not bewitching, but is certainly beautiful. She wears the nose stud that so troubled Norman Mailer in a recent interview. If you saw her in the street, you'd think: she looks like a girl who looks a bit like Madonna.^[43]

Matthew Rettenmund compared the cover for Bedtime Stories to that of Like a Virgin: "Take off that nose ring and squint at that white-blonde hair, and you're left with what could almost pass for a still from [...] Like a Virgin. [Madonna's] even wearing white lace [...] [the cover] screams 'Classic Madonna here, step right up!".^[23] Mark Elliott of the website This Is Dig! also felt the artwork was similar to Like a Virgin's.^[44] The staff of Terra compared the cover of American singer Christina Aguilera's fifth studio album, Back to Basics (2006), to Bedtime Stories.^[45]

Initial pressings of the cover image show Madonna's face in an upright position. Some subsequent reissues in 1994, 1995, and 1996 show the cover image corrected to show Madonna's face in the originally intended orientation: upside down. After 1996, reissues again show her face in the upright position.

Bedtime Stories was released in the United Kingdom on October 24, 1994, and in the United States on October 25, 1994.^[46][31] Prior to its release, in mid-September, an audio file containing a message from Madonna about the album, along with a 30-second snippet of "Secret", was made available exclusively online.^[9][47] Promotional spots aired on television proclaimed that the album would be devoid of sexual references, with the singer adding that, "it's a whole new me! I'm going to be a good girl, I swear".^[48] In October, the singer was interviewed by Ruby Wax in Paris.^[49] According to Wax, she was quite intimidated by Madonna and her entourage and, in her own words, "[my] nerves got the best of me".^[49] On February 13, 1995, the singer appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman to "make amends" for her controversial appearance the previous year.^[50]

Madonna's Pajama Party was held to promote the music video for "Bedtime Story" that took place at New York City's Webster Hall on March 18, and was broadcast on MTV.^[51] The singer read David Kirk's Miss Spider's Tea Party to a crowd of 2,000, while DJ Junior Vasquez played "cutting-edge" tribal and trance remixes of the song.^[52][53][54] Prior to the party, the music video for "Bedtime Story" was given a cinematic release at three Odeon Cineplex theaters.^[51]

Singles

"Secret" was released as the album's lead single on September 20, 1994.^[62][63] It received positive reviews from critics, who applauded Madonna's vocal delivery and the track's mid-tempo R&B groove, deeming it seductive and soulful.^[15][64][65] It peaked at number three on the US Billboard Hot 100, whereas in the United Kingdom it reached a peak of number five, becoming the singer's record-breaking 35th consecutive top-ten single.^[66][67][68] The black-and-white music video was directed by Melodie McDaniel, and shows Madonna as a nightclub singer in Harlem.^[24][69]

Issued on December 6, the second single "Take a Bow" topped the Hot 100 for seven weeks, becoming Madonna's longest-running number one in the United States.^[66][70][71] It was less successful in the UK, where it reached number 16 on the chart and ended Madonna's string of 35 consecutive top-ten singles.^[67][68] Critics lauded the track, deeming it Madonna's best romantic ballad, and one of the album's best songs.^[72][73] The Michael Haussman-directed music video depicts a "steamy love story" between the singer and a bullfighter, played by Emilio Muñoz.^[74]

The title track, "Bedtime Story", was first released in Europe and Australia on February 13, 1995.^[75] In the United States, a release was issued on April 11.^[76] Upon release, critics praised its experimental sound.^[77] "Bedtime Story" gave Madonna her 17th number one on Billboard's Hot Dance Club Play chart, and reached number four of the UK Singles Chart.^[78][67] The single's accompanying music video was directed by Mark Romanek and is a tribute to female surrealist painters like Leonora Carrington and Remedios Varo.^[74] With a budget of $5 million, it is one of the most expensive ever made.^[74]

The fourth and final single from the album was "Human Nature", first issued in Australia and Europe on May 5, and one month later in the United States.^[79][80] Critics reacted positively toward the track, deeming it empowering and lauding its unapologetic nature.^[31][81] In the United States, it had a weak commercial reception, reaching number 46 of the Hot 100.^[82] It fared better in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at number eight.^[67] Jean-Baptiste Mondino directed the song's video, which shows Madonna in bondage gear.^[74]

More information Review scores, Source ...

Contemporaneous reviews

Review scores
Source	Rating
Chicago Tribune	[86]
Entertainment Weekly	B+[26]
Los Angeles Times	[87]
Music Week	[88]
NME	9/10[89]
Rolling Stone	[90]
USA Today	[91]

Close

More information Review scores, Source ...

Retrospective reviews and music guides

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[72]
Blender	[92]
MusicHound Rock	[93]
Pitchfork	6.5/10[94]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[95]
Slant Magazine	[32]
Spin Alternative Record Guide	4/10[96]
Tom Hull – on the Web	B[97]
The Virgin Encyclopedia of Nineties Music	[98]

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Upon release and in retrospective reviews, critical feedback toward Bedtime Stories has been generally positive.^[9] This was the case for Greg Kot ―who labeled it Madonna's "most irresistible" work since 1990's The Immaculate Collection― Edna Gundersen and Stephen Holden, who called the singer "at her best", and singled out its smooth, smooth, subtle, and restrained seductiveness, shifting away from Erotica's "shock tactics".^[b] Critics like Stephen Thomas Erlewine also praised Madonna for being the most "humane", "open" and "vulnerable" she had ever been.^[72][32] Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine noted that Madonna seemed "more interested in literature and human psychology than sexual biology this time around. [Bedtime Stories'] mix of sorrow and romance [...] expose a woman who might have been in need of some serious therapy".^[32] Entertainment Weekly's Jim Farber observed the artist was "telling the truth about her life" more so than on any other previous album, "with more personal mixtures of sex and romance".^[26]

Reviewers frequently discussed the album's warm and gentle sound.^[c] Cinquemani summarized Bedtime Stories as a "fluffy-pillowed concept album that unfolds like a musical fairy tale".^[32] Barbara O'Dair called the sounds "awfully compelling" in Rolling Stone's review, and Peter Galvin "gorgeously produced [...] with lots of funky beats, lush keyboards, and soaring Love Unlimited-style string arrangements" in a review for The Advocate.^[90][30] The grooves were described as "seriously infectious" and "deep, gently pulsating" by the staff of People magazine and Erlewine, respectively.^[104][72] Conversely, for Louis Virtel from The Backlot, "production [on Bedtime Stories] [is] a mess; the sheer amount of producers in the edit bay made for a hodgepodge of an album".^[105]

Its incorporations of pop, modern R&B and hip-hop popular at the time was also a focal point.^[87] Billboard claimed, "Ms. M sticks to a pop recipe that yields hits galore, with little excess baggage".^[100] The "combination of sleek R&B and slinky club music works way better than it probably should", according to Stereogum's Tom Breihan, who also noted that the singer "sounds comfortable, and never radiates the sweaty eagerness to please that you sometimes see from pop stars making self-consciously commercial moves".^[35] Jim Farber argued the incorporation of the Aaliyah and Xscape style of R&B was done more credibly than on Michael Jackson's Dangerous (1991).^[26] By contrast, The Plain Dealer's Troy L. Smith opined Dangerous's attempt at New Jack Swing was more successful.^[73]

Detractors called the record a "blurry non-event", "one amorphous blob", dispensable, flat, lifeless, and uninspired,^[d] and comparisons to other singers and previous LPs were made. El Hunt, writing for the Evening Standard, said that other female artists of the time –Janet Jackson, Toni Braxton, and Brandy– were "mining similar sounds in arguably more interesting ways".^[106] Chris Willman of the Los Angeles Times called Bedtime Stories, the "least remarkable" of Madonna's albums up to that point.^[87] For Rikky Rooksby, "[Bedtime Stories] can't match the power of Erotica, [and] it is definitely a long way behind Like a Prayer".^[10] Allen Metz and Carol Benson, authors of The Madonna Companion: Two Decades of Commentary, added that, "rather than signify[ing] some bold new direction, Bedtime Stories takes hardly any risks at all. [...] it offers neither the pop epiphany of Like a Prayer nor the shameless frolic of [Madonna's] earlier dance hits".^[108] Bedtime Stories received a nomination for Best Pop Album at the 38th Grammy Awards.^[109]

Bedtime Stories was kept from the top position of the Billboard 200 by Snoop Doggy Dogg's (left) Murder Was the Case, and II by Boyz II Men (right).

In the United States, Bedtime Stories debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 on November 12, 1994, with first week sales of 145,000 copies.^[110][111] Snoop Doggy Dogg's Murder Was the Case soundtrack, and Boyz II Men's II kept it from number one.^[111] Despite a weaker debut than Erotica, which opened at number two with sales of 167,000 copies, its chart longevity made Bedtime Stories outsell it.^[111][112] According to Billboard, by April 1995, following Madonna's appearance on the American Music Awards, sales of Bedtime Stories increased by 19%.^[113] With a total of 48 weeks on the Billboard 200, and over one million copies sold, Bedtime Stories came in at number 28 on Billboard's year-end chart for 1995.^{[114][115][116]} In November 2005, the album was certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments of more than three million units within the country.^[117] According to Nielsen SoundScan, Bedtime Stories has sold 2,336,000 copies as of December 2016. This figure does not include sales from music clubs such as BMG Music Clubs where it sold 195,000 copies.^[112][118] In Canada, Bedtime Stories debuted and peaked at number four of the RPM Albums Chart on November 7, 1994,^[119] and was eventually certified two times platinum by Music Canada (MC) for shipments of 200,000 copies.^[119][120]

In Brazil, sales of the album exceeded 380,000 units by February 1996, which earned it a platinum certification by the Associação Brasileira dos Produtores de Discos (ABPD).^[121][122] In Argentina, the Cámara Argentina de Productores de Fonogramas y Videogramas (CAPIF) certified the album double platinum, which denotes the shipment of 120,000 copies in the country.^[123] Bedtime Stories debuted at number two on the UK Albums Chart on November 5, 1994. It was held off the top by Bon Jovi's Cross Road, and remained a total of 30 weeks on the chart.^[67] Bedtime Stories was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for shipments of 300,000 copies.^[124] It also reached number two in France, Finland, Italy, and Portugal.^{[125][126][111]} The album was a number four hit in Germany, remaining 37 weeks on the German Albums Chart, and received a platinum certification by Bundesverband Musikindustrie (BVMI) after moving in excess of 500,000 copies in the country.^[127][128] Bedtime Stories reached number two on the European Top 100 Albums chart, and has sold over two million copies across Europe.^[129][130]

In Australia, the album entered the ARIA chart at number one, and was certified double platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for shipments of 140,000 copies.^[131][132] In New Zealand, Bedtime Stories debuted and peaked at number five on November 20, before dropping to number 16 the following week.^[133] The album reached number nine on Japan's Oricon album chart, and received a platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ).^[134][135] Worldwide, Bedtime Stories has sold over eight million copies.^[136]

Bedtime Stories has been referred to as one of the best albums of 1994, and the 1990s decade.^[137] In Vice, Mary Von Aue deemed it Madonna's most important work; she said that, although it was marketed as an "apology" for the singer's sexually explicit behavior from the past, she instead offered a "lyrical #sorrynotsorry and a response to the problem of female musicians being scrutinized for their sexuality rather than their music".^[48] Despite not being "the first album that comes to mind when discussing Madonna's legacy", Bedtime Stories is the "most relevant to many of the cultural conversations that are still happening. Had she acquiesced to the public's call for apology, it could have set a dangerous standard for how the public can decree an artist's silence, and it would have allowed the categories for female singers to remain in place", concluded Von Aue.^[48]

Stan Hawkins from the University of Leeds saw the record as a "significant point of arrival in [Madonna's] maturity by planting her firmly within new realms of production, performance, and songwriting".^[25] According to Idolator's Bianca Gracie, "Bedtime Stories displayed the evolution of a soulful singer [...] [it] proved that Madonna never lost her edge; she just decided to soften it so that her image could regroup".^[31] For Peter Piatkowski, the "peak of respectability" Madonna reached in the mid-to-late 1990s with Evita and Ray of Light (1998), began with the "more conciliatory image and sound" she adopted for Bedtime Stories.^[103] From Philadelphia magazine, Patrick DeMarco opined that, "it's not just the insatiable pure-pop moments laced throughout [Bedtime Stories] that make it great. This is the record that cemented Madonna as the icon we know today", as it saw her working with the producers that would help "define her sound" for the next decade.^[138] In this vein, the staff of Billboard said that Bedtime Stories found Madonna "in transition, swiveling away from explicit sexuality and relying on R&B and balladry before she dove headfirst into dance music four years later", a sentiment that was echoed by Troy L. Smith.^[139][73]

According to Quentin Harrison from music website Albumism, the "genesis of [Madonna's] second career epoch"―Ray of Light, Music (2000), and American Life (2003)―began with Bedtime Stories, an album "meant to be experienced in its entirety [...] that eschewed controversy and platformed Madonna's singular abilities as a singer and songwriter".^[140] Bianca Gracie also perceived traces of the record on Madonna's eleventh studio album Hard Candy (2008), and in the work of contemporary female singers like Rihanna, Banks, Jhené Aiko, and Tinashe.^[31] According to Scottish musician Sophie, who collaborated with the singer on 2015's "Bitch I'm Madonna", "[Bedtime Stories] is so much more fully formed and sexy than a lot of the trip-hop stuff that was coming out around that time. It's definitely been an influence on my own music".^[141] While Mike Wass from Idolator felt Bedtime Stories helped create the "blueprint for the Pop Girl R&B crossover", Gay Times' Sam Damshenas and Daniel Megarry concluded that, "listened to in the current musical landscape, [the album] sounds remarkably current – more so than any other early-to-mid Madonna release".^[142][143]

Bedtime Stories has been considered one of Madonna's most underrated and overlooked works, due to it being "sandwiched between her most controversial (Erotica) and, arguably, her best (Ray of Light)", according to Smith.^{[73][143][144]} More than 25 years after its release, in April 2020, the singer's fanbase launched #JusticeForBedtimeStories, a social media campaign that caused it to reach number one on the iTunes albums chart.^[145][146] According to Luminate, a little over 1,000 physical copies of the album were sold in the week ending April 30.^[147] Madonna herself acknowledged the campaign and thanked her fans for their support.^[145]

Notes

• ^{^a} signifies a remixer
• ^{^b} signifies an additional producer

Sample credits^[11]

• "I'd Rather Be Your Lover" contains samples of "It's Your Thing" performed by Lou Donaldson (originally by The Isley Brothers).
• "Inside of Me" samples "Back & Forth" performed by Aaliyah, "Outstanding" performed by The Gap Band and "The Trials of Life" performed by Gutter Snypes.
• "Human Nature" features samples of "What You Need" performed by Main Source.
• "Forbidden Love" contains samples of "Down Here on the Ground" performed by Grant Green.
• "Sanctuary" samples "Watermelon Man" performed by Herbie Hancock.

Credits adapted from the album's liner notes.^[11]

• List of number-one albums in Australia during the 1990s