On March 21, 1989, Madonna released Like APrayer, the title track of her fourth studio album. The song was a declaration of love and passion from a young girl to God, the all-powerful male figure. Her lyrics were a mix of religious references and barely concealed sexual connotations, sung on top of a pop-rock track and a gospel choir. Strongly influenced by her religious education, Madonna had recorded one of the most controversial hits in the history of music, shocking conservative America.
Racism, sex and religion
Already receiving criticism for Papa Don’t Preach, Madonna hit back even harder with the music video for Like A Prayer, which shows her in a state of religious ecstasy through her overtly sexual gestures. The video shows images of the singer with Christ’s Holy Wounds on her hands, as she embraces a statue of a black saint who steps out of a cage and becomes her flesh-and-blood lover in the middle of a church, to the songs of a gospel choir. It also tackles racism, the Ku Klux Klan and police violence against black people, pointing the finger at centuries of racial discrimination.
Pepsi and Pope John Paul II
Outraged by the ambiguous lyrics of the song and by the openly erotic images in the video, Christian communities worldwide screamed blasphemy. The affair finally reached the Vatican, where Pope John Paul II called to ban the song from all TV channels and radio stations in Italy. Under pressure, Pepsi, which had signed a $ 5 million contract with the singer to use Like A Prayer in one of their commercials, requested the song to be removed from MTV, but failed in doing so. Madonna, who had reached new artistic maturity with Like A Prayer, shrugged off the controversy stating in a phone interview with the New York Times: ''Art should be controversial, and that's all there is to it.''
Thirty years later, Like A Prayer is still considered one of the greatest hits in the history of music. At a time when the number of sexual scandals surrounding the Catholic Church are increasing, and where issues of racial discrimination are tougher than ever, the song’s powerful messages and potent imagery, unfortunately, remain as relevant now as they were 30 years ago.
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Translated by Polina Shaykina
