Background
In 1986, Madonna was shooting for her third motion picture Who's That Girl, known at the time as Slammer. Needing songs for the soundtrack of the movie, she contacted Patrick Leonard and Stephen Bray, who had written and produced her third studio album True Blue in 1986. Madonna explained to them that she needed an uptempo song and a downtempo song. She came to the studio one Thursday as Leonard developed the chorus of the song. He handed over that cassette to Madonna, who went to the backroom and finished the melody and the lyrics of the song, while Leonard worked on the other parts of the song. After finishing the lyrics, Madonna declared that she wanted the song to be named "Who's That Girl" and changed the movie to the same, rather than Slammer, considering it to be a better title. In Fred Bronson's The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits book, Leonard explained that the song was recorded in one day with Madonna adding her vocals only once. Additional instrumental tracks with guitars and percussion were included by Leonard and Bray later. Regarding the development of the music for the film, Madonna further explained
"I had some very specific ideas in mind, music that would stand on its own as well as support and enhance what was happening on screen and the only way to make that a reality was to have a hand in writing the tunes myself. The songs aren't necessarily about Nikki or written to be sung by someone like her, but there's a spirit to this music that captures both what the film and the characters are about, I think."
Read more about this topic: Who's That Girl (Madonna Song)
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