If Britney Spears’ most used word in her songs is “baby,” it can be said that Madonna’s is probably “love.” This word itself being the message she’s been trying to disseminate for most of her career (even if/when it was done through a more erotic lens—as was the case with, what else, Erotica). And it’s not just because she “discovered” Kabbalah quite some time ago now, but, more than anything a result of her undeniable “hippie-dippy” boomer-era upbringing and tendencies. After all, Madonna was still coming of age at a time when “peace, love and understanding” were being promoted (but not yet shilled) as genuine possibilities. Realistic solutions. Especially for a country that, during the 1960s and 1970s seemed more divided than it could ever possibly get (little did they know…).
Madonna, observing all this from her middle-class perch in the suburbs of Detroit was, it would seem, forever influenced by this period that also bled so prominently into the pop culture of the day. That much has shone through time and time again in her hippie-leaning and -inspired music. Including earlier work like “Love Makes the World Go Round” from 1986’s True Blue, “middle-era” work like “Deeper and Deeper” from 1992’s Erotica and, of course, later-era fare like “I’m a Sinner” from 2012’s MDNA and “I Rise” from 2019’s Madame X.
And so, once again, “Love Sensation” (a title that perhaps not so coincidentally sounds like it could be the brand name for a lube) fits Madonna’s long-standing mold for a song designed to unite, motivate and generally inspire. In short, to create feelings of “positivity” through the effortless repetition of a kind of mantra. An aim that, more often than not, can’t help but come across as at least slightly cheesy (though Madonna did surmount some of her previous corniness for songs like these with “I Rise”). Particularly when it comes to appealing to an ever more jaded audience. Nonetheless, “Love Sensation” dares to veer into saccharine territory with lyrics like, “Baby, when you’re here with me/There’s nothing that we cannot do” and “Tripping up to the sky/On your love sensation, good vibration.”
Yes, that’s right, “good vibration.” Minus an “s” at the end of “vibration,” Madonna is quite literally quoting one of the ultimate in hippie-dippy bands: the Beach Boys. Not only that, but she seems to be conveniently forgetting her generally “Team New York” propensities by so blatantly borrowing a phrase from a California band. Though, thus far, the offerings from Confessions II—“I Feel So Free” and “Bring Your Love”—have heavily leaned in, just as Confessions on a Dance Floor did, to her much romanticized “early days on the dance floor” of late 70s/early 80s New York City.
Sonically speaking, “Love Sensation” proves no exception to that rule. And, in fact, it has almost the same exact musical DNA as “Bring Your Love” (even with its “au courant” use of Sabrina Carpenter as a feature). And, talking of each single’s similarities, it’s hardly a fluke that both songs have the word “love” in it (there’s even a third song on the album that also has “love” in its title, called “Love Without Words” [which follows “Love Sensation”]). Which, as mentioned, is Madonna’s go-to word and overall “message.” Ostensibly taking up the mantle for The Beatles’ simple notion, “All you need is love.” A peak song of the hopeful hippie-dippy era before the cynicism and darkness of that culture set in thanks to the Manson murders in 1969.
As for who Madonna might have in mind when she gushes, “It’s more than love/Knowing that I can feel trust/When I feel let down/You tell me I should take it slow/Whenever I doubt you/I have a premonition/And I can see clearly/Where I should be/You set me free with your love sensation,” it’s difficult to believe it could be entirely directed at her boy toy du moment, Akeem Morris. But rather, she seems to be thinking of a composite of people, which might even extend to another one of her more enduring boy toys, Ahlamalik Williams (a “fan favorite” in terms of his sweetness compared to other fuckboys Madonna allowed into the fray, including Jesus Luz and Brahim Zaibat). Or, who knows, maybe she’s not even thinking of someone in a romantic capacity at all, directing her emotions instead toward her children or even her beloved Confessions on a Dance Floor—and now, Confessions II—producer, Stuart Price. The man responsible for bringing listeners the disco-y, generally 70s sound of “Love Sensation.”
Indeed, what separates this single from the previous two thus far is that it’s the only one solely co-produced by Madonna and Price, as if to further emphasize their “special relationship” (to be sure, there are some fans who have long wished their professional dynamic might transcend into something more, but alas, Price ended up marrying Madonna’s former assistant and former manager, Angela Becker, who appears, along with Price, in 2005’s I’m Going to Tell You a Secret). One that creates a version of Madonna that helps her to sound her most comfortable and genuine. And clearly, her most “love-oriented.”
As for the ongoing callbacks to the first iteration of Confessions, the accompanying visualizer for “Love Sensation” features Madonna rendered through an animated effect that channels the video released in 2006 for “Get Together” (a visual that wielded scenes from her 2005 performance at London’s Koko Club). Yet another song that finds Madonna in a particularly “oozing with love and harmony” kind of mood. A mood, mind you, that has become increasingly difficult to inhabit in the 2020s. Which is perhaps what makes Madonna’s intentions here either extremely noble or extremely naïve/tone deaf. One wants to believe it’s the former, even as she offers a line as maudlin as, “Love’s the reason why/It’s a drug that I can’t stop taking/Baby, let’s get high.” The kind of line that would make Melvin Udall (Jack Nicholson) say, “Sell crazy someplace else. We’re all stocked up here.” But if continuing to promote a message of love is crazy, then Madonna is someone who will have no problem being committed in order to do so.
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