Material Girl
"Material Girl" is a song by American singer Madonna from her second studio album, Like a Virgin (1984). Written by Peter Brown and Robert Rans and produced by Nile Rodgers, it was released as the album's second single on January 23, 1985. Brown conceived the song while driving and subsequently completed it with Rans; Madonna selected it for the album after being attracted to its ironic concept and wordplay. A synth-pop song with new wave, disco and reggae influences, "Material Girl" features prominent synthesizers and robotic male backing vocals. Madonna portrays a woman who values financial security in her romantic partners, a premise that has been interpreted both as a satire of 1980s consumerism and as an assertion of female agency and control.
Contemporary reviews of "Material Girl" were mostly positive, although Madonna's distinctive vocal delivery divided some critics; retrospective commentary has generally praised its production, melody and humor. The song peaked at number two on the US Billboard Hot 100 and reached number one on the Hot Dance Club Songs and Cash Box charts. Internationally, it reached the top ten in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and several European countries. The accompanying music video, directed by Mary Lambert, recreates Marilyn Monroe's performance of "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), with Madonna wearing a pink gown and performing among tuxedoed male dancers. A parallel storyline deliberately complicates the song's materialistic image by portraying her character as more interested in romance than wealth. Critics and scholars have interpreted this duality as both a parody and reinterpretation of Monroe's image, and as allowing Madonna to simultaneously embrace and subvert conventional representations of femininity, sexuality and materialism.
Madonna has performed "Material Girl" on five of her concert tours, the last being the Rebel Heart Tour (2015―2016). It as also been widely covered, parodied and used in popular culture. Retrospectively, commentators have identified it as emblematic of the consumerism, excess and yuppie culture associated with the 1980s, and it became so closely identified with Madonna that "Material Girl" developed into an enduring nickname for the singer, despite her ambivalence toward it. In 2022, she revisited the concept by collaborating with American rapper Saucy Santana on "Material Gworrllllllll!", a remix of his 2019 song "Material Girl", which had itself been inspired by Madonna's original. The collaboration followed the viral popularity of Santana's song on TikTok and coincided with Madonna's efforts to introduce her earlier music to a new generation.
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