Madonna - Masterpiece : Chart Performance & Single Review

MASTERPIECE is the 3rd song from MDNA to be released officially as a single.

It was originally included as the last song in the W.E. Soundtrack and later became the 11th track on Madonna's 12th studio album. iTunes carried it on podcast before it was available as album-only download for the soundtrack in January. Only in the UK was it made into a single at almost the same time MDNA went on sale.

The song is a ballad that tells of the singer's admiration for a loved one through simple metaphors. It could have very well mirrored the film W.E (which Madonna directed) as evident on the lyrics' toying with royalty and art impressionism: "An impressionistic painting, tiny particles of light. It seems to me that's what you're like, the look-but-please-don't-touch-me type." William Orbit helmed the production with contributions from Jimmy Harry. Madonna sings some lovely vocals over the stripped-down production's acoustic accompaniment. Her voice evokes emotion and smoothly delivers albeit using falsetto at some point. She doesn't feel the need to belt and over-sing the final parts thus giving the song an almost linear tone. Though this is a triumph on the down-tempo department once again, Masterpiece isn't nearly as enchanting as that of another Orbit production: her underrated 2000 melancholic ballad Time Stood Still lifted from the soundtrack of The Next Best Thing in which she starred. 

Several remixes of Masterpiece have since surfaced giving it a more radio-friendly pop groove.  If only these or any other mixes were used officially in a maxi-single release, there would have been better chart performances for the single. The unofficial Skin Bruno Expressive mix provides the '90s-pop-feel to the song with that Spanish touch while the much-later vocal mix done by Kid Capri (which appeared on the Smirnoff Nightlife Edition of MDNA) interestingly gives a diverse trip-hop treatment to the ballad.

Madonna - MASTERPIECE Remixes:





Un-Official Mixes











The overdue release of Masterpiece failed to maximize the song's hit potential. When the song was first heard in one of W.E's festival exhibitions in late 2011, it garnered mostly positive reviews from critics calling it "one of Madonna's best ballads in years, if not decades." Despite harsh remarks from Elton John and David Furnish, it went on to win the Best Original Song at the 69th Golden Globe Awards but failed to merit a nomination in the Academy Awards due to a technical fault of it being NOT "used either in the body of the film, or as the 'first music cue' in the closing credits". In the peak of it's triumph, it wasn't immediately made into a single and capitalize on it's success! It only went straight to the W.E Soundtrack and worse as album-only download. Many fans had to put off buying Masterpiece until MDNA was released and by that time, the accolades have been forgotten. The lack of strategy and indecisiveness of the management and label flushed the song's Top Ten capability down the drain (the ineptitude subsequently went on to damage the releases of the other singles GMAYL & GGW too) as the soundtrack album never charted...

Objectively, Masterpeice could have been a hit if it was released the following week it got the Golden Globe nomination. If Madonna had been very busy with the Superbowl rehearsals at that time to shoot a proper video, a simple production using clips from the movie would have helped a big deal not only for the single but for W.E itself which was getting scathing reviews despite it's laudable cinematography and costume design. Madonna has done this type of videos before with Into The Groove, Live To Tell, Who's That Girl?, This Used To Be My Playground, You Must Love Me to name a few and either the song or the film became a hit or even both! However, no sort of interesting idea surrounded Masterpiece back then and even upon it's eventual release thus it's merits never helped the film nor itself in terms of chart position. It landed to a lowly # 68 on it's UK debut despite getting A-listed with Radio2. In some countries, the song peaked mainly due to airplay.

Chart Performance for Madonna - Masterpiece Week 1

UK iTunes as of 07 April, 2012 2:17 AM

573. Masterpiece - Madonna

UK Top 100

# 68

South Korea             # 147

AIRPLAY Chart Peaks

EUROPE                   # 94
Japan                         # 85
Sweden                      # 84

Poland                       # 84
Czech Rep.                # 65

Osaka                        # 51

UK                             # 24

Russia                        # 8

Belarus                      # 2

Despite ZERO promotion for this single, it is still note-worthy that it appeared on the charts. If only there had been better strategies, the song would have lived up to it's name and became the Masterpiece that "would be impossible to move!" 

The verdict: Very Good Song (A) - No Video - overdue release - no promotion = Damaged Masterpiece (4/10).

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