Madonna - Who's That Girl Description:
Summer 1987, and suddenly Madonna was everywhere again. Not in a gentle “radio friendly” way, either. “Who’s That Girl” dropped as the lead single from the film soundtrack in Europe on 29 June 1987 (the US got it the day after), and it behaved like it owned the week. By late July it was sitting at #1 in the UK, and by August it had muscled its way to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 too. Pop, but with elbows.
The best part is how it moves. It doesn’t float into the room, it struts in and starts rearranging the furniture. Dance-pop chassis, sure — but she salts it with Latin-pop flavor: Spanish lines you end up muttering under your breath, trumpets that flash like camera bulbs, and a groove that feels lightly impatient. It’s glossy, but not polite. Good.
And the credits are refreshingly blunt: written and produced by Madonna and Patrick Leonard. No committee. No “various studio magic” fog. Just a song built to travel fast, stick hard, and look smug while doing it.
The collector detail that still gets me is the 7" picture sleeve. It’s basically a pocket-sized poster you can play, and it works on the same cheap human weakness as it did in 1987: you see it, you want it, you pretend it’s “for the collection.” Then you flip it and “White Heat” gives you the darker grin on the B-side — sweet on the front, trouble tucked behind it like she planned it that way (because she did).
People love calling it “a beloved anthem” and walking away. I’m not that charitable. It’s a razor-clean pop single with attitude, stitched tightly to its era — and it still smirks when the needle hits. If you want polite nostalgia, buy a postcard.
