"Justify My Love" is a song by American singer Madonna from her first greatest hits album The Immaculate Collection (1990). It was released on November 6, 1990, by Sire Records as the lead single from The Immaculate Collection. The song was written by Lenny Kravitz and Ingrid Chavez, with additional lyrics by Madonna. Chavez was not credited on the song, which led to a lawsuit against Kravitz. Chavez settled out-of-court, the terms of which included a songwriting credit. Madonna's vocals are primarily spoken and whispered, but almost never sung, a style that she later employed on her following studio album Erotica (1992).
Musically, "Justify My Love" is a trip hop song, with mid-tempo settings and instrumentation. The lyrics of the song are primarily about sex and romance. "Justify My Love" received mixed reviews from older critics, but was critically appreciated by many contemporary critics, noting it as one of Madonna's best songs to date. The song became Madonna's ninth number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number two in the United Kingdom, while reaching the top-ten in several countries including Australia, Canada, Finland, New Zealand, Italy and Switzerland.
The accompanying music video portrayed Madonna as a woman walking in a hotel hallway, looking distressed and tired from work, until being seduced into having sex with a mysterious man and woman. It caused controversy worldwide, due to its explicit sexual images, and was subsequently banned from MTV and other TV networks. The video, which contained imagery of sadomasochism, voyeurism and bisexuality, made its US television debut December 3, 1990, on ABC during its late-night news program Nightline. The song was part of the setlist of three of her concert tours, the most recent being The MDNA Tour in 2012. In 2003, Q Magazine ranked "Justify My Love" at number 842 in their list of the "1001 Best Songs Ever".
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