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“La Isla Bonita” (Spanish pronunciation: [la ˈizla βoˈnita]; English: “The Beautiful Island”) is a song recorded by American singer Madonna for her third studio album, True Blue (1986). It was written and produced by her and Patrick Leonard, with additional songwriting by Bruce Gaitsch. Sire Records released it as the album’s final single on February 25, 1987. The initial composition of the song was first offered to Michael Jackson before Madonna both accepted it and wrote the lyrics and melody. “La Isla Bonita” is noted for being the first Madonna song to contain Latin influences, with arrangements of Cuban drums and Spanish guitar, maracas, harmonicas and a mix of synthesized and real drumming. The lyrics of the song tell about a “beautiful island” and, according to Madonna, was a tribute to the beauty of the Latinos.

Following its release, “La Isla Bonita” received a positive reception from critics. It also became Madonna’s fourth number-one single in the United Kingdom, giving her the record for most number-one singles for a female artist. The track additionally topped the charts in Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Iceland, and Switzerland, while reaching the top five in Belgium, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, and the United States. “La Isla Bonita” was the best-performing single of 1987 in Europe.

In the accompanying music video, Madonna portrayed two opposite characters – a young, pious Catholic woman and a glamorous, passionate Latina. The Latin style and the Andalusian flamenco red dress she wore became a trend later. The song is one of the most performed live songs by Madonna, appearing in six of her world tours, the most recent being on the Madame X Tour. Madonna has regularly performed the song in its Spanish form, sometimes with tribal or folk songs and remixes to accompany it. The song has been covered by various artists across the world, including Byanka (Mexico), Elvy Sukaesih (Indonesia) and Alizée (France).

Writing and inspiration

The San Pedro Town on the island of Ambergris Caye, one interpretation for the subject of the song

By CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

“La Isla Bonita” was written by Madonna, Patrick Leonard and Bruce Gaitsch. The initial composition was first offered to Michael Jackson for his Bad album, but he turned it down. While working with Leonard on the True Blue album, Madonna accepted the track and wrote the lyrics and melody. “La Isla Bonita” was the first Madonna song to employ Spanish motifs, going so far as to include Spanish lyrics. According to her, “In almost everything I do with [Patrick Leonard], if it’s uptempo, there’s a Latin rhythm or feeling to it. It’s really strange […] We both think that we were Latin in another life. She further explained:

I love Spanish music. I love that group Gipsy Kings. They’re so great. And I love Spanish singing. I’m very influenced by Spanish music. When I lived in New York for so many years I was constantly listening to salsa and merengue. I mean, that stuff was constantly blaring out of everybody’s radio on the street.

Some fans have interpreted the town of San Pedro on the island of Ambergris Caye, Belize, as the San Pedro mentioned in the song. However, Madonna clarified to Rolling Stone: “I don’t know where San Pedro is. At that point, I wasn’t a person who went on holidays to beautiful islands. I may have been on the way to the studio and seen an exit ramp for San Pedro.” She described the song as her tribute to the “beauty and mystery of Latin American people“.

“La Isla Bonita” is a Latin pop song and is a characteristic work of the collaboration between Madonna and Leonard. The single mixes the sound of different instruments like Cuban drums and Spanish guitar, maracas and harmonicas and a mix of synthesized and real drumming. The song is written in the key of C♯ minor and is set in the time signature of common time, moving at a moderate tempo of 100 beats per minute.

“La Isla Bonita” starts with a musical introduction performed on Bongos, before descending into synthesized beats from castanets. Madonna sings the chorus in the same G♯₃ to C♯₅ range. After the second chorus there is a Spanish guitar interlude whence Madonna’s voice expands to F♯ minor as she sings “I want to be where the sun warms the sky” and then comes down to the C♯ minor when she sings “loves a girl”. There is another musical interlude with a harmonica and the song, after another chorus, ends with fading out and Madonna’s voice uttering the words “Él dijo que te ama (He said he loves you)”. Paulinho da Costa played percussion on the track with Jonathan Moffett on drums and it was engineered and mixed by Michael Verdick.

The phrase “La Isla Bonita” translates to “The Beautiful Island” in English. The song has four lines sung in Spanish, a theme which Madonna later incorporated in her 1987 single “Who’s That Girl“. The lyrics begin by describing Madonna as a tourist who prays “that the days would last, they went so fast” simultaneously isolating the other Latin people as them (“you can watch them go by”). In her book Women and popular music, author Sheila Whiteley said that the chorus of the song places its emphasis on the incantatory present participle (“Tropical the island breeze, all of nature wild and free, this is where I long to be”). The song draws connotations from the supplicant before its explicit focus on the chorus. In 2014, while working on her thirteenth studio album Rebel Heart with producer Diplo, Madonna recorded a dubplate of “La Isla Bonita” with new lyrics for his Major Lazer project. Diplo premiered the full version of it in March 2015 during his show on BBC Radio 1.

Critical reception

Madonna sings “La Isla Bonita” as she is followed by her dancers, in the 2006 Confessions Tour

By CC BY-SA 2.0, Link

In a review for the album The Immaculate Collection, David Browne of Entertainment Weekly compared the song with the moves of Carmen Miranda on MTV. Slant Magazine music critic Sal Cinquemani, in a review for the True Blue album, called the song one of Madonna’s greatest, most influential and timeless songs. Author Maury Dean in his book Rock ‘n’ Roll Gold Rush praised the song saying, “Madonna coos a Spanish lullaby. Sizzly romance blooms among the cozy sheltering palms. Tough tunes for most males to shrug off.”

Rikky Rooksby, in his book The Complete Guide to the Music of Madonna called the song “a little escapism”. Dawn Keetley in his book Public Women, Public Words called the song one of Madonna’s most perfect songs capturing her inner emotional life. William McKeen called the song “tranquil” and “Up on the Roof type imaginary escapes from the city snarl, the kind of Latin-flavored sweets that Blondie could never resist.” Ken Barnes of Creem wrote the song is “no “Open Your Heart“, but its lilting (yet reflective) quality transcends the south-of-the-border cliches.”

Jon Pareles of The New York Times said that “La Isla Bonita” was one of Madonna’s “friendlier” love songs. Don McLeese of the Chicago Sun-Times believed that the song was the best song on the album, as well as the most memorable. Meanwhile, Steve Morse of The Boston Globe believed that it was one of her “prettier” songs. Joey Guerra of the Houston Chronicle, while reviewing Madonna’s Sticky & Sweet Tour, called the song a true retro one. Marty Racine, from the same newspaper, believed that the song was one that stood out on the album. Los Angeles Daily News, when discussing Madonna’s style of music, believed that “La Isla Bonita” was a song that was “pointing in [a] welcome direction.”

Chart performance

“La Isla Bonita” debuted at number 49 and reached a peak of number four for three consecutive weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in May 1987. The song was Madonna’s second number one single on the Adult Contemporary chart, following 1986’s “Live to Tell“. It became the 11th consecutive top-five hit for Madonna, a feat surpassed only by the Beatles and Elvis Presley. The single also found success on the Hot Dance Singles Sales chart, where it peaked at number one. In Canada, the song debuted at number 74 for the issue dated April 4, 1987 and reached the top of the chart in its tenth week on the issue dated June 6, 1987, remaining on the chart for 25 weeks. It placed at number 22 on the RPM Year-end chart for 1987.

In the United Kingdom, “La Isla Bonita” topped the UK Singles Chart for two weeks, giving Madonna her fourth number-one single on the chart. She became the female artist with the most number-one singles in the British chart history—a record that has since been maintained by Madonna to date. The single was certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for shipment of 250,000 copies of the single. The song has sold over 450,000 copies in the UK.

“La Isla Bonita” was Madonna’s first number one song in France, where it spent three weeks at the top spot in July 1987. It was certified gold by the Syndicat National de l’Édition Phonographique (SNEP) for shipment of 500,000 copies. “La Isla Bonita” remains Madonna’s best-selling single in France, selling over 771,000 copies. Across Europe, it became her fourth number one hit from True Blue, topping the Eurochart Hot 100 for three weeks in 1987. It eventually became the best-performing single of 1987 in the continent. The song also peaked atop the charts in Switzerland, Belgium and Austria along with reaching the top-five in Ireland, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden, and the top-ten in Spain.

Music video

The music video, filmed on March 14, 1987, was set in Los Angeles and was directed by Mary Lambert, who directed a number of Madonna’s 1980s videos, including those for “Borderline“, “Like a Virgin” and “Like a Prayer“. Benicio del Toro appeared on the video as a background character, portraying a teenager sitting on a car hood. The video first appeared on MTV on March 6, 1987 and became the most requested video in the channel history by a record-breaking 20 consecutive weeks. It starts with showing a number of Latin people dancing in a Spanish barrio as Madonna watches them from her window. She plays two different characters in the video: a short-haired Catholic woman and a colorful Flamenco dancer. The characters are quite opposite in their portrayal, which is emphasized by two opposing settings for the characters. Firstly, the video shows a sparsely decorated room with an altar and pictures of Hispanic people on the wall. Madonna plays a pale-looking, pious young woman wearing a white dress and her short hair brushed back. She sheds tears in her room and reluctantly ignores the invitation of the Latinos in the street to join them.Madonna, dressed in a red Andalusian flamenco style dress, portraying the passionate second character, in the music video for “La Isla Bonita”.

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The austerity and the passivity of the first character is, however, contrasted vividly with the passion and activity of the second character. Madonna in this portrayal wears a red voluminous extravagant Andalusian style dress, which shows off her décolletage, with a middle parting in the skirt, while wearing red carnations in her hair. Complementing this passionate look, the second setting features a bright red room with red candles and candelabra. While the spiritual and pious Madonna shyly watches the Latinos and prays silently in her room, the passionate Madonna dances and leaves the room to join the dancers in the streets.

While both settings seem to suggest that Madonna’s characters live in the barrio and may be Latina themselves, the portrayal of Madonna in the dancing scenes (lush, flashy, colorful) contrasts with the Latinos in the street (sparsely worn out dresses). She dances around and even flirts but does not get really involved with them as the last scene shows Madonna dancing off the screen. The video symbolizes the link between Latino culture and Catholicism. The two characters symbolize the restrained and passionate sides of Catholicism, which author Rettenmund has described as Madonna’s take on the religion.

The Latinos in the video are portrayed as stereotypes as nonchalant people, unemployed adults, school deprived children and a crumbling barrio. However, the music video was critically appreciated in many quarters for its utilization of Hispanic fashion as an icon of beauty and romanticism. Collen McDanell, in his book Material Christianity, noted Madonna’s use of Catholic objects in the video like the candlestands and home shrines, thereby giving them a new meaning according to her own. Author Douglas Kellner noted, “such ‘multiculturalism’ and her culturally transgressive moves turned out to be highly successful moves that endeared her to large and varied youth audiences”. Madonna’s Andalusian look in the video became popular and appeared in the fashion trends at that time in the form of boleros and layered skirts accessorizing with rosary beads and crucifix like the video. As of February 2021, the official video has amassed over 400 million views on YouTube.

Live performances

Madonna has performed “La Isla Bonita” on most of her world tours. In the 1987 Who’s That Girl World Tour, “La Isla Bonita” was performed as a part of the encore. Madonna came out on the stage in a bright red flamenco dress like the video and performed the song, assisted by her backup singers Niki Haris, Donna De Lory and Debra Parson. A Latino dancing with Angel Ferreira was also included.

Two different performances of the song on this tour can be found on the videos: Who’s That Girl: Live in Japan, filmed in Tokyo, Japan, on June 22, 1987

and Ciao Italia: Live from Italy, filmed in Turin, Italy, on September 4, 1987.

In the 1993 Girlie Show tour Madonna performed the song on top of a rising platform, after “I’m Going Bananas”. She was dressed in a blue and white striped shirt while Haris and De Lory wore a similar outfit, but in black and red. One of the musicians walked around bare chest playing the acoustic guitar.

Madonna and her dancers performing a flamenco version of “La Isla Bonita” during the Rebel Heart Tour (2015–2016).

By CC BY-SA 2.0, Link

During her 2001 Drowned World Tour, Madonna performed “La Isla Bonita” in the Latin segment of the show, wearing a revealing black senorita’s dress and trousers, hair tied back and playing a Spanish guitar. She asked the crowd to join her while singing “olé ola” with the song. In the Confessions Tour, Madonna appeared on the stage in a purple white leotard with open hair and started singing the song. In the middle of the performance, she was joined by her backup dancers who, along with the singer, walked the length of the stage singing the chorus. The performance ends with Madonna lying down on the stage. The video backdrops showed a tropical paradise like the island San Pedro mentioned in the song.

Madonna performed “La Isla Bonita” during the 2007 Live Earth benefit concert at Wembley Stadium in London where she was joined by members of gypsy punk band Gogol Bordello for a crazed hoedown mashup with the Romani-Gypsy folk song “Lela Pala Tute”.

The song was once again added to the set list of her 2008–09 Sticky & Sweet Tour, as part of the Gypsy segment of the show, featuring the Arkady Gips band. The performance had Madonna wearing a short black skintight dress and knee-high boots with pink fluorescent beads and necklaces. Along with “Lela Pala Tute”, there was a Mediterranean Street party with Greek dancing, another gypsy song called “Doli, Doli” and a flamenco solo performance.

A flamenco version of the song was performed on the third section of the Rebel Heart Tour (2015–2016). For the wardrobe, Madonna enlisted a Spanish tailoring company from Zaragoza for creating two bullfighter traje de luces costume, along with a cape and matador related costumes for her backing dancers. Jordan Zivitz of Montreal Gazette praised the performance for being “one of the only hits to retain its original form”.

On July 27, 2017, Madonna made a special appearance at Leonardo DiCaprio‘s annual fundraising gala in Saint-Tropez, France, and performed “La Isla Bonita” while wearing a green suit with feathers.

A fado version of the song was performed on the Madame X Tour in 2019—2020, being infused with a new song called “Welcome to my Fado Club”.

Cover versions and uses

See also: List of cover versions of Madonna songs and List of Madonna tribute albumsRicky Martin‘s version for Glee cast charted on the Billboard Hot 100.

By CC BY-SA 2.0, Link

Before Madonna released “La Isla Bonita” as a single, Dutch singer Micaela had already charted a cover version of the song in 1986, peaking at number 25 in the Netherlands.

In 1987, a cover version by Mexican singer Byanka reached number 45 on the US Hot Latin Songs chart.

Indonesian singer Elvy Sukaesih recorded an Indonesian-language dangdut version of the song, titled “Laila Bonita”, for her album The Return of Diva (1992), produced and released in Japan. This version was very popular in her home country and has been performed by contestants of several televised singing competitions, including Bintang Pantura and D’Academy Asia; the latter involved six Southeast Asian countries.

French pop singer Alizée performed “La Isla Bonita” during her first promotional tours in Europe in 2003. In 2008, a new studio version was released as a bonus track on the tour edition of her third studio album, Psychédélices, and became a top-ten airplay hit in Mexico.

Indie psychedelic folk musician Jonathan Wilson recorded a cover for the 2007 Madonna tribute compilation, Through the Wilderness.

In 1999, female singer Deetah used elements of the song in her single “El Paraíso Rico”. The song was sampled by rapper Black Rob, in his 1999 song “Spanish Fly” (included in his Life Story album) featuring Jennifer Lopez. In the chorus of the song, Lopez sings the part which samples “La Isla Bonita”. Rapper Andre Nickatina sampled the song in “Son of an Angel”, which is featured on his 2001 album Unreleased. In 2004, rapper Mase sampled and interpolated it for his song “My Harlem Lullaby”. In 2020 The Black Eyed Peas, Ozuna and J. Rey Soul interpolated the line of “La isla bonita” in their song “Mamacita“.

On the Family Guy episode “The Father, the Son, and the Holy Fonz” when discussing Madonna at the end, one of the characters, Peter Griffin, calls her a liar for singing about a nonexistent place (La Isla Bonita) stating that he could not find it in a map. American artist Britney Spears recorded a track titled “Love 2 Love U”, which heavily samples “La Isla Bonita”. The track leaked on December 2, 2011.

The song was also covered in the Fox TV show, Glee in the episode “The Spanish Teacher“, which features guest star Ricky Martin as a night-school Spanish teacher. Martin sang the song with Naya Rivera who plays the character Santana Lopez. It was filmed and recorded in January, then was broadcast in February 2012. The cover peaked at number 99 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number 93 on the Canadian Hot 100 chart.

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