Express Yourself is a song by American singer-songwriter Madonna from her fourth studio album, Like a Prayer (1989). It was released as the second single from the album on May 9, 1989, by Sire Records. The song was included on the greatest hits compilation albums The Immaculate Collection (1990), Celebration (2009) and Finally Enough Love: 50 Number Ones (2022).
Express Yourself was the first song that Madonna and co-producer Stephen Bray collaborated on for Like a Prayer. Written and produced by them, the song was a tribute to American funk and soul band Sly and the Family Stone. The main inspiration behind the song is female empowerment, urging women never to go for second-best and to urge their partners to express their inner feelings.
Express Yourself is an upbeat dance-pop and deep funk song that features instrumentation from percussion, handclaps and drum beats, while the chorus is backed by the sound of a horn section. The lyrics talk about rejecting material pleasures and only accepting the best for oneself; subtexts are employed throughout the song.
Express Yourself received positive reviews from critics, who applauded the gender equality message of the song and complimented the song for being a hymn to freedom and encouragement to women and all oppressed minorities. Commercially, the song peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and became Madonna’s eighth number-one hit on the European Hot 100 Singles chart. It also reached the top of the singles charts in Canada and Switzerland, and the top five elsewhere.
The accompanying music video, directed by David Fincher, was inspired by the Fritz Lang classic film Metropolis (1927). It had a total budget of $5 million ($11.8 million in 2022 dollars), which made it the most expensive music video made up to then, and currently the third most expensive of all time.
The video portrayed a city full of tall skyscrapers and railway lines. Madonna played the part of a glamorous lady and chained masochist, with muscular men acting as her workers. In the end, she picks one of them—played by model Cameron Alborzian—as her date. Critics noted the video’s depiction of female sexuality and that Madonna’s masculine image in the video was gender-bending.
“Express Yourself” has been performed on four of Madonna’s world tours, and has been covered by the female leads of the Fox TV show Glee, who performed the song in the episode titled “The Power of Madonna”. The song and the video are noted for their freedom expression and feminist aspects, and its postmodern nature entranced academics, by resisting definition. It has also left its mark on the work of subsequent pop acts, including the Spice Girls, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Lady Gaga.
Express Yourself Lyrics (1989)
Yo man, there’s a lot of brothers out there
Flaking and perpetrating but scared to kick reality
Man, you been doing all this dope producing
You ain’t had a chance to show ’em what time it is
So what you want me to do?
(Express yourself)
I’m expressing with my full capabilities
And now I’m living in correctional facilities
‘Cause some don’t agree with how I do this
I get straight and meditate like a Buddhist
I’m dropping flavor, my behavior is hereditary
But my technique is very necessary
Blame it on Ice Cube, because he said it gets funky
When you got a subject and a predicate
Add it on a dope beat, and it’ll make you think
Some suckers just tickle me pink, to my stomach
‘Cause they don’t flow like this one
You know what? I won’t hesitate to diss one
Or two before I’m through, so don’t try to sing this
Some drop science, while I’m dropping English
Even if Yella, makes it a-capella
I still express, yo, I don’t smoke weed or sess
‘Cause it’s known to give a brother brain damage
And brain damage on the mic don’t manage, nothing
But making a sucker and you equal
Don’t be another sequel (express yourself)
Now, getting back to the PG
That’s program, and it’s easy
Dre is back, new jacks are made hollow
Expressing ain’t their subject because they like to follow
The words, the style, the trend, the records I spin
Again and again and again, yo, you’re on the other end
Watch a brother blend dope rhymes, with no help
There’s no fessing or guessing while I’m expressing myself
It’s crazy to see people be
What society wants them to be, but not me
Ruthless, is the way to go, they know
Others say rhymes which fail to be original
Or they kill where the hip-hop starts
Forget about the ghetto, and rap for the pop charts
Some musicians cuss at home
But scared to use profanity when upon the microphone
Yeah, they want reality, but you will hear none
They’d rather exaggerate a little fiction
Some say no to drugs, and take a stand
But after the show, they go looking for the “Dopeman”
Or they ban my group from the radio
Hear N.W.A. and say, “Hell no”
But you know it ain’t all about wealth
As long as you make a note to (express yourself)
From the heart
‘Cause if you want to start to move up the chart
Then expression is a big part of it
You ain’t efficient when you flow, you ain’t swift
Movin’ like a tortoise, full of rigor mortis
There’s a little bit more to show
I got rhymes in my mind, embedded like an embryo
Or a lesson, all of ’em expression
And if you start fessing, I got a Smith and Wesson for ya
I might ignore your record because it has no bottom
I get loose in the summer winter spring and autumn
It’s Dre on the mic, getting physical
Doin’ the job, N.W.A is the lynch mob
Yes I’ma climb, but you know you need this
And the knowledge is growing just like a fetus
Or a tumor, but here is the rumor
Dre is in the neighborhood and he’s up to no good
When I start expressing myself, Yella, slam it
‘Cause if I stay funky like this I’m doing damage
Or I’ma be too hyped, and need a straight jacket
I got knowledge, and other suckers lack it
So, when you see Dre, a DJ on the mic
Ask what it’s like, it’s like we’re getting hyped tonight
‘Cause if I strike, it ain’t for your good health
But I won’t strike if you just (express yourself)
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