"Ghosttown" is a song recorded by American singer Madonna for her thirteenth studio album, Rebel Heart (2015). It was released to radio stations on March 13, 2015, as the album's second single. It was written by Madonna, Jason Evigan, Evan Bogart, and Sean Douglas, and produced by Madonna, Billboard and Evigan. Having listened to Douglas' previous works, Madonna requested studio time with him. Together with the other songwriters, they wrote "Ghosttown" in three days. The song was inspired by the imagery of a destroyed city after armageddon, and how the survivors carry on with their lives with love being the only thing they can hold onto. Musically, "Ghosttown" is an uplifting pop, electropop and electro ballad, featuring an organ and drums in its instrumentation.
"Ghosttown" was released to iTunes Store as part of the album's pre-order in December 2014, in response to hackers leaking songs from Rebel Heart. The song received positive response from music critics, who commended Madonna's vocal delivery, the lyrics, and the production; they also compared it to Madonna's earlier ballads. In the United States, the song became her 36th entry on the Adult Contemporary chart, as well as her 45th song to top the Hot Dance Club Songs chart, surpassing country singer George Strait as the artist with the most number ones on a single Billboard chart. Internationally, "Ghosttown" reached the top 20 in Hungary and Italy, and the digital charts of Finland and Sweden, and was certified platinum by the Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana (FIMI).
An accompanying music video for "Ghosttown" was directed by Jonas Åkerlund, and starred actor Terrence Howard. The main theme behind the video was "an apocalyptic situation mimicking the end of the world", showing the singer and Howard as sole survivors in a destroyed city. Madonna performed the song during her promotional schedules across Europe—Le Grand Journal in France, Che tempo che fa in Italy and The Jonathan Ross Show in the United Kingdom. She also performed it at the 2nd iHeartRadio Music Awards, where she was joined by Taylor Swift on guitar, and on some dates of her 2015–2016 Rebel Heart Tour.
Background and release
"Ghosttown" was written by Madonna, Jason Evigan, Evan Bogart, and Sean Douglas. The song was composed in three days, after Madonna personally requested some studio time with them. Madonna liked Jason Derulo's 2013 single "Talk Dirty" which was co-written by Evigan and Douglas, and hence she decided to collaborate with them. Douglas recalled that they ended up having a "great session", saying "I was incredibly nervous for obvious reasons, but she showed up, was super personable and was ready to work. I basically checked it off my life bucket list." Of their writing session, Madonna explained:
While discussing the song's theme with French radio Europe 1, Madonna spoke about the intolerance going around the world, especially in France whom she believed to have lost its ability to accept people of all race and color. Adding that the level of intolerance and antisemitism was increasing all-throughout Europe, Madonna said that "Ghosttown"s apocalyptic theme was a foreshadow of the destruction of humanity, should the intolerance continue. "The way we behave, to treat one another the way we're treating one another, to maintain this level of intolerance and discriminatory prejudice... hateful behavior towards other human beings who are different than you are," Madonna concluded.
On December 17, 2014, a total of 13 songs from the recording sessions were leaked. An aggravated Madonna took to Instagram and clarified that the songs were demo versions from earlier recordings. Madonna told Billboard that after the leak, she and her team tried to trace it back to the source. Ultimately they decided to release the finished songs. On December 20, 2014, the album became available for pre-order on iTunes Store. When ordered, six tracks were automatically downloaded, including "Ghosttown". Madonna added that she "would prefer [her] fans to hear completed versions of some of the songs instead of the incomplete tracks that are circulating." During Madonna's appearance on Italian television show Che tempo che fa, "Ghosttown" was confirmed as the second single from Rebel Heart and was sent to Italian radio on March 13, 2015. A week later it was added to Australian radio, while in the United Kingdom, it would be released on April 20, 2015.
Composition and remixes
Thematically, introspection was also listed as one of the foundational themes prevalent in Rebel Heart, with genuine statements of careerist and personal reflections of Madonna and her "obsessive self-regard". "Ghosttown" was one of the songs carrying on the subtle messages while talking about unity and religious consciousness. Madonna reverses the concept of "loss of love" with her romantic idealization, according to Matthew Harden from Samesame.com.au, as the lyrics go "When it all falls down, when it all falls down. We'll be two souls in a 'Ghosttown'." Jim Farber from New York Daily News said that the song brings out "the warmest elements of [Madonna's] voice" and "at times, her alto [range] sounds like Karen Carpenter's, while the melody has the enveloping calm of hits like 'Live to Tell'".
The song's composition is "uplifting" and "euphoric" pop, electropop and electro, far-reaching with a number of melodic effects generated by electronic music. A cinematic visualization with the track is accomplished by different chord progressions, making the whole song sound compact. "Ghosttown" begins with sounds of single organ chords and a dusty drum beat. Instead of being a straight-up pop ballad, the composition sounds a little "edgy", due to the usage of synth percussion and vocoder effects. Chris Rosa from VH1 stated that the song "features tight production and an ear-crashing chorus that is pure pop bliss", while Elysa Gardner from USA Today described the song as a mixture of "disarmingly earnest sweetness with a stark, chilly arrangement". The chorus appears after 40 seconds in the song, with a distortion filled pause, a thumping beat and a repetitive chord progression. "Ghosttown" is set in the time signature of common time with a moderate tempo of 79 beats per minute. It is composed in the key of D minor, with Madonna's vocals spanning from F3 to B4. The song has a basic sequence of Dm–F–C–Gm during the verses and B–F–C–Dm during the chorus as its chord progression. Demacio "Demo" Castellon engineered and mixed the track, while Ron Taylor did additional Pro Tools editing of Madonna's vocals and Evignan provided background vocals on the song.
On March 31, 2015, Billboard premiered a remix of the song by Dutch DJ Don Diablo, who changed the ballad into an EDM track. Another set of remixes was released later as a Remix EP. Two of the remixes were released on Madonna's Tidal streaming account, including one by DJ RedTop as well as Armand Van Helden, Offer Nissim and Roger Sanchez. According to Idolator, "RedTop completely deconstructs 'Ghosttown' and turns it into something you might hear in a post-apocalyptic piano bar. It's sad and depressing yet defiantly groovy." Another remix, by Paul Andrews, gave emphasis on Madonna's vocals while adding piano and orchestra in the production. Andrews explained that the music video of "Ghosttown" was how he had imagined it, "two people in a dark place with destruction all around them, but they have each other". Hence he wanted the verse to represent the reality of the situation and the chorus would represent their view of the world because of their love. The non-dance remix was approved by Madonna and was another exclusive release to her Tidal account.
Critical reception
Upon release, the track was met with critical acclaim. Hugh McIntyre from Forbes considered "Ghosttown" as a favorite from the album. Dean Piper from The Daily Telegraph considered the song as Madonna's best chance at achieving a radio hit from the album, comparing the composition to the singer's previous studio album, Ray of Light (1998). This view was shared by Gregory Ellwood of HitFix who considered it to be Madonna's "most commercially friendly ballad" of the 2010s, while Jon Lisi from PopMatters called it "arguably the most haunting love song of [Madonna's] career. The Dallas Morning News Hunter Hauk complimented Madonna's "natural" vocal delivery in spite of the vocal effects added, also considering it to be a probable radio hit for Madonna. Daryl Deino from The Inquisitr also praised Madonna's vocals in "Ghosttown", along with "Devil Pray" and "Living for Love". Bernard Zuel from The Sydney Morning Herald found Madonna to be reliving her older ballads like "Live to Tell", and found the electronic arrangements to be complementing her vocals. Amy Pettifer from The Quietus observed that the chorus could have been sung by any other singer, but Madonna, "despite being a weaker singer, licks it in the emotional truth stakes, particularly on this more melancholy end of the spectrum. Singing with a tremulous tonality, her voice hangs in uncluttered space, the lyrics positioning her as the dark-glowing, guiding light. A brilliant, desperate and rousing anthem." Along with comparing Madonna's vocals in Ghosttown to that of Karen Carpenter, Farber also observed that it was her most "rich sounding" voice since her Evita soundtrack, comparable to "Live to Tell" and also "Crazy for You". Digital Spy's Lewis Corner rated it four out of five stars, noting that Madonna sounded "significantly more subdued and reflective compared to her handbag bangers of recent years, but by doing so it makes the biggest possible impact."
Bradley Stern from MuuMuse felt that since "Ghosttown" was a previous unheard track not present among the leaks, it was the most surprising. With the ample presence of melodies, Stern reminisced that one of the major complaints about Madonna's past few studio albums was a lack of memorable lyrics, which was dissipated with "Ghosttown". Quoting a part of the lyrics—"When the world gets cold I'll be your cover/Let's just hold onto each other."—Stern added that the song "is a gorgeously earnest, us-against-the-world anthem tailored for two souls wandering alone in this mad, mad world." Giving the song a rating of two-and-a-half out of five stars, Hardeep Phull from the New York Post described it as musically and emotionally "hectic", but found it to be tender and simple while being a "big synth-ballad of solidarity". Writing for i-D, Nick Levine felt that "Ghosttown" was enhanced as a song by the "glorious stealth bomb of a chorus". Jed Gottlieb from the Boston Herald commended Billboard's production techniques, and the blend of EDM and lyrical introspection, while focusing on the "catchy" chorus. Jon Pareles from The New York Times found the song to be a mixture of "affection and post-apocalyptic gloom", adding that "it begs for a dystopian-romance video". Michael Jose Gonzalez from Danish music magazine, Gaffa, praised Madonna's decision to give emphasis on her singing, with "trouble embossed and melodic" tracks like "Ghosttown". Writing for Gay Star News, Joe Morgan called it "arguably the best ballad of her most recent years. The chorus is beautiful, atmospheric and haunting".