# Borderline (Madonna song)

"Borderline" is a song by American singer Madonna from her debut self-titled studio album (1983), written and produced by Reggie Lucas. In 1982, Madonna was signed on by Sire Records for the release of two 12-inch singles; after the success of first single "Everybody", the label approved the recording of an album, and the singer decided to work with Lucas. "Borderline" is a pop song with post-disco elements whose sounds recall the music of the 1970s, while the lyrics find a woman complaining of her lover's chauvinism.
In the United States, it was released as a single on September 15, 1983, whereas in Europe it was published twice: first in June 1984, and then in January 1986. Upon release, "Borderline" was acclaimed by music critics, who lauded the singer's vocals; in retrospective reviews, it has been referred to as Madonna's breakout song, and as one of the best songs from the 1980s. It was commercially successful: in 1984, it gave Madonna her first top-ten hit in the US Billboard Hot 100. The 1986 release saw success across Europe: it became the singer's second number one in Ireland, and reached the top 3 in the United Kingdom, Belgium and The Netherlands.
The song's music video was directed by Mary Lambert; in it, Madonna portrays the girlfriend of a Hispanic man, to whom she returns after being enticed to pose and model for a white British photographer. Authors pointed out that with the visual, the singer broke the taboo of interracial relationships. "Borderline" has been performed in the singer's Virgin (1985) and Sticky & Sweet (2008) concert tours. It has also been covered by artists like Jody Watley, the Flaming Lips, and Kelly Clarkson, among others.

## Background

In 1982, Madonna was living with her former Michigan boyfriend Stephen Bray in an unused rehearsal studio in New York City. Since "funky dance records were in style on the radio and dance floor", she and Bray created a demo tape with four dance tracks, including "Everybody", "Burning Up", and "Ain't No Big Deal". While pitching the tape, she met and befriended DJ Mark Kamins at Danceteria nightclub. After listening to "Everybody", Kamins took her to Sire Records, where Seymour Stein, the label's president, signed Madonna for two 12-inch singles. Produced by Kamins and released in October, "Everybody" became a hit in the dance scene. The single's success led to the label approving the recording of an album, but Madonna chose not to work with either Bray or Kamins, opting instead for Warner Bros. producer Reggie Lucas; Lucas was hired by Sire executive Michael Rosenblatt to give the album "an R&B feel". Upon meeting her, Lucas wasn't impressed with the singer's "boho-punk style", and thought she "didn't seem particularly avant-garde."
Prior to entering the studio, Madonna had written three new songs: "Lucky Star", "Think of Me", and "I Know It". However, she soon realized that there was not enough material for a full-length album ― the only tracks available were "Everybody", "Burning Up", "Lucky Star", "Think of Me", "I Know It", and "Ain't No Big Deal". Lucas then brought two compositions of his own to the project: "Physical Attraction" and "Borderline", which he wrote specifically for Madonna. He and the singer worked on "Borderline" while she was staying at artist Jean-Michel Basquiat's apartment; "I'd write songs and put them on a little cassette player [...] I'd ask Madonna if she liked them [...] I did the demos for 'Physical Attraction' and 'Borderline' [...] and we did what we did to them", the producer recalled. Upon hearing the final version, Stein declared, "I dared to believe this was going to be huge beyond belief, the biggest thing I'd ever had, after I heard 'Borderline'... The passion that she put into that song, I thought, there's no stopping this girl".

## Composition and release

Recording took place at the Sigma Sound Studios in New York. Personnel working on the song included Lucas on the drum machine, Fred Zarr and Dean Gant on keyboards and synthesizers, alongside Ed Walsh; the bass was played by Anthony Jackson, while Bobby Malach played tenor saxophone. Background vocals were provided by Gwen Guthrie, Brenda White, and Chrissy Faith. Lucas compared "Borderline"'s style to that of Stephanie Mills' "Never Knew Love Like This Before" (1980), which he also produced. It is also the first song where he used a drum machine instead of a drummer. According to Rikki Rooksby, author of The Complete Guide to the Music of Madonna, the chord progression evokes Bachman-Turner Overdrive's "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" (1974), while the inversions are similar to the sound of the 1970s, specifically disco, Philadelphia soul, and the work of Elton John.
"Borderline" is a pop song with post-disco elements. It saw a change in Madonna's usual vocal tone, as she sings in a more "refined and expressive" way. Lyrically, it has been described as a "flirty, confectionery complaint from one lover to another". According to the sheet music published by Alfred Publishing Inc., "Borderline" is set in the time signature of common time with a moderate tempo of 120 beats per minute. It is composed in the key of D major, with Madonna's vocal range spanning from F♯$_3$ to B$_4$. The song follows the chord progression of D–C–G in the first verse, and changes to Bm–Em–A–F♯ in the pre-chorus. The refrain has a progression of G–D–A.
In the United States, "Borderline" was released on February 15, 1984, as the fourth single from the Madonna album, following "Holiday"; in the United Kingdom, it was published as the album's fifth single on June 2, 1984. To "keep the Madonna mania going on", a second European release was done in January 1986. "Borderline" was then included on Madonna's compilation albums The Immaculate Collection (1990) and Celebration (2009).

## Critical reception

   "Madonna went on to sing more-clever songs ('Material Girl'), more-showy songs ('Like a Prayer'), more-sexy songs ('Justify My Love'). But 'Borderline', her first top-10 hit, captures the essence of her pop appeal, its freshness, simplicity and vitality".
"Borderline" has been acclaimed since its release. For Rikky Rooksby, it's the "most harmonically complex track on the album", while Dave Marsh, author of The Heart of Rock & Soul, felt it was "too damn good to be denied, no matter whose value system it disrupts". To Marc Andrews, it's the album's "sweetest" song. Author Maury Dean, in his book Rock 'n' Roll Gold Rush, applauded its "saucy-style and come-hither magnetism". AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine singled it out as "effervescent", and as one of the "great songs" on his review of the Madonna album; for Stewart Mason, from the same portal, "[it] proved that Madonna was more than a pretty face, a dancer's body and a squeaky voice [...] 'Borderline' is a pure treasure, one of those unabashedly commercial pop songs that also manages to at least hint at deeper emotions". He concluded that the singer, "delivers the best vocal performance of her early career, when her limitations were at their most obvious".
From Slant Magazine, Sal Cinquemani deemed it "soulful", and Eric Henderson "tender", further adding: "Has there ever been an opening refrain more winsome and instantly nostalgic than that of Madonna's first Top 10 single?". While the staff of The Advocate described "Borderline" as an "enjoyable earworm", Pitchfork's Jill Mapes opined that it "helped [Madonna] resituate electronic dance-pop at Top 40’s apex". Mapes also added that it's the singer's "passionate performance [that] takes it over the top". The Arizona Republic's Ed Masley deemed it the best song on the Madonna album, adding that, although it features "the same girlish pout as her other early hits, [she] invests with way more soul". This opinion was shared by Entertainment Weekly's Chuck Arnold and The Quietus' Matthew Lindsay; the former said the singer "has never sounded more genuinely soulful than on the divine 'Borderline'", while the latter also deemed it one of her "most enduring" songs. One lukewarm review came from the Observer–Reporter's Terry Hazlett, who expressed the song was "inoffensive, danceable [but] ultimately forgettable".
While reviewing The Immaculate Collection on its 25th anniversary, Drew Mackie from People opined it was "catchy", and a "promise of even better things to come" in Madonna's career. James Rose, from the Daily Review, referred to "Borderline" as an "insight to an emerging wordsmith, with a deeper sensibility married to her unerring aim on manufactured pop hooks". On his review of the 2001 re-release of Madonna, Michael Paoletta from Billboard pointed out that, "such tracks as 'Borderline' [...] remain irresistible". While ranking the album's tracks on its 40th anniversary, Marcus Wratten from PinkNews placed "Borderline" on the first spot, singling out Madonna's performance, and comparing the single to a "warm, comforting hug". "Borderline" has often been referred to as Madonna's breakout song: Journalist Roxanne Orgill in her book Shout, Sister, Shout!, wrote that it made the singer "the star that she is". J. Randy Taraborrelli, in his biography of Madonna, said it was, along with "Holiday", one of the "key recordings" that helped to establish her career. Mark Elliott from website This is Dig! added that "Borderline" was a "landmark song", as it positioned Madonna as a "premier-league mainstream star and a compelling dance act". Finally, the staff of Rolling Stone concluded that, "['Borderline'] propelled [Madonna] from urban-radio contender to pop queen".
   "It's easy to see how 'Borderline' became the nascent New York star's first top ten hit on the Hot 100 — it's pure pop bliss [...] But while the track might've been a hit for anyone, it's Madonna's vocal — an overpowering mixture of aching naivete and teasing vitality — that pushes [it] into the rarefied realm of pop classics".
Matthew Jacobs from HuffPost placed the song at number 17 of his ranking of Madonna's singles, singling out "those wailing vocals". On Gay Star News' ranking, the single came in at number 12; Joe Morgan wrote: "[Madonna] may have done more complicated songs, and experimented more, but 'Borderline' is pure pop finery". Jude Rogers, from The Guardian, opined "Borderline" showcased "the young, untutored star at her most gentle and beseeching", and placed it at number 2 of her ranking of Madonna singles. It was named "the song that proved early on that Madonna was no one-trick disco show pony", as well as her 27th best, by PinkNews' Nayer Missim. Louis Virtel, writing for The Backlot, named "Borderline" the sixth best song of Madonna's discography, highlighting its "desire and unabashed innocence", and "phenomenal closing segment". The staff of Rolling Stone named it the second best song of 1984. On Pitchfork's ranking of the 200 best songs from the 1980s decade, "Borderline" was placed at 106: "four minutes of emotional helium [...] there's so much charisma, it's easy to see why it catapulted [Madonna] toward[s] being the biggest pop star in the world", read Jeremy Gordon's review. In 2023, while celebrating the 65th anniversary of the Hot 100, the staff of Billboard named "Borderline" the 128th best pop song to appear in the chart since 1958: "Not [Madonna's] biggest '80s pop hit, but likely her purest", read the review.

## Commercial performance

The week of March 3, 1984, several radio stations began to add "Borderline" to its rotation, which caused it to debut at number 107 of Billboard's Bubbling Under Hot 100. One week later, it entered the Hot 100 at number 76. By June 16, it peaked at number 10, becoming Madonna's first top-ten hit, the first of 17 consecutive top-tens the singer would achieve from 1984 through 1989. Overall, it spent 30 weeks on the chart. It did one better on the Cash Box Top 100, peaking at number 9. On March 24, 1984, it entered the Dance Club Songs chart at number 67, eventually peaking at number 4 almost two months later. It also reached number 23 on the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart."Borderline" ranked 35th on Billboard's Hot 100 chart and 67th on the Cash Box Top 100, on their year end charts. On October 22, 1998, the song was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipment of 500,000 copies. In Canada, the single debuted in the 56th position of RPM's Top Singles chart on the week of August 4, 1984; one month later, it peaked at number 25.
In the United Kingdom, "Borderline" debuted at number 74 on the UK Singles Chart on June 2, 1984, and, almost two week later, reached number 56; it spent 5 weeks on the chart overall. Following the 1986 re-release, it peaked at number 2, behind Billy Ocean's "When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going". In February 1986, the single was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). "Borderline" was the 50th best-selling single of 1986 in the United Kingdom. According to Music Week magazine, over 298,300 copies of the single have been sold in the United Kingdom as of 2008. The 1986 release saw success across Europe; it was Madonna's second number-one in Ireland after "Into the Groove", and peaked within the top 3 of the charts in Belgium and The Netherlands. "Borderline" reached numbers 29 and 25 of Music & Media's European Hot 100 Singles and European Airplay Top 50, respectively. In Australia, the single peaked at number 12. It was less successful in New Zealand, where it barely cracked the top 40.

## Music video
### Background and synopsis

Mary Lambert directed the music video for "Borderline", which was filmed on location in Los Angeles, California from January 30 to February 2, 1984. Production was in charge of Lambert, Bruce Logan, and Michele Ferrone; Simon Maskell was on art direction, Andrea Dietrich on cinematography, while Glenn Morgan did the editing. In the video, Madonna plays a young woman emotionally torn between her Hispanic boyfriend and a white British photographer, for whom she models and who publishes her pictures on a magazine cover. Lambert recalled that there was "no formula" used when making the video and that they were simply "inventing it as we went along". The role of the singer's boyfriend was played by Louis "Louie Louie" Cordero, while actor John Leguizamo appeared as an extra.
Lambert herself described the video's plot to Rolling Stone: "[A] Boy and [a] girl enjoy simple pleasures of barrio love; girl is tempted by fame, boy gets huffy, girl gets famous, but her new beau's out-of-line reaction to a behavioral trifle (all she did was to spray-paint his expensive sports car) drives her back to her true love". Throughout the clip, the singer is seen with her boyfriend and his "multiethnic break-dancing entourage", hanging out on rooftops; the scenes with the photographer depict a luxury sports car and take place in a "sanitized, colorless" private studio. Madonna herself is shown with messy hair, "dramatic" make-up, jewelry, and a punk studded belt. In one particular scene with the boyfriend, she dons a denim jacket with "boy toy" emblazoned on the back. When she models, she wears a couple of evening gowns. These clothes were later used in fashion shows by designers like Karl Lagerfeld and Christian Lacroix.
Footage with the photographer was shot in black-and-white, while the scenes in the barrio with her boyfriend were shot in full color. "Borderline" was added to MTV the week of March 24, 1984. Years later, it was added to Madonna's video compilations The Immaculate Collection (1990) and Celebration: The Video Collection (2009).
The opening scenes of the video were filmed under the East 4th Place bridge in downtown Los Angeles. The stairway that the photographer comes down when he first spots Madonna is on the west side of the 4th Street bridge in downtown Los Angeles. The photographer's studio was located at 413 Molino Street in downtown Los Angeles and the bar where everyone hung out was at 1201 East 6th Street in Los Angeles. The bar building no longer stands.

### Analysis and reception

   "'Borderline' was significant not only because of its then-controversial representation of an interracial relationship and female sexual assertiveness [...] but because [it] played out -and with- struggles over immigration, gender roles, and multiculturalism that were at the forefront of US politics in the 1980s".
According to Douglas Kellner, author of Media Culture: Cultural Studies, Identity, and Politics Between the Modern and the Postmodern, by having a Hispanic man play her love interest in the video, Madonna was breaking the "taboo of interracial relationships". The author also saw this as a marketing strategy: the singer was inviting whites, Hispanics and other people of color to "fantasize that, they too can have or be [her]", thus successfully appealing to different audiences. Kellner also held that the multiple and contrasting outfits Madonna wears throughout the visual suggested that, "one's identity is a construct that can [be] modified or change[d] at will". He also noted how Madonna was starting to use fashion, sexuality and "the construction of image to present herself as both an alluring sex object and a transgressor of established borderlines", citing a scene in which she sprays graffiti all over classical sculptures as an example. In The Cultural Politics of U.S. Immigration, Leah Perry specified that the singer had painted over the statues' genitals, thereby creating a "female sexuality that was independent of patriarchal control [...] that defied rather than rejected the male gaze".
In Madonna's Drowned Worlds, Santiago Fouz-Hernández and Freya Jarman-Ivens wrote that the Hispanic boyfriend and British photographer represented "the dualities" of the singer's life and career up at that point: "the gritty, multirracial street and club scene [...] [and] the new slick, fast world of popularity and success". On the same vein, Kellner singled out the "contrasting fashion codes" between upper-class and Hispanic cultures; one is shown throughout high fashion, art, and luxury, while the other is equated to barrios and urban ghettos. Throughout the clip, Madonna interacts with both men; in the end, however, she returns to her Hispanic boyfriend. Kellner concluded that this was meant to project "the fantasy that one can have it all, crossing borderlines from one culture to another [and] appropriating the pleasures of both". From website This is Dig!, author Mark Elliott wrote that the clip "further fuelled the explosive impact of [Madonna's] first 18 months of fame", also adding that the singer played the same character from "Borderline" in the music videos for "Like a Virgin" and "Material Girl" (1985) –which were also directed by Lambert– as well as in Desperately Seeking Susan (1985). The video for Madonna's 1994 single "Secret" was seen as a sequel to "Borderline".
Matthew Lindsay referred to "Borderline" as a "mini-movie", and compared it to the 1975 film Mahogany ―which also features an interracial romance― and to the work of director John Hughes. Radhika Jones said the singer resembled a "cool big sister crossing over into womanhood". Eric Henderson considered "Borderline" to be the singer's 23rd greatest music video, deeming it "as simple and direct as the song's message: Be with me and you're going to have a really good time". Louis Virtel wrote: "Remember simpler times when Madonna could just spray graffiti and look jilted at a pool hall, and that would be enough for a beautiful video? [...] [her] yearning is contagious — even if she is clad in chartreuse socks and yellow heels". He named it her eleventh best. Finally, Out magazine's Julien Sauvalle considered it one of the singer's "most stylish" videos and noted influence on Rihanna's "We Found Love" (2011). "Borderline" earned Madonna a nomination for Best New Artist at the 1984 MTV Video Music Awards.

## Live performances

In February 1984, Madonna appeared on The Dance Show and performed "Borderline", joined by her brother Christopher Ciccone, and dancer Erika Belle. The single was then included on two of the singer's concert tours: Virgin (1985) and Sticky & Sweet (2008). On the first one, the performance saw Madonna coming out from behind a silhouette. Her wardrobe consisted of a crop top beneath a vest with a silver cross pattée, matching fringed gloves and miniskirt, leggings, low heel leather boots, and a crucifix earring in one ear. "Borderline" is one of three performances not included on the Madonna Live: The Virgin Tour video release (1985).
On 2006's Confessions Tour, "Borderline" was sampled on an introduction video that led to "Music" (2000), along with "Holiday", "Dress You Up" (1985), and "Erotica" (1992). An arena rock rendition of "Borderline", with Madonna playing a purple Gibson Les Paul electric guitar, was performed on the Sticky & Sweet Tour. The singer wore 1980s-styled gym shorts, while the backdrops depicted graffiti and artwork inspired by Keith Haring. From the Houston Press, Chris Gray referred to the number as a "stunner [...] one of several instances where [Madonna] proved her guitar was far more than a prop". The performance was included on the Sticky & Sweet Tour live album release (2010), recorded during the four concerts in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
On March 10, 2016, Madonna sang an acoustic "Borderline" on the Melbourne concert of her Madonna: Tears of a Clown show; she was dressed as a clown ―with a pink wig and candy-striped tights― and began the performance by saying: "I don't have bipolar disorder but I am a little borderline". Writing for The Guardian, Monica Tan praised the singer for "knowing her jokes were shit but using them as a segue into songs". Finally, on June 9, the singer did a "slowed-down, souled-up" rendition of the song on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where she was joined by American band the Roots; the number was watched by the 44th president of the United States, Barack Obama.

## Covers and media reference

In 2000, an electro-industrial cover of the song recorded by Canadian musician Nivek Ogre was included on Virgin Voices: A Tribute To Madonna, Vol. 2; AllMusic's Heather Phares was critical of the rendition, saying it had "missed the mark". Two years later, it was recorded by American pop punk band Showoff for the compilation album Punk Goes Pop. American singer Jody Watley recorded "Borderline" for her ninth album The Makeover (2006). This rendition had a slowed down "sparse" arrangement of piano, percussion and synths, and was lauded by the staff Billboard, who applauded its "beautifully chilled-out rhythms". When asked why she chose to cover the song, Watley explained: "['Borderline'] is a song I've always liked. Because -even though the way it was originally recorded was very poppy- for me [it] always had a melancholy side to it, which I think my version taps into".
American duo Chapin Sisters recorded the song for the tribute album Through the Wilderness (2007). One year later, it was sung by Welsh singer Duffy at Radio 1's Big Weekend; afterwards, Duffy revealed that she was "terrified" at the idea of performing a Madonna song. In 2009, "Borderline" was covered by American bands the Flaming Lips and Stardeath and White Dwarfs for the Warner Bros. Records compilation Covered, A Revolution in Sound. On his review of the album, AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine felt this version turned the original "inside out". Also in 2009, American band Counting Crows did a "strangely country" rendition of "Borderline" at a concert in London's Royal Albert Hall; it was made available to download on MP3 through the band's official website on March 17 of that year.
Actors Cory Monteith and Lea Michele performed a mashup of "Borderline" and Madonna's 1986 single "Open Your Heart" in "The Power of Madonna" (2010), the fifteenth episode of American television series Glee. Australian guitarist Tommy Emmanuel and American singer Amanda Shires covered the track for the former's 2018 album Accomplice One. According to Rolling Stone, this rendition "retains little of its original feel", being described as a "lilting waltz, with Shires' plaintive fiddle replacing the bubbly synthesizer hook". In January 2021, American singer Kelly Clarkson did a "stirring" rendition of the song during the "Kellyoke" segment of her talk show The Kelly Clarkson Show. One year later, in March 2022, Welsh band Manic Street Preachers sang "Borderline" during their appearance at the BBC 6 music festival; the following month, the band recorded a studio version. In 2017, on "Who's Your Daddy?" ―second episode of the ninth season of Will and Grace― Will Truman (Eric McCormack) references "Borderline" by saying it got him through a bad breakup.

## Credits and personnel

Credits are adapted from the album and 7-inch single liner notes.
* Madonna – lead vocals
* Reggie Lucas – writer, producer, guitars, drum programming
* Fred Zarr – synthesizers, electric and acoustic piano
* Dean Gant – synthesizers, electric and acoustic piano
* Ed Walsh – synthesizers
* Anthony Jackson – electric bass
* Ira Siegal – guitars
* Bobby Malach – tenor saxophone
* Gwen Guthrie – background vocals
* Brenda White – background vocals
* Chrissy Faith – background vocals
* Glenn Parsons - artwork
* Jeri McManus - artwork
* George Holz - photography

## Certifications

Certifications and sales for "Borderline" :
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
| United Kingdom (BPI) | Gold | 500,000$^^$ |
| United States (RIAA) | Gold | 500,000$^^$ |
| $^^$ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |||