# Talk:I'm Breathless

I'm Breathless is a studio album because there already is a soundtrack for "Dick Tracy".  Every song on the album is a Madonna song or duet.  Three songs are from the film and it should be Madonna's 5th Studio album not second soundtrack!Jdcrackers (talk) 01:31, 9 January 2010 (UTC)

I will always consider this a studio album as does Madonna.Jdcrackers (talk) 22:13, 11 October 2010 (UTC)
I'm Breathless is officially a soundtrack album, per Madonna.com. The album is also omitted on the Warner Bros box set The Complete Studio Albums (1983-2008), hence it's not considered a studio album. Bluesatellite (talk) 15:44, 12 May 2012 (UTC)
True, but why are 'Glitter' by Mariah Carey and 'Spiceworld' by the Spice Girls simultaneously considered soundtracks and studio albums? Israell (talk) 18:23, 4 November 2015 (UTC)

Shouldn't this be? Not just soundtrack?  — ₳aron 16:49, 9 March 2015 (UTC)

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion:

Warren Beatty as Dick Tracy.jpg
Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 19:22, 18 June 2020 (UTC)

It would be useful to know which songs are used in the film, and to clarify the status of the album as a "soundtrack" album or a "studio" album. SilkTork (talk) 15:19, 15 July 2020 (UTC)

Rolling Stone call it a "concept album" in their review: [1]. SilkTork (talk) 15:26, 15 July 2020 (UTC)
"1990 album": [2], "It’s a soundtrack album that’s not quite a soundtrack and also a Broadway musical that never was": [3], "concept album": [4], "album": [5]. These are the first few reviews that turned up on Google, It seems that reviewers have difficulty pinning the album down. From this talkpage, otehrs also have a problem pinning the album down to a straight "soundtrack album". Some of that uncertainty should be reflected in the article in order to help the reader understand what sort of album it is. SilkTork (talk) 15:35, 15 July 2020 (UTC)
This book has some discussion on the nature of "soundtrack albums" in relation to I'm Breathless: [6]. SilkTork (talk) 15:42, 15 July 2020 (UTC)
"Music from and Inspired by" is a pretty common title for a soundtrack album, there are tons of examples for this. Music from and Inspired by Spider-Man, 8 Mile: Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture, Notorious: Music from and Inspired by the Original Motion Picture, etc. I'm Breathless also charted on the Billboard Soundtrack chart, what else. Warner and Madonna herself never considered it a studio album, it's always a side-project soundtrack with only two singles (while her studio album featured more than five singles in the 80s and 90s). Bluesatellite (talk) 02:28, 16 July 2020 (UTC)
These are interesting reasons to consider it a soundtrack, but I think the reasons to consider it a studio album are more compelling. The album is primarily original material by Madonna: 7 of the 12 tracks have no direct link to the film (and she co-wrote all but one of those), and only 3 songs ("Sooner or Later," "More" and "What Can You Lose") are actually from the film. Two other tracks, the 2-part "Now I'm Following You," appears in the movie but performed by someone else, not the Madonna version. Thus,a great majority (9 of 12 tracks) of the songs on I'm Breathless are original to the album. Many other Madonna studio albums include songs from films: True Blue, American Life, MDNA, and some versions of Like a Virgin and Music. That doesn't make those works soundtracks. Other artists have produced albums that are also soundtracks and they are considered "studio albums" for those artists. One of the best examples is one-time Madonna collaborator Prince. The Prince albums discography lists Purple Rain (album),Parade (Prince album) and Graffiti Bridge (album) as studio albums of Prince, despite the fact that these albums are actual soundtracks--not inspired works like I'm Breathless--but straight-up soundtracks to the films Purple Rain (film), Under the Cherry Moon and Graffiti Bridge (film), respectively. Nevermind the fact that Graffiti Bridge even includes songs performed by artists other than Prince, such as The Time and Tevin Campbell. Madonna is the sole or primary singer on every I'm Breathless track. Lastly, Billboard treated I'm Breathless as a Madonna album. On the Billboard 200 albums chart, the artist of I'm Breathless was credited as "Madonna," not "Soundtrack-Madonna" as Who's That Girl (soundtrack) was or just "Soundtrack" as Evita (soundtrack) was. Another commenter stated that Billboard charted I'm Breathless on a Soundtracks chart, but I do not believe this is true. In 1990, Billboard did not regularly print a soundtracks chart, although in the December 22, 1990 issue, it printed a year-end "Top Pop Album Soundtracks" chart. I'm Breathless does not appear on the chart. The album was #42 on the year-end Top Pop Albums chart printed in the same issue. Given the relative placings of the albums that did appear on the soundtracks and pop albums year-end charts, I'm Breathless would have charted at #2 on the soundtracks chart. Since it didn't, it is clear that Billboard did not consider I'm Breathless a soundtrack during its 1990 chart run.Ww adh77 (talk) 14:21, 16 June 2021 (UTC)
By extension, as far I understand numerous third-party sources in almost every language have tagged this album a "soundtrack" despite its "nature". Including references in the era pre/post-Wikipedia. If this also helps, in 2019 this album charted in the Billboard component "Soundtrack Album Sales". --Apoxyomenus (talk) 14:31, 16 June 2021 (UTC)

Notice that File:Warren Beatty as Dick Tracy.jpg has been listed for deletion on Commons due to concerns that the Flickr uploader does not have permission to use the image. See: 
[7]. SilkTork (talk) 17:25, 15 July 2020 (UTC)

Rolling Stone Italy: "Non era esattamente un nuovo album di Madonna [...] Era uno di quesi dischi “tratti e ispirati dal film” con cui per un motivo o per l’altro tutte le pop star prima o poi si cimentano – si veda il caso di Batman di Prince o in tempi più recenti quello di The Lion King: The Gift di Beyoncé"
--Apoxyomenus (talk) 07:15, 3 February 2021 (UTC)