Living For Love
Lyrics
First you love me and I let you in
Made me feel like I was born again
You empowered me, you made me strong
Built me up and I could do no wrong
I let down my guard
I fell into your arms
Forgot who I was
I didn't hear the alarms
Now I'm down on my knees
Alone in the dark
I was blind to your game
You fired a shot in my heart
Took me to heaven,
let me fall down
Now that it's over,
I'm gonna carry on
Lifted me up
and watched me stumble
After the heartache
I'm gonna carry on
Living for love, I'm living for love
Not giving up
I'm gonna carry on
Living for love, I'm living for love
Not gonna stop
Love's gonna lift me up (love, lift me up)
Love's gonna lift me up (love, lift me up)
I could get caught up in bitterness
But I'm not dwelling on this crazy mess
I found freedom in the ugly truth
I deserve the best and it's not you
You've broken my heart
But you can't break it down
Not falling apart
Once was lost, now I'm found
Picked up my crown
Put it back on my head
I can forgive
But I will never forget
Took me to heaven,
let me fall down
Now that it's over
I'm gonna carry on
Lifted me up and watched me stumble
After the heartache
I'm gonna carry on
Living for love, I'm living for love
I'm not giving up
I'm gonna carry on
Living for love, I'm living for love
Not gonna stop
Love's gonna lift me up (love, lift me up)
Love's gonna lift me up (love, lift me up)
Love's gonna lift me up (lift me up, lift me up,...)
Cause love's gonna lift me up
Up up up up
Lord, lift me up up up up
Love's gonna lift me up
Up up up up
Lord, lift me up up up up
Cause love's gonna lift me up (love's gonna lift me up)
Living for love, living for love
Not giving up
I'm gonna carry on
Living for love, I'm living for love
Not gonna stop
Cause love's gonna lift me up
Credits
Written by Madonna, Thomas Wesley Pentz, Maureen McDonald, Toby Gad and Ariel Rechtshaid
Produced by Madonna, Diplo and Ariel Rechtshaid
Piano by Alicia Keys
Backing vocals by MNEK, Santell, The London Community Gospel Choir
Album
Single
On December 20, 2014, Madonna released this track, together with 5 other tracks as part of the album pre-order. The release came only days after a demo version of this track and 12 other songs leaked on the Internet. In a statement, Madonna said she wanted to release this lead-off single on Valentine's Day 2015 but she was forced to push the release forward because of the leak. It debuted at no. 16 of Billboard's Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart and soon became her 44th no. 1 hit on that chart. in the Hot 100, it bubbled under at #108. Charts in Japan and the UK gave it respectively a #11 and #26 position.
The Paulo & Jackinsky Full Vocal Mix and the Funk Generation & H3drush Dub were added to the Super Deluxe tracklist of Rebel Heart. Other remixes of the song featured as bonus tracks on special editions of the album. Eight remixes were released on a separate Remix EP.
Video
Madonna premiered her Living For Love video on February 9th, a day before her Grammy performance. The video was directed by the French duo Julien Choquart and Camille Hirigoyen, together known as J.A.C.K., was edited by longtime Madonna collaborator Danny B. Tull, and styled by B. Akerlund. The video shows Madonna as a sexy bull fighter, fighting off a bunch of minotaurs. Together they perform a cool choreography by Megan Lawson. Among the sexy minotaur dancers were several MDNA veterans, including Marvin Gofin and Chaz Buzan.
Asked what inspired her to make this video, Madonna replied:
"The thing about that song, it's such a passionate song, I had to present it in a passionate way. I used mythology to tell the story, with the story of the minotaur and the matador and fighting and fighting for love and the color red and flowers and horns and death and naked men. You know, the important things in life."
Tour
Living For Love made its live debut at the Grammy Awards, with a performance that was heavily inspired by the video. A few weeks later there was the infamous Brit Awards, where Madonna fell off stage when her Armani cape failed to come undone. True to the lyrics "I'm gonna carry on", Madonna got back up and finished the performance with a smile (and a concusion). The song was also performed several times during the promo tour, at the Jonathan Ross Show, the French show Le Grand Journal, and at the Ellen Degeneres Show.
Any other artist would swear off capes for good after such a fall. But leave it to Madonna to turn it into a statement. At the Rebel Heart Tour, Madonna struts the catwalk with a HUGE Puglisi cape (there were 2 versions, one in bordeau red, one in black). As she reaches the main stage, she now first undoes the cape, winks at Aya and Bambi before they pull the cape away. Set mostly to the Offer Nisim Living For Drama Mix of the song, the performance then continues the matador theme, with Madonna, Aya and Bambi fighting off the minotaurs. At the end, Madonna stands strong, with the horns of a minotaur up in the air to prove her victory. No better way to shut down nasty critics after the Brits.