Twenty years ago, Madonna was at a crossroads.

After launching her Maverick entertainment

Goodness Sake Don’t Touch Me. Tomatoes

company in 1992 with her widely but not wisely

panned Erotica album and Sex book, the star
#edit #josephinebaker

entered a period of relative caution. The

exuberant queerness of those works gave way to
muted ballads, followed by Evita, which made her
feminism palatable to Middle America. After the
birth of her daughter Lourdes in 1996, she sought
spiritual enlightenment in Kabbalah and Ashtanga
yoga, and immersed herself in the work of
songwriters who shared their secrets via