The Look of Love

"The Look of Love" is a song by American singer Madonna from the soundtrack to the 1987 film Who's That Girl. It was released as the third and final single from the soundtrack on November 25, 1987, by Sire Records. While shooting the film, then called Slammer, Madonna had requested that producer Patrick Leonard develop a downtempo song that captured the nature of her film persona. She later wrote the lyrics and melody to the backing track developed by Leonard, and the song became "The Look of Love". Madonna was also inspired by James Stewart's performance in the 1954 film Rear Window when writing the song. Featuring instrumentation from percussion, the song begins with a low bass synth line and a slow backing track, followed by Madonna singing the lyrics. Critically appreciated as a haunting track and noted as a "gem" on the soundtrack, "The Look of Love" reached the top-ten of the charts in Belgium, Ireland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. It also charted in France, Germany and Switzerland, while reaching the top 20 of the European Hot 100 Singles chart. Madonna's only live performances of the song were on her Who's That Girl World Tour in 1987. During the performance Madonna pretended that she was lost on the stage, like her film character. Background and development In 1986, Madonna was shooting for her third motion picture Who's That Girl, then known as Slammer. Needing songs for the soundtrack of the movie, she contacted Patrick Leonard and Stephen Bray, with whom she had written and produced her third studio album True Blue in 1986. Madonna explained to them that she needed an uptempo song and a downtempo song. She came to the studio one Thursday, as Leonard developed the chorus of the songs. He handed over that cassette to Madonna, who went to the backroom and finished the melody and the lyrics of the songs, while Leonard worked on the other parts. The uptempo song developed was "Who's That Girl", the first single from the soundtrack, and the downtempo song, developed and written the day after, was "The Look of Love". Madonna later changed the film's name from Slammer to Who's That Girl, preferring the latter. Regarding the development of the songs for the film, Madonna further explained "I had some very specific ideas in mind, music that would stand on its own as well as support and enhance what was happening on screen and the only way to make that a reality was to have a hand in writing the tunes myself.