J Wearescentient’s image of Art Meets Art Like a Virgin
Crafting a catchy, simple pop hit isn’t easy and neither is composing perfume with the sprit of an iconic pop song. In The History of American Pop, Stuart A. Kallen referred to Like a Virgin as “light and catchy, easy to dance to, and just plain fun”, and that’s what we get here too with Art Meets Art Like a Virgin by master perfumer Alberto Morillas. Just like the pop classic, Like a Virgin the perfume has been composed with a catchy sweet melody and upbeat tempo making it a fun and light wear, cleverly capturing the feel of the tracks production and Madonna’s vocal, while taking you back to more innocent times of the past, loving the pop hits of summer.
Master perfumer Alberto Morillas and Art Meets Art’s Tanguy Le Baud. Images via wikipedia and the brand.
Musically “Like a Virgin” is a track, composed around two hooks. Madonna’s voice is heard in a high register while a loop of drums with a very on beat groove from the bass are heard along the low end, all played at 118 bpm. It’s catchy three note bass line reworks an old Four Tops track ‘I can’t help myself’, while sharing similar thudding groove similar to Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean, but Like a Virgin’s feel has a more positive Pop innocence in it’s synth bass groove, with some up shot guitar pops adding some highs from Nile Rodgers, whose playing it straight and simple without his Chic swing and funk. The whole construction of the track has a very simple fun feel, all positive and happy. Alberto Morillas captures this same feel in the perfume, Like a Virgin with his use of materials giving this bright fun innocence that feels summery and easy to dance to, that cleverly captures the music’s tone.
Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, the Daft Punk of philosophers, define music in terms of the labour of the refrain: “music is precisely the adventure of the refrain: the way music lapses back into a refrain (in our head, in the pseudo probe-heads of TV and radio, the music of a great musician used as a signature tune, a ditty); the way it lays hold of the refrain, makes it more and more sober, reduced to a few notes, then takes it down a creative line [of flight] that is so much richer, no origin or end of which is in sight… (A Thousand Plateaus 302, 303).”
Madonna’s Like a Virgin cracks this pop code spreading its infectious rhizomic groove though all the media possible back then and it’s a song that has transcended time with its infectious melody and upbeat tempo make it a staple on dance floors around the world, with its catchy hooks and memorable chorus making it a fan favourite. Just like how ambroxan is used in the base with musks giving it this comforting familiar refrain, like an earworm melody stuck in your head working its magic on you.
Nile Rodgers and Madonna collage by J
Like a Virgin nearly never happened; producer Nile Rodgers wasn’t feeling the demo, thinking it was to simple and empty but Rogers had second thoughts: “It’s weird because I couldn’t get it out of my head after I played it, even though I didn’t really like it. It sounded really bubble-gummy to me, but it grew on me. I really started to like it. You know… if it’s so catchy that it stayed in my head for four days, it must be something. So let’s do it.’” Simplicity is sometimes the best.
Alberto Morillas gives this addictive feel to Art Meets Art Like a Virgin with his use of soft floral sweetness and ambroxan making the scent envelope you in a cosy hug. The opening brings me back to my childhood with a watery cool blue cool-pop, or Mr. Freeze if you grew up in Ireland, in hand on a summers day with music playing on the radio. It was my favourite one, with that mysterious flavour that was either a synthetic raspberry or strawberry feeling super refreshing all shiny and new. Soft fun freesia is bubbling with more strawberry facets, as peony giving a delicate freshness with a touch of sharp citrus keeping things bright and lively. As you’re touched by rose for the very first time, it adds a honeyed tone with just a hint of spice to make you think twice, that twist just like the lyrics of the song that ooze with innuendo, full of sexual terms, yet when sung feels innocent and positive, just gently playing with a flirty sexuality.
Art Meets Art Like a Virgin, visual from the brand.
Morillas use of musks gives soft aura with a gentle burgeoning sensuality, wrapping around the materials groove as a stand in for Madonna’s vocal. Though her legendary MTV VMAs performance of ’84 tells another side of one of Pops’ best shape shifting icons, but that’s to be explored at a later date when Art Meets Art ‘Like a Virgin Unplugged’ is released later this year.
Like a Virgin has a bright peppy feel of the 80’s, with its bright tones and faded denim with a youthful feel, that’s also loaded with nostalgia. As the more musks roll in, some of that innocence is lost, yet its intoxicating sweet poppy groove plays out though out the wear, feeling like this classic track lingers letting its chorus haunt the air around you with the ambroxan and musks making it timeless. Alberto Morillas’ Like a Virgin captures the innocent feel of the tracks production and Madonna as she was at the time, as well as the fans listening to her music. Timeless nostalgia captured in a simple materials melody.
Notes: aquatic notes, freesia, peony and rose, musk and ambrox
J Wearescentient, Senior Contributor, artist and olfactive writer.
Disclosure: Art Meets Art Like a Virgin was kindly sent by the brand, opinions and nose are my own.
Art Meets Art Like a Virgin, image from the brand
Thanks to the generosity of Art Meets Art, we have a draw for one 50 ml bottle of Like a Virgin for one registered reader in the US, UK or EU. To be eligible, please leave a comment about what appealed to you about J Wearescentient’s review, your favorite Madonna song (mine’s Into the Groove) and where you live. Giveaway closes 4/19/2024
Please flip over to the B-Side and check out Nicoleta Tomsa’s review for Besame Mucho and my previous reviews for Sexual Healing & Lilac Wine.
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