Erotica is the fifth studio album by American recording artist Madonna , released on October 20, by Maverick and Sire Records. The album was released simultaneously with Madonna's first book publication Sex , a coffee table book containing explicit photographs featuring the singer, and marked her first release under Maverick, her own multimedia entertainment company. Erotica is a concept album about sex and romance, incorporating her alter ego Mistress Dita, inspired by actress Dita Parlo. Some of its songs also take on a more confessional tone, influenced by the loss of two of Madonna's close friends to AIDS. She began creating the album's demos with Pettibone in his apartment in October , and wrote the melodies and lyrics on top of the basic music which Pettibone produced in the style of his remixes. During the sessions, they had problems during sequencing, and, as a result, Pettibone kept trying to move development as fast as possible as he did not want Madonna to lose interest in the music.
In Madonna was arguably the most famous woman in the world. She had some tough competition: Oprah, Mother Teresa, Princess Diana, but the pop diva seemed omnipresent in every form of media. Record sales were still in the millions, and Madonna seemed to be everywhere. With that kind of exposure, came the inevitable backlash. People said that Madonna was a slut.
It is the title track from her fifth studio album Erotica , and was released as the album's lead single on September 29, by Maverick Records. It was later included on her greatest hits albums GHV2 and Celebration The song was written by Madonna, Shep Pettibone and Anthony Shimkin, while production was handled by the singer and Pettibone.