Like a Virgin (album) in the context of "Like a Virgin (song)"

A simile (/ˈsɪməli/) is a type of figure of speech that directly compares two things. It is usually understood specifically to entail figurative comparison: thus "a wolf is like a dog" is merely a literal comparison, whereas the figurative "a man is like a wolf" is a simile. In the words of Michael Israel, Jennifer Riddle Harding, and Vera Tobin, "basically, a simile is just a way of describing a target by asserting its similarity to some unexpected entity".

In English, similes are often made explicit by the word "like", as in "Odysseus is like a weasel", but the comparison in a simile can be made explicit in quite different ways, as in "the retirement of Yves Saint Laurent is the fashion equivalent of the breakup of the Beatles". Sometimes, extra information is included to explain precisely how the comparison is intended to work, as in "my kitchen is approximately the size of a postage stamp".

Madonna Louise Ciccone (/tʃɪˈkoʊni/ chih-KOH-nee; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Dubbed the "Queen of Pop", she has become a cultural icon spanning both the 20th and 21st centuries. Madonna is known for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, and visual presentation, with works that incorporate social, political, sexual, and religious themes and have generated both controversy and critical acclaim. She is often deemed one of the greatest entertainers in the history of popular music.

Madonna moved to New York City in 1978 to pursue a career in dance. After performing as a drummer, guitarist, and vocalist in the rock bands Breakfast Club and Emmy, she rose to solo stardom with her debut studio album, Madonna (1983). She has since earned eighteen multi-platinum albums, including Like a Virgin (1984), True Blue (1986), and The Immaculate Collection (1990)—some of the best-selling albums of all time—and Confessions on a Dance Floor (2005), her 21st-century bestseller. Like a Prayer (1989), Ray of Light (1998), and Music (2000) were ranked among Rolling Stone's greatest albums of all time. Madonna's top-charting singles include "Like a Virgin", "Material Girl", "La Isla Bonita", "Like a Prayer", "Vogue", "Take a Bow", "Frozen", "Music", "Hung Up" and "4 Minutes".

American singer Madonna has released 14 studio albums, three soundtrack albums, six live albums, nine compilation albums, and 10 other limited releases. Madonna is recognized as the world's best-selling female recording artist of all time by the Guinness World Records, with estimated record sales ranging from 300 million to 400 million. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) confirmed in 2006, that Madonna's albums alone had sold over 200 million copies worldwide. She is ranked by the RIAA as the best-selling female rock artist of the 20th century and fourth highest-certified female artist in the United States, with 65.5 million album units.

In 1982, Madonna signed a recording contract with Sire Records, a label owned by Warner Bros. Records. The first release under the label was her self-titled debut album, Madonna (1983). It peaked at number eight on the Billboard 200 and was certified five-time platinum by the RIAA. She followed the debut album with Like a Virgin (1984), which became her first chart-topper in various countries and was certified diamond by the RIAA. Her third studio album, True Blue (1986), reached number one in a record-breaking 28 countries and was once named the best-selling album by a woman of all time by the 1992 edition of Guinness World Records. During 1987, she released two albums that reached platinum status in the United States: the Who's That Girl soundtrack and her first remix compilation, You Can Dance. Madonna's fourth studio album, Like a Prayer (1989), made her the woman with most Billboard 200 number-one albums of the 1980s (second overall, behind only Bruce Springsteen).

True Blue is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter Madonna, released on June 30, 1986, by Sire Records. In early 1985, Madonna became romantically involved with actor Sean Penn, and married him six months later on her 27th birthday. Additionally, she met producer Patrick Leonard while on the Virgin Tour, and formed a professional relationship with him. The first songs they created together were "Love Makes the World Go Round", and the ballad "Live to Tell," which was featured in the film At Close Range, in which Penn starred.

In late 1985, Madonna and Leonard began working on her third studio album; she also enlisted the help of former boyfriend Stephen Bray, with whom she had worked on her previous record Like a Virgin (1984). Titled True Blue, the record saw Madonna co-writing and co-producing for the first time in her career. Inspired by Madonna's love for Penn, to whom she dedicated it, True Blue is a dance-pop album that features influences of Motown sound, girl groups, and Latin pop.

"Material Girl" is a song recorded by American pop singer Madonna for her second studio album, Like a Virgin (1984). It was released on January 23, 1985, by the Sire label as the second single from Like a Virgin. It also appears slightly remixed on the 1990 greatest hits compilation, The Immaculate Collection, in its original form on the 2009 greatest hits compilation, Celebration and Finally Enough Love: 50 Number Ones (2022). The song was written by Peter Brown and Robert Rans, and produced by Nile Rodgers. Madonna said the concept of the song was indicative of her life at that time, and she liked it because she felt it was provocative.

"Material Girl" consists of synthesizer arrangements with a robotic-sounding voice chant repeating the hook, "living in a material world". The lyrics identify with materialism, with Madonna asking for a rich and affluent life, and only wanting to date men who can offer her this. Contemporary critics have frequently identified "Material Girl" along with "Like a Virgin" as the songs that established Madonna as an icon. "Material Girl" was a commercial success, reaching the top-five in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Ireland, Japan and United Kingdom. It reached the number two position on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, becoming her third top-five single there.