I'm Going to Tell You a Secret

I'm Going to Tell You a Secret is the title of an American documentary film that follows pop singer Madonna on her 2004 Re-Invention World Tour. It premiered on MTV on October 21, 2005 and was released commercially in a CD+DVD package on June 20, 2006 by Warner Bros. Records. The CD album of highlights was recorded during one of her Paris shows from the tour and the DVD contains the documentary with additional special features and extra footage. The album has sold more than one million copies^[1] and was nominated for a Grammy Award at the Grammy Awards of 2007 show in the category Best Long Form Music Video.^[2]

Background

The documentary was filmed during Madonna's Re-Invention World Tour which toured North America and Europe during May 24 to September 14, 2004. It was directed by Jonas Åkerlund, whose previous credits include various music videos, commercials and the cult hit film Spun. It can be seen as the follow-up to Truth or Dare (aka In Bed with Madonna), which had been released fourteen years earlier in 1991. In both films, the backstage scenes are shown in black and white, while the live performances are filmed in color. The film premiered commercial-free on MTV in the United States on October 21, 2005 but was not released commercially until June 20, 2006. The documentary was originally called The Re-Invented Process ^[3] in reference to the world tour it documents and the Steven Klein collaboration and exhibition, X-STaTIC Pro=CeSS. Images from the exhibition are used in the opening titles sequence.

Documentary

The documentary I'm Going to Tell You a Secret chronicles early events on the tour such as dancer auditions, rehearsals and opening night, and continues all the way through the final show and her visit to Israel late in 2004. The film premiered commercial-free on MTV in the United States on October 21, 2005.^[4] The film received mixed reviews with Rolling Stone magazine mentioning that it "lacks the dishy delights of the diva's 1991 Truth or Dare doc. Instead, a more worldly Madge struggles to become a less sound-bite-reliant, more sincere person."^[5] The Guardian newspaper described it as "Fascinating, [it has] tiny flashes of insight into her relationship with Guy Ritchie, which occasionally involve her being just as girlie and ever so slightly insecure as the rest of us." ^[6] A CD+DVD package containing the documentary and the live album (see below) was released on June 20, 2006 by Warner Bros. Records and Warner Music Vision.

Album

Background

The album was released in a 2-disc format, a CD with live highlights from the 2004 Re-Invention World Tour and a DVD with the documentary film. The album includes Madonna's live cover version of John Lennon's "Imagine" and the original demo version of "I Love New York", a track found on her 2005 album Confessions on a Dance Floor. The track was originally recorded as a rock song before being included on the studio album in a dance form. The album was available as two double-disc editions: firstly the Compact Disc version with the DVD documentary secondary in a double CD case; and the DVD version which featured the documentary with the CD secondary available in a DVD keep case. The documentary and the album were also available as a digital download. It was nominated for a 2007 Grammy Award in the category Best Long Form Music Video.^[2]

Commercial performance

The CD+DVD has been certified Gold in Germany by IFPI for more than 25,000 units shipped and in the U.S. it sold 25,000 copies in its first week, debuting on the Billboard 200 at #33. The CD+DVD version of I'm Going to Tell You a Secret is eligible to chart on the albums chart, while the DVD+CD version is eligible for the DVD chart. However, in some countries, both versions were combined and appeared on just one chart (e.g. in Australia, all versions counted towards the DVD chart and the release was ineligible for the albums chart).

CD Track listing

Additional notes:

• Recorded live in Paris on September 4/5, 2004 by Effanel Music.
• Mixed by Stuart Price.

DVD documentary

DVD live performances

1. "The Beast Within" (Opening Credits)
2. "Vogue"
3. "American Life"
4. "Mother and Father" (With "Intervention" Mid-Section)
5. "Nobody Knows Me"
6. "Music"
7. "Hollywood" (Remix)
8. "Lament" (From Evita)
9. "Like a Prayer"
10. "Holiday"
11. "Imagine"

DVD Chapters/Cities

1. "Intro"
2. "Los Angeles"
3. "New York"
4. "Chicago"
5. "Las Vegas"
6. "Miami"
7. "London"
8. "Dublin"
9. "Paris"
10. "Lisbon"
11. "Israel"
12. "Credits"

DVD Bonus material

1. "The Bike Ride"
2. "The Other Side"
3. "Steve/Stuart in L.A."
4. "Vocal Coach"
5. "Chaos"
6. "Birthday Party"
7. "French Trilogy"
8. "Steve/Stuart in Paris"
9. "Monte's Guitar Faces"
10. "Fans Singing in Paris"
11. "After Show"
12. "Wailing Wall"

Music credits

All the songs that appear in the documentary, including songs that are not from Madonna.

Madonna

Not Madonna

Certifications

References

External links

• I'm Going to Tell You a Secret at the Internet Movie Database
• "Denouncing sin? Who is that girl?" New York Daily News column.