"Professional Widow" is a song written by the American singer-songwriter Tori Amos, released on her third album, Boys for Pele (1996). It is a harpsichord-driven rock song and its lyrics are rumored to have been inspired by the American songwriter Courtney Love. The song was released on July 2, 1996 by Atlantic and EastWest, as the third single from the Boys for Pele album in the US, containing remixes by the house music producers Armand van Helden and MK. The single reached number one on the US Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart. In Italy, the original version peaked at number two in October 1996. An edited version of the Armand's Star Trunk Funkin' Mix of "Professional Widow" was originally released as a double A-side single with "Hey Jupiter" in Europe and Australia.
On December 30, 1996, van Helden's remix was released as a single in the UK as "Professional Widow (It's Got to Be Big)", which topped the UK Singles Chart in January 1997 and reached the top 20 in Finland, Iceland, Ireland and Norway. In 2022, Rolling Stone named the remix the 109th-greatest dance song of all-time.
Lyrics
"Professional Widow" is rumored to be about the American songwriter Courtney Love, the widow of the Nirvana songwriter Kurt Cobain. Love said she had never determined if she was the "professional widow" of the title. In 1996, Amos said she had never met Love and that the song was about her own experience and "the part of myself that's Lady Macbeth". In a 2003 television interview, when the host said the song was inspired by Love, Amos interrupted with "allegedly" and smiled.
Remix
"Professional Widow" was remixed by the American DJ Armand van Helden. In Europe, the remix became more widely known than the original song.
Van Helden said that Amos was contractually entitled to approve all remixes, and when the remix became popular in Europe, she called to thank him. In a 1998 interview with Music & Media, Amos said: "It did kick my ass a bit [...] I know what van Helden took and what he did and I think he did some very clever things [...] I loved the fact that he didn't try and retain that at all, he went completely to the other pole." In Europe, the remix became far more well known than the original.
Critical reception
Scottish Aberdeen Press and Journal praised the song as "excellent". Justin Chadwick from Albumism wrote in his retrospective review of Boys for Pele, "Though much of the world is more familiar with the propulsive, dancefloor-filling Armand Van Helden remix of 'Professional Widow', its original incarnation featured here is noteworthy for its much-debated allusions to none other than Courtney Love." Neil Z. Yeung from AllMusic described it as a "powerful dose of industrial-piano ferocity that holds nothing back in its demands for peace, love, and a little something extra." Paul Verna from Billboard named it a "highlight" of the album, viewing it as "searing" and "groove-heavy". The Daily Vault's Sean McCarthy felt it's one of the most "straightforward" songs of the album. Kevin Courtney from Irish Times declared it as "a mad maelstrom of beats and harpsichord arpeggia, a sort of Portishead for the beaten generation". In a separate review of the remix, Courtney wrote, "Older fans of Tori's introspective balladeering will be bemused that their heroine now sounds like Stretch & Vern. Calling this a Tori Amos single is like describing "Money for Nothing" as a Sting song, and the lady's sampled voice is just incidental to the handbag-heaving beat and bassline."