"You Must Love Me" is a song recorded by American singer and songwriter Madonna. It was written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, for the 1996 film adaptation of the musical, Evita, based on the life of Argentinian leader Eva Perón. The song was released on October 21, 1996, by Warner Bros. as the lead single from the film's soundtrack. After years of not working together due to their individual projects, Lloyd Webber and Rice collaborated on creating a new track for the film, with the hopes of obtaining an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song. According to Lloyd Webber, the song's purpose was to showcase Perón's emotional state at the time as well as her relationship with her husband Juan Perón.
Madonna, who starred in the title role of the film, had tried to change the lyrics of the track to create a sympathetic portrayal of Perón, but was unsuccessful. She also undertook vocal lessons to record the songs for the film. "You Must Love Me" features instrumentation from cello and piano which accompanies Madonna's vocals. The song garnered positive response from music critics, many of them highlighting Madonna's enhanced singing ability. It went on to win the Golden Globe and the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1997.
Commercially, "You Must Love Me" became a top-10 hit in some countries including Finland, Italy, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom, while reaching the top 20 in the United States. It was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments of 500,000 physical units. A music video, directed by Alan Parker, was released as promotion for the single. Madonna has performed the song at the 69th Academy Awards and on her 2008–09 Sticky & Sweet Tour.
Background and development
In 1996, Madonna starred in the film Evita, playing the role of Eva Perón, the Spiritual Leader of the Nation of Argentina. For a long time, Madonna had desired to play Perón and even wrote a letter to director Alan Parker, explaining how she would be perfect for the part. After securing the role, she underwent vocal training with coach Joan Lader since Evita required the actors to sing their own parts. Lader noted that the singer "had to use her voice in a way she's never used it before. Evita is real musical theater — its operatic, in a sense. Madonna developed an upper register that she didn't know she had."
"You Must Love Me" was written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, who had reunited for Evita after a ten-year creative separation due to their individual projects. It was written specifically for the film, so that it would contain new material and be eligible for an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song. Madonna noted it as her favorite song from the film, recalling that the idea for "You Must Love Me" grew when Parker re-arranged the ending of the film from the original play, with the hopes of reuniting Rice and Lloyd Webber to create new music. According to Lloyd Webber, the purpose of the song was to showcase Perón's emotional state at the time as well as her relationship with her husband Juan Perón; "[Eva] is dying and she knows she's dying. One reason she is saying, 'You must love me', is out of desperation. She's also saying, 'You must love me because you must have always loved me', so it's a little word play, I guess, which Tim Rice has written", he explained. It was released as the soundtrack's first official single on October 21, 1996. Since its release, the song has been included in several productions of the play, including the 2006 London production and the 2012 Broadway revival.
Recording and composition
Recording sessions for the film's songs and soundtrack began in September 1995, and took place at the CTS Studios in London; Madonna was accompanied by her co-stars Antonio Banderas and Jonathan Pryce. However, trouble arose as Madonna was not completely comfortable with laying down a "guide vocal" simultaneously with an 84 piece orchestra inside the studio. She was used to singing over a pre-recorded track and not have musicians listen to her. Also, unlike her previous soundtrack releases, she had little to no control over the project; "I'm used to writing my own songs and I go into a studio, choose the musicians and say what sounds good or doesn't [...] To work on forty-six songs with everyone involved and not have a big say was a big adjustment", she recalled. An emergency meeting was held between Parker, Lloyd Webber and Madonna where it was decided that the singer would record her part in a more contemporary studio while the orchestration would take place somewhere else. She also had alternate days off from the recording.