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"Revolver"
Single by Madonna featuring Lil Wayne
from the album Celebration
B-side	"Celebration" (feat. Akon)
Released	December 14, 2009 (2009-12-14)
Format	CD single, digital download
Recorded	2009
Genre	Dance-pop, electropop
Length	3:40
Label	Warner Bros.
Writer(s)	Madonna, Carlos Battey, Steven Battey, Dwayne Carter, Justin Franks, Brandon Kitchen
Producer	Madonna, Frank E
Madonna singles chronology

"Revolver" is a song by American recording artist Madonna from her third greatest hits compilation, Celebration, and features rapper Lil Wayne. It was written by Madonna, Carlos Battey, Steven Battey, Dwayne Carter, Justin Franks and Brandon Kitchen, and produced by Madonna and DJ Frank E. The song was released to the internet before the official release of the album. In December 2009, it was confirmed that the song would be released as a single from the album, following the title track, with a handful of remix CD releases in January across United States and Europe.

Composed as an electropop song, "Revolver" features Madonna singing the whole song, with a cameo appearance by Wayne near the end. The lyrics talk about juxtaposing love with weaponry. Contemporary critics gave a mixed review of the song. Some praised the chorus line "My love’s a revolver" while others felt that it was underwhelming and not on par with Madonna's previous songs. "Revolver" has charted in the lower regions of the official charts of Belgium, Canada, Finland and the United Kingdom while charting on the dance chart of United States. This was Madonna's last single of the 2000s.

[edit] Background

On March 2009, Madonna's representative Liz Rosenberg confirmed that Madonna was planning to release a greatest hits album by fall 2009.^[1] She also added that Madonna had plans to go to the studio and record new material for the album.^[2] The next day, Madonna's manager, Guy Oseary, asked fans on his Twitter for input regarding the track listing of the greatest hits album. It was later confirmed that she wrote three new tracks for the album, with Paul Oakenfold being confirmed as producer for two of the new songs.^[3]Warner Bros. Records reported the title of the greatest hits to be Celebration through Madonna's official website.^[4] They also reported that the final song on the collection was to be "Revolver", a collaboration with Lil Wayne and whose demo version was already present in the net. It was present alongside the title track.^[5] Before the album was released on September 29, 2009, the original version of "Revolver" was released on the internet; the track had previously appeared in May as a demo recording.^[6][7] In December 2009, NME confirmed that "Revolver" will be released as a single.^[8] The song will be released digitally in the United Kingdom on December 14, 2009 by Warner Bros. Records along with a digital maxi single release worldwide on December 29, 2009, featuring remixes by David Guetta, Paul Van Dyk and Tracy Young.^[9]

[edit] Composition

	Madonna "Revolver" A sample of the song, in which Madonna sings the chorus.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

"Revolver" was written by Madonna, Carlos Battey, Steven Battey, Lil Wayne, Justin Franks and Brandon Kitchen, and produced by Madonna and DJ Frank E. The audio mixing was done by Demacio Castellon while the Pro Tools editing was arranged by Ron Taylor from Warner Bros. Records.^[10] It takes its name from a similar-titled song "Hot Revolver", present on Wayne's seventh studio album Rebirth (2009). According to Rolling Stone, musically "Revolver" is similar to Britney Spears' song "Radar" (2009). The chorus of the song has Madonna singing the line "My love’s a revolver, my sex is a killer, do you wanna die happy?" Wayne has a cameo towards the end of the song, and sings the lines which reference ammunitions.^[7] Auto-tune is used in his vocals. According to Houston Chronicle, the song is electropop in its composition style.^[11]

[edit] Critical reception

Shaheem Reid from MTV called the song a "sugary ditty" and said that "Guest-verse sniper Weezy F. Baby (Lil Wayne) comes in later and gives himself loads of big-ups when it comes to the women."^[6] After the original version of "Revolver" leaked onto the net, Daniel Kreps from Rolling Stone commented that "this cleaned-up version with its sirenesque synths is more befitting of the Queen of Pop." He also called it the most violent love song ever.^[7] Rob Sheffield from the same magazine said that "[Madonna's] hitmaking genius is unmatched and — with the new Eurocheese blast 'Celebration' and the Lil Wayne duet 'Revolver' — undiminished."^[12] Joseph Brannigan Lynch from Entertainment Weekly was disappointed with the track and called it underwhelming. He added: "Anyone hoping this collaboration with Wayne would mean a new direction for [Madonna] will be disappointed. 'Revolver' is pretty standard Top 40 background listening—more of the same electro R&B she played around with on Hard Candy. [...] It’s not bad by any stretch, but it certainly won’t end up on the next greatest-hits collection she releases ten years from now." However, he praised the chorus line calling it Madonna's "unnerring knack for writing charmingly frivolous lyrics."^[13] While reviewing the album, Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly called the song "glitched-out dance-floor stomper" and called the chorus a "lyrical come-one".^[14] Bill Lamb from About.com, while reviewing Celebration the album, said that the song "sounds a bit more like a stretch to remain contemporary and current."^[15]Joey Guerra from Houston Chronicle said that the track was "more filler than truly fascinating."^[11] Douglas Wolk from Pitchfork Media commented that the presence of "Revolver" on the Celebration compilation disc was pale compared to Madonna's previous sex-themed songs like "Justify My Love" and "Erotica" (1992).^[16] Eric Henderson from Slant Magazine called the song a clumsy collaboration.^[17] Sarah Crompton from The Daily Telegraph said that "Revolver" shows off Lil Wayne's skills as a singer better than Madonna's.^[18]

[edit] Chart performance

The song charted on the Canadian Hot 100 for one week at position ninety-five on the issue dated October 17, 2009, but fell off the chart the next week.^[19] On the Billboard issue dated January 16, 2010, the song made a re-entry on the chart at a higher position of forty-seven.^[20] It made a top-twenty debut on the official chart of Finland, at position nineteen^[21] and moved to eighteen after two weeks. In the United Kingdom, the song was initially positioned at no. 188, but after a few weeks it jumped up to a position 130 on the UK Singles Chart.^[22] The One Love remix of "Revolver", featuring David Guetta, debuted on the Belgian Singles Chart at Flanders region at position thirty-seven.^[23] After a few weeks, the song reached twenty-six on the Flanders chart and twenty-five on the Wallonia chart.^[24] The song debuted at forty-one on Billboard's Hot Dance Club Songs chart on the issue dated January 16, 2010 as the highest debut of that week,^[25] and as of Billboard issue dated February 20, 2010, has moved to five.^[26] In Italy, the song debuted at sixteen on the singles chart.^[27]

[edit] Tracklisting

[edit] Credits and personnel

• Madonna – writer, vocals and record producer
• Lil Wayne – writer and vocals
• DJ Frank E – writer and record producer
• Carlos Battey – writer
• Steven Battey – writer
• Brandon Kitchen – writer
• Demacio Castellon – mixing
• Ron Taylor – Pro Tools editing

Source: ^[29]

[edit] Charts

Chart (2009/2010)	Peak position
Belgium Singles Chart (Flanders)[24]	21
Belgium Singles Chart (Wallonia)[24]	12
Canadian Hot 100[20]	47
Irish Singles Chart	42
Finnish Singles Chart[24]	15
Italian Singles Chart[24]	16
UK Singles Chart[22]	130
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs[26]	4

[edit] Release history