Loved up in La-La Land, Madonna had swapped Manhattan for Malibu in 1986 with new husband Sean Penn to devote time to her acting career. The result, Shanghai Surprise, bombed at the box office. Fortunately she fared much better when it came to soundtracks, launching her third album with Live To Tell, the theme from Penn’s film At Close Range, a brooding ballad that showcased a maturity far beyond expectations. With Madonna co-writing as well as co-producing every song with Stephen Bray and Pat Leonard, True Blue maintains that high standard, also marking a turning point for the singer vocally, with the use of her lower register lending a deeper emotional pull to performances as the pregnant teenager of Papa Don’t Preach and yearning lover of Open Your Heart.