On December 9 1998, Madonna attended the Fire & Ice Ball at Universal Studios in Hollywood, benefitting the UCLA Women’s Cancer Research Program.
On December 9 1998, Madonna attended the Fire & Ice Ball at Universal Studios in Hollywood, benefitting the UCLA Women’s Cancer Research Program.
On November 10 1998, Madonna met her favourite actress of all-time, Jeanne Moreau, during an interview on the TF1 French series Sacrées Femmes. During the show Madonna promoted the Ray Of Light album with a performance of Drowned World/Substitute For Love. The show also included the following guests: Jean Paul Gautier and Patricia Kaas.
Madonna tweeted the following on July 31 2016 about that special meeting:
“Remembering this magnificent day when I first met my favourite actress Jeanne Moreau. She died today. There was no one like her.”
On November 7 1998, The Power of Good-Bye advanced one position to #13 in what would be its final bulleted week on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S. The single would nonetheless manage to sneak its way up to #11 on November 28th, sans bullet. It is worth noting that one of the most significant changes to eligibility rules in the Hot 100’s history at the time took effect during the single’s initially rapid ascent, causing an immediate rush of non-commercially released radio hits to storm the chart and seemingly disrupt the ballad’s momentum.
A decision by Warner Bros. to withhold a maxi-single release for The Power Of Good-Bye in the U.S., compounded by the lack of any non-album content on the standard single despite earlier reports, suggests that the changes to the Hot 100 may have created a larger ripple than Warner had anticipated. Including the Oprah performance of Little Star, as previously reported in Billboard, or even the Dallas Austin remix of The Power Of Good-Bye on the b-side certainly would have given fans more incentive to pick up the 2-track single in the U.S.
It’s difficult to fully frown on Warner Bros.’s seemingly uncontainable enthusiasm for the brilliant remixes of Ray Of Light‘s fourth single, Nothing Really Matters, despite the highly unconventional timing of servicing them to clubs six months ahead of their commercial release.
On June 29 1998, Madonna’s Ray of Light single peaked at #3 on RPM’s Top 100 Canadian Singles chart.
As with all the Canadian singles from the Ray of Light album, the title track was issued by Warner Music Canada as a 2-track CD single and as a CD maxi-single. In the U.S., the album’s CD singles were issued in cardboard sleeves with “draw pack” trays and the CD maxi-singles in “FLP digipak” cases, while in Canada the two configurations for each of the album’s four domestic singles were packaged in standard CD jewel cases with printed inserts.