From Michigan via New York, Madonna's seventh studio album finds her in reflective form, refining rather than reinventing. Surrounded by a shrewd cast of collaborators like Bjork, Nellee Hooper, Dallas Austin and Babyface - she pares back the provocation of Erotica in favour of this sleek and slow-burning sophistication. Tracks like 'Secret' and 'Human Nature' show her knack for folding r&b cool into art-pop precision while the Babyface duet 'Take a Bow' remains one of her most affecting ballads, tender and quietly desolate. Less showy than her later rebirth on Ray of Light, the record endures as a moment of recalibration.