Madonna made a perfect “Beautiful Stranger” for The Spy Who Shagged Me
“Beautiful Stranger,” Madonna (1999)
(...) The collaboration resulted in “Beautiful Stranger,”
Madonna’s best song that never appeared on a regular Madonna album. Building off her electronica dance reinvention from 1998’s Grammy-winning
Ray Of Light, “Beautiful Stranger” was less ethereal, but just as dance-floor ready. She co-wrote the song with William Orbit (her
Ray Of Light collaborator),
achieving a psychedelic pop confection that offered a few of her most indelible hooks. The song managed to bridge Madonna’s silky dance pop with the ’60s period piece Myers was aiming for;
dance flute has never sounded so enticing, and Madonna’s voice so sweetly seductive. And its hypnotic appeal was a natural background for a song about infatuation with someone you haven’t even met.
For a potential one-off, “Beautiful Stranger” wound up with quite a storied history: It won the singer a Grammy for “Best Song Written For A Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media.” Madonna realized the song’s strength as well, and eventually included it in two of her greatest-hits collections. It also added momentum to Madonna’s comeback for the then-looming 21st century: She used it as the fourth song in her set on her 2001 Drowned World Tour.
https://vimeo.com/75623545 
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