The Veronica Electronica remix project of Madonna‘s Ray of Light arrives on Friday. Originally considered as a name for the 1998 album, Veronica Electronica features eight edits of songs from the album and comes 27 years after Ray of Light‘s release.
The original album’s campaign put Madonna, as ever, into the center of cultural consciousness, with the superstar making a barrage of appearances and performing music from the album on television and awards shows ranging from The Rosie O’Donnell Show to Top of the Pops to The Oprah Winfrey Show and the 1998 Academy Awards, where she presented the Oscar for best original song and mingled with fellow icons including Cher, Joni Mitchell and Fiona Apple on the red carpet.
Madonna’s appearance at the 1998 MTV Video Music Awards, on Sept. 10 of that year, was dominated by the “Ray of Light” video, a clip that was such a big deal, it got a limited-edition release on VHS. (Flipping between quick-cut edits of scenes from life on Earth and Madonna dancing, it remains one of the most iconic music videos of all time.)
The video won four awards (video of the year, best female video, best direction in a video and best choreography in a video), with the night also seeing Madonna — who by this point had flipped her blond hair from the album cover into a dark brown — perform the song alongside Lenny Kravitz and a gaggle of dancers. The performance expanded Ray of Light’s thrust of electronic music into the mainstream by presenting the fashion and dancing of this musical subculture to the global audience tuned in to the VMAs.
Through this swirl of appearances, Madonna presented some of her now most iconic looks, from the silky turquoise blue top of the album’s cover, shot by famed photographer Mario Testino, to the red Jean Paul Gaultier kimono she wore while accepting her and Ray of Light‘s Grammy for best pop album and the white tank top and purple trousers she changed into later in the evening.
See photos of Madonna during the Ray of Light era below.
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Madonna’s ‘Ray of Light’ album cover
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Madonna on ‘Ray of Light’ video set
Image Credit: Frank Micelotta/Getty Images Madonna on the set of her ‘Ray of Light’ video.
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Madonna on ‘The Power of Goodbye’ video set
Image Credit: Getty Images Madonna performs during the video shoot for her single ‘The Power Of Goodbye,’ 1998.
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Madonna at 1998 VMAs
Image Credit: Frank Trapper/Getty Images Madonna received an award for the clip ‘Frozen’ and five awards for ‘Ray of Light’ at the 1998 MTV Video Music Awards.
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Madonna at 1998 Oscars
Image Credit: Bob Riha, Jr./Getty Images Madonna arrives at the Academy Awards, March 23, 1998 in Los Angeles, California.
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Madonna at 1998 VMAs
Image Credit: Ke.Mazur/Getty Images Madonna and Lenny Kravitz perform at the 1998 MTV Video Music Awards
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Madonna at 1998 Oscars
Image Credit: Timothy A. Clary/Getty Images Madonna presents the Oscar to James Horner after he and his partner Will Jennings won in the Best Original Song Category for the song from the movie Titanic ” My Heart Will Go On” during the 70th Academy Awards at the Shrine Auditorium.
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Madonna at 1999 Grammys
Image Credit: Frank Trapper/Getty Images Madonna received four awards at the 41st Grammy Awards on February 24, 1999, including one for best video for ‘Ray of Light’.
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Madonna at ‘Esquire’ event
Image Credit: Robin Platzer/Getty Images Madonna shines like a Ray of Light as she unveils the March issue of Esquire Magazine on February 10th, 1999.
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Madonna on ‘The Power of Goodbye’ video set
Image Credit: Frank Micelotta/Getty Images Madonna performs during the video shoot for her single ‘The Power Of Goodbye,’ 1998.
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Madonna on ‘Ray of Light’ video set
Image Credit: Frank Micelotta/Getty Images Madonna on the set of her ‘ Ray of Light’ video.
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Madonna on ‘Ray of Light’ video set
Image Credit: Frank Micelotta/Getty Images Madonna on the set of the her video for ‘Ray of Light’
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Madonna at BBC TV studios in 1998
Image Credit: Dave Hogan/Getty Images Singer Madonna poses backstage at the BBC TV studios in 1998 promoting her album ‘Ray of Light’ in London.
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Madonna on German TV show ‘Wetten, dass..?’
Image Credit: Achim Scheidemann/Getty Images Madonna performs her song “Frozen” on stage during TV show “Wetten, dass..?” in Duisburg, Germany, on 28th February 1998.
