Bedtime Stories (Madonna album)

Bedtime Stories is the sixth studio album by American singer Madonna, released on October 25, 1994, by Maverick and Sire Records. In 1992, Madonna released her fifth studio album Erotica, the coffee table book Sex, and starred in the erotic thriller Body of Evidence. Due to their sexually explicit nature, all three projects were negatively received by critics and fans alike, who felt the singer had "gone too far" and that her career was over. Madonna decided that she needed to soften her image if she wanted to regain her audience. The first attempt was the ballad "I'll Remember" from the soundtrack to the 1994 film With Honors, which gained positive critics and reached the second spot of the Billboard Hot 100. For her sixth studio album, Madonna decided to incorporate R&B elements, and collaborated with Babyface, Dallas Austin, and Dave Hall. She also chose to explore the British club musical scene, where genres such as dub had been growing in popularity, and hired producer Nellee Hooper.

A pop album with elements of R&B and hip hop, Bedtime Stories explores lyrical themes of love and romance, but with a toned-down, less sexual approach. In the song "Human Nature", Madonna explicitly addresses the backlash and controversy surrounding her previous projects, whereas title track "Bedtime Story" saw her working with Icelandic singer Björk. To promote Bedtime Stories, Madonna performed at the 1995 American Music Awards and Brit Awards. A concert tour was planned, but did not take place due to Madonna acquiring the title role in the 1996 musical film Evita. The album yielded two Hot 100 top-three singles, "Secret" and "Take a Bow"; the latter stayed at number one for seven weeks on the chart. Follow-ups "Bedtime Story" and "Human Nature" were both top-ten hits on the UK Singles Chart.

Critics reacted positively towards the album, applauding its romantic nature. Additionally, it was nominated for Best Pop Album at the 38th Grammy Awards. The album debuted and peaked at number three on the US Billboard 200 and was certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It reached the first spot in Australia, and charted within the top-five in many other countries, including Canada, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Worldwide Bedtime Stories has sold an estimated eight million copies. In retrospective reviews, it has been referred to as one of Madonna's most important yet underrated albums. Bedtime Stories has also been credited as album that started the "second phase" of Madonna's career, which began in the mid-to-late 1990s. Influence of the album has been noted on the work of contemporary artists.

Background
In 1992, Madonna released her fifth studio album Erotica, the coffee table book Sex, and starred in the erotic thriller Body of Evidence. Due to their sexually explicit nature, all three projects were negatively received by critics and fans alike, who called Madonna a sexual renegade, felt she had "gone too far", and that her career was over. In March 1994, Madonna appeared on CBS's Late Show with David Letterman. The appearance was noted for an extremely controversial series of statements and antics by the singer, which included many expletives. In particular, she said the word fuck fourteen times throughout the interview. This made the episode the most censored in American network television talk-show history while at the same time garnering host David Letterman some of the highest ratings he ever received; nonetheless, critics commented Madonna had reached her "lowest low". Regarding this controversial period of her career, the singer recalled: "I feel I've been misunderstood. I tried to make a statement about feeling good about yourself and exploring your sexuality, but people took it to mean that everyone should go out and have sex with everyone [...] I decided to leave it alone because that's what everyone ended up concentrating on". Madonna came to the conclusion that she needed to "soften" her image in order to reconnect with her audience.

The "first step to redeem herself" was the ballad "I'll Remember", recorded for the film With Honors (1994). The song reached the second position on the Billboard Hot 100, and received positive critical feedback. For her sixth studio album, Madonna decided to venture in the R&B and hip hop mania that was dominating the charts in the early-to-mid 1990s. She envisioned the album as being stylistically different to Erotica; "I wanted to make something else [...] an R&B-influenced record, which is in a way going back to my roots, because my very first record was more R&B", she explained.

Development
Bedtime Stories was recorded at nine different studios: Axis, The Hit Factory, and Soundworks Studios in New York City; Los Angeles' Chappel Studios; the DARP Studios and Tea Room in Atlanta; The Enterprise in Burbank; Hollywood's Music Grinder, and the Wild Bunch Studios in London. The project saw Madonna collaborating with some of R&B's "heavyweights", including Babyface, Dallas Austin, and Dave Hall. It became one of the very few occasions where she worked with high-profile producers, the first since Nile Rodgers on Like a Virgin (1984). Initial sessions were with Shep Pettibone, who worked with the singer on Erotica. However, she felt that what they were doing was too similar to that album and dismissed the producer.

Being a fan of Babyface's song "When Can I See You" (1994), Madonna decided to work with him because she wanted "lush ballads" for the album. They worked on three songs at his home studio in Beverly Hills, including "Forbidden Love" and "Take a Bow", both of which ended up on the album. Recalling the latter's development, Babyface explained: "I wasn't so much thinking about the charts. I think I was more in awe of the fact that I was working with Madonna. It was initially surreal, but then you get to know the person a little bit, and you calm down and then it's just work. And work is fun". In the case of "Forbidden Love", "[Madonna] heard the basic track and it all started coming out, melodies and everything... It was a much easier process than I thought it would be". It was through Babyface that she met Dallas Austin, producer of Ooooooohhh... On the TLC Tip (1992) and The Pendulum Vibe (1994), the debut albums of TLC and Joi. They created "Secret", "Don't Stop", and "Sanctuary"; the first was produced in its demo form by Pettibone, under the name "Something's Coming Over Me". Austin then reworked the demo and made it a different song musically. "Human Nature" was written alongside Hall as an answer song to the backlash Madonna had endured the past two years for "daring to deal with subjects that are taboo [...] I'm saying [in the song] that I'm giving my back [to the media]. I'm not sorry".

Author Lucy O'Brien noted that, although Madonna was "anxious" to make an impact in the R&B market, "her voice just wasn't powerful enough to hold and bend those deep, soulful notes". Needing another "flavor" to expand on the album, Madonna turned to the British club scene, where genres such as dub had been growing in popularity thanks to acts like Björk, Massive Attack, and Soul II Soul. She decided to work with several European producers and composers from the electronic scene, including Nellee Hooper, who pleased Madonna due to his "very European sensibility". Madonna had Hooper and his assistant Marius de Vries flown to Los Angeles, where they created the songs "Survival" and "Inside of Me". At the time, Madonna was a fan of Björk's album Debut, and, through Hooper and de Vries, got in touch with her and asked her to write a track for the album. Björk did not consider herself a fan of Madonna's, but she was intrigued by the offer and accepted. Titled "Let's Get Unconscious", the song was born out of Björk's own criticism of Madonna's aesthetic and included lines such as Today is the last day that I'm using words; the singer recalled that, "I couldn't really picture me doing a song that would suit Madonna [...] I decided to do this to write the things I have always wanted to hear her say that she's never said". She also added that she never even met Madonna, and wrote the song as a personal favor to de Vries. Once the demo was finished, De Vries and Hooper rearranged the track and the final version was renamed "Bedtime Story". The original demo was later re-worked and released as "Sweet Intuition", which appeared as a B-side on Björk's "Army of Me" single, and remixed on the "It's Oh So Quiet" single.

Composition


Bedtime Stories was described by the singer herself as a "combination of pop, R&B, hip-hop and a Madonna record", with lyrics and themes that are "romantic and very reflective". According to Music & Media, the sequence of the songs is something Madonna paid "particular attention to", as she wanted to create a "truly cohesive" record. Opener "Survival" is a "sweetly funky" song in which Madonna talks directly to the public and addresses her feelings regarding the controversies in which she was embroiled in the past, according to Rikky Rooksby. It includes lyrical nods to past songs in the verses I'll never be an Angel/I'll never be a saint, it's true, and Whether it's heaven or hell/I'm going to living to tell. The next song is "Secret", which finds Madonna singing in a "husky" alto and features an "unhurried" Memphis soul beat. It begins with the sound of her voice singing over a "rhythmic folksy" guitar, before opening up to a "sparse, retro rhythm" section. In the singer's own words, "Secret" talks about spirituality and self-empowerment, and contains an "Indian/Hindu philosophy which says that God lives within all of us and that happiness lies in our own hands".

In the "soulful sass" of "I'd Rather Be Your Lover", Madonna "lusts after the unattainable through processes of negotiation", and runs down the relations she would rather not be: a sister, mother, friend and brother, echoing Erotica track "Where Life Begins", as noted by Matthew Rettenmund, author of Encyclopedia Madonnica. The backing vocals and bass are supplied by guest Meshell Ndegeocello who raps Tell me what you want/Tell me what you need. Fourth song "Don’t Stop" has been referred to as Bedtime Stories' "sole call to the dance floor". It has two lines that are almost identical to Madonna's debut single "Everybody" (1982), while its plea to get up on the dance floor echoes back to "Vogue" (1990). "Inside of Me" has the same tempo as "Don't Stop" but its lyrics are more ambiguous. A "heartfelt tribute to [Madonna's] mother" lies beneath "tear-stained suggestions of sex". Madonna's vocals are "breathy", while instrumentation features "throbbing bass and jazzy keyboards that come with most of [Neelle] Hooper's productions". Even though you're gone, love still carries on, she sings on the refrain.

Deemed an "unintentional sequel" to 1989's "Express Yourself", "Human Nature" is a hip hop-influenced track that begins is a with heavy bass and drums looping;   Madonna constantly whispers the phrase express yourself, don't repress yourself. Noted a song of rebellion, its lyrics explicitly refer the media frenzies the singer endured, and the contempt she feels for her critics. Phrases such as Oops, I didn't know I couldn't talk about sex and Oops, I didn't know I couldn't speak my mind are sung by Madonna in a thin, nasal voice "dripping with sarcasm". In "Forbidden Love", the album's seventh track, Madonna "dismisses any relationship untouched by taboo". She sings in an "incredibly enticing" whisper: I know that you’re no good for me/That’s why I feel I must confess/What’s wrong is why it feels so right/I want to feel your sweet caress. Instrumentation is sparse, and Babyface provides backing vocals. Allegedly inspired by a stripper Madonna met in a club, "Love Tried to Welcome Me" is a song that "fetishizes rejection". The "unusually long" introduction begins with the "lush" sound of strings over acoustic guitar, while wind chimes are present on the verses. Lyrically, the song talks about turning back from love, loneliness and a sense of self-alienation.

"Sanctuary" quotes Walt Whitman's poem Vocalism. It is a song that draws inspiration from Herbie Hancock's "Watermelon Man" (1962), and aligns love and death. "Assorted odd noises, distant strings, and bits of electric guitar" make up the "atmospheric" introduction. Verses include Who needs the sun, when the rain’s so full of life/Who needs the sky/It’s here in your arms I want to be buried, which is backed by a steady, R&B-influenced bassline with a sound effect that is reminiscent of a creaky bed. The ending of "Sanctuary" is linked to the beginning of the next song, title track "Bedtime Story". Unlike most of the songs on the album, which are heavily R&B-influenced, "Bedtime Story" is an electronica-doused track with a "trippy" vibe. A hymn to the "joys of unconsciousness and a rejection of the supposed constraints of reason and language", its instrumentation is provided by "skeletal" synth arrangement and prominent drum machine and machine hand-claps.

Closer "Take a Bow" is a midtempo pop ballad with "a "'Sukiyaki'"-like Japanese touch". The lyrics talks about a failed affair with either an actor, or someone who's "way too concerned with personal image". It counts with "swaying strings and lush harmonies", while Madonna sings with her lower vocal register to evoke a "tender compassion". The title plays upon the verse in the song all the world is a stage and everyone has their part, a reference to the line by William Shakespeare in his play As You Like It: "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women mere players". Babyface provides backing vocals, making the song "virtually a duet".

Title and artwork
The album takes its title after the Björk-penned "Bedtime Story". The singer chose this title because she thought of "the songs [on the album] as bedtime stories, like a tale, a story to tell". Academic Georges Claude Guilbert, author of Madonna As Postmodern Myth, saw the title as a pun, and felt that the singer was referring to "(possible erotic) stories told at bedtime (in bed). In a way [the album] is really a book of stories you can tell your kids at bedtime [...] sexuality explained to children". Due to fear of backlash, Madonna hesitated and considered changing it; she feared the public would "see innuendo and artifice where none was intended, [imagine it meant] songs for before you have sex". Eventually she gave up on the idea and thought, "fuck it, it’s a beautiful title”.

The artwork for Bedtime Stories was shot by French photographer Patrick Demarchelier, under the artistic direction of Baron & Baron Inc. —consisting of Fabien Baron and photographer Patrick Lee; Sam McKnight was in charge of styling. Sessions took place at the Eden Roc Miami Beach Hotel in August 1994. McKnight recalled that it was a very "low-key" photoshoot, with an entourage of less than 50 people. As it took place on the singer's birthday, it wrapped up fast so she could attend her party afterwards. The cover depicts her dressed in a "frothy" white negligee, with makeup "designed to flatter", as noted by the staff of Marie Claire; her hair is tousled, and she has a nose ring on. According to The Advertiser's Anna Vlach, the singer's look was based on American actress Jean Harlow. British journalist Paul Du Noyer gave a detailed description of Madonna's appearance for the album: [Madonna] looks both older and younger than she does in the photos and the videos: a little more lined and possibly tired, but also less mature and grand. Her manner is quite teenaged, not femme fatale. She seems up for mischief, and yet quite conscious of her power. At the same time, her very frankness is almost innocent. These combinations are odd, and they give her the air of a prematurely wise child. Her current style is 1930s Hollywood meets early 1970s flash: Jean Harlow and Angie Bowie. She is not bewitching, but is certainly beautiful. She wears the nose stud that so troubled Norman Mailer in a recent interview. If you saw her in the street, you'd think: she looks like a girl who looks a bit like Madonna. The album's packaging consisted of a white plastic digitray holding the disc, while the paper used for the inner sleeve had a "velvety" texture. Matthew Rettenmund compared the cover for Bedtime Stories to that of Like a Virgin: "Take off that nose ring and squint at that white-blonde hair, and you're left with what could almost pass for a still from [...] Like a Virgin. [Madonna's] even wearing white lace [...] [the cover] screams 'Classic Madonna here, step right up!". From website This is Dig! Mark Elliott also felt the artwork was similar to Like a Virgin's. The staff of Terra compared the cover of American singer Christina Aguilera's fifth studio album, Back to Basics (2006), to Bedtime Stories.

Release and promotion


Bedtime Stories was released worldwide on October 25, 1994. Prior to its release, in mid September, an audio file containing a message of Madonna talking about the album, along with a 30-second snippet of "Secret", was made available exclusively online. Promotional spots aired on television proclaimed that the album would be devoid of sexual references, with the singer adding that, "it's a whole new me! I'm going to be a good girl, I swear". In October, the singer was interviewed by Ruby Wax in Paris. According to Wax, she was quite intimidated by Madonna and her entourage and, in her own words, "[my] nerves got the best of me".

Madonna's Pajama Party was an event done to promote the music video for "Bedtime Story" that took place at New York City's Webster Hall on March 18, 1995, and was broadcast on MTV. The singer read David Kirk's Miss Spider's Tea Party to a crowd of 2,000, while DJ Junior Vasquez played "cutting-edge" tribal and trance remixes of the song. Prior to the party, "Bedtime Story" was given a cinematic release at three different Odeon Cineplex film theaters.

Planned tour and live performances
A concert tour to promote Bedtime Stories was first mentioned following its release in late October. In early January 1995, Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported that Madonna would visit Italy as part of a concert tour, set to take place either in the spring or fall of that year. Two months later, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune announced that the singer and her management had decided to cancel all touring plans after she was offered the role of Eva Perón on Alan Parker's film adaptation of Evita. A shorter tour was proposed, but Madonna dismissed the idea; "[I've] waited years for this role, and I have to put every ounce of concentration into it. I love touring, and I very much want to go out with this album. But I can't, I'd be going straight from months on the road right into filming [...] It wouldn't be in the best interests of the movie for me to be at any less than my peak of energy", she explained.

On January 30, 1995, Madonna performed "Take a Bow" with Babyface and a live orchestra at the 22nd Annual American Music Awards. Babyface recalled that he was "nervous as hell" during the performance, which was named the eight the best in the awards show's history by Billboard's Caitlin Kelley. On February 18, Madonna sang both "Secret" and "Take a Bow" on German television show Wetten, dass..? Two days later, she performed "Bedtime Story" on the 15th edition of the Brit Awards; she wore a long white dress, waist-length flowing hair extensions, and was joined by a "trio of satin-clad male dancers". Madonna again sang "Take a Bow" with Babyface at the Sanremo Music Festival on February 22.

Singles
"Secret" was released as the album's lead single on September 20, 1994. It received positive reviews from critics, who applauded Madonna's vocal delivery and the track's mid-tempo R&B groove, deeming it seductive and soulful. It peaked at number three on the US Billboard Hot 100, whereas in the United Kingdom it reached a peak of number five, becoming the singer's record-breaking 35th consecutive top-ten single. The black-and-white music video was directed by Melodie McDaniel, and shows Madonna as a nightclub singer in Harlem.

Issued on December 6, second single "Take a Bow" topped the Hot 100 for seven weeks, becoming Madonna's longest-running number one. It was less successful in the UK, where it reached the chart's 16th spot and ended Madonna's string of 35 consecutive top-ten singles. Critics lauded the track, deeming it Madonna's best romantic ballad, and one of the album's best songs. The Michael Haussman-directed music video depicts a "steamy love story" between the singer and a bullfighter, played by Emilio Muñoz.

Title track "Bedtime Story" was first released on Europe and Australia on February 13, 1995. In the United States, a release was issued on April 11. Upon release, critics praised its experimental sound. "Bedtime Story" gave Madonna her 17th number one on Billboard's Hot Dance Club Play chart, and reached the fourth spot of the UK Singles Chart. The single's accompanying music video was directed by Mark Romanek and is a tribute to female surrealist painters like Leonora Carrington and Remedios Varo. With a budget of $5 million, it's one of the most expensive ever made.

The fourth and final single from the album was "Human Nature", issued first on Australia and Europe on May 5, and one month later in the US. Critics reacted positively towards the track, deeming it empowering and lauding its unapologetic nature. In the United States, it had a weak commercial reception, reaching the 46th spot of the Hot 100. It fared better in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at number eight. Jean-Baptiste Mondino directed the song's video, which shows Madonna in bondage gear.

Critical reception
Upon release, Bedtime Stories received generally positive reviews from critics. AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine deemed it a "warm album, with deep, gently pulsating grooves", as well as the singer's "most humane and open [...] even seductive". Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine opined that, "the queen of pop never sounded as emotionally vulnerable or cerebrally plugged in as she does in [...] [this] fluffy-pillowed concept album that unfolds like a musical fairy tale". Regarding the lyrics, Cinquemani noticed that Madonna seems "more interested in literature and human psychology than sexual biology this time around. [Bedtime Stories'] mix of sorrow and romance [...] expose a woman who might have been in need of some serious therapy". The staff of Billboard pointed out: "Rather than shocking with sexual antics, or even trying to break musical ground, Ms. M sticks to a pop recipe that yields hits galore, with little excess baggage". From The New York Times, Stephen Holden called it seductive and "easily [Madonna's] best". According to Greg Kot, writing for the Chicago Tribune, Bedtime Stories is a "welcome shift from the strident shock tactics" of Erotica, that finds Madonna "at her most relaxed and alluring"; the author concluded that it is the singer's "most irresistible" work since The Immaculate Collection (1990).

In Rolling Stone's review, Barbara O'Dair wrote that, "Madonna has come up with some awfully compelling sounds. [...] [this] record verily shimmers". Barry Walters for the San Francisco Examiner said that on Bedtime Stories, Madonna "drops the provocation of the past and devotes herself to far more subtle aspects of love [...] [is] as gentle as its predecessor Erotica was gutsy". The staff of People magazine applauded the singer's vocals on this "winning" album; "[her] voice—and some seriously infectious grooves—makes these bedtime stories worth staying awake for", concluded the review. Taraborrelli praised the album for being "considerably more tame in tone and image than [Erotica's] ethereal sounding, sexually explicit" content. USA Today, Edna Gundersen hailed the album as "gorgeously romantic [...] this time, S&M means silky and mellow [...] a solid creative effort".

For author Mark Bego, "the material [on Bedtime Stories] [is] more appealing than that on Erotica. Instead of tackling sex head on, [here] Madonna is actually sexy in a musically seductive fashion". Similarly, Entertainment Weekly's Jim Farber observed: "More than any previous Madonna album, [Bedtime] finds her telling the truth about her life [...] a sustained mood suite for the boudoir [...] Madonna's lyrics mingle sex and romance in more personal ways than ever". On The Advocate's review, Peter Galvin lauded the album: "Gorgeously produced [...] with lots of funky beats, lush keyboards, and soaring Love Unlimited-style string arrangements". "Lush, plush, and lovely" and "a solid entry with some incredibly high points amongst the comfortable tunes", is how Peter Piatkowski from PopMatters described the record. Bedtime Stories is "nowhere near Madonna’s best album, but its combination of sleek R&B and slinky club music works way better than it probably should", according to Stereogum's Tom Breihan, who also noted that the singer "sounds comfortable, and never radiates the sweaty eagerness to please that you sometimes see from pop stars making self-consciously commercial moves". Jim Farber added that, "adopt[ing] the sound that now regularly shoots artists like Xscape, Changing Faces, and Aaliyah up Billboard's Top 100 [....] might seem opportunistic, but Madonna [does it] far more credibly than Michael Jackson (who tried a similar update with producer Teddy Riley on his Dangerous album)". On this note, WhatCulture's Reece Shrewsbury deemed the record a "great example of how well Madonna can incorporate popular music and transform her image and performance around it". By contrast, The Plain Dealer's Troy L. Smith opined that Bedtime Stories failed at "conquer[ing] 1990s R&B in the same way [Jackson's] Dangerous climbed to the top of the New Jack Swing mountain".

Despite singling out its "warm and mellow" sound and "seductive charms", Owen Pallett from Pitchfork referred to Bedtime Stories as a "blurry non-event of an album" that "never really achieves any level of indispensability". Similarly, Evening Standard's El Hunt pointed out that the album's "hypnotic, intimate sound sometimes blurs into one amorphous blob", and noted that other singers of the time –Janet Jackson, Toni Braxton, and Brandy– were "mining similar sounds in arguably more interesting ways". Chris Willman of the Los Angeles Times said that, "the least remarkable of all Madonna's albums [...] [Bedtime Stories] has a nice, consistently relaxed feel, its slow jams hip-hop-inflected but not as self-consciously as last time, none [of the songs] rising too needlessly above mid-tempo". In more mixed reviews, Rikky Rooksby said that Bedtime Stories "certainly doesn't sound especially inspired", and "can't match the power of Erotica, [and] it is certainly a long way behind Like a Prayer". Allen Metz and Carol Benson, authors of The Madonna Companion: Two Decades of Commentary, added that, "rather than signify[ing] some bold new direction, Bedtime Stories takes hardly any risks at all. [...] it offers neither the pop epiphany of Like a Prayer nor the shameless frolic of [Madonna's] earlier dance hits". For Louis Virtel from The Backlot, "production [on Bedtime Stories] [is] a mess; the sheer amount of producers in the edit bay made for a hodgepodge of an album". One negative review came from The Boston Globe, where critic Steve Morse dismissed the album as "flat and lifeless. [With] about as much bedroom fire as pre-foreplay Sominex". He went on: "A laid-back ride to nowhere [...] Madonna seems to have run out of things to say. [...] Aimed at an adult-contemporary audience, [Bedtime Stories] smacks of just another pose". Bedtime Stories received a nomination for Best Pop Album at the 38th Grammy Awards.

Commercial reception
In the United States, Bedtime Stories debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 on November 12, 1994, with first week sales of 145,000 copies. Snoop Doggy Dogg's Murder Was the Case soundtrack, and Boyz II Men's II kept it from the first spot. Despite a weaker debut than Erotica, which opened at number two with sales of 167,000 copies, its chart longevity made Bedtime Stories outsell it. According to Billboard, by April 1995, following Madonna's appearance on the American Music Awards, sales of Bedtime Stories increased by 19%. With total of 48 weeks on the Billboard 200, and over one million copies sold, Bedtime Stories came in at number 28 on Billboard's year-end chart for 1995. On November 2005, the album was certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments of more than three million units within the country. According to Nielsen SoundScan, Bedtime Stories has sold 2,336,000 copies as of December 2016. This figure does not include sales from music clubs such as BMG Music Clubs where it sold 195,000 copies. In Canada, Bedtime Stories debuted on the fourth spot of the RPM Albums Chart on November 7, 1994; it peaked at number four on November 21, and was eventually certified two times platinum by Music Canada (MC) for shipments of 200,000 copies.

In Brazil, sales of the album exceeded 380,000 units by February 1996, which earned it a platinum certification by the Associação Brasileira dos Produtores de Discos (ABPD). In Argentina, the Cámara Argentina de Productores de Fonogramas y Videogramas (CAPIF) certified the album double platinum, which denotes the shipment of 120,000 copies in the country. Bedtime Stories debuted at number two on the UK Albums Chart on November 5, 1994. It was held off the top by Bon Jovi's Cross Road, and remained a total of 30 weeks on the chart. Bedtime Stories was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for shipments of 300,000 copies. It also reached the second spot in France, Finland, Italy, and Portugal. The album was a number four hit in Germany, remaining 37 weeks on the German Albums Chart, and received a platinum certification by Bundesverband Musikindustrie (BVMI) after moving in excess of 500,000 copies in the country. Bedtime Stories reached the second spot of the European Top 100 Albums chart, and has sold over two million copies across Europe.

In Australia, the album entered the ARIA chart at number one, and was certified double platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for shipments of 140,000 copies. In New Zealand, Bedtime Stories debuted and peaked at number five on November 20, before dropping to number 16 the following week. The album reached the ninth spot of Japan's Oricon album chart, and received a platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ). Worldwide, Bedtime Stories has sold over eight million copies.

Legacy
Bedtime Stories has been referred to as one of the best albums of 1994, and the 1990s decade. From Vice, Mary Von Aue deemed it Madonna's most important work; she said that, although it was marketed as an "apology" for the singer's sexually explicit behavior from the past, she instead offered a "lyrical #sorrynotsorry and a response to the problem of female musicians being scrutinized for their sexuality rather than their music". Despite not being "the first album that comes to mind when discussing Madonna’s legacy", Bedtime Stories is the "most relevant to many of the cultural conversations that are still happening. Had she acquiesced to the public’s call for apology, it could have set a dangerous standard for how the public can decree an artist’s silence, and it would have allowed the categories for female singers to remain in place", concluded Von Aue.

Stan Hawkins from the University of Leeds saw the record as a "significant point of arrival in [Madonna's] maturity by planting her firmly within new realms of production, performance, and songwriting". According to Idolator's Bianca Gracie, "Bedtime Stories displayed the evolution of a soulful singer [...] [it] proved that Madonna never lost her edge; she just decided to soften it so that her image could regroup". For Peter Piatkowski, the "height of respectability" Madonna reached in the mid-to-late 1990s with Evita and Ray of Light (1998), began with the "more conciliatory image and sound" she adopted for Bedtime Stories. From Philadelphia magazine, Patrick DeMarco opined that, "it’s not just the insatiable pure-pop moments laced throughout [Bedtime Stories] that make it great. This is the record that cemented Madonna as the icon we know today", as it saw her working with the producers that would help "define her sound" for the next decade. On this vein, the staff of Billboard said that Bedtime Stories found Madonna "in transition, swiveling away from explicit sexuality and relying on R&B and balladry before she dove headfirst into dance music four years later", a sentiment that was echoed by Troy L. Smith.

According to Quentin Harrison from music website Albumism, the "genesis of [Madonna's] second career epoch" ―Ray of Light, Music (2000), and American Life (2003)― began with Bedtime Stories, an album "meant to be experienced in its entirety [...] that eschewed controversy and platformed Madonna's singular abilities as a singer and songwriter". Bianca Gracie also perceived traces of the record on Madonna's eleventh studio album Hard Candy (2008), and in the work of contemporary female singers like Rihanna, Banks, Jhené Aiko, and Tinashe. According to Scottish musician Sophie, who collaborated with the singer on 2015's "Bitch I'm Madonna", "[Bedtime Stories] is so much more fully formed and sexy than a lot of the trip-hop stuff that was coming out around that time. It’s definitely been an influence on my own music". While Mike Wass from Idolator felt Bedtime Stories helped create the "blueprint for the Pop Girl R&B crossover", Gay Times' Sam Damshenas and Daniel Megarry concluded that, "listened to in the current musical landscape, [the album] sounds remarkably current – more so than any other early-to-mid Madonna release".

Bedtime Stories is Madonna's most underrated and overlooked work, due to it being "sandwiched between her most controversial (Erotica) and, arguably, her best (Ray of Light)", according to Smith. More than 25 years after its release, on April 2020, the singer's fanbase launched #JusticeForBedtimeStories, a social media campaign that caused it to reach the first spot of the iTunes albums chart. According to Luminate, little over 1,000 physical copies of the album were sold in the week ending April 30. Madonna herself acknowledged the campaign and thanked her fans for their support.

Track listing
Notes Sample credits
 * undefined signifies a remixer
 * undefined signifies an additional producer
 * "I'd Rather Be Your Lover" contains samples of "It's Your Thing" performed by Lou Donaldson (originally by The Isley Brothers).
 * "Inside of Me" samples "Back & Forth" performed by Aaliyah, "Outstanding" performed by The Gap Band and "The Trials of Life" performed by Gutter Snypes.
 * "Human Nature" features samples of "What You Need" performed by Main Source.
 * "Forbidden Love" contains samples of "Down Here on the Ground" performed by Grant Green.
 * "Sanctuary" samples "Watermelon Man" performed by Herbie Hancock.

Credits
Credits adapted from the album's liner notes.
 * Recorded at Axis Studios, The Hit Factory and Soundworks (New York); Chappel Studios (Los Angeles); DARP Studios, Tea Room (Atlanta); The Enterprise (Burbank); The Music Grinder (Hollywood); Wild Bunch Studios (London).
 * Mastering at Sterling Sound Studios
 * Design and art direction by Baron & Baron Inc.
 * Maverick Recording Company. © 1994 Sire Records Company.

Musicians

 * Madonna – vocals
 * Babyface – background vocals, synthesizer
 * Donna De Lory – background vocals
 * Niki Haris – background vocals
 * Me'Shell NdegéOcello – guest vocals, bass
 * Dallas Austin – drums, keyboard
 * Tomi Martin – guitar
 * Colin Wolfe – bass
 * Jessie Leavey – strings arrangement
 * Craig Armstrong – strings arrangement

Composition and production

 * Madonna – composition, production
 * Dallas Austin – composition, production
 * Babyface – composition, production
 * Björk – composition
 * Marius de Vries – production
 * Dave "Jam" Hall – production
 * Nellee Hooper – production
 * Darin Prindle – engineering
 * Alvin Speights – engineering
 * Michael Fossenkemper – engineering
 * Brad Gilderman – engineering
 * Mark "Spike" Stent – engineering
 * Jon Gass – audio mixing
 * Daniel Abraham – audio mixing

Design

 * Siung Fat Tjia – art direction, design
 * Patrick Demarchelier – photography