Timecapsule: 21 years of ''Express Yourself'' single

"Express Yourself", written and produced by Madonna and Stephen Bray, was released as a single on May 9, 1989.

It was released as the second single from Madonna's fourth studio album ''Like a Prayer''. It also appears remixed on both the 1989 Japanese mini-album ''Remixed Prayers'' and the 1990 compilation album ''The Immaculate Collection''. An abridged version of the video remix version of the song appears on her 2009 greatest hits collection ''Celebration''.

The song is one of female empowerment, urging women never to "go for second-best" and to put their love "to the test". Madonna mentioned jokingly in a 1990 BBC interview that the main theme of the video and the cat metaphor represents that "Pussy rules the world". The video was directed by David Fincher and filmed in April 1989 at Culver Studios in Culver City, California. It was based on the Fritz Lang classic film ''Metropolis''. The video marked the first appearance of the Shep Pettibone remix of the song. Its budget of $5 million made it the most expensive music video in history at the time it was made (it is currently the third most expensive of all time). "Express Yourself" had its world-premiereon May 17, 1989 on MTV. It ranked #10 on both Rolling Stone magazine's "The 100 Top Music Videos" and MTV's "100 Greatest Videos Ever Made" as well as #1 on Slant Magazine's "100 Greatest Music Videos". The original version of the video was not available on DVD or home video until the release of ''Celebration: The Video Collection'' in 2009. The version contained on ''The Immaculate Video Collection'' was an abridged version.

"Express Yourself" debuted at #41, in the week of June 3, 1989, on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart, and was in the Top 10 by the week of July 1, 1989, moving 13-6 that week. It eventually peaked at number two, spending two weeks in the runner-up spot beginning on July 15, 1989.

In Europe the single was her sixth number one hit, reaching the summit on July, 1st 1989, staying at the top for three weeks. It also reached number one in Canada, Italy, and Japan. It was generally a top-five hit around the world and reached number 5 in the UK and Australia.

"Express Yourself" was released in France only as a maxi-single due to the fact that the previous single "Like a Prayer" was still very successful there during the summer of 1989. The Warner Bros. plannned to skip "Express Yourself" in favor of "Cherish", without serving the song to radio stations. However, French radios decided to play the song, which caused many stations to create their own edit versions of the song from the mixes featured in the maxi-single. The song was not eligible to chart in the French "Top 50" (France's official singles chart), for "Express Yourself" was only available under a limited amount of maxi-singles.

In 1989, Madonna performed "Express Yourself" at the MTV Video Music Awards. Madonna later went on to incorporate that choreography into her ''Blond Ambition Tour'' in 1990, which featured a version based on the ''Non-Stop Express'' remix of the song and included lyrics from "Everybody" during the introduction. She also performed a Disco-styled "Express Yourself" during ''The Girlie Show Tour'' in 1993. "Express Yourself" was included in the military segment of the ''Re-Invention Tour'' in 2004. In 2008, during the ''Sticky & Sweet Tour'', she performed "Express Yourself" as the request song in some of her shows. It eventually became one of the most requested songs.

Latest incarnation of the song was eralier this year when the girls of the FOX TV show ''Glee'' performed the song in the episode titled "The Power of Madonna".