Summary

"The Power of Good-bye" was considered by many before its release to be a chance for Madonna to finally score another #1 hit. However, without anything particularly "special" about it -- no movie attachment, it wasn't the first single from a new album, and it didn't have a breakthrough video like "Ray of Light" -- it fell a little short of expectations and just missed the top ten.

"The Power of Good-Bye" did, however, have a lot of staying power, particularly on the Adult Contemporary chart, where it saw signficant gains in 13 of its 21 weeks on the chart. It also had a particularly nail-biting climb to its peak position. Initially the song peaked at #13 in just its fourth week on the charts, and never re-gained its bullet. However, airplay continued to gain even as sales fell, and over the next three weeks the single moved 13-14-13-11. Unfortunately for "The Power of Good-Bye," the next week saw the introduction of the new Hot 100 formula which gave airplay greater weight and allowed non-commercially released songs to chart. As a result, Madonna tumbled 11-30. Would "The Power of Good-Bye" have been able to climb into the top ten that next week had the Hot 100 not changed formulas? In all honesty, probably not, but it would have been nice to know nonetheless.

In contrast to Nothing Really Matters, for which the single was released far too late, you could argue that "The Power of Good-Bye" was released too early. It peaked on sales four weeks before peaking on airplay, bringing into question whether or not this song could have hit the top ten had the single been released a few weeks later, allowing sales and airplay to balance each other out (when sales peaked, airplay was at #40, but when airplay peaked at #26, sales had fallen several spots to #19).

"The Power of Good-Bye" is also Madonna's first single since "You Must Love Me" not to chart on any Dance chart, since no dance mixes were issued in the United States. Internationally, several "experimental" mixes and a mix by Dallas Austin were released, but no maxi-single was released in the United States. However, as many fans consider these remixes some of Madonna's worst, this is perhaps not a big loss for US fans.

The video for "The Power of Good-Bye," directed by Matthew Rolston (better known for making artists such as Matchbox 20, Jewel, and Natalie Imbruglia look gorgeous), was lush and colorful with its blue-green hues, and sparked much discussion about its imagery and presentation. It left many fans wondering whether Madonna's character died in the video with one ambiguous sequence, which seemed to imply that Madonna walked into the ocean and drowned herself.

Trivia

Madonna's lover in the video is played by Goran Visnjic, who currently stars as Dr. Luka Kovach on the hit NBC show "ER." Also, in the summer of 2002, early demos from "Ray of Light" surfaced, including an early version of "The Power of Good-Bye." It featured far more stripped instrumentation and a light drum 'n' bass style drum track. It also changes some of the lyrics slightly (i.e., "walk away" instead of "do you wanna go higher") and adds a coda where Madonna asks God directly for the power of good-bye. Some fans consider this demo better than the final album version.