Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
The Baltimore Sun	(positive)
Billboard	(positive)
Robert Christgau	A
Entertainment Weekly	(C+)
The New York Times	(mixed)
NME	(positive)
Rolling Stone
Slant Magazine
Stylus Magazine	(positive)

Erotica is the fifth studio album by American singer and songwriter Madonna. It was released on October 20, 1992, by the Maverick and Warner Bros. Records. The album was released simultaneously with Madonna's first book publication, Sex, a coffee table book containing explicit photographs featuring the singer. It marked Madonna's first release under her own multimedia entertainment company, Maverick. Erotica is a concept album about sex and romance; she incorporated an alter ego named Mistress Dita, inspired by actress Dita Parlo. Some songs also take on a more confessional tone, influenced by the loss of Madonna's two close friends to AIDS.

Madonna recorded the album in New York City with Shep Pettibone and André Betts while she was working on other projects. Pettibone sent her a tape with three songs when she was in Chicago, and shortly after they started the album's production in his apartment. During the sessions, they had problems during sequencing, and, as a result, Pettibone kept trying to move development as fast as possible as he did not want Madonna to lose interest in the music. According to him, Madonna's compositions were serious and intense, directing the creative direction of the songs into a deeply personal territory. The album's production was chronicled by Pettibone in an article called "Erotica Diaries", in Madonna's Icon magazine.

Erotica received generally favorable reviews from music critics, who regarded it as one of Madonna's most adventurous albums and praised her comments on taboos and AIDS. Commercially, the album was less successful than Madonna's previous records. It peaked at number two on the Billboard 200, becoming her first studio album not to top the chart since her debut. Internationally, it topped the charts in Australia and France, while peaking inside the top five in many other countries, such as Canada, Germany, Japan, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Erotica was certified double-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and has sold more than six million copies worldwide.

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Wikipedia