The victory lap. Madonna was the biggest female performer in the world in 1986, and her only real competition, Janet, sold half as many records that year. The biggest-selling album of the year? True Blue, a pop workhorse made by all the existing rules and with all the existing players. This was a by-the-book chart takeover, a salute to the machine. The “controversy” here was Madonna not getting an abortion in the first single, “Papa Don’t Preach,” an amazing nod to her Catholic fans and a not-too-subtle abandonment of the New York club kids who brought her to the party. Who cares! “Open Your Heart” does what all the best early Madonna songs do, but better: sound and feel exactly like the emotion being described. Madonna wants to attract someone, but she is feeling herself so completely that it doesn’t much matter if this imaginary person turns the key. “Live To Tell”? One of the better ballads of the decade, and proof that Madonna and Patrick Leonard are one of pop’s more reliable songwriting teams. “La Isla Bonita”? As clumsy white appropriations go, it’s a slapper. She only lapses into a Spanish-ish accent on English words a few times. And the hook!