Fever (Little Willie John song)
Critical reception
### Critical reception

*[The Baltimore Sun](/wiki/The_Baltimore_Sun "The Baltimore Sun")* [J. D. Considine](/wiki/J._D._Considine "J. D. Considine") praised the song as a "sassy, [house](/wiki/House_music "House music")\-style remake" of the original version. He noted that when Madonna and the team of producers that worked on the album "push beyond the expected... \[it] really heats up, providing a sound that is body\-conscious in the best sense of the term", exemplifying his statements with "Fever". A writer from *[Billboard](/wiki/Billboard_%28magazine%29 "Billboard (magazine)")* called the song a "house\-inflected rendition" and noted it was single\-worthy. In August 2018, the magazine named it as the singer's 66th greatest single; "while most versions of this classic smolder, Madonna gets distant and detached, delivering an icy club banger that sounds less like a torch song from yesteryear and more like a soundtrack for anonymous encounters that would make [Ms. Lee](/wiki/Peggy_Lee "Peggy Lee") blush". Hunter Hauk from the *[Dallas Observer](/wiki/Dallas_Observer "Dallas Observer")* deemed it "subtly soulful and custom made for Madonna's pre\-vocal\-lesson voice". [David Browne](/wiki/David_Browne_%28journalist%29 "David Browne (journalist)") of *[Entertainment Weekly](/wiki/Entertainment_Weekly "Entertainment Weekly")* criticized Madonna's voice as "souless", "You and Shep sure do a bang\-up job – pun intended – transforming 'Fever,' that old Peggy Lee hit, into a [techno](/wiki/Techno "Techno") drone, but listen to the parched sound emitted from your throat on such tracks. It's cold, deadened, remote." [Jude Rogers](/wiki/Jude_Rogers "Jude Rogers") from *[The Guardian](/wiki/The_Guardian "The Guardian")* called it an "unnecessary [trance](/wiki/Trance_music "Trance music")\-era update of pop's most achingly simple song about sex"; nonetheless, she placed the song at number 72 on her ranking of Madonna's singles, in honor of her 60th birthday.

In his weekly UK chart commentary, [James Masterton](/wiki/James_Masterton "James Masterton") stated that "her crown is intact." Alan Jones from *[Music Week](/wiki/Music_Week "Music Week")* gave it four out of five and named it Pick of the Week, adding that "this is fairly tame in original album edit, but packs more punch and dancefloor possibilities in selection of Pettihone \[sic]/Falcon/Gaeten mixes, and should maintain her now record sequence of consecutive Top 10 hits." *[The New York Times](/wiki/The_New_York_Times "The New York Times")* editor [Stephen Holden](/wiki/Stephen_Holden "Stephen Holden") wrote that "the album's softer moments include a silky [hip\-hop](/wiki/Hip_hop_music "Hip hop music") arrangement of 'Fever'". Author Rikky Rooksby, described it as "unsexy", and called it a "sterile track" which is "certainly misplaced as the second track of \[*Erotica*]". *[Slant Magazine](/wiki/Slant_Magazine "Slant Magazine")* Sal Cinquemani opined that it's "Madonna's vocal performance that's the real star here \[...] she may lack Peggy Lee's command, but she exudes a detached confidence and control that is the pitch\-perfect embodiment of *Erotica*s main thesis: love hurts". Alfred Soto of *[Stylus Magazine](/wiki/Stylus_Magazine "Stylus Magazine")* felt that this song has its unique, idiosyncratic energy which he compared with material by [Joni Mitchell](/wiki/Joni_Mitchell "Joni Mitchell") from her album *[Blue](/wiki/Blue_%28Joni_Mitchell_album%29 "Blue (Joni Mitchell album)")* (1971\). *[The Washington Post](/wiki/The_Washington_Post "The Washington Post")*s Richard Harrington deemed it a "cool mechanical recitation in which more attention is paid to the pulse of the music than that of the heart."


What is the general reception of Madonna's song 'Fever'?