Like a Prayer is the fourth studio album by American singer and songwriter Madonna. It was released on March 20, 1989, by Sire Records. It saw Madonna continue to work with the producers Patrick Leonard and Stephen Bray, with whom she had collaborated on her previous album True Blue (1986), and the soundtrack for the 1987 film Who's That Girl. The musician Prince also collaborated on the record, co-writing and co-producing one of the tracks alongside Madonna. Her most introspective release at the time, Like a Prayer is a pop record with elements of rock and dance-pop. Its lyrics deal with personal themes she had been too afraid to approach on previous albums: her Catholic upbringing, her troubled marriage to actor Sean Penn, the death of her mother, and her relationship with her father.