Sister Cristina Scuccia, the Italian nun who became world-famous after winning the first edition of The Voice contest in Italy this year, is set to release her debut album, in which she sings Madonna's classic Like a Virgin.
The album, to be released on November 11, has been produced by Elvezio Fortunato and recorded in several studios in Los Angeles. The videoclip of her first single, Like a Virgin, premiered Monday on the Vevo musical website.
In the video clip for Like a Virgin, shots of Scuccia earnestly reflecting on her faith - using what looks suspiciously like jazz-hands - are interspersed with gorgeous images of Venice.
Scuccia said her choice of Like a Virgin was intended as "a testimony of God's capacity to turn all things into something new" and of the call she received for a new life, in remarks published by her recording company. But the 26-year-old Ursuline nun has also, arguably, cleansed what was once a controversial song, for a new audience.
Guessing what Madonna was singing about in her worldwide breakthrough hit has been a popular sport since Like a Virgin was released in 1984, with many debating whether it was intended as a spiritual song or one heavy with innuendo and sexual politics.
When it was released conservative groups called for Like a Virgin to be banned because they believed the song - and original video clip - promoted sex out of wedlock and undermined family values. The symbolism and location - also Venice - in Madonna's video was also interpreted by academics as challenging Catholic intolerance around sexuality.
Scuccia was certainly not reflecting the explicit theory espoused in the 1992 film Reservoir Dogs, the discussion of which was one of Quentin Tarantino's trademark sequences where pop culture minutiae got dissected by gangsters.
During her participation in The Voice, Scuccia got 100 million visits on YouTube, where she appeared singing themes like Alicia Keys' No One.