It was written and produced by Madonna and William Orbit, with additional songwriters including Rod McKuen, Anita Kerr and David Collins.

The video faced strong reaction in the media due to the paparazzi chase sequences, a scenario similar to Diana, Princess of Wales's death in 1997.

She also performed the track at the London stop of her Rebel Heart Tour (2015–16), in memory of Collins, as well as the 2016 Madonna: Tears of a Clown show in Melbourne.

She gave birth to her daughter Lourdes Leon, became interested in Eastern mysticism and Kabbalah, and was enlisted for the title role of Eva Perón in the film adaptation of the musical Evita (1996).

Author Carol Benson noted that it was a "deeply spiritual dance record", with the crux of it based on liberation of Madonna from her own career and the many identities she had assumed over the years.

She started talking about ideas and used words which implied deep and personal thoughts, rather than the regular dance-floor anthemic tunes she had composed.

[2] "Drowned World/Substitute for Love", the first song on the album, was written and produced by Madonna and Orbit, with additional writers including Rod McKuen, Anita Kerr and David Collins.

[7] The most important track on the album according to the singer,[8] "Drowned World/Substitute for Love" was released as the third single from Ray of Light on August 24, 1998, worldwide, except in the United States.

Madonna's singing gathers momentum and intensity, belting, "No one night stand, no far off land / No fire that I can spark", when it suddenly subsides, ebbing away.

[17] Lyrically "Drowned World/Substitute for Love" finds Madonna taking accountability of her life, fame and adulation, while assessing her career and journey.

[15] Rikky Rooksby, author of The Complete Guide to the Music of Madonna noted the track ended with the line "This is my religion", indicating the spiritual thoughts and themes present in Ray of Light.

"[20]O'Brien commended the usage of electronic sounds and bleeps in the track as well as the "bell like clarity" in Madonna's vocals, a result of the training she had received from her Evita days.

Noting the different musical elements, including drum loops, strings, computer bleeping as well as jungle snares, Sheffield compared them to a person's shopping experience and unpacking of the bags after the activity ends.

[24] In a review of Madonna's hits album GHV2 (2001), Charlotte Robinson from PopMatters commended Orbit's production work on the track along with others from Ray of Light.

[25] 'Substitute for Love', Stuart Maconie wrote in a Q review of Ray of Light, "emerges languorously from a fog of enigmatic samples and the low-key burbling that are Orbit's forte… prayer bells tinkle and snare fills skim the surface tension of the song in a nod to drum 'n' bass.

[27] In a retrospective review of Ray of Light, Idolator's Stephen Sears described the track as "the first chapter of a great novel" setting the tone for rest of the record.

[28] Rolling Stone placed the track at number 20, on their ranking of Madonna's 50 Greatest Song in 2016, describing it as "a ballad exploring epiphanies about fame and family".

[31][32] In mainland Europe, "Drowned World/Substitute for Love" entered the official Spanish Singles Chart at number 10 on the issue date August 29, 1998.

However, the B-Side of the single "Sky Fits Heaven" managed to reach number 41 on the US Dance Club Songs chart, aided by its remixes.

[42] The accompanying music video for "Drowned World/Substitute for Love" was directed by Walter Stern and filmed on June 26–27, 1998 at London's Claridge's Hotel and Piccadilly Circus.

The video generated controversy due to the scenes that featured Madonna being chased by paparazzi on motor-bikes, a scenario similar to the incidents that led to the death of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997.

[48] In 2013, a poll by Logo TV about "Madonna's 55 Best Music Videos" listed the clip at number 11, describing it to be "just as much about the ugly comforts of celebrity and its reality-distorting side-effects.

[50] On November 23, 1998, Madonna appeared on the Spanish RTVE show El Séptimo de Caballeria and performed "Drowned World/Substitute for Love", along with her other song "The Power of Good-Bye".

[57] Writing for Pitchfork Media, Stephen Deusner complimented Madonna's singing, saying that " she's got a deeper, heartier range that works best on ballads like 'Drowned World'".

[58] The song was not included on the NBC special, The Confessions Tour: Live from London, which aired on November 22, 2006, but it was present on the full-length DVD release.