Prayer

How could I forget Reggie Lucas! Poor him, always the forgotten one on that debut album. But he was basically hired because of this #1 hit he also co-wrote and co-produced: This music video always cracks me up, she's just so happy cause she's IN LOVE! Result: "Borderline" - Madonna's first US Top 10 hit ever.

A long career like hers is always gonna have peaks and valleys. Nile Rodgers helped her achieve superstar status, she wasn't there yet even though the first album was doing great. Maybe with other collaborator it wouldn't have happened. "Take A Bow" was the biggest hit of her career in the US. "Me Against The Music" was a European smash. "4 Minutes" is one of her biggest hits ever, even though some fans still don't want to acknowledge that. I don't know. The whole "she's better with unknown collaborators" thing is more myth than anything else, in my opinion. More of the same old "her last great album was Confessions". Then she works with Sickick and you all hate it xd

Well, it worked (commercially) with Nile Rodgers in 1984/1985, it worked with Nick Kamen in 1986, it worked with Dallas Austin and Babyface in 1994/1995, it worked (internationally, not that much in the US) with Britney in 2003, it worked with Justin Timberlake and Timbaland in 2008... Of course we all have personal preferences and she had indeed a reputation for discovering new sounds, trends and producers and making them mainstream, but facts are facts. She's gone with "flavor of the month" many times (even with Björk! She was exactly that in 1993/1994 after "Debut"), it's just a case of us fans liking that particular collaboration or not.

People still living in 1995. While Madonna's living in 2050.

I'd say "4 Minutes" was everything it needed to be in 2008, a killer commercial song for the time + a killer video. Plus it was one of the biggest hits of that year. It was literally everywhere in Spring 2008. Even today, with Justin Timberlake "cancelled" and her completely ignoring the song on her greatest hits tour, remains one of her most streamed songs still. "GMAYL", "Living For Love" and "Medellín" we can discuss for days, yes, apart from personal preferences. IMO "Living For Love" was the weakest combo (song + video), I like the song but there's something missing in the original album version (she always performed remixes and different versions of it since day one). And the video is quite simple for a lead. I think "Bitch I'm Madonna" should have been the lead on "Rebel Heart".

I think it's one of those songs that could have been bigger with proper label push and promotion - and also a shorter edit maybe xd Sadly she never had proper push from Interscope except for the radio deal for "Give Me All Your Luvin'". General public (I'm talking about Spanish-speaking countries, were Maluma was massive back then) were just surprised it wasn't the usual reggaeton hit and never cared about it again, I think. But it could have helped him too to expand his quite limited sonically and image-wise catalogue. It was a win-win for both. That said, it got OK numbers, it wasn't this massive flop either, but... yeah, a lost proper hit.

Still fresh. I also remember my first listen and be surprised but happy overall. Everyone (me included) expected the usual Maluma dirty reggaeton smash, but instead she gave us this smooth, cool, almost nostalgic song. I also liked that sonically it was something different for her, right where "Body Shop" had left in the previous album. She tried something different. I took a pill and had a dream... The video is still one of her best of last decade and I'd even say one of her best ever... And the chemistry between them was always cute to see: Slow down on the criticism, papis!

But that's a given with every iconic or key reissue of every big artist. It even happens with the smaller ones for cult albums. They're important for people and part of their lives and memories so of course they're gonna generate discussion. I would be worried if no one cared!

Agree. "Madonna" and "LAV" could easily go together (especially if they're not offering much unreleased material, they can put together all the remixes for those albums) but the rest... I don't think so.

Of course it had to be a new magazine/photoshoot, coming from Ricardo. A very "Madonna" cover, pose, her look, the Bible xd I like it.

Not at all. They can serve as the opening or closing of a section or just mere interludes between them. As you said, interludes in this tour can work as opening or closing for both sections they're attached to, meaning they're just that, interludes between them.

They're interludes, they don't open or close acts, they just serve as... well, interludes between them.

"American Pie" had been a massive UK #1 and one of the monster hits of that year in Europe, so putting it in was an extremely smart commercial decision that helped the album selling more than 11 million copies worldwide. I'm very surprised she was so against that, she's always been smart with business - except for the reason she didn't want to share a cut of the album sales royalties with Don McLean for a song she didn't wrote. Also, it's not like sonically "American Pie" it's miles away from the rest of the album, especially the Orbit tracks. It's literally the same vein. When "Music", the album, was released, it already included two monster smashes: "American Pie" and "Music". Add "Don't Tell Me" weeks later and you have one of the biggest album sellers that Fall. Hit singles sold albums back then. Honestly, "American Pie" should have been even on "GHV2" too, but let's not go there.

The "Rescue Me" little montage video was a Warner UK thing anyway, right? I doubt she decided to do that one. "The Look Of Love" is one of her best ballads, IMO. That middle 8 is pure Madonna magic.

There's still money to make with new music, especially for big names like her. She's not an obscure indie artist. Plus, a series of big numbers singles could actually help her to build hype for her next album. There's absolutely zero risk in dropping new music and I'm sure she will do it this year when the tour's over (maybe not right after, we wish).