valinecode

beautiful rare pic with Guy Ritchie, early 2000

The demos are an interesting insight in the development of a track, and I sometimes substitute them in randomly for a different feel of the album, but they’re just demos. I love the dance WAOM and the really subdued demo aswell but her vocals don’t work with the dance version and the stripped down one is too monotonous. The Rebel Heart demo is fine but I find the final has more depth to it in my opinion. Illuminati and Iconic in their demos were way unfinished. What Kanye did was surprisingly good for the songs he got around to, wish he’d touched some of the others aswell. Rebel Heart is a great album with many beautiful scars. The only songs that screamed singles or hits were the ones chosen and that’s that. I don’t see the public caring for a 50 something yo singing about religious ecstasy by drugs or her reminiscing about taking the road less traveled by. Hold Tight is the only song I think that’d been worth throwing at radios, and she only did that in Italy.
 

physical attraction, angel, live to tell, keep it together, rain, survival, inside of me, drowned world, american pie, hollywood, push, fighting spirit, girl gone wild, some girls, hold tight, veni vidi vici, wash all over me and any cover ... freedom 90 (george michael) indian summer (the doors) ... anything

Her official Facebook page has recently asked fans if they wanted to hear ‘Bad Girl’ on the next tour.
???

hopefully we get another vinyl re-issue - thats what the fans really want of course(NOT !!)  how hard is it for M to upload the demos to itunes for fans to purchase ???

OK. Wow. He gave her advice. SO BAD GUY O, BOO BOO.
That's what partners do.
If she didn't want to do any of those things, she wouldn't have done them. He is not forcing anything on her. Stop blaming him for her own choices.

It is a big mistery ngl.
American Life and DAD are great lead singles, but Hollywood is arguably THE worst track on the album and I'm still wandering why the hell she promoted it as single. Confession era was still ok with Hung Up and Sorry, but Get Together was a strong sign that she was starting to lose her touch. There was no need to release such a bad song with an even worse music video (arguably Get Together is THE worst music video in her career). 
Hard Candy had few singles and that's a shame cuz it is honestly top5 Madonna's albums, but at least she avoid some mess track to become singles. 4minutes, Give it to me and Miles Away are amazing songs and they all deserved to be singles. For a moment it seemed everything was back to normal but then MDNA was the final proof that she did lost her touch. Gimme all your luvin' was more like a promo single for her Superbowl show rather than the lead of a new music era. It was like if the halftime show was more important than the album itself. Girl gone wild was ok but it lacked promo and then Turn Up The Radio destroyed any hope left: boring song with even more boring music video.  A huge disappointment aka Get Together. It was more like she wanted to tease the set-list for the MDNA tour and the era itself became just a big promo for the tour. 
Finally RH was the biggest disappointment so far. Both LFL and Ghosttown are mediocre songs and among the less interesting ones in the album. A terrible, terrible choice! She promoted the shit out of LFL but it was too trash to became a hit.  Instead Bitch I'm Madonna is the best song on the album but it was chosen as the last single when the gp had no more hopes for that era left. If BIM was chosen as lead single things would have been very different. Imagine if she performed BIM not at the Tonight Show with Fallon but at the Grammys. She would have caught everyone attention and it would have charted a lot higher and it would have get radio support too. In the UK LFL was played on the old people's radio station, while BIM was a sure hit for young people radios if only had been the lead.
Hopefully she learned tho cuz RH was a big flop and a better singles choice could have made a difference. 

For a quiet Xmas, here's an acustic mix I made of this lovely song

Hidden Content
Give reaction to this post to see the hidden content.

Did Madonna write her biggest classics... Holiday? Like a Virgin? Material Girl? Crazy for You? Papa Don't Preach?
NO.
And I don't really care to be honest... Would they have sounded better being sung by another artists? 
I doubt it.

 

One of her best interludes ever.

Before I start the post, I just want to beg all of you to not bring religion into the discussion. I respect everyone's religious beliefs, and I'm just sharing what I have learnt recently.
Gosh I am absolutely MIND BLOWNNNNNNN. The song and video completely took on a new meaning after I've read more about spirituality recently. I am absolutely in awe of the art she has created with the team, I never knew I could love this song even more. Please bear with me, you will appreciate and love ROL even more, and understand what Madonna really wants to say through the song.
If you are not exposed to spirituality, the song can easily be misinterpreted. To the general public the song may seem to express how fast her life passes by, how she's got the whole universe as a successful person, how she feels like having a piece of heaven on earth, how her legacy will live on through the generations to come.
But after learning more about spirituality, I finally understood the intricate meanings in the song and video. Before I dive into the lyrics, I'll try my best to explain some common understandings across spiritual teachings.
 
Summary of my spirituality learnings
When you are awakened spiritually, you are one with the universe. In the higher spiritual realm, there is no you, there is no me. There is no hate, there is no love. No past and no present, same for every other examples of duality you can think of. Each only exist because of the absence of the other, but in the spiritual world these dualities do not exist. Very much like how yin and yang are opposites, but becomes a whole when joined. We are one with everything that needs to be known and no explanation is needed anymore, you can be anything, you can do anything, you are in heaven.
In the real physical world that we live in, concepts of dualities exist hence the chaos. You understand the meaning of peace, only when there is war in the world. You feel sadness, because you understand how happiness feels.
Our spiritual self exists through various physical forms across time. A popular belief that also shares the same concept is reincarnation. In the spiritual realm everyone and everything is connected, so your spiritual self is also known as "God" in some religions.
 
Song lyrics
In summary, the whole meaning of the song is about her spiritual journey and how the Universe/God/Cosmic Energy/Spiritual Self welcomes her home. At the start she struggles in the physical world, and learns about spirituality. There are times she feels one with the universe but it's always gone quickly, it is not easy to always be spiritual in the real world. As the song progresses, we can tell that she is slowly becoming one with the universe. Towards the end, she has awakened and become one with the universe.
The highlight in the song writing is when she uses third-person and first-person when referring to herself. When she uses "I", it is her true awakened spiritual self/God/Universe/CosmicEnergy that exist in various forms through time. When it comes to phrases with "she", it refers to Madonna that we all know of in the physical world.
The music starts out peaceful and heavenly, like how we are born as pure and untainted. But with the rude awakening of the real world and what society teaches, our lives become very chaotic. This is the start of Madonna's spiritual journey where she questions the world she lives in.
Zephyr in the sky, at night I wonder Do my tears of mourning sink beneath the sun
"I", her spiritually awakened self, ponders on the troubles of the world which keeps her up at night. She wonders if all this sadness will magically disappear when she wakes up.
She's got herself a universe gone quickly For the call of thunder threatens everyone
Even though "She" manages to be one with the universe when she is spiritually aware, Madonna always snaps out of this awakened state due to various threats and fear in the real world. People's hate, war, cruelty, news, consumerism etc.
And I feel like I just got home And I feel And I feel like I just got home And I feel
A celebration of the start of her spiritual journey. "I" welcomes Madonna to her true spiritual self.
Faster than the speeding light she's flying Trying to remember where it all began
"She" is becoming much more spiritually aware as she learns about the truth, questioning religion, trying to understand her world.
She's got herself a little piece of heaven Waiting for the time when earth shall be as one
"She" enjoys a little piece of heaven, because she understand what it's like to be spiritually awakened. But the rest of the world is not aware, so she waits for the world to wake up and show more compassion, to be one and not separate.
And I feel like I just got home And I feel And I feel like I just got home And I feel
"I" welcomes Madonna to her true spiritual self. This welcoming occurs throughout the song as she gets closer to the truth/God/Universe.
Quicker than a ray of light Quicker than a ray of light Quicker than a ray of light
At this point at her highest pitch, it almost feels like she has awakened spiritually and is at peace. She is one with all that defies the logic of our physical world where speed of light is the fastest.
Zephyr in the sky, at night I wonder Do my tears of mourning sink beneath the sun She's got herself a universe gone quickly For the call of thunder threatens everyone
The music quietens to an introspective mode. A sombre final question at her deathbed if all the sadness of the world will indeed disappear in the afterlife. Again in a fearful state, this time the call of thunder is death in the physical world. She sings and drags "threatens everyone" like she is breathing her last. The music finally bursts into dizzying warped effects and high pitch bleeps, like an exhilarating journey to another realm.
And I feel quicker than a ray of light Then gone for Someone else shall be there Through the endless years
At her current afterlife spiritual state, she finally sees the truth. She understands that this spiritual state she's in will end, because she will exist in the physical world again in another form, and the cycle repeats over and over.
She's got herself a universe She's got herself a universe She's got herself a universe
This time her universe is not gone quickly, she is one with the universe.
And I feel like I just got home And I feel And I feel like I just got home And I feel
At this stage, "I" is indeed home. And Madonna screams her famous triumphant shriek of victory.
Quicker than a ray of light she's flying Quicker than a ray of light I'm flying
"She" and "I" has become one finally after the whole spiritual journey.
 
Music Video
In the music video, the span of a lifetime is shown through the concept of day to night.
It starts with the sun rising peacefully, very much like our spiritual state when we are born. But the chaos and madness of the real world kicks in really rudely, if I may say, almost like the call of thunder.
At moments throughout the music video, we see a transparent Madonna being spiritually aware of the world she is in at various stages of her life. This is her being ecstatic and dancing freely in her awakened state, where she can be her true self, hence the awkward spontaneous dancing.
The journey progresses as she sings "And I feel like I just got home" against the backdrop of clear blue skies. She has got herself a piece of heaven, she has become more awakened spiritually. She is also becoming more and more ecstatic in her movements.
At 2:45 after climatic fast cuts of life, we see Madonna doing an yin yang, as though she has become one with all that she has learned in her life. The sun sets as she solemnly sings at the end of her life. BAM! I love this part! She starts travelling to the spiritual realm after death and is absolutely ecstatic, the visuals and lights here are insanely trippy!!! Her expression is overwhelmed in this segment, she is gaining knowledge of all that is this universe. She has become one, she expresses this very obviously at 3:48 circular motion, again at 3:55 because this cycle is endless.
Towards the end at the disco scene, she has arrived home. Everyone's blissful heaven. She has become one with everyone. A very nice touch at the end at 4:54 where she breaks the 4th wall and show the physical world spinning furiously through time. Almost to remind us how time does not exist in her heaven.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9pP0-LY9MA
Check out this video of her explaining the song at the start of the interview. You can tell she really struggled to explain the spiritual meaning for the general public and decided to go with a more generic dumbed down explanation. She has a song to promote after all. It's a shame she can't dive into the art that she so masterfully pieced together.
Many do not understand the meaning of ROL, and some find the lyrics nonsensical even. If you like my analysis, please share with other Madonna fans. Thank you for reading such a long post!

Get ready for M14 with this easy to use disappointment bingo card!


 
 

Is this her new uberkinky store? 
Note that they’ve dropped the “I” in stories to “store”

I'm not really an audophile, but what bothers me most about the album is the 'sharpness' of her vocals. Obviously, they had to rush release the tracks so ended up using a lot of old vox, but I really think she should've done her vocals on many of the tracks. Living For Love, for example, sounds too 'screechy', and would've benefited from a softer vocal take. Even on the Diplo Final Mix of BIM, which is actually quite good, you can hear some sort of glitch in the background around 1:10. 
This production issue is something that has plagued Madonna since MDNA. I am a huge fan of that album, but the vocals on Turn Up the Radio seem so bad in comparison to this remix, where they are a LOT cleaner:
You can notice it particularly during "and the noise of a maddening crowd" at 1:24. I actually use this version in my MDNA playlist.

Funny how nobody cares about Africa until a celebrity like M wears a traditional dress and all of the sudden everyone screams “cultural appropriation!” People: you care about Africa? Go get there and start helping build a school or a hospital. Until then, shhhh...

Her VMAs appearance... Well It was stroke of genius.
I mean It was great opportunity to Madonna to check her real image without Instagram filters before her new album comming out.
I mean I really love her Instagram image at her birthday. beautiful long hair and exotic dress with glorious Instagram filters. And genius camera angle hide her body shape.
That was spot on! I loved it!
But her VMAs appearance.. well... sigh.. we have to be honest here.
That was hot mess.
Ageists which keep tell to her she should acting like her age and she should wearing dress like her age must love to watch her at VMAs and very satisfied. Because she was literally looking like some old sloppy gypsy grandmother.
 
But I really don't get that these backlash about her speech. I mean these stupid young fuckers which constantly showing disgusting and disrespectful behavior to  a living legend, the one and only Queen of pop Madonna. They even doesn't know who is the living legend, the one and only queen of pop Madonna.
But they suddenly acting like they are well know about DEAD Aretha Franklin "right after she died".
I mean.. seriously. These stupid little useless young shit mother Fs..
these Mother Fs even doesn't know about A living legend Madonna and doesn't show respect to her then these little piece of shit complain about her speech was not enough showing respect to DEAD Aretha frankin?
Wow i just wow. I bet that these little stupid Mother Fs all know about Aretha frankin is just this gif. 

 
The most disgusting fact is these useless stupid young mother Fs gonna acting like they well know about Madonna and they did care about Madonna and they always respect Madonna "right after she dead"
 

Sorry not sorry.

Girl gone wild, Turn up the radio, Give me all your luvin', I don't give a ...., I'm a sinner, Masterpiece, Falling free and MDNA remixes and MDNA tour.

I love it!

2:22!!!!!

Lol. A fan told her he wished she'd stop focusing on skin care and serums and focus her attention on music. Her response though. 

I really wanna see these ads in full. Loving this alchemist look!!!!.

No one will be surprised that your toxic ass is banned now.