Turuncan

It was not from the original album sessions, but recorded for the movie, having nothing to do with the “American Life” album. So, it can be considered as a bonus track even though it was not labelled so.

The difference is, ‘Die Another Day’ was featured on the soundtrack album of the same name, hence rendering its inclusion on “American Life” album a bonus track. The movie “At Close Range”, on the other hand, did not have a soundtrack album as far as I am concerned, making ‘Live to Tell’ actually a single off “True Blue”, which happens to be used in a movie. So while I agree on many points with you about ‘Papa Don’t Preach’ being a better representative of the “True Blue” era, it is actually ‘Live to Tell’ that was the first single.

It is definitely the production. The first released songs really excited me, ‘I Rise’ and ‘Crave’ in particular. The melodies were there, the lyrics were on point, the attitude and themes were right, but the production just sounded half-baked and over-Autotuned, so I hoped the rest of the album would be an improvement and she had saved the best for later. It was the complete opposite. This is the exhibition of how an album that would have been amazing could be butchered by horrible production.

Because it is a horrible album.

1. Madame X 2. MDNA 3. American Life The rest goes between terrific and uneven.

Some über popular songs sound boring after a certain time. For my own account, I don’t remember playing ‘Music’ itself for centuries except listening to it on its parent album, or the compilations I made, and I have never been a big fan of ‘Vogue’, ‘Erotica’, or ‘Like a Virgin’. I usually don’t like what most people like, and prefer many album tracks to singles. So what you said is completely understandable. For BIM, gurrl. ? It truly belongs to “MDNA”.

We have so much alike music taste-wise!

Hahah not exactly though. I didn’t like it sonically. But message-wise, yes.

I’d say ‘Love Spent’ / ‘Hung Up’ or ‘I’m a Sinner’ / ‘Ray of Light’ as these “MDNA” tracks sample these hits.

1. Like a Prayer 2. Hung Up 3. Frozen 4. Live to Tell 5. Secret 6. Music 7. 4 Minutes 8. Living for Love 9. Erotica 10. Like a Virgin 11. Medellín 12. American Life 13. Everybody 14. Give Me All Your Luvin’

Idolator ranked Madonna’s lead singles off each of her studio album from best to worst. https://www.idolator.com/7752032/madonna-14-lead-singles-ranked?view-all&ios=1 It is as follows: 1. Like a Prayer 2. Hung Up 3. Frozen 4. Live to Tell 5. Music 6. Secret 7. Erotica 8. Like a Virgin 9. 4 Minutes 10. Medellín 11. Living for Love 12. Everybody 13. American Life 14. Give Me All Your Luvin’ Do you agree with the list? For my own account, I would rank ‘4 Minutes’ and ‘Living for Love’ higher than ‘Erotica’ and ‘Like a Virgin’, and ‘Secret’ higher than ‘Music’. I agree with the rest.

1. B’day Song 2. Bitch I’m Madonna 3. Holy Water 4. Some Girls 5. Superstar 6. I Don’t Give a 7. Give Me All Your Luvin’ 8. I’m a Sinner 9. I’m Addicted 10. Cyberraga 11. Turn Up the Radio 12. Mother and Father 13. Dance 2night 14. Gang Bang 15. Shoo Bee Doo Honorable mentions: Don’t Stop Where Life Begins

Also singles she hasn’t performed regularly for a long time. ‘Angel’, ‘Gambler’, ‘Who’s That Girl?’, ‘Causing a Commotion’, ‘Cherish’, ‘Oh Father’, ‘Rain’, ‘You’ll See’, ‘Frozen’, ‘American Life’, ‘Sorry’...

I need singles she never performed on tour regularly. ‘Rescue Me’, ‘This Used to Be My Playground’, ‘Bad Girl’, ‘I’ll Remember’, ‘Bedtime Story’, ‘Take a Bow’, ‘The Power of Good-Bye’, ‘Nothing Really Matters’, ‘American Pie’, ‘What It Feels like for a Girl’, ‘Love Profusion’, ‘Ghosttown’...

I didn’t say plagiarism. I said it was not original nor groundbreaking. And I stand by that.

I still can’t get over the fact that ‘Nothing Fails’ didn’t even get a video.

I like both songs, but let’s be real, none of them are original or groundbreaking. ‘Miles Away’ has been accused of being a replica of Victoria Beckham’s ‘Midnight Fantasy’ and Gwen Stefani’s ‘The Real Thing’ whereas ‘Devil Wouldn’t Recognize You’ is a direct rip-off from Justin Timberlake’s ‘Cry Me a River’. Interestingly, he is featured on the song too. With all that said, “Hard Candy” is my guilty pleasure. Just like candy, I know it is not good for me, but I like it.

My fave was AudioGalaxy. Damn, good days!

Standard would also have been a double disc one, with likes of ‘Rain’, ‘You’ll See’, ‘American Life’, and ‘Give It 2 Me’ replacing ‘Everybody’, ‘Burning Up’, ‘Hollywood’, and ‘Miles Away’.

Gosh, that’s the case, can’t you understand?! And you seriously believe “Erotica” sold 6 million in 1992 and 1993, not as a part of her back catalogue. Wow. Deluded much? And make sure you have good comprehension skills before you blame people with contradictions. We were talking about singles first, and I stressed his singles in the ‘70s with his brothers as opposed to the claim that his singles were not as successful as Madonna’s through four decades.

I will keep saying this: This album should have been released as a triple disc version.

Are you out of your fucking mind? “Got to Be There” sold more than 3 million copies, “Ben” 5 million (and includes a US #1 single), and “Music & Me” over 2 million. Add series of successful albums with his brothers as well. And “Invincible” sold over 10 million copies worldwide, something “Erotica” is yet to achieve. So please take your own advice. Did you also take into consideration that MJ released less singles and albums than Madonna in that time span?

1. And I gave you MJ singles that charted on the UK singles, two of which were charttoppers, as an answer to your “not successful after 1995” claim. Many of these were not even released in the US, and I don’t even remember mentioning the US myself. 2. I don’t know about Prince, but Michael was much more consistent and successful than Madonna in the ‘90s. Do likes of “Dangerous” and “HIStory” ring any bells to you? How about “Blood on the Dance Floor”? Singles off these albums? 3. Those figures are what they achieved up until now, if they are true. During the time they were released, they were both considered as flops, and singles-wise they still are. And they both sold less than MJ’s “Invincible”, an album everybody tries to show as a flop. 4. I am not underestimating Madonna’s struggle with sexism and misogyny. It is just that you tried to blame sexism for her not being as idolized as MJ and Prince, and attempted to show her more consistent and successful as opposed to them, which is, obviously not the case. That’s what I replied to. And I do not agree with you at all. Her legacy is, and always will be, rightfully respected. A lazy-ass compilation will not change that. And don’t even get me started on what MJ was -and still is!!!- being blamed for, how his career was -and still is!!!- tarnished, how he struggled against racism etc etc. 5. Good for you! Maybe we can admire Madonna without comparing her to other artists and trying to underestimate them then! I see many Madonna fans do that on many different places, and as a fan of some other artists as well, I really do not appreciate it.

In the summer of 2002, Sony officially declared that it had sold more than 10 million copies. Even if we pretend it has not sold more in the 17 years inbetween, it is obviously a better seller than those Madonna albums. Review-wise, remember it was 2001 and dissing MJ was the “it” thing back then. People did not really listen to the album, and the reviews were mostly about Michael’s private life and deteriorating appearance rather than the album itself, and also remember that all his post-“Thriller” albums suffered from “not being as good as ‘Thriller’”. I am not even talking about the great reviews it got. And I stand by my opinion, unless we are expecting another “Thriller” from him, the album is brilliant and meticulously produced just like every MJ album. That slick R&B sound, heavy beats, mixture of different genres such as rock and hip-hop, lush ballads like ‘Speechless’ and ‘Don’t Walk Away’, the storytelling in ‘Whatever Happens’, angry songs like ‘Unbreakable’ and ‘Privacy’, references to his old works like on ‘The Lost Children’ and ‘Threatened’... shall I count more? It was coherent, classy, and way much better than the majority of the albums released around that time. I am quite sure that likes of Usher would be getting great reviews if they had come up with this album.

I talked in the logic of the poster who listed ‘Celebration’, ‘Give Me All Your Luvin’’, and ‘Living for Love’ as hits. When compared to these, all of MJ’s post-1995 singles should be considered as MEGA hits. And why is ‘Love Never Felt So Good’ another story? It is an MJ song and a solid proof that his “new” songs are still charting high. No I did not mean his old songs that re-chart. Not quite. “Invincible” sold more than 10 million copies, more than the sales of “Erotica” and “American Life” combined. It was not misunderstood, it is worse: It was misguided and misused. Sony deliberately killed it because Michael let them know that he would not renew his contract. Almost no promotion, no singles after ‘You Rock My World’, no videos, no world tour... none of which was the case for Madonna’s aforementioned albums. This also makes the success of the album even bigger. Excuse me? It was a masterpiece and ahead of its time. Great songs with great melodies and meticulous production, R&B at its best! The posthumous releases are another story as they were just demos overproduced by Sony, and they even admitted they used someone else’s vocals on some songs. And as a fan, I truly wish his not making music was his choice, not due to lies and slander. Adam Lambert is an out gay. And as you said, it is a matter of homophobia, a whole different thing. What is sexist is, as I explained already, that kiss did not cause the sexualities of Madonna and the girls to be questioned in a way men’s would. And my point is, unlike the popular belief, sexism does not only affect women, it affects men too. And controversy and backlash are two different things, too. So that “uproar” is not something Madonna would complain about, I believe.