Best of Madonna's last 3 albums?

[geert 3,035]

Rebel Heart

[Maddylvr 246]

RH definitely, but I do have a soft spot for HC and MDNA. They both overall might not be perfect,but they do have some great gems on them. 

[*mlvc* 823]

6 hours ago, LVX said:

Rebel Heart > Hard Candy >> MDNA

I just have to say that your avatar is very unfortunate. They had M done up SUPER hard because it was a B&W shoot.

Anyway...

I definitely say RH, MDNA, and then HC.

I don't feel like her heart was in HC at all - too much personal drama at the time.

MDNA - too many projects going on, basically phoned in the album - obviously cared more about W/E but MDNA has aged surprisingly well and I find myself going back to it frequently.

RH - would have been a masterpiece had she left in some demos, taken out the cheese and made the album more cohesive.

If I had to pick my favorite songs, in no particular order and leaving out demos from the last 3 albums.... Note that HC only got 6, MDNA 11, and RH 13

1. Heartbeat

2. Give It 2 Me

3. She's Not Me

4. Dance 2Night

5. Devil Wouldn't Recognize You

6. Voices

7. Girl Gone Wild

8. Gang Bang

9. Turn Up The Radio

10. Some Girls

11. I'm A Sinner

12. Love Spent

13. Masterpiece

14. Falling Free

15. Beautiful Killer

16. I fucked Up

17. I don't Give A

18.  Devil Pray

19. Ghosttown

20. Unapologetic Bitch

21. Bitch I'm Madonna

22. Joan of Arc

23. HeartBreakCity

24. Body Shop

25. Inside Out

26. Beautiful Scars

27. Best Night

28. Messiah

29. Wash All Over Me

30. Rebel Heart

 

[theglamorous 4,087]

I can't really choose between them, I love them equally.

If I had to pick any fault it would be that Across The Sky should have been on Hard Candy, Masterpiece should've been/ Give Me All Your Luvin shouldn't have been a single and that the track order of Rebel Heart is a little awkward. But there's a lot to love about all three albums.

[Bat-Fan 1,167]

Hard Candy is really catchy, can't get into Incredable still

[kesiak 3,031]

Hard Candy. MDNA has too many tracks that I'd rather forget about and Rebel Heart doesn't feel like an album to me - it's more like a Spotify playlist (though there's some really good songwriting there). 

[Ovs2007 20]

On 1/27/2019 at 3:16 PM, PâtisseriexEnthusiast said:

1. Hard Candy (In my top 5, Sonically cohesive, not 1 skip, great productions, exploration of different themes + sounds, soulful + badass + vulnerable + humorous all in 1, ++ stunning visuals & tour)

2. Rebel Heart (Incredible effort after 30+ years in the business, still has things to say, sonically & lyrically diverse, collection of songs for every mood / state)

3. MDNA (Slightly underwhelming body of work, but still has several gems like GGW, Gang Bang, Masterpiece, Falling Free, Beautiful Killer, Best Friend, Love Spent, IDGA, needed more development & deserved more exposure & promo)

pretty much same for me!

Rebel Heart had the full potential to be her best album of the last decade, if some of the demos were included instead of the finals (not ALL but some, namely "Rebel Heart" and "Living For Love"), if the mixing/mastering was more cohesive, and if it didn't have so many damn tracks. i'm amazed that tracks like "Autotune Baby" were officially released.

Hard Candy is my favorite for the same reasons as this person; its cohesive and overall solid production, good features and a great tour as well.

[Guest PâtisseriexEnthusiast]

1 hour ago, Ovs2007 said:

pretty much same for me!

Rebel Heart had the full potential to be her best album of the last decade, if some of the demos were included instead of the finals (not ALL but some, namely "Rebel Heart" and "Living For Love"), if the mixing/mastering was more cohesive, and if it didn't have so many damn tracks. i'm amazed that tracks like "Autotune Baby" were officially released.

Hard Candy is my favorite for the same reasons as this person; its cohesive and overall solid production, good features and a great tour as well.

I feel the same way about RH. Unfortunately, due to the leaks they had to rush everything. Not only does the album feel a bit "bloated", but there are several sound mixing issues in a few songs (Holy Water bridge, Best Night ending, Ghosttown glitches). Moreover, I prefer the original demos of "Rebel Heart" & "Wash all over me" and I wish that songs like Queen, Heaven & Tragic Girl had made it on the final track-list. Nevertheless, it's a beautiful, diverse collection of songs she poured her heart into.

Hard Candy gets so much shit from fans, it's surreal. I will never stop defending it, lol.

I have a great feeling about MAGIC. It seems like she's found her muse once again and aspires to deliver a more adventurous, artistically challenging and timeless record. Fingers crossed! 

[Bat-Fan 1,167]

3 hours ago, PâtisseriexEnthusiast said:

I feel the same way about RH. Unfortunately, due to the leaks they had to rush everything. Not only does the album feel a bit "bloated", but there are several sound mixing issues in a few songs (Holy Water bridge, Best Night ending, Ghosttown glitches). Moreover, I prefer the original demos of "Rebel Heart" & "Wash all over me" and I wish that songs like Queen, Heaven & Tragic Girl had made it on the final track-list. Nevertheless, it's a beautiful, diverse collection of songs she poured her heart into.

Hard Candy gets so much shit from fans, it's surreal. I will never stop defending it, lol.

I have a great feeling about MAGIC. It seems like she's found her muse once again and aspires to deliver a more adventurous, artistically challenging and timeless record. Fingers crossed! 

It is true that Hard Candy got  much hate but  the hate came mostly from fans, it seems the general public liked it and casual fans also. It was the hardcore fans that were ruthless. It is a fine and fun album.

[Guest PâtisseriexEnthusiast]

3 hours ago, Bat-Fan said:

It is true that Hard Candy got  much hate but  the hate came mostly from fans, it seems the general public liked it and casual fans also. It was the hardcore fans that were ruthless. It is a fine and fun album.

Exactly! That’s what’s killing me. Even the freaking critics loved it. I’ve seen fans criticizing the artwork (I love the cover + whole concept of boxer meets Candyland / toughness / softness), her collaborators (She + Pharrell worked so harmoniously on this record, + I love the JT & Kanye tracks), the tour (makes 0% sense to me, since M was an absolut BEAST in S&S).

But it’s fine, you will never please everyone. 

I just wish they weren’t so nasty about things they don’t like that she does, + always reminiscing about the past eras.

[Bat-Fan 1,167]

So Rebel Heart seems to kick the other two albums ass

[Bat-Fan 1,167]

Lets bump it up

[FrozenYoghurt 66]

Hard Candy isn’t even bad. Has some nice grooves, even if it feels more like a Timbaland/Pharrell album. 

[fernando2 38]

mdna and mdna tour worst: mdna tour dvd

[NickiFinn 300]

rebel  heart > mdna >hard candy

[Calisandro 6]

MDNA

Rebel Heart

Hard Candy

 

[wylkhan_iks 17]

1. MDNA is my favorite. I have pleasure to hear each song of this album

2. Hard Candy

3. Rebel Heart : Good songs (Devil Pray, HeartBreakCity, Iconic) but also the worst songs of Madonna (Bitch I'm Madonna, Unapologetic Bitch, Body Shop... awful !)

 

[miri1912 115]

1. MDNA   2. Rebel Heart  3. Hard Candy

[Turuncan 737]

On 1/28/2019 at 3:16 AM, L-U-V said:

RH - this wins for the songwriting

HC - catchy af

MDNA - 90% trash

Word by word.

[Nick 2,357]

I ended up choosing Hard Candy, maybe for the nostalgia factor. I still like Rebel Heart but Hard Candy takes it for me. 4 Minutes, Devil Wouldn't Recognize You, Voices and She's Not Me are some of my favs from HC.

[X-static=Process 76]

well, in my opinion it is:

1 - MDNA

2 - Hard Candy

3 - Rebel Heart 

[luckystar1983 623]

Hard Candy (best)

Rebel Heart

MDNA

[steady75 9,559]

Something about Hard Candy feels so soulless. The album just feels empty and devoid of Madonna. A contract filler. Madonna didn't serve a single look all era.  4 Minutes, Give It 2 Me and Beat Goes On are so far above the rest in quality it's jarring. Candy Shop is a stain on her discography. 

MDNA is bizzare because it's largely trash except for the highs of  LoveSpent  and I'm A Sinner. I do however feel like it says more about Madonna as an album than Hardy Candy and I love the Femme Fatale Russ Meyers styling.  There's a solid album in there it's just undercooked and she needed never to record embarrassing songs like Superstar and BDay Song. Girl Gone Wild is a bopp but it's very unMadonna. I actually love GMAYL unironically. 

Even the faceless tracks on MDNA feel better than those on Hard Candy. I'd take Some Girls over Heartbeat anyday. 

Rebel Heart wins hands down for me. It's imperfect due to the leaks and time constraints etc but I can hear her ambition again and there's some killer songs.

1. Bitch I'm Madonna
2. Holy Water
3. Devil Pray
4. Illuminati
5. Unapologetic Bitch
6. Body Shop
7. Joan Of Arc
8. Heartbreak City
9. Best Night
10. Borrowed Time
11. Veni Vidi Vici
12. Ghosttown
13. Rebel Heart

Is an absolutely solid Madonna album up there with some of her best. 

 

 

 

[momosfantasy 945]

On 3/16/2019 at 4:52 PM, steady75 said:

Something about Hard Candy feels so soulless. The album just feels empty and devoid of Madonna. A contract filler. Madonna didn't serve a single look all era.  4 Minutes, Give It 2 Me and Beat Goes On are so far above the rest in quality it's jarring. Candy Shop is a stain on her discography. 

MDNA is bizzare because it's largely trash except for the highs of  LoveSpent  and I'm A Sinner. I do however feel like it says more about Madonna as an album than Hardy Candy and I love the Femme Fatale Russ Meyers styling.  There's a solid album in there it's just undercooked and she needed never to record embarrassing songs like Superstar and BDay Song. Girl Gone Wild is a bopp but it's very unMadonna. I actually love GMAYL unironically. 

Even the faceless tracks on MDNA feel better than those on Hard Candy. I'd take Some Girls over Heartbeat anyday. 

Rebel Heart wins hands down for me. It's imperfect due to the leaks and time constraints etc but I can hear her ambition again and there's some killer songs.

1. Bitch I'm Madonna
2. Holy Water
3. Devil Pray
4. Illuminati
5. Unapologetic Bitch
6. Body Shop
7. Joan Of Arc
8. Heartbreak City
9. Best Night
10. Borrowed Time
11. Veni Vidi Vici
12. Ghosttown
13. Rebel Heart

Is an absolutely solid Madonna album up there with some of her best. 

 

 

 

This!!  I think Rebel Heart is really ambitious, and I wish the record company had let her run with the original 2 album concept.  I think some of the best songs she's ever done are on that album (Inside Out is killer, though I admit I do much prefer the demo version, same with Holy Water, and the production of Devil Pray is amazing).  I also don't understand all the hate towards MDNA, there are a lot of great songs there (I'm Addicted, Beautiful Killer, Love Spent, Falling Free, Some Girls, Masterpiece), and even the ones that aren't first tier songs are pretty enjoyable.  Superstar and Turn Up the Radio are the only two truly weak links IMO.  Even B-Day Song is fun and goofy.  I don't think it's meant to be taken all that seriously.  Hard Candy, for reasons I've explained elsewhere, is just not a good album.  I think every song she didn't use (Animal, Across the Sky, Pala Tute) are better than every song that DID make the cut, with the exception of Devil Wouldn't Recognize You.  To me, the problems with Hard Candy are summed up in that interview with Timbaland where he says "There's this one song...It’s saying stuff named after coffee – all these different names for coffee – is the hook.  The name of the song is 'La La' ".  When you have such a massive disconnect between the artist and the producer, to the point where the guy isn't even aware that she's singing in another language and not about Sanka, there's a pretty big red flag.  And to me, it truly shows in the finished album.

[rlittler81 1,601]

I feel Hard Candy is the most cohesive out of the 3, no endless track list variations or rather pointless bonus tracks and limited to 2 or 3 producers but the songs sound like someone else's to me.Chasing trends for the first time rather than creating them. The beginning of the end? 'Candy Shop' has become a favourite song of mine though... please don't hate me!

MDNA I loved when I first heard it but now I struggle to listen to it all the way through... songs like Gimme All Your Luvin and Superstar... just too silly. I was disappointed in William Orbit's production, too poppy and generic EDM. I really do love the MDNA tour though.

I voted Rebel Heart as I feel the songs were stronger and M focused more on the songwriting this time. I'm not massively impressed with the production of the album but I feel it has the most songs that I like. I love the album cover too.