Discussion: eXperimental music

[Shoful 8,549]

Okay so I just realized this all of my favorite albums of Madonna, the experimental ones, all have some huge relationship to the letter X!

Erotica ~ SEX (Which we know she originally wanted to call X and has a huge X symbol on the book)

American Life ~ X- Static Process (Exhibit, Book, and song were pretty prominent during that era)

Madame X ~ Need I say more lol

Does she relate the letter X to her more experimental work? I wonder why that letter. Any thoughts? Am i reaching or being delusional?

[PlayPause 2,675]

The letter X is traditionally associated with prohibition and taboo, it's a short sign for "pornography", "sex" or "sexual content". Originally, It is a cross, a basic symbol with multiple meanings, between sacred and religious, banishment and censorship. Also, "x" is the unknown in a mathematical equation, materializing the mystery bound to be solved. It's the shape of a human body spreading its limbs. So yes, like many other writers and designers, her art connects with the X.

[Semtex1 840]

Interesting ....

Roman numeral for the number 10, a kiss, a cross, a letter that teachers force us to find.

Signifying the end of something—an entity whose existence is over, past, dead, and gone. ... X as a sign of the cross where Christ was crucified, or for Christ himself. But this symbol, or marker, can also be understood as a “crossing over” to another dimension: a transcendence, transformation, or transmigration.

 

[proxy 2,560]

Hmm, that's really interesting, I think you''ve got a point there. 

[Blue Prince 995]

No you are not delusional. And while in Erotica it's about the sex, the taboo, the prohibition, I think the other two have an X symbolising their more futuristic nature as well as her wandering through uncharted territory musically. 

Interestingly enough all three have been a career low of hers commercially as they sold the fewest copies of all previous studio albums.

Music and Ray of light are pretty experimental too so I believe that X definitely leans to the dark side somehow, as those two are happier records, more acceptable ones. She might be using X when she is accessing thoughts inside her that she may feel guilty about or scared to tell others.

[Bobo 1,218]

The power of apophenia. 

[Régine Filange 2,582]

12 minutes ago, PatrickSamuel said:

The power of apophenia.

She is the epitome of a commercial artist. She takes what's current in underground scenes and puts a commercial spin on it in order to sell. I don't know why she's viewed as experimental.

Cuz trying new things is called 'experimenting', it doesn't matter if it's popular or not 

[Loki 227]

Kabbalah, here we go again. The linguistic history of the letter X is very nice: both the symbol and the pronunciation come from Greek, in particular the pronunciation descends from the letter χ, but the symbol comes from the letter ξ. This last symbol originates from the Phoenician letter samech. The letter samech is still present in the Hebrew alphabet as the 15th one, ס. According to Kabbalah, the circular shape represents the infinite power of Ein Sof, the infinite light of God. Ein Sof is also the emanator of the ten Sefirot, the energy emanations that form the famous Tree of Life. Back to the topic, the relationship between American Life and Kabbalah is very evident: the original title should have been Ein Sof, the Tree of Life is quoted in 'Nothing Fails' and, as you noticed, the letter X is present in one of the titles. Madame X is a damned challenge: in my opinion in this case the letter X is still related to the Tree of Life, but we have to consider the biblical interpretation of it as the tree of knowledge of good and evil, the tree of duality. If we consider it, it's easy to explain the sense of songs like 'Killer who are partying', especially the line 'do you know who you are? ', but in general the sense of the album: Madame is everyone and at the same time she is none. This is duality, isn't it?

[MDRA 4,222]

15 hours ago, Semtex1 said:

X as a sign of the cross where Christ was crucified, or for Christ himself. 

I thought jc was a fish...

[Mateusz Klimecki 91]

She always loved to tribute legend X, aka Xtina  

Edited January 31, 2021 by Mateusz Klimecki (see edit history)

[Semtex1 840]

1 hour ago, Jakey said:

I thought jc was a fish...

I love fish...i really love them...but how can you have a relationship with a fish....

[Voguerista 11,738]

On 1/30/2021 at 11:07 AM, Shoful said:

Okay so I just realized this all of my favorite albums of Madonna, the experimental ones, all have some huge relationship to the letter X!

Erotica ~ SEX (Which we know she originally wanted to call X and has a huge X symbol on the book)

American Life ~ X- Static Process (Exhibit, Book, and song were pretty prominent during that era)

Madame X ~ Need I say more lol

Does she relate the letter X to her more experimental work? I wonder why that letter. Any thoughts? Am i reaching or being delusional?

Wow I never thought about it like this, but being she’s superstitious and into Kabbalah, tarot, astrology, numerology, etc, I wouldn’t be surprised if this were true. 

[Karma 2,818]

I just wanna say that I love the way that you stan Madame X, that album is a masterpiece and you SHOULD say it, yasss@Shoful!

[Shoful 8,549]

8 minutes ago, Karma said:

I just wanna say that I love the way that you stan Madame X, that album is a masterpiece and you SHOULD say it, yasss@Shoful!

YESSSS! I unapologetically stan the crap out of Madame X! I constantly berate my friends with Madame X songs and gif whether they LIKE IT OR NOT!