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The Top Three Madonna Albums That Best Represents Her and Her Career


Voguerista
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Voguerista

Hi Hi. Question: If you were to name THREE of Madonna's albums (excluding her greatest hits) that best represent her and her career as a whole at this time, which would you choose and why? (If you can't stop at three, you can name more) I would choose Like A Prayer (for the emotion, the controversy, and religious aspect), Ray Of Light (for the complete mix up from her previous albums, the spiritual and life journey, and the experimental sound. Also, for her beauty and creative Geisha style)

Karma

From an objective standpoint, I'd pick 1. Madonna - The album that established her as primarily as a dance-pop artist, the most representative music genre throughout her career (Confessions On A Dance Floor, Hard Candy, MDNA, Like A Virgin, True Blue). 2. Like A Prayer - Her first conceptual album, when she officially became an "adult" artist and proved her abbility to tackle political and social themes through her work (Erotica, Bedtime Stories, American Life, Rebel Heart, Madame X

Husam Elzien

1. Like a Virgin: The album that really catapulted Madonna into the mainstream conscious. 2. Like a Prayer: The album/era that really solidified her staying power in music and pop culture 3. Ray of Light: The album that maintained that even though motherhood and Kabbalah softened her, she was still the HBIC of the music industry despite being amongst the rise of teen-pop/bubblegum-pop/boy bands/girl groups. Honourable mention: Confessions on a Dancefloor  Those three albums a

Being objective is not so easy, I'll do my best:

1.Like a Prayer: a rational psychological essay about herself. Thematically, the primigenial seed of her following albums: love, marriage, mourning, death, religion.

2.Ray of Light/Music: confessions from a mother, a wife. Ray of Light is her religious rebirth, Music is her love/marriage rebirth. It's astonishing to think they're her sole albums infused with a little bit of joy and happiness.

3.Amerocan Life: her dark turning point. By it, her melancholic vein prevails over all. Mystical and escatological elements pervade her performances and visuals, meanwhile her albums are filled with apocalyptic/dystopian concepts. 

Honorable mention: Erotica. Apart from the sex theme, her definitive album about love: impossible, melancholic, painful. A look to her as a human being behind the curtains of her success.

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Like a Prayer

Ray of Light

Confessions on a Dance Floor

These are her three most autobiographical, honest and acclaimed albums. They represent undeniable popularity and artistic peaks in her career. All three of them also seems somewhat interrelated. Confessions has an incredible amount of nods to both of these albums and it just feels like coming full circle with these three.

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True Blue
Because it shows her as an 80s pop icon (and the album is actually REALLY good)

Ray of Light
Because it best shows how she re-invented herself, and it shows her growing older with grace and the album is just amazing

Like a Prayer
Because of the controversy, but also it's when she started being more personal in her lyrics (which I guess can be said about certain songs on True Blue as well, but not that much)

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What a great question ! I really don't know ! Cos I'm not sure her best album best represents her and best represents her carrer.

If I have to think about an album that represents her, I straight away think about American Life. COADF is def one of her most successful albums, but would I say it best represents her ? No way.

So interesting only @steady75named Music (I love your description of BS !)

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This a really challenging (yet, fun) task— I have even avoided it since the topic started, because I keep going back and forth with the issue of WHO Madonna IS and WHAT her career has been, thus far. This takes me back to somehting Sophie said to The Guardian back in 2018 about Madonna and her career: "Each phase seems to be a byproduct of a genuine journey of self-discovery". Indeed, each one of Madonna's albums showcase a different "version" of M; each record providing a new opportunity for the exploration of various (personal and social) issues/concerns and interests. What a privilege, but also what a full life this woman has lived! 

As fans, we also get too caught up with those eras and albums we truly loved and shaped/influenced our lives. So, that represents a challenge too, as perhaps the albums we like the most might not necessarily be the most representiative of who Madonna might be as a person, or even the pinnacle of her creativity or artistry. Also the albums that might represent Madonna better as a person, may not be her most popular albums (often they probably aren't!), but these may also be her most career-defining. So, that contrast is interesting and difficult to "marry" in this top 3 task at hand. That said, let me try to tackle it. I chose the 3 album where I felt Madonna was present at her most genuine, reflective and autoobiographical. Of course, all albums have a bit of that, but these 3 get a lot closer to that, imo:

1. My first choice is actually Madame X. I know hardly anyone on here agrees with me on this, but I truly believe this album provides very interesting insights into who the current Madonna is, but also how she sees herself as an artist. More importantly, we get a rare, honest, reflective and more comfortable version of Madonna as she revisits her past, her own personal story, her career and her overall artistic journey until now. The plethora of musical styles/genres on this album also showcase her versitality, creativity and open-mindedness as a musician—something she's been known for throughout her career. Along with this, it was pretty obvious to me that the visuals (photoshoots, videos, magazines, tour) and obviously the interviews she gave during 2019, continuously paid homage to her early career and work. The video for "Crave", for instance,  was rather simple but also effective in its tribute to early Madonna, in my opinion: the NYC skyscrapers, the mole making a comeback in some shots, her fashion style, the graffitti on the walls... It was like Madame X was on this nostalgic trip back to the early 80s, exploring and revisiting her early days. Even the cover of the album (for the standard and vinyl versions, anyway) has to be one of the most important of her career, as that photo and design are a direct tribute to her mother, but also, undeniably to one of her muses—Frida Kahlo.

2. I pick Like A Prayer as my second one on this list, mainly because, in my opinion, this is the first time Madonna really sat down to seriously reflect on her career and personal life until that point. As a result, she delivered one of her most mature and genuine collection of songs. Through them, we learnt a lot about Madonna's on-going struggles and interest with religion, her recent divorce, and even her very personal complicated relationship with her parents. Equally, she showcased her ability to make the personal, something universal and immensely relatable and even enjoyable to the masses. Indeed, as she delves into rather complicated and taboo subjects, she also managed to move people's core and empower them. Something I have always liked about her: rather than being your usual underdog (which society loves) Madonna has always turned her sadness around and used it as a source of power and strength for herself, as well as for her audience.

3. Lastly, I will pick Ray of Light. Again, this is an album where Madonna truly opened up, and through the exploration of personal stuff—namely, motherhood— she ended up delivering one of her most universally acclaimed albums. I think the album also shocked people, in the sense that it showed them a more relaxed and genuine version of Madonna—one that was far removed from the defensive, distant and intimidating persona she had presented for so many years. This is when she really started to confront issues around fame, self-fulfillment, love and her own ego. She also continued where Like A Prayer left off, and continued her scrutiny on her past, family life and fame. Obviously, it also highlighted, once again, her ability to experiment with different genres, and make them her own in quite revolutionary ways.

Runners up to this list, for me, were Erotica and, yes, Rebel Heart. The former because it best reflected her own take on sex and sexuality (both sooo important thoughout her career), the personal/political and her sense of humour. The latter, because I believe the title Rebel Heart actually does say a lot about Madonna, the person and Madonna, the performance artist. Even at her more rebellious, Madonna is a romantic person (probably, pathetically/tragically so! LOL) and her choices (professional and personal) have always hinted that. Sadly, I always felt the material on Rebel Heart didn't live up to the immense creative possibilities of the album title. 

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