MADONNA AND WARNER MUSIC GROUP ANNOUNCE MILESTONE, CAREER-SPANNING PARTNERSHIP!!

[Prayer 14,361]

To be honest, if there's an album that can give us tons of unreleased material, that's "Hard Candy".

...

...

And "Rebel Heart", of course. 

[Andreo 5,323]

14 minutes ago, aitorelao said:

Hard Candy's unreleased tracks are FIRE. Across The Sky and Animal are better than most of the album tracks and the second one was single material.

I genuinely had goosebumps the first time I listened to Across The Sky. Sounded like the greatest album song you could ever imagine + it's super bittersweet and mature. Obsessed with it, it's so good that even fans who hate the album love this track 

[Jackie 8,072]

37 minutes ago, Andreo said:

I genuinely had goosebumps the first time I listened to Across The Sky. Sounded like the greatest album song you could ever imagine + it's super bittersweet and mature. Obsessed with it, it's so good that even fans who hate the album love this track 

Agree - it was a travesty that it wasn’t included !

[Andreo 5,323]

33 minutes ago, Jackie said:

Agree - it was a travesty that it wasn’t included !

Incredibile and Spanish Lesson must be a better artistic output to her, I guess 

[Prayer 14,361]

"Across The Sky" is great but also super similar to "Miles Away" - meaning just one of them could be on the album and "Miles Away" is the superior song.

But yeah, I love the song and would love to see it officially released.

[steady75 9,570]

Remove the War Narrative from the American Life video and the era would have been a hit and been framed completely differently. It’s simply down to that. 
It’s a midlife crisis album with a very well constructed theme. Hard Candy is

“I’m getting divorced lol”

”is this marriage over already?  lol”

”see my booty get down like. Lol”

 

[Jackie 8,072]

59 minutes ago, steady75 said:

Remove the War Narrative from the American Life video and the era would have been a hit and been framed completely differently. It’s simply down to that. 
It’s a midlife crisis album with a very well constructed theme. Hard Candy is

“I’m getting divorced lol”

”is this marriage over already?  lol”

”see my booty get down like. Lol”

 

lol and I’m super horny and need cock album lol

[Roy 7,613]

Just now, Jackie said:

lol and I’m super horny and need cock album lol

That is 1/3rd of Rebel Heart and Erotica. 

Rebel Heart is:

"let's start a revolution, maderpakers!"

"i love you bby"

"i wanna juggle them bawls, daddy"

 

Erotica is:

"i'm in bdsm horny jail lel"

"fahk that betch for leaving me"

"can't we all love and unite against pain and suffering?"

[lap 1,495]

1 hour ago, steady75 said:

Remove the War Narrative from the American Life video and the era would have been a hit and been framed completely differently. It’s simply down to that. 
It’s a midlife crisis album with a very well constructed theme. Hard Candy is

“I’m getting divorced lol”

”is this marriage over already?  lol”

”see my booty get down like. Lol”

 

Yes, that's what I think. If American Life was named Hollywood (as first single), Nothing Fails (second), Love Profusion (third) and Nobody Knows Me or Mother and Father (fourth) and another artwork, and the horrible American Life song and the video war theme weren't a part of the tracklist (it could be It's so cool song instead), I think things would be worked better for her. 

[50ft Queenie 2,787]

Even though its not usually acknowledged as such, American Life was the beginning of the end in many ways. Not only did its themes permanently damage her appeal in US markets but the worst thing of all was that it was the end of her taking new and creative directions for some time. This meant that she could only have massively successful records by pandering to current trends to act as damage control which is exactly what Confessions was even if some fans don't want to admit it. By the time Hard Candy rolled around, the pandering had reached levels that began to seriously hurt her artistic credibility.

[Roy 7,613]

2 minutes ago, lap said:

Yes, that's what I think. If American Life was named Hollywood (as first single), Nothing Fails (second), Love Profusion (third) and Nobody Knows Me or Mother and Father (fourth) and another artwork, and the horrible American Life song and the video war theme weren't a part of the tracklist (it could be It's so cool song instead), I think things would be worked better for her. 

Then again, the US political climate at that time was incredibly aggressive so she wants to say something about it. It did not translate well to the US audiences, sadly. :(

[50ft Queenie 2,787]

8 minutes ago, vadge said:

And that's why Madame X is such a revelation.

Madame X is just not my thing although anyone can clearly see she was inspired while creating it. Feels like the first album she had done in some time for her own satisfaction. I respect the effort, unfortunately it could have been much better if it was not so narratively incoherent and out of touch.

[steady75 9,570]

Fuck these 16/25/18 track records every four years. Give me a 10 tracks concise affair every 2.5 years. There’s nothing that’s been said on the last three albums that couldn’t have been done in 10 tracks.

These weird deluxe versions on day of release affairs, rendering two albums worth of material pretty much dead after release day. I ain’t a fan of it. Madame X was better delivered but Hard Candy through to Rebel Heart was ill considered and the “gaming” of the albums for maximum sales with bundles and such really didn’t give the material space and time  to breathe. It was pile em high, sell em quick and abandon til the tour comes round. 

 

 

[Starchild 3,077]

Fuck these 16/25/18 track records every four years. Give me a 10 tracks concise affair every 2.5 years. There’s nothing that’s been said on the last three albums that couldn’t have been done in 10 tracks.
These weird deluxe versions on day of release affairs, rendering two albums worth of material pretty much dead after release day. I ain’t a fan of it. Madame X was better delivered but Hard Candy through to Rebel Heart was ill considered and the “gaming” of the albums for maximum sales with bundles and such really didn’t give the material space and time  to breathe. It was pile em high, sell em quick and abandon til the tour comes round. 

 
 

Agreed.
If you need to release an album with more than 12-14 songs, you are compensating for LQ music.
It’s very transparent and beneath her, I presumed.

[Pootz333 2,690]

"Spanish Lesson" > The entire Madame X era. Quote someone else. Quote your eyebrows.

American Life would have done better without the title track/video, but still would have had a hard time in the US. I loved it from the first time I heard it, sitting on the sidewalk overnight to see her at Tower Records. But you cannot convince me that any of those songs would have been mainstream HITS here. That was the last time her sound was truly experimental, no matter what the Madame X stans say.

If she released Hard Candy in '03, it would be considered one of her best. Any song from that album would have popped all the way off in the US at the time.

 

[Jackie 8,072]

1 hour ago, Pootz333 said:

"Spanish Lesson" > The entire Madame X era. Quote someone else. Quote your eyebrows.

American Life would have done better without the title track/video, but still would have had a hard time in the US. I loved it from the first time I heard it, sitting on the sidewalk overnight to see her at Tower Records. But you cannot convince me that any of those songs would have been mainstream HITS here. That was the last time her sound was truly experimental, no matter what the Madame X stans say.

If she released Hard Candy in '03, it would be considered one of her best. Any song from that album would have popped all the way off in the US at the time.

 

I agree actually, Hollywood could have been massive if it was the lead single - it was made for Radio (as in perfect for radio).

But Nothing Fails, Love Profusion - not so much. 

[Sultrysully 2,865]

4 hours ago, lap said:

Yes, that's what I think. If American Life was named Hollywood (as first single), Nothing Fails (second), Love Profusion (third) and Nobody Knows Me or Mother and Father (fourth) and another artwork, and the horrible American Life song and the video war theme weren't a part of the tracklist (it could be It's so cool song instead), I think things would be worked better for her. 

American Life is a great track.  It is the grown up version of Music.  

[deathproof 10,607]

18 minutes ago, Sultrysully said:

American Life is a great track.  It is the grown up version of Music.  

What

[50ft Queenie 2,787]

4 hours ago, Sultrysully said:

American Life is a great track.  It is the grown up version of Music.  

If American Life is the grown up version of Music lets hope Madonna will become a child again.

[Prayer 14,361]

7 hours ago, lap said:

Yes, that's what I think. If American Life was named Hollywood (as first single), Nothing Fails (second), Love Profusion (third) and Nobody Knows Me or Mother and Father (fourth) and another artwork, and the horrible American Life song and the video war theme weren't a part of the tracklist (it could be It's so cool song instead), I think things would be worked better for her. 

As much as I love "Hollywood", it's not lead single material at all, at least not in the form we know it. But yes, "American Life" song and video killed the album (and I loved them both).

[steady75 9,570]

Nobody Knows Me 

Nothing Fails

Mother & Father

Intervention 

Hollywood

 

American Life is the first Madonna era where the singles were all wrong. That was a big part of its image problem 

[MattyMads 5,515]

IMO American life singles should have been

1. Nobody Knows me

2. Hollywood

3. Intervention

4. Love Profusion (maybe a 4th single)

[MattyMads 5,515]

It's a shame her people or even her didn't put feelers out on forums or even did votes on her website for single releases, chart outcomes might have been a lot different if she listened to fans and not people around her.

[theglamorous 4,088]

imo Die Another Day would have been a better album opener

[Pootz333 2,690]

14 hours ago, Jackie said:

I agree actually, Hollywood could have been massive if it was the lead single - it was made for Radio (as in perfect for radio).

But Nothing Fails, Love Profusion - not so much. 

I can't say for sure but I don't think that even Hollywood would have been massive. Unless the theme, imagery, production on the album were completely different, I'll never know. It's very fun to ponder. The musical landscape in America at the time was one that I don't think would really embrace anything from that album. The US GP was not checking for electro folk. 

Even Confessions had a hard time here.