Jump to content

Ten reasons I loved (and love and defend) the MDNA era, 10 years later, despite the criticism.


Drownedboy
 Share

Recommended Posts

47 minutes ago, thegoldencalf said:

I think you’re rewriting history.

In 2011 Gaga released Born This Way. And while the release and lead single were pretty huge due to the most expensive marketing campaign at the time, after that the album failed and she got a ton of mainstream criticism for Judas with people saying she was copying Madonna again, by tackling religion. 
Then the tour flopped in 2012 when she faked her hip injury. 
And then in 2013 she was back with artpop that was a complete mess in terms of promotion and flopped as well.

Meanwhile, while MDNA wasn’t a huge success, Madonna was on top of her game. I doubt she had any interest in making that album a hit since it was rushed messy and badly promoted. 
But her SB appearance and tour were huge successes that Gaga could only dream of at the time

"Born This Way" didn't fail. At all. She sold millions of albums and was everywhere in 2011, the biggest female pop artist in the world that year, with Katy Perry and Rihanna. A quick Wikipedia check will tell you that, as of 2021, the album has more than 5.8 billion global streams, 5.2 million physical copies sold and 31 million digital tracks sold (source: https://hitsdailydouble.com/news&id=326596&title+WEST-HOLLYWOOD-GOES-GAGA-FOR-GAGA).

So yeah, let's not rewrite history just because you don't like a certain artist.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 178
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Posts

Drownedboy

1)Loved the Tour, the only time I have seen her, in Barcelona and she was flawless and the show amazing and was a total success for her. 2)The Superbowl perfomance: awesome, iconic, loved by everybody and a total success. 3)The cover of the album: one of her most beautiful ever. 4)The album itself:oks, I could do without Birthday song or I fucked it up, and I never quite liked the first single, even though it was fun and a success, but at the end MDNA mixed all the Madonnas (the f

Roland Barthes

It's still a shit album and its masters should be sent into the sun to burn in it forever. I've never hated a madonna song ever before girl gone Wild and i still do. The whole era was her trying to compete with Gaga meaning she lowered herself to her awful asthetics and putrid dance music from a worst of the 90's compilation. It's badly written, badly recorded, badly produced, badly mixed and badly mastered. The cover is beautiful though. So is the whole photoshoot. The tour is messy, it's like

Prayer

Great dance-pop album and probably her last album with the whole pop world watching and paying attention. Amazing tour. Terrible promotion. The lack of a proper marketing team from the label behind her was noticeable here. This album with Warner would have been managed differently. The whole concept of the "DNA of M" was too cool to not use it. It's funny how some fans complained that she didn't do pop/dance with "Hard Candy" but later complained too when she was back to it on "MDNA". She r

Posted Images

21 minutes ago, Prayer said:

"Born This Way" didn't fail. At all. She sold millions of albums and was everywhere in 2011, the biggest female pop artist in the world that year, with Katy Perry and Rihanna. A quick Wikipedia check will tell you that, as of 2021, the album has more than 5.8 billion global streams, 5.2 million physical copies sold and 31 million digital tracks sold (source: https://hitsdailydouble.com/news&id=326596&title+WEST-HOLLYWOOD-GOES-GAGA-FOR-GAGA).

So yeah, let's not rewrite history just because you don't like a certain artist.

yeah but was she utterly brilliant ?to be honest i have always found it unfair to compare the two ..lets compare madonnas second album to gagas second album..im pretty certain at 50 gags wont be able to compare to new artists so lets just leave it at that - gaga had a huge advantage ..air play and youth and madonna has been cancelled countless times in her career ..i dont think any artist destroyed madonnas career especially not gaga

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, beautifulkiller said:

yeah but was she utterly brilliant ?to be honest i have always found it unfair to compare the two ..lets compare madonnas second album to gagas second album..im pretty certain at 50 gags wont be able to compare to new artists so lets just leave it at that - gaga had a huge advantage ..air play and youth 

I'm not comparing her with Madonna, or the "Born This Way" album with "MDNA". In fact, while I liked both at the time, I enjoyed "MDNA" much, much more than "BTW".

But saying 2011 Gaga was a failure is, simply, not true. She was on top of the world still.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 minutes ago, Prayer said:

"Born This Way" didn't fail. At all. She sold millions of albums and was everywhere in 2011, the biggest female pop artist in the world that year, with Katy Perry and Rihanna. A quick Wikipedia check will tell you that, as of 2021, the album has more than 5.8 billion global streams, 5.2 million physical copies sold and 31 million digital tracks sold (source: https://hitsdailydouble.com/news&id=326596&title+WEST-HOLLYWOOD-GOES-GAGA-FOR-GAGA).

So yeah, let's not rewrite history just because you don't like a certain artist.

First of all BTW and Artpop are some of my all time favorite albums. 
Born This Way album and song sold very well because she was riding the wave of Fame Monster and it had the most expensive marketing campaign ever. I remember reading somewhere that interscope never really made their money back from the sales. And then they had a way more restrained budget for Artpop that sent Gaga spiraling into depression.
But Judas, You And I and Marry The Night underperformed terribly. And so did the tour…

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, Prayer said:

I'm not comparing her with Madonna, or the "Born This Way" album with "MDNA". In fact, while I liked both at the time, I enjoyed "MDNA" much, much more than "BTW".

But saying 2011 Gaga was a failure is, simply, not true. She was on top of the world still.

oh it was deffo not a failure but it was hard for her to top the fame/monster and she had hit her peak with the fame monster i believe ..anyway i still dont believe that gags had anything to do with mdna not selling well ...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

33 minutes ago, Prayer said:

"Born This Way" didn't fail. At all. She sold millions of albums and was everywhere in 2011, the biggest female pop artist in the world that year, with Katy Perry and Rihanna. A quick Wikipedia check will tell you that, as of 2021, the album has more than 5.8 billion global streams, 5.2 million physical copies sold and 31 million digital tracks sold (source: https://hitsdailydouble.com/news&id=326596&title+WEST-HOLLYWOOD-GOES-GAGA-FOR-GAGA).

So yeah, let's not rewrite history just because you don't like a certain artist.

It’s physical sales we’re based on a 99¢ discount on Amazon lol

She was highly criticized for that. Fans and critics alike.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, deathproof said:

It’s physical sales we’re based on a 99¢ discount on Amazon lol

She was highly criticized for that. Fans and critics alike.

I knew the 0,99 excuse was coming, as always.

The 0,99 $ promotion was only on Amazon and on digital (not the physical version) during the first days of the release of "Born This Way". Amazon payed the FULL price for each of those copies to Interscope and assume the loss, to promote Amazon Music digital downloads versus iTunes (the digital music store leader back then). There were 500.000 copies sold on promotion, yes, but A) the record company (and her) got the full amount for those, just like any other copy sold and B) from 6 million sold worldwide, you still got 5,5 million sold at full price, which is hardly a flop either.

I agree that image wise it wasn't the best decision, but Gaga and Interscope got the money and run away with it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 minutes ago, Prayer said:

I knew the 0,99 excuse was coming, as always.

The 0,99 $ promotion was only on Amazon and on digital (not the physical version) during the first days of the release of "Born This Way". Amazon payed the FULL price for each of those copies to Interscope and assume the loss, to promote Amazon Music digital downloads versus iTunes (the digital music store leader back then). There were 500.000 copies sold on promotion, yes, but A) the record company (and her) got the full amount for those, just like any other copy sold and B) from 6 million sold worldwide, you still got 5,5 million sold at full price, which is hardly a flop either.

I agree that image wise it wasn't the best decision, but Gaga and Interscope got the money and run away with it.

I find it funny how even though this is a Madonna forum everyone is really quick to criticize Madonna but god forbid anyone says anything bad about Gaga ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This topic made me want to listen to MDNA in these last days, I got to say I always enjoy this album even more than some of her classics tbh. I don't understand how it is considered THAT bad. It might be uninspired and less heartfelt but it's a well crafted fun dance album Imo. And the ballads are God tier imo

Dancing Queen Happy Dance GIF

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just my two cents...

if anyone has been harmed (in the long run) by the whole BTW "madonna inspiration/copycat" etc. it was Gaga. Think about it: Madonna has her body of work to prove that she was the source of inspiration of a lot of Gaga's stuff (in many levels). She has her status of "Queen of Pop" quite well cemented (not sure that is the correct word). Even if younger generations don't know much about her, when they discover her, they themselves see her uniqueness, her drive, her incomparable strength as a live performer, her intelligence and discipline. Just look at all those kids reviewing her work on youtube, and hear their comments. They all fall for her and feel Madonna's power, no matter how old the work they are reviewing is.

Meanwhile, Gaga's continuous switch of genres, image, etc. started showing its shallowness, mainly by her own wrongdoing in interviews ("i have always been a -introduce a certain genre- at heart since teenagehood") After a few times of saying that...people stop believing its authenticity.

Plus, her audience proved to be less adaptable to those genre changes than Madonna's fans. And I think that is because no matter what genre Madonna explored, she always made it her own, with a few exceptions obviously.

Gaga could have been unique, but she never explored her own talent/inspiration to its fullest. She got distracted. And her live concerts have always had a huge problem in dynamics and come across as too try hard. Whatever message she may have wanted to deliver  (if there was any), it got diluted by gimmicks. 

Gaga is talented, no doubt about it. But i don't think she has that thing that has made Madonna have a long-lasting and successful career, and such a "love her/hate her" kinda thing that Madonna has. 

They are very different artists. I just think Gaga has never found her "artistic soul" because she was too busy following what Interscope suggested. While Madonna...well, we know, she will do whatever she feels is right for her, even if that alienates her fandom. And that is why I still respect her and follow her after all these years: she is and has always been nothing but Madonna.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They’re both ace. 
but we are specifically talking about MDNA era and the absence of Madonnna for four years when the music industry was changing massively. 
Gags just filled that void. 
Madonna ended her entire career contract with Warner and delivered a massively sub par greatest hits. This after Give It 2 Me and Celebration video cheapness. While Gaga was delivering titans like Bad Romance, Alejandro, Telephone and the four slick vids prior to that. The Miles Away release fiasco, the poor revolver mastering. The hailing of a return to form album with master creator William Orbit and what did we get to compete with Gags ever increasing Rosta of bopps. 
GMAYL / Girl Gone Wild and Turd On The Radio. 
 

At a time where she should have been begging for the GP to come to her shows she delivers the most horrid Spikey un GP friendly set list ever for MDNA. 
 

Madge was all over the place and it smacked of complacency. She put all her eggs in a W.E. shaped basket and when that didn’t change her course she thought shit I’d better make the tour a visual feast. Yes the tour was hard graft and visually stunning but it was cold and Uninviting. I am a die hard Madonna fan. DIE HARD!! But I tuned into Gags out of curiosity and went to two of her concerts. If you think they weren’t anything less than insanely brilliant and thrilling with off the charts energy in the flesh then I don’t know what to tell you. Similarly Sticky & Sweet and MDNA left me cold. That’s just personal taste. 
 

The expectation to see what Madge did with MDNA was huge and at a time when she really really needed to deliver she blew it. And somewhere in the background Bey was finally getting her ducks in a row to eviscerate them both in terms of visuals, music and omni presence for the next six years. 

 

The energy she put into Rebel Heart more than made up for MDNA and had this album come out instead of MDNA we’d be having a different conversation. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/8/2022 at 6:23 PM, steady75 said:

The hailing of a return to form album with master creator William Orbit and what did we get to compete with Gags ever increasing Rosta of bopps. 
GMAYL / Girl Gone Wild and Turd On The Radio. 

At a time where she should have been begging for the GP to come to her shows she delivers the most horrid Spikey un GP friendly set list ever for MDNA. 

The expectation to see what Madge did with MDNA was huge and at a time when she really really needed to deliver she blew it. 

The energy she put into Rebel Heart more than made up for MDNA and had this album come out instead of MDNA we’d be having a different conversation. 

Nail on head! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wish people would stop going on about bloody, Lady Gaga. The OP was talking about why they love MDNA, I'm fed up seeing Gaga as a comparison, they're not the same, there's only one queen and that's, Madonna, end of.

Now, about MDNA, I've always liked the album, in fact, I'll stream it later.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One more thing to say about: MDNA had rave reviews when it came. So for those who trash the whole thing, ok, but it´s your opinion or your taste of your view.

 

Oh, and what´s more: I disagree she was not involved and she recorded external demos very little related to If it was the case, she then changed then in order to fit the living moment at the time, as it features very personal songs that tell you the whole trip Madonna had been since her divorce. In fact, to me it is one of her most personal albums ever, and it feautures a journey and an emotional arc, with the start, the middle, and the end: making peace with the guy, in her mind. Give me MDNA any time before Erotica. Her soprano voice is at its most beautiful on Falling free.

Edited by Drownedboy (see edit history)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, kesiak said:

64/100 average on Metacritic hardly screams "rave reviews" :).

It actually received some good reviews that really got the "all over the place post divorce" mood of the album. I agree that the album is very personal in some parts and anyone that has gone through a divorce or a nasty breakup knows that all those moods are part of the aftermath: feeling free, adventurous and silly, but also deeply hurt and resentful at the same time.

I love this one from "Rolling Stone" and think it's pretty much on point:

madonna-mdna-rolling-stone-review-music-1517035769.jpg

The singles were not that personal (we can discuss about "Girl Gone Wild", though) but most of the album was.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Write here...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share


×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use