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

[luluthecat 1,114]

3 hours ago, steady75 said:

Aww thanks that was me. Had to do somet to improve it tbh 

https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/EAG1pSkfHw73VNxDA

Heeeeeey YES!!!  It's like you've read my mind, always thought it should open with I'm Addicted and replace GGW with the Justin Cognito mix. What an incredible job you done, gonna have to play the whole thing through proper later. 

Only improvements, I'd add the "Bang bang shot you dead shot my lover in the head...... " chorus from the Kee Club mix, and switch the album mix of Masterpiece for the orchestral/real string version. 

[deathproof 10,608]

56 minutes ago, Shoful said:

I was hoping in retrospective we could all agree this will be Madonna’s worst album ever. She didn’t write like any of the tracks. It sounds like she quickly came in and out down her vocals. Masterpiece is truly the only song worth saving on this album. Yes it’s a fun record but 80% of the songs are intolerable to listen to 

MDNA feels more like a solid album than Rebel Heart, which has always felt like a playlist with random tracks thrown together.

Not saying that either of those albums are “bad” or are her “worst.” I might rank them lower than her other albums.

They just needed some A&R lovin, like the Warner albums.

[deathproof 10,608]

1 hour ago, Shoful said:

Please point me to this remix

You should listen to Orbit’s alternate instrumental

its 100x better than the album. It has such a better flow with a faster pace

 

[steady75 9,570]

24 minutes ago, deathproof said:

 

They just needed some A&R lovin, like the Warner albums.

This. One thing Warner got right. The singles and largely the promo.

[Shoful 8,552]

53 minutes ago, Pootz333 said:

At 3:20

I have TRIED Shoful! I promise! I really enjoy a lot of the remixes (official and unnoficial) and the Vogue spy number is everything. But I just can't. I loved American Life when it came out and bought her children's books! That has yo count for something!?

Okay this is actually really good, it should be on streaming!!!

I accept haha. At least you respect American Life cause that album is AMAZING too! The autotune just hits so good on MX tho ughh, her voice and autotune is a match made in heaven. 

[Shoful 8,552]

33 minutes ago, deathproof said:

You should listen to Orbit’s alternate instrumental

its 100x better than the album. It has such a better flow with a faster pace

Post it B

[Shoful 8,552]

42 minutes ago, deathproof said:

MDNA feels more like a solid album than Rebel Heart, which has always felt like a playlist with random tracks thrown together.

Not saying that either of those albums are “bad” or are her “worst.” I might rank them lower than her other albums.

They just needed some A&R lovin, like the Warner albums.

You know if it ranks as the lowest album of her's by definition that means it's her "worst". 

Rebel Heart is an interesting situation. I like it a lot but I wouldn't rank it one of her better albums. I just like the sound and most songs, but it does fall flat as project overall. I think it really suffers from not being a double album. Like if Rebel and Heart were separate albums I think it would be looked on more fondly because both of those themes are there but they just collide one track after the other. It's kinda jarring.

[deathproof 10,608]

18 minutes ago, Shoful said:

Post it B

Oops was suppose to be in the post

 

[deathproof 10,608]

16 minutes ago, Shoful said:

You know if it ranks as the lowest album of her's by definition that means it's her "worst". 

All her albums, including Evita OST and I’m Breathless are like children. I just can’t hate any of them. I love them all equally for different reasons.

I have moments where I love True Blue, and other days where I think Hard Candy is so spectacular and heartfelt.

[50ft Queenie 2,787]

33 minutes ago, deathproof said:

All her albums, including Evita OST and I’m Breathless are like children. I just can’t hate any of them. I love them all equally for different reasons.

I have moments where I love True Blue, and other days where I think Hard Candy is so spectacular and heartfelt.

While I don't love all her albums, I think some of them are growers. Madame X was not a favorite of mine upon first listen and now I regard it as the best sounding record she has released since Confessions. 

[Pootz333 2,691]

Some more random MDNA thoughts:

I Fucked Up/ Best Friend are a very underrated duo.

The only thing that would have made the Cyberraga/ I'm A Sinner moment even better would have been a guest appearance from Fraggle Rock.

I think the only bad song on the album is Birthday Song.

The tour had the best version of Candy Shop.

I never went to see it live. It's the first M era I can remember having so many videos of people being there for rehearsal. Like I cannot imagine watching her rehearse in front of me and then do the show. It's the most bizarre and fascinating thing to me about that tour/era.

[Drownedboy 1,676]

Agreeing Best Friend for example is very good. It´s just Birthday song is freaky and bad, but it´s in in the extra edition, does not count the same.

I like Rebel Heart, even If I don´t love it, but I agree: too messy, too many songs, some are good, somo not so good, as a whole it´s not a masterpiece. For MDNA it´s much better crafted as a whole thing.

[Pootz333 2,691]

I haven't paid attention to the various editions of her albums from MDNA onwards. I just have all the songs,demos, remixes and listen to what I like. Sometimes I'll be reminded of the songs that were left off the "standard edition" and I'm floored lol

I'll never forgive them for not letting her make Rebel Heart a double album. It was such a great, fresh idea for her that we hadn't experienced before with her. The work would have sounded more cohesive laid out that way.

 

[Drownedboy 1,676]

One question about that era: those like a prayer vocals from the superbowl performance were from 2012? I mean, she sounds amazing on this, but I don´t think the studio vocals were those original from the 89 record. They are more polished and mature but still fresh and shiny. I do love if she had sung more like this one recent recordings if she still can. I think the music vocals were the 2000 original ones. 

[Prayer 14,364]

1 hour ago, Drownedboy said:

One question about that era: those like a prayer vocals from the superbowl performance were from 2012? I mean, she sounds amazing on this, but I don´t think the studio vocals were those original from the 89 record. They are more polished and mature but still fresh and shiny. I do love if she had sung more like this one recent recordings if she still can. I think the music vocals were the 2000 original ones. 

Super Bowl LAP are definitely new vocals and not the 1989 studio ones, in fact watching it again I'm thinking if she's actually singing over her own voice track and both sounds are combined? It all has a double vocal effect that the rest of the songs don't. Thoughts?

 

[chaosmen1984mk 798]

We had to wait until the Mdna Tour to have a spectacular closing tour and it is that in the previous tours none of them satisfied me. She definitely shined with Celebration and that end of the party that we all wanted to last longer and not end. Another thing I liked about this tour was the complex and elaborate choreography that Madonna performed to perfection. The only thing I didn't like and I can't forgive her for is that short version of Papa Don't Preach that I feel would have been the best live version of that song.

Something that surprises me is that while in the Mdna Tour the synchronization in the choreography is impeccable, the same does not happen in the Rebel Heart Tour where I notice Madonna as listless and half executing the original choreography, some examples of this are Bitch I' m Madonna and Living for love where the choreography during the final part of the song, which is simple but elegant and synchronized, is not done neatly by Madonna and is quite noticeable. The only country where the choreography of Bitch Im Madonna was performed as it should be from start to finish was in the Philippines (certainly motivated because it was the first time she had visited that country and the stimulating energy of the public) and as for Living for love, I don't remember where she did it to perfection.  I can't find a reason why her lack of synchronization in the choreographies during the Rebel Heart Tour, maybe it was because of the public that was no longer as enthusiastic as in the previous tours and it's that also ends up influencing the mood of the artist.

[Prayer 14,364]

3 hours ago, chaosmen1984mk said:

Something that surprises me is that while in the Mdna Tour the synchronization in the choreography is impeccable, the same does not happen in the Rebel Heart Tour where I notice Madonna as listless and half executing the original choreography, some examples of this are Bitch I' m Madonna and Living for love where the choreography during the final part of the song, which is simple but elegant and synchronized, is not done neatly by Madonna and is quite noticeable. The only country where the choreography of Bitch Im Madonna was performed as it should be from start to finish was in the Philippines (certainly motivated because it was the first time she had visited that country and the stimulating energy of the public) and as for Living for love, I don't remember where she did it to perfection.  I can't find a reason why her lack of synchronization in the choreographies during the Rebel Heart Tour, maybe it was because of the public that was no longer as enthusiastic as in the previous tours and it's that also ends up influencing the mood of the artist.

She was way more relaxed during the "Rebel Heart Tour"... why? Only she knows. The "MDNA Tour" must have been really hard, so maybe was that, or maybe the reception of the album, or the start of her injuries (I guess it wasn't a 2019 thing and had been going on for years...?)... Also, the Rocco drama in the middle of the tour didn't help, I guess.

Anyway, I always found the "Rebel Heart Tour" kind of an updated "Girlie Show", a more intimate, chill mood - and the start of the new mature 60s Madonna.

[MadameX 682]

On 2/6/2022 at 10:39 PM, Drownedboy said:

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 funny, the strong one, the  fighter, the ballader, the melancholic and reflective). Girl gone wild is pure vintage Madonna and the video is a total homage to her carreer. I always loved Addicted or Some girls, and some ballads like Masterpiece and Falling free remind me of the best ballads with William Orbit of the ROL time. It is special for me that acoustic version of Love spent, which is really emotive and on the other hand, I´m a sinner reminds me of the LAP days and it´s also quite funny and ironic. And Beautiful Killer is sooo sexy.

5) It was very succesful at the first, went to number one and sold at first a lot of copies, oks I know it had  no legs, but on that last decade who had legs not being Adele?

6)She looked amazing throught that Era, much better than in the previous one and much better than today.

7)She danced wildly on the Tour as one would expect Madonna dance on a Madonna show, she was impecable and even at that age, superhuman.

8)The whole era and the album gave me a much more european vibe than Hard Candy, which I think suits her musical work better.

9)She fighted for many great causes and was very brave on many times, but with more intelligence, wit and charisma than in later manifestations, and in a less narcissistic way.

10)It was for me the last era of Madonna in her prime as a force of nature, despite it all, because, even I like a lot some things about The Rebel Heart era and album, I think by 2015 her insecurities, which on the other hand made her human and that was not bad at all,  started to show a lot, and it was quite clear though the tour she was struggling personally and professionally (dancing less, the Roccogate, the leaks, the fall on that awards show..) and then for me the Madame x one has been her worst ever (eurovision, covid, tour cancellations and at the same time my father died and I have the most horrendous memory of that era, sorry.)

I agree. 

MDNA tour was a tremendous tour to be remembered in that it was Madonna's last tour of her megastar days.

And I really like MDNA album. it is much better album than bedtime stories. Period.

 

[chaosmen1984mk 798]

7 hours ago, Prayer said:

She was way more relaxed during the "Rebel Heart Tour"... why? Only she knows. The "MDNA Tour" must have been really hard, so maybe was that, or maybe the reception of the album, or the start of her injuries (I guess it wasn't a 2019 thing and had been going on for years...?)... Also, the Rocco drama in the middle of the tour didn't help, I guess.

Anyway, I always found the "Rebel Heart Tour" kind of an updated "Girlie Show", a more intimate, chill mood - and the start of the new mature 60s Madonna.

Yes, it seems to me that on the Rebel heart tour she decided not to take the choreography so seriously and give more importance to the interaction with the public, making each show totally different from the previous one since one did not expect what Madonna would come up with when interacting with her fans and leave that diva image that somehow intimidated us and kept us away from her. I don't know if leaving YouTube links is allowed, but I leave the video of the show where, in my opinion, Madonna executes the final choreography of Bitch Im Madonna with cleanliness and neatness, where she does not omit or half-execute the movements and seems to me to be one of the most entertaining and fun things she does on tour. And I hope she goes on tour again (and even better that it be in theaters to make it more intimate) and that she no longer does choreographies as demanding as the Mdna Tour but simple but elegant and synchronized with her dancers, something that characterizes her and that other singers even if they try it, it never works out for them. (Could be a good topic for a future post)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPkNiu4_LUk

 

Edited March 7, 2022 by chaosmen1984mk (see edit history)

[captainjay 1,598]

On 3/7/2022 at 11:35 AM, chaosmen1984mk said:

Yes, it seems to me that on the Rebel heart tour she decided not to take the choreography so seriously and give more importance to the interaction with the public, making each show totally different from the previous one since one did not expect what Madonna would come up with when interacting with her fans and leave that diva image that somehow intimidated us and kept us away from her. I don't know if leaving YouTube links is allowed, but I leave the video of the show where, in my opinion, Madonna executes the final choreography of Bitch Im Madonna with cleanliness and neatness, where she does not omit or half-execute the movements and seems to me to be one of the most entertaining and fun things she does on tour. And I hope she goes on tour again (and even better that it be in theaters to make it more intimate) and that she no longer does choreographies as demanding as the Mdna Tour but simple but elegant and synchronized with her dancers, something that characterizes her and that other singers even if they try it, it never works out for them. (Could be a good topic for a future post)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPkNiu4_LUk

 

Nice, thanks for sharing.

During RH Tour, Madonna was going through a lot with personal issues related to Rocco. I think she was preoccupied. 

Her audience is aging with her and I know when I saw Girlie Show I was yelling and screaming the whole time. I was beside myself with excitement. Similar energy for DWT and RIT and maybe even Confessions. Beyond that, the audiences that I observe mainly sit and watch. Point their phones at her and sit most of the time. She's also not performing the songs that would engage casual fans. Iconic, Bitch I'm Madonna, Devil Pray .. Body Shop .. the first part of that show for casual fans is .. "what is going on? what are these songs?" I know there are others .. but it's maybe not the best entrance to bring the audience in and I know that she's doing that on purpose. But .. you get from the audience what you put out. You put out a thought provoking or overtly complicated performance of a song that the average person in attendance doesn't know and they are taking it in. You sing a lively version of Borderline or Holiday or Celebrate and you get that reaction. 

I'm not saying either is right or wrong, but maybe what she needed at that time (RHT) was more fan engagement and what she got was quiet audiences watching her from their seats - not screaming adoring fans excited to be in her presence. Maybe her lack of conviction during select performances was exactly a reaction to the lacklustre (although predictable) audience given what she was performing. 

What she probably needed (personally) was to do more of a hits show to feel that audience reaction she was used to or anticipated and it's not what she got at all (or maybe not always).

[chaosmen1984mk 798]

11 hours ago, captainjay said:

Nice, thanks for sharing.

During RH Tour, Madonna was going through a lot with personal issues related to Rocco. I think she was preoccupied. 

Her audience is aging with her and I know when I saw Girlie Show I was yelling and screaming the whole time. I was beside myself with excitement. Similar energy for DWT and RIT and maybe even Confessions. Beyond that, the audiences that I observe mainly sit and watch. Point their phones at her and sit most of the time. She's also not performing the songs that would engage casual fans. Iconic, Bitch I'm Madonna, Devil Pray .. Body Shop .. the first part of that show for casual fans is .. "what is going on? what are these songs?" I know there are others .. but it's maybe not the best entrance to bring the audience in and I know that she's doing that on purpose. But .. you get from the audience what you put out. You put out a thought provoking or overtly complicated performance of a song that the average person in attendance doesn't know and they are taking it in. You sing a lively version of Borderline or Holiday or Celebrate and you get that reaction. 

I'm not saying either is right or wrong, but maybe what she needed at that time (RHT) was more fan engagement and what she got was quiet audiences watching her from their seats - not screaming adoring fans excited to be in her presence. Maybe her lack of conviction during select performances was exactly a reaction to the lacklustre (although predictable) audience given what she was performing. 

What she probably needed (personally) was to do more of a hits show to feel that audience reaction she was used to or anticipated and it's not what she got at all (or maybe not always).

For someone who is not a fan of Madonna and who only went to see her because of her fame or popularity, it must have been very boring to endure almost half of the show until they could listen to a classic (La Isla Bonita) and Madonna must definitely have thought that not only her fans are going to see her but also people who don't follow her but who know her and want to see her live and for that reason she had to select the songs better.

Even if she dislikes singing her classic songs (she once said so) the public is always right and if they want to listen to the classics she must please them since in the end they are the ones who are paying for the service.

[Rocco Comelon 5,257]

On 2/6/2022 at 9:39 PM, Drownedboy said:

 

Listening to MDNA album, for me, is like taking back to what was lost to her. It's vengeful Madonna that's combined by resurrected Like A Prayer Era-Madonna, Erotica, Ray of Light, Music, American Life, and Confessions on A Dance Floor. Peolpe called this a bad or a shit album, but for me, it's obvious that it's one of those albums where some lyrics seems too personal to her. Like

"I tried to be a good girl
I tried to be your wife
Diminish myself and swallowed my light (pride??)
I tried to become all that you expect of me
And if it was a failure, I don't give a..."

 

It maybe a hype-alternative rock song she released but it shows how deep those lyrics are, and in this album she just trying to be "stay in power" or "strong again" despite of what happened to her family.

Though not one of my favorite albums of here but I like it. Better than Hard Candy.

[Roland Barthes 5,850]

I tried to listen to MDNA this week to see if i'm too harsh on it but no. Sorry. And Gang Bang that i liked very much when it was released, really is a stupid track (i can't call that a song) and I don't give a is even more stupid. The album version of Love Spent is atrocious. No wonder they released the acoustic version as a digital bonus, they probably wanted to show the real potential of that great track drowned in cheap production. The overall sound of the album is terrible, bad mix, bad mastering. Nope, terrible album. Masterpiece stands out in the middle of this filth. If that wasn't Madonna i would have been even more pitiless about that trash album. It's the kind of turd lesser popstars release. Cheap AF.

[Ziploc 2,566]

I listened to it again with fresh ears after reading a comment on reddit from a younger fan. It was the first Madonna album he'd ever listened to and the excitement he got from it made me want to give it another go. Putting my preconceptions aside and without concentrating on how un-Madonna like it is I actually enjoyed it for what it is, a great EDM album... with a couple of fantastic ballads. 

Is it the best Madonna album? No way. But taken for what it is its a good album. 

[into the erotico 974]

On 2/7/2022 at 1:20 AM, Roland Barthes said:

It's because in the end we love Madonna and we tend to link her work toperiods of our lives. At the time i would have never said what i say now about MDNA but time has not been nice to it and very quickly but it still Madonna so tracks like Love Spent (acoustic), I'm Addicted, Falling Free or Masterpiecare still essentials and couldn't do without them in her discog. It's just that the whole thing seemed forced. I even like Hard Candy better because at least it's nicely made ( produced,recorded, mixed, mastered) but both projects she was more passionate about making movies. On HC she's credited as executive producer and for the first time in a long time not as a co-producer (on Timbaland tracks). On MDNA all the tracks prexisted, she just bought them. Working with tracks from writing sessions from writing pools was the norm in pop then. Orbit said a few weeks ago he regretted joining the one he joined in Vegas with Jean-Baptiste and others. That's where the MDNA tacks came from. Her voice is thin as ice on MDNA, the production is very cheap. When you listen to it on cd on a very good stereo it sounds like a copy and paste job saved by big mastering. I really don't like Gaga ( like really, really) but that previous on Born This Way she released the best (and only good ones) tracks of her career with Scheibe, Government hooker, Electric Chapel, Bad Kids (and two others i can't remember their titles) and they are a better testimony of that nadir in the music industry than MDNA. It's the real misstep in her recording career because the whole project sounds phoned in. We all have good memories from that time but it has nothing to do with the album, it just happened to be there at the time. MDNA would have been a better name for a compilation, the 4/5 good tracks new tracks on it and that's it. The awful gyms, the cheap perfume, the whole thing was the antithesis of her most creative and successful eras. This album could have been released by another female popstar like Katy Perry and be her best album but not for Madonna. It's not a bad album per say, it's just not a good Madonna album.

The awful gyms, the cheap perfume, the whole thing was the antithesis of her most creative and successful eras. This album could have been released by another female popstar like Katy Perry and be her best album but not for Madonna. It's not a bad album per say, it's just not a good Madonna album.