To me, Madame X is very close to being a masterpiece (with a few moments where she made some decisions that hurt it slightly)
I think it is a polarizing album for fans because it is more of a sonic experience than a traditional music album.
I see it as a merge of music and sound design, a piece where Madonna's voice is a part of it as instrument and narrator, more than as a singer (though there are plenty of beautiful singing moments in it).
In that sense, it could be seen somehow like what Bjork is doing nowadays: creating a sonic world where the voice merges and lives in, becoming part of it as an instrument that delivers also meaning and imagery through words.
Some clunky choices in the selection of the tracks take you out of the trip she proposes. She seems to have the tour too much in mind when she makes her latest albums, and therefore the album suffers for it.
The production's style of some tracks (i rise and looking for mercy come to mind now) if slightly reworked to fit the portuguese music style theme of the album would have made more sense as closers. Mirwais should have produced them of at least re mix them somehow in the end.
As they are, they dilute the illusion created and go purely in the realm of the lyrical content. That is why I think some of you would prefer Ciao Bella as a closer: it belongs to the journey she took us to.
All that said, the album is glorious. Beautiful production, surprising, fresh and not "of the moment" (there is longevity in it).
I love it and I hope she keeps sonically exploring in whichever genre she chooses to dive into (whenever she is inspired for a new album)
