BradleyPratt

Hmm I have mixed feelings. The last 15 years have undoubtedly been some of the most fascinating in Madonna’s life. Not in terms of music but in terms of what has been going on in her life. Yet I feel we’ve gotten very little in terms of how or who she is. A couple of songs on MDNA and endless lol pop moments of “remember I’m the fucking queen ok” 
I find her post 2005 material quite a bit more difficult to connect to that all the stuff that came before. 
 
A couple of moments of vulnerability.
“Im a stranger in a strange land “
“Forgave myself for being me”
but even those two lines are wrapped in lots of superfluous imagery that is wholly unrelated. 
 
I always noted the ice cold emotionless matter of fact delivery of Miles Aways lyrics marked a shift in her. She’d have sung the shit out of that song a few years before. I dunno maybe it was intentional. 
 
Despite its failures there were a couple of moments on MDNA that invited us in but they were largely tucked away on the bonus CD. Even her dig at Gaga and her Busy Mom anthem IDGAF really only show us she’s in fight mode but wants us to believe she doesn’t care” . For me the lady doth protest too much. Question: Who even is she presenting to us musically anymore? 

well she answered us and said “Bitch I’m Madonna” Ironic since all she revealed was that she drinks beer out of a shoe and gets her freak on. I’ve found the decade + long call backs to former selves and former glories a major distraction technique. She’s hiding. 
Even the roll call of dead contemporaries on a song like Funana should feel sincere and emotional yet feels a bit “weren’t these people great? Did you know they’re dead and I’m still alive?”
Even the seemingly open moment of Joan Of Arc was essentially “can you be nice to me please I’m a legend”. Her defences have been up for years and years now. 
  I’m kinda sad that the music does not show us who she is or what she’s thinking anymore. Like she decided to shut that window on us and I miss that. She’s hiding in plain sight and I don’t think we’ll get anything truly great from her till she decides to reflect and open up to us again and I really, really hope she does because at this time of her life the fruit should be so ripe. It’s the most interesting period. 

All any fan wants from their fave artist is for us to let them in. I think this is largely the biggest issue with the disconnect from some of her long time fans and the GP.
So yes,  of course she gave us so much in the spring and summer of her career but Autumn has seen her retreat to the potting shed and shut the door. I can only hope she’s been busy making emotional jams and pickled hearts so her winter store can keep us well fed.

Why do I think American Life is the Anti - Madonna album?
While I've grown to love the record I think it's a really hard album to digest. The music is spiky uninviting and aggressive. In your face. There's something quite punk about it. It lacks a certain musicality the same way punk music did.  It's her least melodic record for sure but as well as this the album lacks harmonies which I think is intentional as maybe Madonna felt she had none in her life at the time. Go listen again you'll be shocked how little there is even on choruses. There's a couple in the acoustic bit of the title track and Intervention. 
Instead of using traditional harmonies on most tracks, they opt for a quite aggressive double track lead vocal scenario. When you think of harmonising to any song on the album it's hard to think of any natural fits. Even on the acoustic ballad X-Static process. The few selected harmonies are presented almost like other thoughts she is having, happening at the same time as the main melody, rather than an actual harmony. They aren't synced and in one verse all the harmonies even waltz off into different lyrics, making it sound confused or distracted "i'm not myself myself right now"
I say it's the anti Madonna album because here was always a warmth to Madonnas music where it felt like there was a more positive resolution to the songs or record. American Life is so icy and cold and that's seemingly on purpose. It's a pure midlife crisis album and a major turning point in Madonnas career. She's miserable and in some cases moaning on pretty much every track. There's a sadness and bitterness about everything and the listen leaves you a bit depressed rather than uplifted or emboldened. I have always suspected that much of the album was driven by Madonna potentially miscarrying a child around that time, or being unsuccessful at conceiving again ? I don't know if this is true but she clearly wanted more children after Rocco, and David came very quickly afterwards,
There's lots of doom mongering negative language. Nothing Fails, Die / I'm So Stupid / Intervention / Nobody Knows Me / Easy Ride. The miserablism of the title track and Hollywood. There is so much confusion. There was a time I was happy in my life, Do You Think I'm Satisfied, I forgot that I was special too, 
There are so many questions in the lyrics or lines that hedge bets and leave room for failure or the inevitability of pain or loss or failure
Should I lose some weight? Do you think I'm satisfied? This type of modern life, is it for me? This time it's got to be good How could it hurt you when it looks so good? Oh, mother why aren't you here with me? I guess I'll die another day? Jesus Christ will you look at me? Don't know who I am , Don't really know if I should give a damn I'm gonna wake up, yes and no I want to let go of all disappointment, that's waiting for me The use of the word Don't & No. No-body, no-thing, lost and life / living happens often enough. Fear makes a few appearances or is at least a theme.
"Dont want my dreams adding up to nothing" "I lost my memory in hollywood" "And I know, I know, There is nothing to fear".. (the second "I know" almost trying to convince herself) "I lost my reputation bad and good" "I have lost my illusions" "When I get lost in space" "Nothing fails, no more fears" I've climbed the tree of life" "Nobody knows me" I'm just living out the American Dream, and I just realized that nothing is what it seems "I used to live in a funny dream" "I've had so many lives" "I've got to calm him down now, I've got to save his life" "cause I used to live in a tiny bubble" Now I'm gonna try to improve my life" "No ones telling you how to live your life" "say hello to your life now you are living" "Nobody else could ever take the place of you" "What I want is to live forever"  
Mother & Father is talking about the loss of her mother AND as a result of her mother dying she lost her father too. Intervention is about losing herself and sense of identity. Even the love song Nothing Fails is a double negative In its wording. "Makes me wanna pray you'll always be here" gives a sense of foreboding...Something doomed perhaps. The album is her most self reflective and self critical. 
The self reference with the use of the word "I" is phenomenal. Just look at the lyrics. American Life. Nobody Knows Me and Die Another Day pretty much start every line with I. The amount of songs that begin with I. If not the verse the chorus. 
Verse:
I Tried To Be A Boy I Lost My Memory In Hollywood I'm So Stupid I've Had So Many Lives I'm In Love With You You Silly Thing I Got To Save My Baby I'm Not Myself When You're Around I'm Gonna Wake Up Yes And No I Want The Good Life Chorus
I go round and round just like a circle I got to give it up find someone to love me I guess I'll Die Another Day and I know that Love will keep us together I got you under my skin and if it's not "I" it's "Me"
Lots of use of the word "don't" too, another negative phrase.
I don't want, no lies I don't watch TV Dont want my dreams adding up to nothing Don't know who I'm supposed to be Don't really know if I should give a damn Push the button, Don't push the button Don't try to tempt me I dont want an easy ride When you're around I don't know who I am I'm not myself and I don't know how Even the tracks that didn't make the album offer the same similarities as the above tracks
It's So Cool:
Do you realize you pay the price? Do you know the cost of all your vice? Do you really know God's intention? Do you ever ask what it's all for? Isn't this the best thing you ever had? Set The Right:
Don't push me to the left Don't push me to the right I have learned Nothing is for free gather top your dreams just to stay alive Many examples of duality of things. There's also lots of questioning, both sides of the argument, second guessing and evaluation. Analyse this indeed.
Push the button, don't push the button.  I tried to be a boy, I tried to be a girl I tried to be a mess, I tried to be the best I'm not a Christian, I'm not A Jew I've had a million visions bad & good I'm bored with the concept of wright & wrong How can it hurt you when it looks so good adding up to nothing There are too many options, there is no one solution Sometimes it's such a pleasure, sometimes I want to tear it all down I always wish that I could find someone as talented as you, but in the process I forget that I was special too nobody else could ever take the place of you, nobody else could ever hurt me like you did I'm gonna wake up, yes and no I want the good life, but I don't want an easy ride  
Some of these examples hold better than others but my point is it illustrates a picture of negativity. Which Madonna has never been about. She and her music have represented positivity, control, ambition, empowerment, life affirming and inspirational messages. This whole record is none of that. If anything is looking at the dark underbelly or drivers of the positive things in her life through the lens of fear and questions of self worth.
It's also the first time she ever refers to herself as a victim in Mother & Father
"I made a vow that I would never need
Another person ever
Turned my heart into a cage
A victim of a kind of rage"
This is unprecedented and a real insight in the mindset of her as a child and beyond. Madonna would never wish to be seen or to present herself as a victim. In fact for all the comparisons to Marilyn Monroe Madonna was once quoted as saying. 
"Marilyn Monroe was a victim; I’m not" or something to that effect.
 
In summary: If the "absolutely no regrets" //door slam// was the sound of Madonna 1.0 slamming the door (or coffin lid) and walking away from the fearless, bolshy incarnation of herself and first decade of her career (83-93), before her introspective decade (94-04), then American Life is the sound of Madonna exhuming the coffin, looking at the corpse of her former self and having a good think about why she did what she did, where it's bought her, why the fuck she did what she did, and what's next.
American Life is Madonna falling out of the centre of the whirlwind of her career, sitting in the quiet eye of the storm and looking at the madness she has created around her. She's going to war with herself, maybe she's tired of her self. (Army fatigues anyone?). Deconstructing, analysing herself, her past, her present and what she wants her future to look like, and she sits mustering the strength to throw herself back into the whirlwind again, but first  deciding if she even really wants to...but she will, and she does because she doesn't want an Easy Ride.  
Interestingly Easy Ride is the song that closes the album after she decided she'll Die Another Day. A joyless, droll, glitchy funeral march of a song. The sound of a never ending round and round of Madonna's Catholic guilt driving her to keep lashing her own back with a cat'o'nine tails. The female embodiment of Flagellant monk forming mortification of the flesh by whipping their own skin with instruments of penance. Fascinating really. I think she left a lot of herself behind before she jumped back into that Maelstom and for me it was the second death of the Madonna we knew and loved, submitted to record before the commercial backlash. An act of self sabotage?
It's a record that is so opposed to the Madonna brand musically and thematically. And in true ying and yang fashion it's the first album we saw her brand being exploited with the singles all being heavily corporately sponsored. Mini Cooper / Gap / Estee Lauder.
So yeah..that's why, (for me anyway)...it's the anti Madonna album.

This will always be my favourite Madonna remix of all time.  I was gutted we never got Veronica Electronica.  I wanted more Sasha remixes, or having BT remix another song on his own.  This and the Drowned World Bucklodge Ashram mix.  Just perfection.

This is the kind of thing I would absolutely love the estate to do for something like the missing videos in her catalogue. Angel with the black sand Hawaii shoot used on the cover (my favourite Madonna shoot ever) and Rescue Me. 
the AI movement in this is so cool. It’s a tad glitchy in some parts but it brings that early part of her time on earth to life. Soon I’m positive they’ll be able to make her mouth move perfectly in sync to the lyrics. 
 
I LOVE this video. Well done Dan K. 
The fact that her own team have done such shoddy upscales and fans manage something special like this. 

A shot glass? 
no mama
a monacle a replica numbered set of divorce papers Mickey Mouse ears a needle and thread to stich your lips with  a pleather mermaid tail  a candle to light and watch throw tears on … a pillow (Spanish lace cover)  

This just got me thinking that LAP could have been one of the most creative and impressive box sets out of all her albums. The religious imagery, logo, and patchouli scent could have opened so many doors for graphic designers and the marketing team. 
 
Yet we have a single silver vinyl. 

This is what I call "DELUXE/EXPANDED ALBUM":

Dolby Atmos [48/24] 5.1 Surround [48/24] 2024 Stereo Mix [96/24] Original 1984 Stereo Mix [96/24] Dolby Atmos Instrumental [48/24] 5.1 Surround Instrumental [48/24] 2024 Stereo Instrumental [96/24]
 
The 4CD+DVD deluxe edition comes in 7″ style casebound book packaging and features both The Age of Consent, Hundreds and Thousands and 41 bonus tracks including original 12-inch mixes, B-sides and 22 previously unreleased rarities.
Watch and learn, Emily!

Let's not forget that she randomly uploaded Express Yourself and Deeper And Deeper from The Girlie Show in YT recently so they're clearly at least looking into her live shows. 
 
Imagine a super deluxe edition of LAV:
Remastered album
Deleted/demo tracks 
The Virgin Tour live audio 
The Virgin Tour remastered Blu-ray 
All housed in a beautiful box full of photos including outtakes with the packing held together by a Boy Toy belt. Ahhh a gay can dream 

Let’s be real. Warner did not resign with her to do some cute little record store day Ltd picture discs and a few curated dedications to DJ’s and some pillow cases and Anniversary singles with new artwork, they signed with her again to finally be able to repackage her landmark money spinning albums. That’s where the money is and Warner is about the money. Aint no big money in a 40th birthday Everybody 12”with a new pic and a long lost Erotica single picture disc. 
People are so hard to defend her and this deal they lose logic and reason. It’s giving dumb. 
All the published articles and news updates from outlets led with the meat of this whole re-deal … and that is the expanded curated landmark albums. Bolstered by archived material that essentially makes them good money for old rope. End of conversation. The rest is just chicken feed so if people could please stop trying to smoke and mirrors this shit it would be appreciated. This forum is trying me recently lord a mercy.  
 

Being angry at or mocking fans for wanting all the old singles on streaming would be the equivalent of being angry in the mid 90s when the original 80s singles were reissued on CD (the Yellow singles). "But I already got them on vinyl!". AND?
What's the point in complaining about that? The more accessible her material is, for old and new generations, the better, right? And streaming is the most accessible format now.
No one is asking for all the old vinyls, cassettes and CDs to BURN in hell, let's also keep them, thank you very much.

Madame X wasn’t a very personal album it was an album concerned with world affairs and world influences. 
 
Medellin had a couple of self referential points “forgave myself for being me” But it was very much the Anti-American Life redux. American Life was highly personal and inward looking in respect to the world around her. Madame X was outward facing. 
Social Justice, Gun Crime, Redemption, the afflicted. Madame X as a theme was literally just a metaphor that could maybe aligned with the musical dressing up box of the sounds and languages used. 
 
MDNA really should have been more interesting but it was really a call from Madonna to herself to remind her of her old self pre Guy. Forced fun. Like a woman who hasn’t seen friends for years calling up a few of her old girl mates to go out on the town again to recapture the energy she had when she was free and single. Except she sits there in the club, music pounding, and realises she’s moved on from that version of herself and can’t hide the bitterness and sorrow she feels. Thats why there’s no real joy on that album. Apart from maybe six drinks in on I’m A Sinner where she’s drunkenly telling the hot barman what a slag she used to be in her heyday. 
 
Rebel / Heart was supposed to be the concept and some brief reference to the apocalypse but neither came through and it ended up being a mixtape. 
 
I think the next record could genuinely be more special than ever. Her social media posts have been really rather touching of late and she’s unearthing an eloquence that seems very real. Something I really feel we only saw a glimpse of in the last 15 years. Maybe only in her billboard woman of the year speech. I think looking back and the near death experience will have given her fresh eyes. 
 
I also feel like
THE RESURRECTION 
is a great title for something M related considering what’s happened. 
A new album, A greatest hits, a reimagined reworking of her old stuff would fit beautifully. 
 
anyway. Exciting times ahead at last. 

There you go girls! I don't know what bitrate this is though
 

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This is what he played all three nights I saw him warm up at Miami! It's superb
According to @cosmic_system this was not the case in other venues so I was pretty lucky!!!

If the fans ever do come together to get her attention to ask for something…. Her working with Stuart Price again is something I think all fans would agree on. He has such a respect for her music and does it so well.  We should manifest this.

No, you don't.
You don't need permission to release a cover or perform it live if you pay the writers and/or get a license. That's if it's a download store, if it's streaming you don't need at all.
More here:
https://syncsongwriter.com/blog/legally-releasing-cover-songs
You can cover "Vogue" today and upload it tomorrow if you want. It won't be taken down.
But you can not sample "Vogue" in your own song. Samples in derivative works are another story. You usually need the owner permission to do it. And of course for using the original song in ads, movies, series, etc.
Do your homework and properly learn about it before trying to correct information from others. Copyright is a complex thing.

A bit of an indulgent post this but today is 5 years since I got to attend this premiere and have one of the most amazing experiences.
The premiere was going to be held in Camden, just 5 minutes from my work at the time, and to win a place you had to submit a proposal for where Madame X would go next on her travels. I think I wrote something about addressing infant mortality in certain African countries cos I knew they'd love that kind of thing, and lo and behold I got an email a few days later saying I'd got two spots!
I honestly wasn't expecting too much. We had to report to a hotel in Camden and we were put in a meeting room there which had Madonna videos playing on a big screen. My bf was wearing a Ralph Lauren suit (he works in fashion) and I was wearing my work clothes (shirt etc). Some super fans wearing e.g. a Like A Virgin wedding dress kept hovering around the door, clearly planning on being the first out when the time came.
After 30 mins or so they came in and said they'd start taking people over to MTV in groups and to not worry, as the group order didn't matter. But they then walked around the room clearly discussing who to take - it later became obvious that it very much did matter, cos the people taken first were going in the front rows. I think my boyfriend's suit swung it for us and we were taken in the first batch.
We went over and were taken into MTV, where we queued outside a room. MTV employees were lining the building looking over balconies cos, you know, Madonna was in the building. I was getting excited but when we were led into the room and I saw how small it was, I was blown away. This was going to be special.
They sat people down in the front row but then my bf took the final seat on the front row and I was meant to be in the second. I said, is there any chance we can sit together, and they briefly spoke to each other and to my amazement, they placed us on a two-seater chair right in front of the stage, in front of the front row. 
It's all a bit of a blur after that but when Madonna came out you could really feel her commanding presence. She looked amazing. She smelled even better. The most special moments were the bits when the cameras were off - she stayed in the room and was absolutely lovely. You can see us in the video above at about 3.50.
After they showed the video everyone stood up and I was literally stood directly in front of Madonna. She looked at me and my boyfriend and said "did you like my video?" and I was a nervous goof and have her the thumbs up. My boyfriend at least said "loved it!" and she laughed.
We were on such a high after that we went to a pub and had some drinks despite having work the next morning, and my bf ordered the Madame X special edition cos that was the moment he really fell for her.

Occasionally, I dream of having four boxes, each representing a different decade (1982-1991, 1992-2001,...)  filled with all of her 7’’ singles (with the original promo B-Side) including the contemporary ones never available on vinyl.

Oh dear it's all going so badly according to the last few posts of this thread lol
She is on tour - that is the priority and the release campaign is fine 

At the bare minimum for Like A Virgin Super Deluxe I'd want this cover on vinyl in the Blue. 

Disc One - Remastered extended album
Material Girl Angel Like A Virgin Over & Over Love Don't Live Here Anymore Into The Groove Dress You Up Pretender Stay Gambler Crazy For You  Disc Two - Unreleased
Desperately Seeking Susan [Unreleased] Warning Signs [Unreleased] Don't You Know (demo) Stay (demo) Angel (Steve Bray Demo) Over and Over (Steve Bray Demo) Shoo-Bee-Doo (Steve Bray Demo) Like a Virgin (Nile Rodgers 12" Remix) Into The Groove (Movie Version) Crazy for You (Jellybean Version) Gambler (Steve Bray Version) (hopefully another 3-4 we don't know about added here too)
Disc Three - The mixes
Like a Virgin (Extended Dance Remix)  Material Girl (Extended Dance Remix)  Angel (Extended Dance Remix)  Dress You Up (The 12" Formal Mix)  Gambler (Extended Dance Mix)  Material Girl (7" version) Like A Virgin (7" version) Angel (Video edit) Into The Groove (Video edit) Angel (Remix edit) Dress You Up ( 7" remix) Dress You Up (Casual instrumental mix) Disc Four: The Virgin Tour Live (Audio)
Dress You Up Holiday Into The Groove Everybody Angel Gambler Borderline Lucky Star Over & Over Burning Up Like A Virgin Material Girl Disc Five : The Videos
Like A Virgin  Material Girl  Angel  Into The Groove  Dress You Up Cray For You Gambler Like A Virgin (MTV awards) Dress You Up ( Keith Harring Birthday Party)

Why yes!
https://www.behance.net/collection/170630697/Madonna-Projects
Designed with the utmost care by our very own @BradleyPratt

I don't think I've seen anything that meets my expectations and dreams for a catalogue as iconic as Madonna's. Only those fictional box sets designed by a user on this forum....

I only know of that one and Lady Gaga's The Fame. Possibly Born This Way had one too....
They're certainly scarce but I can envision their potential in the growing wave of demand for visually pleasing physical media and artist merch. Collectors would snatch expeditiously.