heartcore

I disagree. Madonna never did an album like HC and it was a breath of fresh air after the COADF album, in which she came back to her disco roots. HC is innovative and experimental and proves Madonna ability to choose current producers at the top of their game and and still be able to push them further to achieve something totally unique and pioneering like the HC album.
Let's face it: the only real skip on HC is the Incredible song. Seriously, even Spanish Lesson is lowkey a bop and a great way to learn some Spanish. There is plenty of substance on the rest of the album:  4 minutes still got a great message to save the world and Miles Away's lyrics are extremely mature and it kinda forecast the imminent divorce with Guy Ritchie. It may not be a subject as deep as the lost of her mother, but it still deal with very important and personal stuff.  Not to mention that HC songs are joyful and make you dance! Even the ballads got awesome bridges and melodies.
The hard true is that Like a Prayer tries to be joyful but it miserably fail: Cherish, Dear Jessie and Keep It Together are meant to be happy cheerful songs but they are just plenty boring and got pathetic lyrics. Those songs aged quite bad  and  are definitely a skip in the album.  Love Song is bland and disappointing cuz Madonna and Prince did not put enough effort on it; and, finally Act of Contrition tastes like the title track leftover. This means that half of Like a Prayer album is not that great at all. 

Been dying to hear The Look of Love live.

My favourite songs change all the time, but my album ranking stays relatively the same:
Ray of Light Music Like a Prayer Bedtime Stories Confessions on a Dancefloor Hard Candy American Life MDNA Rebel Heart True Blue Like a Virgin Madonna Erotica

Yeah, I'm glad she went against using blackface. It wouldn't have worked at all, it's far far too politically and racially charged to even consider.
 
I used to absolutely hate it! But I must admit that it's grown tremendously on me recently, I love how she intersperses the sadness with the carefree party vibe. I mean:
You don't know what you got 'til it's gone
And everything in life just goes wrong
Feels like nobody's listening
And something is missing

(I hope) I want to go back to then
Got to figure out how, got to remember when
I felt it, it thrilled me
I want it, to fill me

Yeah, I'm glad she went against using blackface. It wouldn't have worked at all, it's far far too politically and racially charged to even consider.
 
I used to absolutely hate it! But I must admit that it's grown tremendously on me recently, I love how she intersperses the sadness with the carefree party vibe. I mean:
You don't know what you got 'til it's gone
And everything in life just goes wrong
Feels like nobody's listening
And something is missing

(I hope) I want to go back to then
Got to figure out how, got to remember when
I felt it, it thrilled me
I want it, to fill me

Yeah, I'm glad she went against using blackface. It wouldn't have worked at all, it's far far too politically and racially charged to even consider.
 
I used to absolutely hate it! But I must admit that it's grown tremendously on me recently, I love how she intersperses the sadness with the carefree party vibe. I mean:
You don't know what you got 'til it's gone
And everything in life just goes wrong
Feels like nobody's listening
And something is missing

(I hope) I want to go back to then
Got to figure out how, got to remember when
I felt it, it thrilled me
I want it, to fill me

I get that one may come from a "good place" (ignorantly), but it's still spitting in the face of who you're trying to "homage" or reference, by invoking hurtful racist symbolism. 
 
If it had been a different type of album, let's say a religion heavy album that related to the black madonna in some way, it would be different, MAYBE, but just relating it to african american music makes it plain black face rather than deep symbolism. 

The real ones are unleaked, hopefully destroyed tho probably not since so much from that era got spread around and most leaked.

A brilliant, sadly underrated album. I can understand the criticism of it not being a Madonna album, though. 

A brilliant, sadly underrated album. I can understand the criticism of it not being a Madonna album, though. 

That article is a bit outdated now, here is one with more recent info:
http://www.newnownext.com/madonna-documentary-emmy-and-the-breakfast-club/04/2017/

That article is a bit outdated now, here is one with more recent info:
http://www.newnownext.com/madonna-documentary-emmy-and-the-breakfast-club/04/2017/

That article is a bit outdated now, here is one with more recent info:
http://www.newnownext.com/madonna-documentary-emmy-and-the-breakfast-club/04/2017/

I've interpreted it as a way for her to try to get into heaven. The majority of Like a Prayer focuses upon her blaming others for her issues. In Dear Father, her parents (and lack of a mother) is to blame. Keep It Together pins the blame on others telling her to "keep it together" whilst her life is falling apart. Till Death Do Us Part blames both her and her husband. In Promise to Try, she recognises her responsibility in overcoming these issues. By the time we get to Act of Contrition, she's expecting that she'll make it to heaven by saying a quick prayer. But it doesn't appear to be enough, as she ends up shouting "WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT'S NOT IN THE COMPUTER?!" She expected that the prayer would be enough to get it into heaven. She blamed others for her issues but failed to recognise her own culpability. As such, she is rejected from heaven, no matter how much she claims that she "has a reservation" and thinks she deserves a place there. The irony is that in Act of Contrition, no such Act takes place.

We should have these kind of threads for every album.

I've interpreted it as a way for her to try to get into heaven. The majority of Like a Prayer focuses upon her blaming others for her issues. In Dear Father, her parents (and lack of a mother) is to blame. Keep It Together pins the blame on others telling her to "keep it together" whilst her life is falling apart. Till Death Do Us Part blames both her and her husband. In Promise to Try, she recognises her responsibility in overcoming these issues. By the time we get to Act of Contrition, she's expecting that she'll make it to heaven by saying a quick prayer. But it doesn't appear to be enough, as she ends up shouting "WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT'S NOT IN THE COMPUTER?!" She expected that the prayer would be enough to get it into heaven. She blamed others for her issues but failed to recognise her own culpability. As such, she is rejected from heaven, no matter how much she claims that she "has a reservation" and thinks she deserves a place there. The irony is that in Act of Contrition, no such Act takes place.

I've interpreted it as a way for her to try to get into heaven. The majority of Like a Prayer focuses upon her blaming others for her issues. In Dear Father, her parents (and lack of a mother) is to blame. Keep It Together pins the blame on others telling her to "keep it together" whilst her life is falling apart. Till Death Do Us Part blames both her and her husband. In Promise to Try, she recognises her responsibility in overcoming these issues. By the time we get to Act of Contrition, she's expecting that she'll make it to heaven by saying a quick prayer. But it doesn't appear to be enough, as she ends up shouting "WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT'S NOT IN THE COMPUTER?!" She expected that the prayer would be enough to get it into heaven. She blamed others for her issues but failed to recognise her own culpability. As such, she is rejected from heaven, no matter how much she claims that she "has a reservation" and thinks she deserves a place there. The irony is that in Act of Contrition, no such Act takes place.

I've interpreted it as a way for her to try to get into heaven. The majority of Like a Prayer focuses upon her blaming others for her issues. In Dear Father, her parents (and lack of a mother) is to blame. Keep It Together pins the blame on others telling her to "keep it together" whilst her life is falling apart. Till Death Do Us Part blames both her and her husband. In Promise to Try, she recognises her responsibility in overcoming these issues. By the time we get to Act of Contrition, she's expecting that she'll make it to heaven by saying a quick prayer. But it doesn't appear to be enough, as she ends up shouting "WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT'S NOT IN THE COMPUTER?!" She expected that the prayer would be enough to get it into heaven. She blamed others for her issues but failed to recognise her own culpability. As such, she is rejected from heaven, no matter how much she claims that she "has a reservation" and thinks she deserves a place there. The irony is that in Act of Contrition, no such Act takes place.

@@heartcore Genius! I like how you connected this song to some of the songs in the album.

Brilliant! In this light, Like A Prayer has more substance.

omg who knows that album is genius, i love your interpretation 

I've interpreted it as a way for her to try to get into heaven. The majority of Like a Prayer focuses upon her blaming others for her issues. In Dear Father, her parents (and lack of a mother) is to blame. Keep It Together pins the blame on others telling her to "keep it together" whilst her life is falling apart. Till Death Do Us Part blames both her and her husband. In Promise to Try, she recognises her responsibility in overcoming these issues. By the time we get to Act of Contrition, she's expecting that she'll make it to heaven by saying a quick prayer. But it doesn't appear to be enough, as she ends up shouting "WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT'S NOT IN THE COMPUTER?!" She expected that the prayer would be enough to get it into heaven. She blamed others for her issues but failed to recognise her own culpability. As such, she is rejected from heaven, no matter how much she claims that she "has a reservation" and thinks she deserves a place there. The irony is that in Act of Contrition, no such Act takes place.

I've interpreted it as a way for her to try to get into heaven. The majority of Like a Prayer focuses upon her blaming others for her issues. In Dear Father, her parents (and lack of a mother) is to blame. Keep It Together pins the blame on others telling her to "keep it together" whilst her life is falling apart. Till Death Do Us Part blames both her and her husband. In Promise to Try, she recognises her responsibility in overcoming these issues. By the time we get to Act of Contrition, she's expecting that she'll make it to heaven by saying a quick prayer. But it doesn't appear to be enough, as she ends up shouting "WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT'S NOT IN THE COMPUTER?!" She expected that the prayer would be enough to get it into heaven. She blamed others for her issues but failed to recognise her own culpability. As such, she is rejected from heaven, no matter how much she claims that she "has a reservation" and thinks she deserves a place there. The irony is that in Act of Contrition, no such Act takes place.