10 worst missteps of Madonna´s carreer

[Boombox90 7,456]

7 minutes ago, BLUE JEAN said:

A taste? She had a 4 course meal

[juanandriu 94]

Not releasing BAT and RIT as full shows. The documentaries could've been easily released as bonus disc material.

Not extended The Confessions Tour to Southamerica, Australia and Asia... that would've been her highest record for a solo artist. She was everywhere at that moment.

Gaga feud. It was really childish. She was not the first artist copying her. She would've embrace that moment and collaborate with her from the beginning. Younger fans would've followed her more. Imagine Celebration video with pop stars partying together (gaga, katy, britney, kylie, sophie, etc) she had the power to make that happen.
GMAYL was a total let down. I mean I still listen to the song but it was a really weak lead single. Masterpiece as a radio single to promote the movie. GGW video and album release and then GMAYL just for the Super Bowl. Love Spent, I'm Addicted and Beautiful Killer next. TUTR as a final single with images from the tour to promote the dvd release.

Hung up on tokisha, Material gwoorld (i can't even remember how it's written), The grillz and Not making a video for Faz Gostozo.

I remember those for now...

[Boombox90 7,456]

[itzjak 230]

I think the biggest mistake in Madonna's artistic career is that as they say here in Latin America "she rests on her laurels" she relies too much on being Madonna and when she stopped releasing new music in 2010 to film W.E. what happened? New singers and new artistic and technological trends emerged and when she realized that we already had a Gaga, Rihanna, Katy Perry well positioned among the public with many fans and it is the same thing that is happening right now, she refuses to release singles and now there is already an unstoppable Taylor Swift, everyone realizes it but she does not.

[Drownedboy 2,036]

I agree all the sex era was controversial and almost ends her carreer as a masive pop star but at the same time she survived and made her an artist who is willing to accept losing popularity in order to express herself. 

So, in the big picture, for me it was not a misstep.

Another things people are listing here, yes I thing they were big missteps.

[BoyToyMark 814]

A lot of the choices made post Celebration. Not as many hits and more misses.

[steady75 10,667]

Whoever mentioned Kevin Artunes and dodgy setlists and reinventions was spot on too. 

may I also add

LATE START TIMES!!!!

[Erlend 180]

She lost the plot after Ray of Light. Until then she had this great narrative, from rebel (1985) to sinner (1992), to some kind of spiritual rebirth (1998).

Then she did 

Swept Away

American Life

(The children's books)

And signed a deal with Live Nation.

But by then society had changed a lot too, not just Madonna.

 

 

 

 

 

[Burroughs 1,167]

7 hours ago, juanandriu said:

Gaga feud. It was really childish. She was not the first artist copying her. She would've embrace that moment and collaborate with her from the beginning. Younger fans would've followed her more. Imagine Celebration video with pop stars partying together (gaga, katy, britney, kylie, sophie, etc) she had the power to make that happen.

Exactly.

[missberic 1,381]

It's hard to point out missteps when things turned out kinda ok in the end. Like, the controversy because of SEX was what made one of her biggest hits, Take a Bow, happen and, eventually, Evita.

That's why I would place her biggest missteps from 2007 on, which is when I myself started to feel frustrated with her choices and disappointed as a fan.

The bigger ones for me would be:

1. Hard Candy is too Pharrelled when he wasn't even that "in" anymore. The songs and the esthetic are a huge step down from the status she conquered with Confessions. That tainted her image a lot imo and made her a punching bag for the press and the gp.

2. The "revolution of love" project was pathetic and the beginning of her taking herself way too seriously. Since then she thinks she's on a mission to free society and it is just so boring, her speeches and jokes are dated, the gp is rolling their eyes and her music has been suffering from it since then.

[littlestartman 380]

10 minutes ago, Erlend said:

She lost the plot after Ray of Light. Until then she had this great narrative, from rebel (1985) to sinner (1992), to some kind of spiritual rebirth (1998).

Then she did 

Swept Away

American Life

(The children's books)

And signed a deal with Live Nation.

But by then society had changed a lot too, not just Madonna.

 

 

 

 

 

disagree  ROL- Music-AL-COADF are incredible albums back to back

 

[steady75 10,667]

I mean in some ways Guy Ritchie was probably her biggest mistake. Kind of an awful thing to say considering I loved that period for her, but it really seems things truly started to unravel when things went sour and they divorced. I don't think her heart ever recovered. Maybe the Kabbalah too but we really can't say. Maybe that saved her in truth and we could have had a very different Madonna otherwise. 

[Erlend 180]

Ray of Light was a great album, yes. And I also liked COADF. 

[luluthecat 1,295]

Not many major ones for me, as things usually work themselves out. For every not great song or video, there’s always something interesting round the corner. But off the top of my head. 

- Instagram 
- Rebel Heart leak handling
- Eurovision

Future Misstep
- Biopic 

[DoneGone 17,437]

I love the "American Life" single, video and album, but commercially it was a disaster move after one of the biggest comebacks in pop music ever with "Ray Of Light" and then "Music". (But AL allowed her to have The Third Coming later with "Confessions" so hey).

The "American Life" video fiasco kinda ended her main artist seller career in the US forever.

Later, I'll always maintain the whole Gaga war in 2012 was unnecessary and below her - not to mention it stopped her from winning over the next generation of gays and girls for the first time, which made her a legacy artist instead of a current pop girl. She should have been smarter and played the game, it worked with Britney in 2003, she had a whole new generation on board during "Confessions" thanks to that.

[Roland Barthes 7,330]

Making movies with husbands and friends.

Hard Candy & MDNA

That 360 deal with Live Nation

[into the erotico 1,158]

On 11/30/2024 at 2:40 PM, Celebration said:

Kissing that little bitch Drake was a mistake. He acted like a child and embarrassed her for no reason.

Not realising that in today's world, everything has to happen yesterday. I'm thinking about the looong Frozen thing a couple of years ago.

Material Gworrl and Hung Up with that girl with the annoying voice.

Not releasing Madame X Tour on blu-ray. It WAS available here in Scandinavia at Paramount+, but when that dissolved and changed into SkyShowtime, X disappeared. As far as I know, there is no leal was for us to watch the show today, and that irritates me.
I sure hope Celebration Tour will get more than just LP and overpriced picture discs.

Swept Away. Really? I think it's her worst performance in a movie, and The Next Best Thing is a close runner up.
She's too tense in front of a camera.
Now we all know that she can shine when she has a good director to help her. Desperately Seeking Susan, Dick Tracy, Dangerous Game...

And yes, the horrible Eurovision fiasco. ESC is about glitter, party, GAY, boring ballads sung by cute girls in nice gowns...
Not murdering a pop classic with off key singing and a boring new remix, or inviting a rapper who looked stoned.
Vogue and God Control would have worked much better.

..'And yes, the horrible Eurovision fiasco. ESC is about glitter, party, GAY, boring ballads sung by cute girls in nice gowns...
Not murdering a pop classic with off key singing and a boring new remix, or inviting a rapper who looked stoned.
Vogue and God Control would have worked much better.'

[into the erotico 1,158]

23 hours ago, Cyber-Raga said:

Erotica and AL albums and to a certain degrees their respective singles were objectively speaking commercial flops. I consider Erotica to be among her best albums but to the general public and to critics they were career enders. Thankfully that wasn’t the case. 

Not continue to be managed by Freddy and then also Caress are more significant issues. Not having a publicist like Liz Rosenberg in todays social media insanity also constitutes a problem in my opinion. 

..'Not continue to be managed by Freddy and then also Caress are more significant issues. Not having a publicist like Liz Rosenberg in todays social media insanity also constitutes a problem in my opinion. '

[Pootz333 3,316]

I love how the fandom answers this topic with "she should have released x instead of y" and the general public is like "She turned into an illuminati high priestess, looks like Pete Burns, and offs kids for adrenochrome". It's like asking Democrats "Where did we go wrong this election?".

[Gazman237 228]

Vulgar with that overrated twat Sam Smith for sure

Most of the collabs, remixes etc over the past few years (frozen, champagne rose, hung up etc), just seems desperate and fucking tuneless

Levitating & Popular were ok though. 

Not following through with the Warner Deal & giving us something concrete to look forward to.

Joining social media & having every pic filtered & fucked up beyond all recognition

[Ayham 6,799]

 

[Ayham 6,799]

 

[Ayham 6,799]

2022 was tough year for Madonna fans. 🥲

[steady75 10,667]

Hung Up With TikTok was a new low. Really beyond. 

[DoneGone 17,437]

2021 and 2022 was something.

But we had to go through the wilderness to get to the comeback from the dead (almost literally) triumph of the last tour.