Madonna is a case study as far as music business is concerned. Gaga is not Madonna, because she does her own thing and she is primarily a musician and then a performer. Britney is dead and she had her share of success for a full decade and that was more than fair for a blonde, no-talent, troubled girl. And so on. Madonna is the only pop star in the world that has actually managed to maintain her pop reign for almost 35 years, singing pop, electronic, r'n'b, musicals and Bjork. And that's not something you can ignore through the years. Plus, she was never hot or vocally perfect, imagine that.
In 2015, Madonna has released/leaked her new album, "Rebel Heart". She released "Living for love" as the first single, she took a fall while performing it at the Brit Awards, she is posing for the cover like she is 15 and she is still trying to be the queen of pop. The thing is, she is trying. And, according to her, "that is not Madonna, bitch".
"Rebel Heart" is a mix of good melodies, good and mediocre production by A-list producers (Kanye, Avicii, Diplo, Blood Diamonds, Ryan Tedder), teen vocals and lyrics about female power, Illuminati, drugs and heartbreaks. She sings like a "Like a prayer" Madonna in "Living for love". She sings like a "Love Profusion" Madonna in the radio-friendly "Devil pray". She sings like an urban "Give me all your luvin" Madonna in "Iconic" (one of the best tracks on the album) and "Bitch I'm Madonna" (one of the best tracks, also). She sings like a "Music" Madonna in "Holy Water". In general, Madonna is trying to relive her old statuses all over again with new songs, having nothing new to offer to music, apart from some (really) good songs, that are actually difficult to identify among all these old look-alikes.
Her most electronic/hip efforts are her most confident uptempo moments also, like "Iconic" and "Bitch I'm Madonna". She sounds like her 56-year-old self while singing the folk-pop "Body shop", her best and her most heartfelt song on the album, while the second half of the album ("Holy Water", "Wash all over me" and "Inside out") could literally create a new sound for the queen if she wasn't so desperate to still be the queen. Oh well...
"Rebel heart" is not a bad album. It's always better than "Hard candy" or "MDNA". But it could have been great if Madonna had not tried too much to reinvent herself with old tricks and old production. Listen to the second half of the project and then the first one and figure this out. It's like a greatest hits album with some additional new songs, which in this case sound better than the old ones. Ok, I shut the fuck up now. Mic dropping sound.
p.s. Beyonce is the new queen, but please, DO NOT tell Madonna yet, she is not ready.
AnArtCalled... 6/10
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