Madonna: Madame X - album released 14th June 2019

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Bink, Apr 30, 2019.

  1. aseriesofsneaks

    aseriesofsneaks Forum Resident

    Location:
    St. Catharines, ON
    I'm determined to spend some more time with it and see if more of it clicks. When we were doing the album-by-album thread a while back, I found that I had a little more appreciation for some of the albums I previously didn't have as much enthusiasm for, like Bedtime Stories and American Life. Even though I still don't love everything on them, I did find more to enjoy, so I don't want to dismiss this one out of hand. If it still ends up not connecting as a whole, that's fine as well. Whenever I'm disappointed by a Madonna record, I usually love the one that follows (such as Ray of Light or Confessions, so I'll just look forward to the next one.
     
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  2. theghostinyou

    theghostinyou Forum Resident

    Location:
    Calgary
    That's a very good point. Also Gwen hit #2 (and #1 in many countries) with the sweet escape when she was 38. Not to mention her first album 10 years later in 2016 went #1 with 85,000 in sales and the 2 singles barely missed out on reaching top 20 mainstream radio- numbers that even Mariah or Christina couldn't come close to achieving these days.
     
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  3. Bobby Morrow

    Bobby Morrow Senior Member

    I admire your optimism.

    :D
     
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  4. aseriesofsneaks

    aseriesofsneaks Forum Resident

    Location:
    St. Catharines, ON
    I tend not to give up on the artists I love very easily. I figure if they once created something that connected with me in a significant way, they at least have a chance of doing it again. Almost all of the artists or bands I've followed for a long time have made at least one lesser album along the way, but continued to do great work afterwards. Even someone like Joni Mitchell has a couple of clunkers in her catalog.
     
  5. Mike24137

    Mike24137 Mike

    Location:
    Penhook VA
    I like it a lot. I also liked Rebel Heart. I did not like the other more recent ones back to Ray of Light.(which I loved). Madonna is doing her thing at sixty. That's pretty impressive to me.
     
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  6. Jmac1979

    Jmac1979 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Louisville, KY
    Right. Plus people forget this is like American Life in terms of not being an instant album in the slightest. This album commands repeated listenings to fully be appreciated. Not every album is as immediate as Confessions was.
     
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  7. ralphb

    ralphb "First they came for..."

    Location:
    Brooklyn, New York
    Which really seems to bug some people. For whatever reason.
     
  8. aseriesofsneaks

    aseriesofsneaks Forum Resident

    Location:
    St. Catharines, ON
    I wasn't a big fan of American Life when it was first released, but have warmed up to it. I still don't love all of it, but at least I have a better appreciation of what she wanted to do. It was definitely a bold record and bound to be divisive. I'll take that over, say, the more generic parts of MDNA.
     
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  10. Jmac1979

    Jmac1979 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Louisville, KY
    What a lot of people forget is quite a few of her greatest albums were growers, not showers.

    I remember when my older sister bought Like A Prayer the week it came out (I was 9), I remember being relatively unimpressed outside of the title track and Express Yourself, I wanted True Blue II and was bummed.... then it became one of my faves. When Erotica came out, I remember thinking it was boring and the worst thing she'd released to that point, then it eventually came out to be an album I appreciate much more. Hell, when Music came out I remember being baffled and disappointed that we didn't get "Ray Of Light II", then I grew to love it as its own thing. This isn't bad company to keep.

    I'm not crazy about the reggaeton and none of the guests are artists I'd choose to listen to on their own, but I can feel a drive and energy there with this album that was completely lacking on Hard Candy and MDNA, and only there in spurts on Rebel Heart. To me, this feels like the first "event" album since Confessions for her. And there's already quite a few songs on there I really enjoy like Dark Ballet, God Control, I Don't Search I Find, I Rise and Looking For Mercy all being standouts so far
     
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  11. 7MusicFan6

    7MusicFan6 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Maine
    I’m loving this album with each play. It’s a real piece of art with amazing track sequencing.

    The penultimate track Looking For Mercy must have one of the best vocals of her career. There is something slightly ominous about the synth and strings combination almost reminiscent of Depeche Mode. Madonna has always had a way with a ballad.
     
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  12. neo123

    neo123 Senior Member

    Location:
    Northern Kentucky
    I agree. For some people, it does take patience and time for some new music to grow on them. But too many of those people will listen to something just once and then dismiss it, never giving it a chance.

    By the way, I've listened to the new album 6 times so far and I really like it. And now I am doing one of my "projects" of listening to and ranking all her studio albums. I am working my way backwards first, just for the 3 most recent releases (MDNA and Rebel Heart, I've only listened to a few times since their release.) Then I am going to start at the beginning with Madonna and work my way through Madame X. As I type this, I have listened to the Super Deluxe of Rebel Heart already and am currently on the Deluxe of MDNA. For me, MDNA is a more fun album than Rebel Heart, but it is indeed very processed and overproduced. Rebel Heart has more mature songs than MDNA and the ballads on Rebel Heart showcase her singing and vocals. Though Rebel Heart is bogged down with a lot of filler too. Anyway, after I am done with this "project," I will give my rankings of her 14 studio albums (not going to rank any of the soundtrack albums) and give some more thoughts about each album.
     
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  13. Jmac1979

    Jmac1979 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Louisville, KY
    That's what I don't get. After three days its too preliminary to just shrug it off and say its her worst album, because it isn't enough time to properly digest it. I mean, there's another A-list icon who just dropped a new album that I'm not totally feeling right now, but I do think with more listens I'll like it more, just like Madame X gets better with more time to sit with you.
     
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  14. JannL

    JannL Forum Resident

    I actually think Crazy is great also.

    Looking for Mercy is one of the best Madonna songs I've heard in over a decade.
     
    Last edited: Jun 16, 2019
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  15. JackDVD78

    JackDVD78 Forum Resident

    Location:
    MPLS MN
    I know what many mean as her era's and sound changed through the years, and how everyone has different fav albums and lists based on maybe when they discovered her, this is my story.


    I've been a fan since Like A Prayer... I was 11 at the time and I heard Material Girl, Like a Virgin, Papa Don't Preach and Open Your Heart... But as a kid the artist who was singing didn't register to me yet.

    I remember seeing the Like A Prayer Pepsi teaser Promo that this Madonna was going to drop a new song during the Cosby Show

    Once I saw the commercial I was hooked instantly. She was the first singer my 11 year old mind paid attention to.

    I was able to buy the cassette tape of Like a Prayer probably within a month of its release. It still smells of patchouli

    That summer and into 1990 Madonna seemed to be on every magazine... everywhere. The mystique of Madonna was everything.

    By the time Vogue had dropped I owned every previous Madonna album.

    this movie Dick Tracy was coming .... she was going on Tour ... it was to be the Tour of the decade.

    The Blond Ambition Tour set the bar, all other artists followed. It was revolutionary. I only wished I could have seen it in person!

    I was buying every magazine so I could see the outfits... clips of the concerts would be on news programs.

    There really was nothing like it during this time period.

    By the end of 1990 Madonna completely changed sound! Justify My Love dropped... the music the form of speech was unlike anything that I had heard from Madonna.

    At First I wasn't sure if I liked it! I heard a radio station play a different version of the song! I thought what is this!!!! This is when I discovered maxi-singles! Justify My Love featured some of the greatest Madonna remixes of her career to date.
     
    Last edited: Jun 16, 2019
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  16. cquiller1

    cquiller1 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Atlanta
    It's amazing that Celine is one of the best selling female artists of all time given that her hit making potential ended in her 30s. I agree that Janet's hitmaking potential would have gone longer had it not been for "Nipplegate." As far as Whitney, "Million Dollar Bill" definitely should have been a hit. It was a great contemporary R&B track suited for her voice at the time. Whitney couldn't really pull off the power ballads in 2009 like she did in 1989 because her voice just wasn't the same. Mariah's voice isn't as strong as it once was, but she adjusted her music accordingly. "Caution" is a perfect album for her current voice. Speaking of "Caution," I'm still bummed that the album didn't perform better. It's one of my Top 5 Mariah albums.

    As far as the Jonas Brothers, the boy band craze is at a fever pitch right now. Jonas Brothers having a No. 1 single and album, BTS being red-hot, Backstreet Boys scoring their first No. 1 album in nearly 20 years, and the R&B boyband of the early 2000s, B2K, just played a sold-out tour this past Spring. If I were Justin Timberlake, I'd be on the phone with the rest of the members of N'SYNC trying to capitalize off this latest trend. I know JT just came off a very successful tour on his own, but I think it'd be great to see him back with N'SYNC for the nostalgia.
     
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  17. bob60

    bob60 Forum Resident

    Location:
    London UK
    I can’t ever remember Madonna sharing a sofa on a chat show before. In the UK she always gets the whole show just to herself to promote whatever it is she has out. I thought she came across as completely joyless and devoid of personality. Given she’s been in the game for 35 years you’d have thought she would have learnt by now how to come across well on TV, even if it is fake.
     
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  18. postscripum

    postscripum Forum Resident

    Location:
    Liverpool
    More likely still she is surrounded by people who don't think it is a bad look for their star to appear hopelessly out of breath and full of disdain for everyone else in the studio. But congrats on your self-consciously feisty support for a cause I understand just as well as you do.
     
  19. cquiller1

    cquiller1 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Atlanta
    Madonna is going to be Madonna regardless of what people think. Like she said in Medellin, she's never going to be what society expects her to be.

    Madonna's personality can be very hot and cold. There's times where she can be charming and sweet, and then there's other times where she can be icy or aloof. It just depends on which day you catch her on. LoL.
     
  20. cquiller1

    cquiller1 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Atlanta
    You obviously haven't seen Madonna in other interviews. LoL.

     
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  21. Mister President

    Mister President Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    As with every Madonna album there are some good songs here and I'm glad she's taking risks....but yes there's plenty that doesn't work for me. Madonna isn't really an album artist in my eyes, they are usually way too long (even the Like A Prayer album was too long in 1989) and the songs are inconsistent and again can go on too long, for some reason I don't think the duets she's done on albums really ever work.

    But she's never been boring.
     
    Last edited: Jun 17, 2019
  22. cquiller1

    cquiller1 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Atlanta
    Like a Prayer only contains 11 songs...well, 10 really because I never considered "Act of Contrition" an actual song. Like a Virgin and True Blue have nine songs, and her debut album has eight. Madonna's 1980s albums have about the same number of tracks most albums of that era had: 8-10 tracks.

    But I totally agree M has never been boring, even when she creates a project I'm not a big fan of.
     
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  23. Mister President

    Mister President Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    Her first 3 albums were much tighter for sure, but things changed around Like A Prayer/Erotica. Yes, "Act of Contribution" isn't really a song and probably should of got the boot but thats me. I just don't think 55-70 min albums work but what do I know. :D

    I've been listening to a lot of her songs over the weekend and rediscovered some fantastic songs...I still think Joan of Arc should of been a single and would of been interesting how it wouldn't have done as it's very much a throwback to her earlier period.
     
    Last edited: Jun 17, 2019
  24. KJTC

    KJTC Forum Resident

    Location:
    NYC
    She looked great. She was self-deprecating and her joke about her talent show competition slayed. Regardless, your insistence that her choices are the results of handlers not controlling her is hilariously antiquated. Nobody tells Mo what to do, and I know exactly which finger she’d greet you with if you said this nonsense to her face.
     
  25. cquiller1

    cquiller1 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Atlanta
    I'll admit I do prefer shorter albums because I have a short attention span, but longer albums can work IMO if an artist/band has really strong material. As far as Madonna's albums, I think Rebel Heart and Madame X go on longer than they need to. I would like both albums a lot better if about 4-5 songs were cut.
     
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