From what I have seen and read, Madonna is not someone who can sit down and write a bunch of songs by herself. She always has a vision for what she wants her music to be, and can write lyrics and good vocal melodies, but she needs help to make it all come together.
You may be right - she certainly appears to enjoy the process of collaboration but then so do a lot of songwriters. I think the same is true of her role as a producer. I remember a quote from William Orbit at the time of Ray of Light when he said "she produced me producing her".
My mistake - I was not aware of that. I still don't think she is on a level with Mariah when it comes to songcraft but I am so totally biased as to render my perspective utterly meaningless. Peace and love!
Don't mean to veer too far off-topic (Madonna's in here, too!), but wanted to join in regarding some of the other posts... I'm generally very successful at separating the person from the music, but Mariah is probably the one artist where I so completely *cannot stand* her as a person that it completely ruins her music for me. Every now and then there might be a song that somehow breaks through, but even then her personality always casts a pall. I used to like her back in the '90s before she became the complete mess that she is today, but I just can't get past her insane level of arrogance and delusional nature now. Which is a pity, because I'd never suggest she didn't have immense talent. With Madonna, for me her music outshines anything she does or says, and I have huge respect for her as both an artist and for her willingness to do whatever she wants and essentially say "screw you" to anyone who disagrees. I get the impression I'd probably 50:50 love/hate her as a person, but nothing can take away the incredible body of music she's put out - and continues to. I thought "Rebel Heart" was a huge improvement over some more recent output - granted, there are songs on there that I could do without, but it also contained some of her strongest material in years (what happened to "Ghost Town" was a crime!). I'm not very excited for "Madame X" based on everything revealed so far, but I'm also sure there will be some great songs on there, too. And then there's Kylie, the feel-good, upbeat, positive unicorn of the three. She still puts out fantastic material (and records five times as many songs as she releases, many of which would make strong albums on their own) - if you don't mind a minor country influence in your pop, "Golden" is a great album. I think part of why she's never experienced sustained success in the U.S. is that she doesn't have the edge or outsized personality to make it here (and, to be fair, nor was she ever willing to put the required time into breaking the market). She's private and has stayed out of any big controversies for 30 years - the most she gets hit with is the old "unlucky in love" chestnut. She's very shut-down in interviews, always terrified of saying something wrong or controversial unless she's already pre-planned it and knows exactly what she's going to say, not very confident in talking about her music despite being very involved, and generally not very forthcoming or self-promotional. (And that's in her home markets where she's mostly a beloved figure.) That just doesn't work for the U.S. market. Back to Madonna! For the poster who mentioned a Target-exclusive version of "Madame X", is that Target U.S.? Very interesting if so - I could be wrong, but I don't recall Madonna ever engaging in the retailer-specific bonus editions in the past. The industry is such a different place now, almost unrecognizable from just twenty years ago.
I always find it odd when people base their opinion of someone’s music on liking or not liking them as a person since you don’t know these people in real life and the media can twist how people come across in interviews. I’m not a fan of Mariah’s music at all, but to me she doesn’t come off as arrogant or delusional. She has an offbeat eccentric sense of humor that some people may misunderstand.
Her diva antics are legendary! I agree, if you watch an interview she sounds grounded, but what she gets up to is anything but.
How can you know what she does? Tabloids don’t always tell the truth. All rich famous musicians even the male ones do diva antics. It comes with the territory. How would you act if you had that amount of money and fame?
It's not just tabloids, it is everyone, she even adits it herself. Also did you see her throw her tissue away at the billboard awards? The action of someone expecting some minion to go pick it up for her.
Yeah, totally diva to show up at Stonewall on New Year's Eve to kick off the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, or to show up at Washington Square Park on election eve 2016 to lead an anti-_ _ _ _ _ singalong rally. Or those times she held or showed up at danceathons at discos to help raise money for AIDS research. Yep, total diva. Now this is a diva move from the genius that was Aretha:
Live Nation and Maverick have announced a series of rare and intimate performances to take place exclusively in theaters, giving fans an opportunity to see Madonna in an environment like they never have before. The Madame X Tour will kick off September 12th at the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House in New York and will feature multiple nights of shows in each city including performances at the Chicago Theatre, The Wiltern in Los Angeles, the Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, the Boch Center Wang Theatre in Boston, The Met Philadelphia and at the Fillmore Miami Beach at the Jackie Gleason Theatre in 2019. The Madame X Tour will then resume in early 2020 with performances at the Coliseum in Lisbon, the Palladium in London and at the Grand Rex in Paris.
She was supposedly in attendance on at least one occasion at `Springsteen On Broadway', so this is not surprising at all.
I'm bummed she is not coming to my city. But congratulations to all the people who are able to get tickets. I hear some fans are mad because they are having to bid on seats.
5 additional shows added for Brooklyn for a total of 12. And more shows added for LA as well. Capacity for the opera house is 2098.
I'm sure I'll end up frustrated, and I'm not convinced I actually know what I'm doing, but I've added my name to all the LA dates and the two less horrifying price points. This is a rather exciting way to try to get tickets.
It looks like they are trying to keep tickets out of the resale markets. The actual tickets won't be released till 48 hours before your concert date.
