MADONNA - MDNA (2012)

"deeper and deeper" = numbing trauma with hedonism, finding a kind of liberation in that anyway. it's complicated

I'm half-tempted to start a fb campaign urging her not to release this album in an effort to preserve her legacy. A hollow gesture, of course, because the label has already sunk a ton of money into it, but a gesture from the heart nonetheless.

― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, February 28, 2012 12:52 AM (8 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

because American Life and Hard Candy were so great that this is a shock

I want to lock Madonna in a room with just her guitar and see what she comes up with, because she needs a serious reboot.

I'm sure that will work.

Was Ray of Light the last really "unique" thing she did? I mean obviously it too heavily drew from several sources but most of them iirc were sort of more out of the mainstream than, say, disco (re: Confessions).

I'm sure that will work.

Grasping at straws.

Was Ray of Light the last really "unique" thing she did?

"die another day"!

you guys, this new song isn't amazing by any stretch of the imagination but it's a hell of a lot better than "Give Me All Your Luvin'"

also some dude OTM even though I loved American Life

Not to get all rockisty or anything, I think part of the problem is that in Madonna's prime the radio still played standard ... songs, for lack of a better word. Things that could be played on piano or guitar. But the last few years the pop music pendulum has swung over to clubby anonymity, which is fine ... for the clubs. But on the radio there's not a lot of room for songs without a 4/4 stomp and a stupid hook. It's a shame Madonna is buying into that, but I don't see what choice she has, if she wants to get played. Ray of Light and Music were sort of a transitional hybrids allowed by the advent of "OMG dance music electronics!" (see also: Moby, Prodigy, anything with OMG electronics!). But now we're on the other side of that. Just hypothesizing, but top 40 has never seemed more ... digital disco.

you realize it's kind of silly to say music driven by MIDI synths can't be played on a piano, right

it is a shame that the woman behind "burning up" and "holiday" has been reduced to digital disco

At this point in her career, better this than jazz standards.

More the case that her most comfortable sound is now pop's default setting and instead of accentuating the differences the new single merges with everything else, which makes her sound like one of many. Stuart Price's Confessions production is "digital disco" but it doesn't sound like David Guetta and this one does.

i don't even care enough about her to want to defend her but it seems off to not accept she's had club music from the start

(as opposed to "buying into it" now)

xpost Anything can be played on piano or guitar - notes are notes and chords are chords - but it's not really ideal for this sort of thing. It's all about the thump and the rhythm/repetition; the robotic-ness is its appeal, not the melody. (/geir)

Just saying, you can sing Madonna's best stuff in the shower. Or in the car. Or wherever. The newer stuff is subservient to the beat. Which isn't a bad thing! But there are many people who do it better than Madonna.

I don't see the distinction. You can't really sing Vogue or Justify My Love in the shower. She's always had club tracks which don't make sense detached from the beat.

I agree with that (though you can totally sing the chorus to Vogue!). But I'd still say songs like that are the clubby outliers of her ouevre. Lately she's been overtly playing catch-up with club trends rather than originating them, and the look doesn't suit her.

the only reason you can't sing Vogue in the shower is because no one remembers how the verses go

You can't really sing Vogue or Justify My Love in the shower.

believe me, you most certainly can.

though you can't really sing Justify My Love at all

xpost They goes like this: dooby-doo, dooby-doo-doo-do-do-doo-do, dooby-do-do-doo.

dooby-doo, dooby-doo-doo-do-do-doo-do, dooby-do-do-doo
(that's what it's for)

You do the Lenny Kravitz doh-doh-doh-dohhhh part and then you pick up the shower nozzle like a mic and say "Love me! That's Right! Love me!"

You guys sound like Paul fucking McCartney.

Thumbs aloft!

How complex does a hook have to be before you can sing it in the shower?

Exactly 39% complex.

I just mean I have no difficulty imagining LMFAO lyrics can be heard in your more tragic dorm bathrooms. The problem is less that new music is unsuitable to Madonna's gifts so much as Madonna's new music is tired. Cher pulled off digital disco ten years ago.

If Madonna tried to play "Into The Groove" on guitar it would sound like "I Deserve It."

Madonna's gift, as such, used to be (besides not sounding tired) not sounding like she was breathlessly, belatedly playing catch-up.

I just mean I have no difficulty imagining LMFAO lyrics can be heard in your more tragic dorm bathrooms. The problem is less that new music is unsuitable to Madonna's gifts so much as Madonna's new music is tired. Cher pulled off digital disco ten years ago.

― da croupier, Tuesday, February 28, 2012 11:04 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I've never been happier to be done school.

isn't "tragic dorm bathrooms" redundant

a girl gone WILD
a good girl gone WILD

But on the radio there's not a lot of room for songs without a 4/4 stomp and a stupid hook. It's a shame Madonna is buying into that, but I don't see what choice she has, if she wants to get played.

Seriously? It's Madonna, she'll get played whatever, she could afford to take more risks than pretty much anyone else. I haven't heard any of the new stuff but if it does just sound like Guetta-house then I'd put that down to lack of imagination rather than anything else. See also Hard Candy.

there's a good argument to be made that this new single is the worst thing that madonna has ever committed to record

IIRC Like A Virgin was half amazing singles and half unlistenable garbage.

Yeah. It was her weakest album for a couple of decades.

surm won't tolerate any dissent re "Shooby Dooby Doo."

there's a good argument to be made that this new single is the worst thing that madonna has ever committed to record

"Revolver" pissed me off way more. Plus Evita (not really her fault).

I don't understand how this new boring song can be viewed as being worse than the actively terrible song she released right before it, not to mention the impressive string of drippy clunkers she's released throughout her entire career

The worst thing about it is how it disinfects the word "erotic."

Not even sure if it's better than the Paris Hilton sexting song.

I will never know about that because srsly fuck seeking out a Paris Hilton song, life is far too fucking short for that

the song is actually seriously p amazing, but mostly because it was already a song that these people just had Paris re-do vocals for

if she was gonna go this route, why didn't she just pay for the full max martin spa treatment. i mean, go to the source and don't mess around. even britney would have turned up her nose at the girls gone wild song.

there's a very condescending "meet them halfway" attitude madonna seems to have to catering to the charts that more and more ends up at the exact wrong halfway point

Between the Super Bowl and this track I am p convinced she is just going through the motions w the bare minimum of effort. Who produced this? Maybe the Orbit tracks will redeem her?

Most of her efforts these days lie in film-making.

"Efforts."