MADONNA - MDNA (2012)

hoo boy

"I Don't Give A" reminds me a little too much of "Top That!" from "Teen Witch":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEa1BYBgeQI

Yeah, I think I'ma skip this one.

it's better than hard candy?

I don't think I'd even give it that, based on what I've heard so far

So then it's officially the worst album of all time. Check.

had the coda on "I Don't Give A" been the intro, it might have saved the song

"I'm A Sinner" sounds like it actually has quantizing issues, like they couldn't get the components of the loop to match up correctly; it's still the third-best song I've heard on this album

"Love Spent" starts with a banjo, that's a good sign

haha and once that goes away the song gets much much much better

did she just say "Frankly, if my name was Benjamin/We wouldn't be in the mess we're in"

oh Madonna

"I want you to hold me like you hold your money/Hold me 'til there's nothing left"

this is still the third- or fourth-best song on the album

oh god that lyric made my jaw drop when i first heard it

the benjamin one

... O_O

I... I genuinely like "Masterpiece"

this is EASILY the best song on the album so far

"you're abe lincoln / cuz you fight for what's right"

http://healthsolutionbd.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/bush-shock-1.jpg

okay what the fuck, "Falling Free" just started and why do I like the ballads so much??

Lyrically, it's still kind of inane but at least she sounds like she has a personality and the melody does more than just sit on one note for entire verses

Lyrically, it's still kind of inane but at least she sounds like she has a personality

this really surprises me b/c i think even more than the underwritten songs, lyrical clunkers and uninspiring producers, madonna's terrible terrible delivery is what sinks the album - someone with a semblance of character could've rescued even the inane songs but she sounds bored and rigid and characterless for the most part, and this is especially the case where she's required to sound emotional (the ballads) or carefree (the bubblegum)

I'm with lex re her voice. It's as if this is what happens to billions spent on voice lessons and locution: after fifteen years the warranty runs out and she forgot to keep the receipt.

I completely agree that Madonna's delivery is terrible right up until the last two songs on the main album; "Beautiful Killer" is also much less irritating than the lion's share of the album.

haha oh my god "I Fucked Up" on the other hand is absolutely the terrible flat affect horseshit delivery you are calling out

i've just realised dan hasn't got to "bday song" yet

*anticipates*

(i agree that for some reason "beautiful killer" does work v well)

"I Fucked Up" should have been double-time the whole song, it wouldn't come across quite so lifelessly

"Bday Song" is my favorite.

seriously though, she has zero awareness and zero people around her who give a shit if "I Fucked Up" in this form was allowed to go out the door

what

what is happening here

why are M.I.A. and Madonna singing over an interpolation of the Sesame Street theme song

I am too bemused to make a judgement about this

the vocals thing is particularly sad because her voice was so crazy good at elevating her (already classic) material - could anyone have done 'open your heart' or 'into the groove' or 'burning up' or 'crazy for you' as well as her? her 80's voice is one of pop's most underrated instruments. And I don't think there's any excuse to what it's become other than sheer laziness (which is SO NOT A GOOD LOOK on you madge).

hahahaha seriously what was that, though

the bit where MIA asks to be spanked is particularly o_0

oh shit "Best Friend" is kind of instantly appealing

oh wow "masterpiece" is really good

and yeah, this has zero to do with "voice lessons" and everything to do with "50+ year old woman on autopilot"

has she ever attempted a song like "B-Day Song"? It's like ABBA attempting a kid's song played on live instruments by Muppets.

― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, March 26, 2012

masterpiece has maybe the worst lyric on the album - "if you were the mona lisa you'd be hanging in the louvre' wtf is that.

(although the flat delivery really works on busy songs like "Best Friend" where she's kind of taking herself out of the way of the backing track and keeping some sense of space in the arrangement as a result)

xp: That is a statement of fact...? Nothing really beats the stupidity of "Love Spent" IMO

lol okay as I suspected, I went back to "Bang Bang" and it's way more appealing than it was the first time I heard it

hate the little guitar sting tho

all i have heard from this shit has been shit

so basically we have some songs I like without reservation ("Masterpiece", "Falling Free", "Beautiful Killer", "Best Friend"), some songs I would like more if they'd figured out how to end them before they fell apart ("Gang Bang", "I'm Addicted"), a wholly anonymous, innoffensive piece of nothing ("Some Girls"), a mind-meltingly STUPID song that manages to not be 100% terrible ("Love Spent"), a wholly odd thing I can't make heads nor tails of ("B-Day Song") and then everything else is SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT

Better than Hard Candy then. Things are on the up.

i wish she would just zen out and do something ... creative, and relaxed

like what is she doing

I just put on Hard Candy (thx Spotify) and the first song alone makes a better impression than MDNA

Yeah, I listened to Hard Candy a couple months ago and it didn't seem nearly as bad as I remembered. Four years from now will that happen with MDNA? Could, but it's unlikely.

Thank god it's too hot and sunny for me to put on Erotica or Bedtime Stories.

also I always a big fan of "Four Minutes"

i just don't understand why this is the kind of thing she thinks ppl would want to hear on E

is she really that out of touch

confessions was definitely the E album. the moment's over. get a new idea.

honestly if i heard this rolling i think i would spontaneously vomit

Erotica was the E album! xp

Erotica is the coke album.

Bedtime Stories is the Coke album.