BetterForgotten

It’s an early 90’s throwback, reminiscent of something she would’ve done with Shep Pettibone in that era.

Official preview of the song with Sabrina!

Madonna Playfully Spanks West Hollywood Nightclub Owner in Front of Addison Rae at Surprise “Confessions II” Performance

And Casey Kaden to go along with the previous post, 1:40 in for the exact segment lol Madonna and Whitney Houston set a new standard for commercial success for women in the mid/late 80’s. Before them, it wasn’t common for women in the rock era to score multiple #1 hits or have album sales on par with, or exceed their male contemporaries. Before them, in the rock era, you’d only have to look back to the Supremes in the 60’s in terms of female acts with similar consistent singles chart success.

Madonna’s Manager Guy Oseary ‘Not Sure Yet’ She’ll Tour Following Sabrina Carpenter Coachella Performance and ‘Confessions II’ Release

The Sabrina collaboration also isn’t totally disingenuous. Sabrina has paid homage to Madonna before - namely wearing the Bob Mackie gown to the 2024 VMAs that Madonna wore at the 1991 Oscars where she performed the Oscar-winner “Sooner or Later” from Dick Tracy and arrived with Michael Jackson as her date, lol

This is awful and he was way too young. RIP.

I think the biggest thing is there feels to be an actual strategy for this album. Not Madonna releasing something to satisfy contractual commitments, but a body of work she spent time on and actually seems very proud of. And of course, having the push/backing of her historical home in Warners makes a huge difference. They know her catalogue and how much millions she’s generated for them and continues to. It all feels very coordinated and strategically planned: ‘I Feel So Free’ was first serviced to PRIDE radio and the clubs - the gay and club audiences have always been Madonna’s core from the very beginning. This is her reminding them that the QUEEN has retuned in great grandeur. This “teaser” single was meant specifically for those audiences who always remained loyal to her and will defend her through anything The Sabrina collab and Coachella appearance was to generate hype and headlines for the wider Pop audiences. Again, reminding them that the Queen has returned, and if certain younger audiences are not too familiar with her, they better do some research and understand who the Queen of Pop is and her importance to culture She’s already building momentum before an official single is serviced to radio (at this point who cares if the ageist radio programmers even play it anyway), released a video, or announced an upcoming tour Again, Madonna is 67 and 43 years into her career - and the fact she can still generate some hype for an album release and isn’t relegated to a being mainly a legacy or holiday act is something very rare and special. We may not always agree with everything she does or releases, but you cannot deny this woman’s impact on popular music and culture.

Her LiveNation era albums (MDNA to Madame X) took a backseat to touring, which is how that contract was set up. They were mostly rushed releases to support her touring-centric contract with them. LiveNation was/is not a real record label, and Interscope only handled the distribution for those albums, so she didn’t have to listen to them and there was no incentive on their end to promote those albums beyond the initial release. Her new arrangement with Warner is very different. The music, not touring, is the first priority. She actually seems to be devoting more than 5 mins of her time this time around to crafting a well thought out album release and strategy. I’m sure a tour announcement will follow (as that’s where the real $$$ is), but for the first time in a long time, the music is not a means to tour to satisfy a multi-million dollar contractual agreement. She got paid handsomely by LiveNation, so she got something out of it, but the actual music from that era was largely rushed work.

It’s apparently a teaser single, not the first official single. There’s a plan in place for this album release, something she didn’t really have with LiveNation in recent previous cycles as they were more concerned with pushing tours and merchandise.

Acra is listed as an additional producer, and I can feel her influence on this track, even though it’s a quintessential Stuart Price production as well.