18 hours ago, Maxim said:

Queen is back at top form

Glad [most] of the fillers are gone... but those cheekbones/alien-look are just.... not it.

BetterForgotten mentioned the song earlier. I never could get into it when it was originally released in 1989. As I got older I learned to appreciate it more and it's a favorite.

 

Madonna Scores A New Top 10 Hit With One Of Her Oldest Singles

Who's That Girl

 

She has to release one last great big pop album. She just has to. Her last releases ever since Hard Candy have been too much chasing trends and not that much of her soul in it. The last legendary album to me... is Confessions. 

Edited July 26, 20241 yr by Maxim

2 hours ago, Maxim said:

She has to release one last great big pop album. She just has to. Her last releases ever since Hard Candy have been too much chasing trends and not that much of her soul in it. The last legendary album to me... is Confessions. 

Who's That Girl EP was a digital release. It had never been released digitally.

Now MADAME X was a pretty good album and definitely not chasing a trend. Though she did use some of her old tropes, it was nice to see Madonna exploring again.

 

 

 

 IF this is not trend chasing, I don't know WHAT it is.  

The entire Madame X was Madonna trying to chase trends and stay relevant, forgetting that she ONCE created the trends. From the Maluma circus, to the strange duets with artists that she doesn't even sound good with... it was a MESS. It is already not ageing well. Just play the album. And even thought this is not relevant to quality - it remains her lowest selling album of all time. The tour and the horrible Eurovision performance didn't help at all. 

The only album that I kinda like from the more LATE era is Rebel Heart - and it's because of the ballads. She never promoted that album the way that she should have though... she jumped straight to touring. 

I love this song.

 

3 hours ago, Maxim said:

 

 IF this is not trend chasing, I don't know WHAT it is.  

The entire Madame X was Madonna trying to chase trends and stay relevant, forgetting that she ONCE created the trends. From the Maluma circus, to the strange duets with artists that she doesn't even sound good with... it was a MESS. It is already not ageing well. Just play the album. And even thought this is not relevant to quality - it remains her lowest selling album of all time. The tour and the horrible Eurovision performance didn't help at all. 

The only album that I kinda like from the more LATE era is Rebel Heart - and it's because of the ballads. She never promoted that album the way that she should have though... she jumped straight to touring. 

I love this song.

 

I mean the album AS A WHOLE. I found it pretty cohesive. And given that she made it at a time where she was at a retreat and questioning her life...like the crossroad she was at when ROL emerged...I feel it. Cuz at the time of its release...no one was doing what she was doing music-wise. So I don't find the album trendchasing at all. Now the singles...well...yeah. lol. Well the lead single...nothing new with Madonna though from a market point of view.

 

I thought about adding REBEL HEART as well, but felt that was more trend setting than MADAME X. Just cuz of BIM. I agree with the ballads. GHOSTTOWN was my song and the fact she made a video...LOVE. 

Ray of light and Madame X are incomparable in terms of originality. If I were to be honest, they shouldn't even be spoken in the same sentence. 😂 Ray of light was a breath of fresh air and something that has stood the test of time. It was musically and lyrically groundbreaking and has the Grammys to prove it. Madame X was a cringe attempt to dip into a new younger fan base, collaborate only with young popular trendy artists and chase current social trends. A confusing mish- mash of... In the end... Nothing. After years, people won't even remember Madame X while Ray of light will still Stand. Rebel heart was also a desperate record, I am not saying it isn't, but at least it had more musicality in comparison to the trainwreck Madame X. Madame X didn't even have 1 strong melody. The absurd voice effects, autotune and robotic sound didn't help at all.

Some people hate on her... but I adore British Madonna. ❤️

With Deadpool & Wolverine giving Like A Prayer a bit of a resurgence, I was reminded of the amazing photos the late/great Herb Ritts took for that album. He was Madonna’s best photographer IMO and no one captured her essence better. The True Blue album cover alone is almost the most definitive Madonna picture that ever existed.

Anyway, the Like A Prayer album photos are the best of BrunetteDonna. There’s a beautiful earthy quality to them that matches the stark and often brutal honesty of the overall album itself - her best overall album IMO. 

Some of my favourites and lifted from THIS great blog post. 
 

Edited August 3, 20241 yr by BetterForgotten

5 hours ago, BetterForgotten said:

With Deadpool & Wolverine giving Like A Prayer a bit of a resurgence, I was reminded of the amazing photos the late/great Herb Ritts took for that album. He was Madonna’s best photographer IMO and no one captured her essence better. The True Blue album cover alone is almost the most definitive Madonna picture that ever existed.

Anyway, the Like A Prayer album photos are the best of BrunetteDonna. There’s a beautiful earthy quality to them that matches the stark and often brutal honesty of the overall album itself - her best overall album IMO. 

Some of my favorites and lifted from THIS great blob post. 
 

My favorite Madonna. ❤️

 

😈

 

She is completely crazy.

🤣

Rebel Heart was full of bops and wonderful ballads and should be more recognized for that than it is. It's not among her brilliant work - but certainly not among her least good efforts.