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Not a huge fan but with all the talk about Madge lately I'm surprised we do not have a thread.



Tracklisting:

Girls Gone Wild
Gang Bang
I'm Addicted
Some Girls
I Don't Give A
Turn Up the Radio
Give Me All Your Luvin
B-day Song
Superstar
I'm a Sinner
Masterpiece
Falling Free

from wikipedia: MDNA (a pseudo-blend abbreviation of "Madonna") is the upcoming twelfth studio album by American singer Madonna, set to be released on March 26, 2012. When released, it will be her debut release from her 360 deal with Live Nation Entertainment in partnership with Interscope Records. It will also be Madonna's first album not to be associated with Warner Bros. Records, the label she was signed to since 1982. The first single to be released from the album, "Give Me All Your Luvin'" (featuring Nicki Minaj and M.I.A.) was released on February 3, 2012.

Thread dedicated to digitalfreakNYC -

gerrythedon

I'll be getting it.

The Bus

Didn't all the Madonna fans get banned?

bearkiss

no, they had to cut out their internet access to be able to afford tickets to the upcoming tour! (see related thread for prices)

yoshimi

I love Madonna but my hatred of rap is greater so I am going to pass. I might download the singles that don't include rap as they are released.

Daytripper

Like MadonnaNumberOneFan? Or whatever the hell his name was. God forbid you ever say one negative thing about her. Such as, I think the first off this album is embarrassingly bad. My niece put it best, said it wasn't appropriate for someone Madonna's age. And something her daughter should be singer.

Rex Fenestrarum

Yeah, I kinda hate to be so blunt about it, but I'm a much more a fan of "white Madonna" (Ray of Light, Music, Confessions on a Dance Floor) than I am "black Madonna" (Hard Candy, this album, apparently). Seeing the words "feat. Lil Wayne" or "feat. Nicki Minaj and M.I.A." or "feat. Missy Elliott" makes me want to run away. I already hate "Give Me All Your Luvin'" even more than "American Life" or "Hollywood", so that's not a good sign.

OT: I finally saw her (somewhat) recent appearance on The Graham Norton Show the other day, and wondered why she comes off as so much more likeable on UK TV than US TV.

bootsy

Good Lord dude get over it and deal with it.

dolphinboy

Huh?

I totally agree with that poster. I never thought Madonna could lose me and I'm not sure yet, but she might have now and I LOVE the song "Hollywood" which is bagged on by a lot of people.

That said, I thought her performance at the halftime show was one of the only great/very good ones they've ever had at a Super Bowl.

floundering

I like this song:

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mickey65

I stopped buying Madonna's albums in 1993.

Giles

Amazon has the CD coming out on next Monday - that's not typical... really?

celmendo

Ray of Light was the last album I truly enjoyed.

"My niece put it best, said it wasn't appropriate for someone Madonna's age."

I assume you mean her first single from this and I totally agree and have said the same thing to people.
Her second single has kind of grown on me though.

cungar

Her current role model:

dolphinboy

Why is she "afraid" of actually singing without all the processed vocals and unnecessary dance crap noise? I think the title is pushing it a bit, but if you strip the other stuff away, it sounds like a song that could have been a lot more like "Crazy For You" or something like that and, instead, it's smeared with stuff that takes away from what I always considered her strengths.

Rypro 525

^ its because she thinks shes 22 (that or shes trying desperatly to appeal to the people that like the processed dance pop crap)

LiquidSky

I'll buy it but wait until there are cheaper new/used copies being sold from Amazon sellers.

yoshimi

I am just going to buy the singles that don't include any rapping in them as they are released.

LiquidSky

That is the only M album I own.

LiquidSky

The snare drum on "I Fucked up" makes me giggle. I can picture "Madge" in my mind's eye performing a para-diddle.

ChristopherS

MTV.com

Madonna's MDNA: Reviews Are In!
Critics praise the album for its 'pumping pop tunes' and being Madge's 'most personal effort to date.'
By John Mitchell

Madonna's MDNA drops officially on Monday — though it leaked online earlier this week — and many critics are calling the set a return to form for the Queen of Pop.

"MDNA — her 12th studio album — is a collection of thoroughly pumping pop tunes, some of which are slices of sheer brilliance. Not only does Madonna take us to the club with MDNA, she exhausts us, drains us, and confides in us," Billboard writes in its track-by-track review. "Five minutes after an aerobic workout on the dance floor, we're in her private booth, where she's spilling her guts about relationships and how things just didn't turn out the way they planned."

Slant magazine calls the album "surprisingly cohesive" given the seven different producers who worked on the project, but has particular praise for the tracks produced and written by Madonna and her Ray of Light collaborator William Orbit. "It's obvious Madge and Billy Bubbles [Orbit] can still create magic together," the magazine writes.

"Songs like 'Gang Bang' serve as reminders that what separates Madonna from most other mainstream pop stars is her willingness to try new things," Slant continues. "Fear — of failure, of looking uncool, of death — can either paralyze or propel you. MDNA finds Madonna continuing to defy the laws of nature by doing both."

In an otherwise middling review, Entertainment Weekly praises Madge's vocal performance on the album's love songs, which are parsed out between darker tracks that seem to focus heavily on Madonna's divorce from Guy Ritchie. EW gives particular props to the Golden Globe-winning Orbit track "Masterpiece" and the "synth stomper" "I'm Addicted," which it says is "a warm ode to a crush [and] offers a good excuse to join in when she says, 'I need to dance.' "

Many critics compliment Madonna's decision to be so emotionally revealing. She's gotten personal in the past, of course, but on MDNA, she takes it to the next level.

"There's something remarkable about Madonna's decision to share her suffering the way she once shared her pleasure," Rolling Stone writes. "Her music has always been about liberation from oppression, but for the first time the oppression is internal: loss and sadness."

The Poughkeepsie Journal sees that as a natural extension of the best Madonna songs. "Yet in some of her most beguiling songs, Madonna has opened her heart and let her defenses down a bit," the Journal opines. "Think of the pregnant teenager in 'Papa Don't Preach,' begging for support even as she declares her resolve. Or the giddy lover pledging eternal devotion in 'Cherish.' Then imagine that those gals had lived a few more years, maybe married and divorced, and you'll have an inkling of the emotional wallop waiting in Madonna's most personal effort to date, MDNA."

More than anything though, critics seem to be assuring fans that they can breathe a sigh of relief on two fronts: Not only is the album good, it is 100 percent Madonna and no one else.

"There's no denying MDNA delivers thrills. In true Ciccone fashion, club pop pounders like 'Some Girls,' 'Love Spent' and 'Turn Up the Radio' seem to push a bit harder than the competition — that last one's got a drop like an open manhole," the BBC writes. "MDNA also has something the last two Madge albums lacked: ballads, both of which are quite lovely. ... Best of all, several moments prompt a welcome sigh: 'God, only Madonna.' "

ChristopherS

Billboard.com

Madonna is still very much the Queen of Pop.



Nearly 30 years after first hitting the Billboard charts in late 1982 with her debut single "Everybody," Madonna is still showing the pop world how it's done.



"MDNA" -- her 12th studio album -- is a collection of thoroughly pumping pop tunes, some of which are slices of sheer brilliance. Not only does Madonna take us to the club with "MDNA," she exhausts us, drains us, and confides in us. Five minutes after an aerobic workout on the dance floor, we're in her private booth, where she's spilling her guts about relationships and how things just didn't turn out the way they planned. Then, another five minutes later, we're back to dancing up a storm to a song like "Gang Bang."



Yes, "Gang Bang."



The track is one of the album's many stand-outs. It's a dark, throbbing tune that is twisted and surprising and altogether pop-tastic. (Yes, that's a word.)



Also notable is the summery pop nugget "Turn Up the Radio," the full-throttle digital rave-up of "I'm Addicted" and the driving, clever word play of "Love Spent."

"MDNA" reunites Madonna with her "Ray of Light" co-producer William Orbit, who polishes her songs with cosmic flourishes and rushes of fuzzy-retro bits. Madonna also enlists the production assistance of Martin Solveig, the Demolition Crew, Benny Benassi, Alle Benassi, Hardy "Indiigo" Muanza and Michael Malih. (Find production credits here .)



Curiously, the set's first single -- the rah-rah "Give Me All Your Luvin'" -- doesn't properly prepare the listener for what they're going to get on the album. Basically: set it aside and go into "MDNA" with a clean slate.



Here's a Track-By-Track Take on "MDNA":




"Girl Gone Wild" The second single from "MDNA" is also the dance floor-ready opening number from the set. In a way, it's very dance-by-the-numbers with Madonna -- a "good girl gone wild" -- singing about her "burning hot desire" to have some fun. The production is familiar Benny Benassi -- all driving, thumping, electronic beats. It's comparable to his remix of Madonna's own "Celebration" single. The track does a good job of getting stuck in one's head, thanks in large part to its "hey-yay-yay" sing-song chorus. One notable difference in hearing this track on a proper stereo setup with quality speakers: you get carried away a bit more by the "whoosh," shall we say, of the song.

"Gang Bang" Commence freaking out, hard core Madonna fans, as "Gang Bang" is the song you've been waiting for. It's dark, clubby, driving, thumping and altogether sickening. (Meaning: It's fantastic, y'all.) Consulting our notes, the scribbles include the words "OMG," "dubstep breakdown" and "GOD THE BEAT." So yeah, it's freaking amazing.

Eight songwriters, including British pop singer Mika (?!), collaborated on the song. On March 8, he Tweeted that it's "weird as fuck, underground and lyrically cool, it's amazing and bizarre. I love it, she sounds so good singing words so harsh." Madonna sing/speaks over the tweaky production about how she keeps her "enemies close" and how she "shot my lover in the head." Truly, "Gang Bang" is going to be one of the most talked-about tracks on the album and is completely unexpected after hearing "MDNA's" first two singles (the cheery "Give Me All Your Luvin'" and dance-by-numbers "Girl Gone Wild").

"Gang Bang's" lyric "Drive bitch!" -- so eloquently used in the song -- will become quite the catchphrase in the coming months. (Notably, as "Gang Bang" is explicit -- and perhaps un-editable -- it will be omitted from the "clean" version of "MDNA." A shame.)

"I'm Addicted" Hey, you wanna go dancing? We'll meet Madonna at the club, as she's got this fantastic, swirling, digital get-down number she wants to play for us. "Something happens to me when I hear your voice and I have no choice," Madonna sings on the hypnotic, Daft Punk-y song. And when Madonna says in a cool, instructive tone, "I need to dance," you know what -- you'll need to dance too. (And now we know where the title of the album comes from, as Madonna chants "MDNA" in "I'm Addicted.")

"Turn Up the Radio" A cousin to "Girl Gone Wild," this tune is a summery pop number that's as effortless as it is simple. It's mindless fun where Madonna sings about how the "temperature's pounding'" and longing to "escape" and how she's "sick and tired of playing this game." (Haven't we heard that before? Enough with the games Madonna!) -- Basically the point of the song here is: "turn up the radio until the speakers blow." While the lyrics aren't provocative or necessarily new, it's still a peppy little tune that would sound great "on the radio."

"Give Me All Your Luvin" (featuring Nicki Minaj & M.I.A.) You've already heard "Give Me All Your Luvin'," the album's lead single, which peaked at No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The throwback cheerleader-like song almost seems like it was a commercial for Madonna's Super Bowl halftime show as opposed to a proper promotional single for "MDNA." Its lyrics and vibe aren't indicative of "MDNA" as a whole and mislead the listener into thinking the album is going to be full of singsongy jingles with by-the-numbers lyrics.

"Some Girls" The album's second William Orbit co-production, "Some Girls" will likely remind listeners of his work on the "Ray of Light" album. The tune has his trademark swirly, cosmic-like flourishes that zig-zag out of the speakers. On the track, Madonna lyrically references herself with the line "put your loving to the test" (oh hay "Express Yourself!") whilst elsewhere singing "I never wanna be like some girls."



"Superstar" Notably this track features the backing vocals of Madonna's eldest child, Lourdes (credited as Lola Leon), and name checks everyone from Marlon Brando and Michael Jordan to Julius Caesar and Abraham Lincoln. The gist here is: "Ooh la la, you're my superstar" and "I'm your biggest fan, it's true." Armed with yet another kicky dubstep bridge, Madonna also amusingly sings about how the "Superstar" subject of her devotion is "like John Travolta, getting into the groove." (Get it? She's referencing herself again -- but in a smart, cheeky way.)



"I Don't Give a F" (featuring Nicki Minaj) A very rat-a-tat-tat song, where Madonna barrels through a list of rants that vaguely reminds one of her rapping on the "American Life" single. She sings about how she "tried to be your wife" (Hey, Guy!) and "in the end it was a failure." Nicki Minaj puts in her second appearance on the album, where she closes her feature with the swipe "There's only one Queen and that's Madonna. Bitch!" The song ends with a rather lengthy orchestral bit that's epic and sweeping, but comes out of nowhere.



"I'm a Sinner" Reminiscent of William Orbit's own Ultra Violet remix of the "Ray of Light" single, the chugging track is so very, very Orbit. It's like the love child of "Beautiful Stranger" (another Orbit co-production) and "Ray of Light." Mid-way through, Madonna gets inspirational and recites "Hail Mary full of grace / get down on your knees and pray" followed by "Jesus Christ hang on the cross, died for our sins it's such a loss" and so on. (Yes, there's more, but we couldn't write that fast.)

"Love Spent" "You played with my heart, till death do we part," Madonna sings on this driving, building track. It's got these whooshes (yes, a technical term) that hark back to '80s tracks like Kim Carnes' "Bette Davis Eyes." It's a mesmerizing song that includes a wonderful little strummy bit (possibly a banjo?). The lyrics work some clever word play comparing love to money: "I want you to hold me like you hold your money / hold me in your arms till there's nothing left." Madonna co-wrote this track with a team of professional writers, and the assistance is evident and welcome. (We love you Madonna, but we also love it when you collaborate and produce amazing, beautiful pop, like "Love Spent.")



"Masterpiece" This was the first taste the public got of "MDNA," as it was unveiled late last year as the closing-credits song of the Madonna-directed film "W.E." (Though, at the time, it was unclear if the track would ultimately turn up on "MDNA.") The Golden Globe-winning track is very pretty -- percolating along with a clicky little beat, an acoustic guitar and delicate strings. Madonna's vocals are lovely, comparing someone to "a rare and priceless work of art."



"Falling Free" The quite gorgeous ballad reunites Madonna with her brother-in-law Joe Henry, who has co-written at least one song now on four different Madonna albums. He co-penned "Don't Tell Me" from 2000's "Music" album, as well as "Jump" from "Confessions on a Dance Floor" and "The Devil Wouldn't Recognize You" from the diva's last set, 2008's "Hard Candy." As an album-closer, it's perfect, with the lyric "I let loose the need to know / we're both free -- both free to go . . . "

Deluxe Explicit Album Bonus Tracks:



"Beautiful Killer" A concept song, certainly. Madonna goes on about how there's a "gun in my mouth" and "maybe that's what you've been dreaming about" and "maybe I'll let you shoot me down." There's an persistent string element here that brings to mind "Papa Don't Preach."



"I F****d Up" It's Madonna just straight out saying how craptacular a particular relationship turned out (we're guessing her marriage to Guy Ritchie). She sings, "I'm so ashamed, you're in so much pain," "wish I could take it back" and how she "destroyed the perfect dream." There's a whole lot of "couldas" here that just strike us as odd, as Madonna never was the "I'm sorry" kind of gal. She's all about no regrets and no apologies.



"B-Day Song" A fun girl-group ditty that's a throw back to Madonna's "True Blue" era of good time goof-off songs. It's light, fluffy and effortless -- and very stripped down. Think Go-Go's meets Madonna with lyrics like "Light my candles," "make a wish" and "give me a spankin'!" (Yes, really.) Sample silly lyrics include: "I wanna diamond, don't give me a fake!"



"Best Friend" Perhaps too personal of a song to be included on the "standard" version of the album, "Best Friend" can only be read as being about her ex-husband, Ritchie. Absolutely confessional in tone, Madonna sings "I feel like I lost my very best friend" but she has "no regrets" and that she "survived the biggest test." The song closes, monumentally, with the heartbreaking lyric: "It wasn't always perfect, but it wasn't always bad."



"Give Me All Your Luvin'" (featuring Nicki Minaj & M.I.A.) (LMFAO Remix) LMFAO reworks "Give Me All Your Luvin'" party rock style, dumping M.I.A.'s rap for lyrical insertions from Redfoo and SkyBlu.

ChristopherS

Music review: Madonna, 'MDNA'
By Thomas Conner on March 22, 2012 12:00 PM
(Interscope) 3 stars

Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and the rest of the "shock" troops -- they never seem quite as labored and overwraught until we hear a new Madonna album. A good one, that is. When reminded of the effortless ease with which Madonna Louise Ciccone (and her usual bevy of producers) spins and slings dance-pop, both the pure fluff and the more serious stuff, the other ladies suddenly sound like they're running to stand still.

Madonna, 53, certainly has tried too hard many times herself; in fact, that's largely what she's been doing for the last decade, giving us the somber dud that was "American Life" (2003), the tired retreads of "Confessions on a Dance Floor" (2005), the embarrassingly oversexed (even for Madonna) generic disco of "Hard Candy" (2008). But when she lets us catch a little glimpse of the woman behind the brand, she usually scores on every level.

"MDNA" is also significantly better than we've been led to believe. The bright but banal Super Bowl performance, the string of surprisingly weak singles preceding the full-length, her directorial film debut ("W.E.") -- you'd be forgiven a healthy fear that Madge has spread herself too thin for the sake of satisfying the latest line item in her pioneering, $120 million deal with Live Nation announced in 2007. "MDNA," though, despite a rough start, is a revved up emotional roller coaster full of pop both sunny and bleak, all of it squarely engineered for the dancefloor.

Since the appearance of "Hard Candy," Madonna and her husband, filmmaker Guy Ritchie, divorced. This is not an idle fact here -- it's a thread tangled and knotted throughout the album. Madonna is moody, Madonna is mad, Madonna is forlorn and Madonna is sad. Skip the utterly forgettable first track and latest single (the cliché-ridden, Cyndi Lauper-quoting, Madonna-by-numbers "Girls Gone Wild") and dive into the ice water of "Gang Bang," a glitchy, downtempo techno throw-down that's a wholly different dancefloor confession -- the kind detectives wheedle out in interrogation rooms. After expressing her desire to shoot her lover in the head, Madonna gleefully, sinisterly snarls, "I wanna see him die / over and over and over and over ..."

The rest of "MDNA" is dark, but not that dark. In "Love Spent," she calls out a former lover as a pure gold digger with some cutting lines: "I guess if I was your treasury / you'd have found the time to treasure me." (One percenters need love, too!) But in no time, Madonna loses herself in her own chemically induced euphoria, which she sings "feels like a drug and I can't get enough" ("I'm Addicted," a whirling synth gem that should have been a single). Ever the tortured Catholic, she prays for guidance ("hail Mary, full of grace," in "I'm a Sinner"), and eventually concludes, over a hard, comforting dance beat and in a sing-speak voice perilously close to actual rapping, "I'm gonna be OK / I don't care what the people say" ("I Don't Give A").

We don't come to Madonna for the words, of course, nor have her vocals ever been a magnetic attraction. But both are full of grace throughout the William Orbit-produced "Falling Free," a stark ballad in which Madonna's voice is nearly unprocessed, naked, vulnerable and accompanied by see-sawing, Mellotron-like keyboards, strings and chiming bells. It's a beautiful song, with words hinting that she's seen her ray of light at the end of her dark despair.

The selection of singles has been confounding. The Martin Solveig-produced "I Don't Give A" is wobbly, but not the worst. As mentioned, "Girls Gone Wild" is anything but wild, and "Give Me All Your Luvin'" even admits "every record sounds the same" before promising change: "you've got to step into my world." But it's not exactly change we can believe in. A slight fixation on the Reagan era of her own heyday results in some of "MDNA's" worse moments (the Toni Basil cheerleading theme of "Give Me All Your Luvin'," the Cyndi Lauper quotations in "Girls Gone Wild") and better ones; the daydreamy vocals of "Turn Up the Radio" are free of too many 21st-century tweaks. That she still believes in the emotional power of radio is either a sign of adorable nostalgia or an artist who's more out of touch than she sounds. Either way, "MDNA" is a trip worth taking.

wago70

Not true, many hardcore fans of hers are some serious critics of her stuff.

ChristopherS

Love the album! Up there with Ray Of Light and Like A Prayer!
Favorite tracks;
I'm Addicted
Love Spent
Falling Free
Beautiful Killer