LIKE A DRUG :: Philip Tetro has been waiting for a new Madonna studio album since 2008’s Hard Candy. This is his full-length review of The Queen’s latest masterpiece as the 26th installment of his personal journey into her career as life-long admirer.
MDNA is one of the most eclectic Madonna albums of all-time. It is a look at Madonna as we have seen many times before: heart-broken, lost, reborn, and as a re-examiner of what really matters in life. It is a glimpse of the pain from her divorce to British film director Guy Ritchie. I will not be doing a boring track-by-track review: I am not a writer for a snobby music magazine – I am a fan. I will be giving an honest opinion as someone who has followed Madonna’s career since as long as I can remember.
Let’s go!
My absolute favourite song on the entire album is, without a doubt, “Love Spent.” She sings about the value Ritchie put on her money, equating the richness of his love with her income. “Would you have married me if I were poor?” she asks, giving us more insight into an obviously more painful divorce than had been revealed before. The song samples 2005’s “Hung Up” and is a more folklore version of “Miles Away.” It’s a ‘dance-the-pain-away’ song, mixing banjos and strings with several references to money and deceit. It’s definitely the part two of 1989’s “Till Death Do Us Part.” The acoustic version of the song on the limited-edition album is even more touching. Madonna struck gold with this one.
Another song that I am just absolutely in love with is “Turn Up The Radio”: a summer anthem that can be blasted in the car, on the beach, and in the clubs. The beats and synths sizzle, forcing you to dance and forget your problems. It’s a revised version of 2005’s “Get Together”- something so transcendent about her mood in the song that puts you in a trance and puts a smile on your face!
I love “Some Girls”- it’s a song about self-confidence and self-importance. “Some girls are not like me. I’m better than you’ve ever dreamed of,” she sings, going on to list off all the things she can’t stand about certain girls. She is clearly referring to the Kim Kardashians and Paris Hiltons of our time: spoiled, rotten, ungrateful, fake bitches. I almost died when she let out this clear reference to her own “Express Yourself”: “Some girls are second-best. Put your loving to the test.” There is, as you can tell, a very tongue-in-cheek attitude about sampling and re-using motifs, themes, and samples of her past work. Madonna proves that if you do it well, you can stick with what works. And, trust me, this works!
Titles can be deceiving. When I first heard the name of this next song, I pictured Madonna on all fours in the middle of a sports team’s locker-room. But, it’s not what you think! “Gang Bang” is one of the hottest songs Madonna has ever sung. Sang? Sung? Well, it doesn’t even matter because she doesn’t even sing. This song is almost six-minutes of spoken dialogue over top of an electric, pulsating, building, thick, raw, dark, edgy beats and a killer attitude. Gunshot noises litter throughout this entire journey of Madonna torturing a lover who must prove how much he loves her by dying for her. In her recent interview with Jimmy Fallon (essentially the only promotion she’s done for the album while she’s been busy rehearsing for her tour), she hinted that she wanted Quintin Tarantino to direct the music-video (possibly hinting that it could be a single in the future?). This song reminds me of Dick Tracy for some reason- guns, chasing, suspense, and pure old cinematic fun. This will be a huge club hit, guaranteed!
There always seems to be a song on a Madonna album that makes me tear-up during my first listen. On 2008’s Hard Candy, it was “Miles Away.” On 2005’s Confessions on a Dancefloor, it was “Forbidden Love.” On MDNA, it was “I F*cked Up.” This song begins as a mid-tempo ballad, later breaking into a faster, more-paced be-bop towards the end. The lyrics are some of Madonna’s most vulnerable, confessing to someone she loves who left her because of a huge mistake she made how sorry she is. She apologizes, which is uncommon for Madonna. Perhaps that’s why I became so emotional. She creates scenarios that she and her partner could have experienced together had she not f*ucked it all up. It’s all very sad and brought back so many memories about mistakes I had made in friendships and relationships. A very beautiful side of Madonna that we haven’t seen for a long time.
Another song that I adore from the album is “I’m A Sinner.” It’s a song that gives “Beautiful Stranger” a run for it’s money. It’s another 60’s-inspired, bouncy, retro pop-song with memorable hooks and lyrics. “I’m a sinner, and I like it that way,” Madonna chants. She then calls upon Saints, including St. Anthony, Thomas Aquinas, and Jesus Christ himself, telling them to basically relax. We’re all sinners. Madonna is still using religious figures in her music in the most tasteful of ways. There are a lot of references to God and religion on this album – this song and “Girl Gone Wild,” specifically – which leads me to believe that Madonna may revisit some of her forgotten religious-themed songs to perform on this tour: “Pray For Spanish Eyes,” “Act of Contrition,” “X-Static Process,” and “Nothing Fails,” perhaps? This song makes me want to dance up and down the church pews.
Other stand-out songs on MDNA are definitely “Masterpiece,” “I’m Addicted,” and “Superstar.” Upon my first listen, I was extremely please with how “Give Me All Your Luvin’ (feat. Nicki Minaj and M.I.A)” flowed well with the rest f the album. Definitely a good first single, although I’m still convinced that song was merely an advertisement for the SuperBowl performance. Madonna, 30 years later, and still The Queen of self-promotion.
Overall, I give MDNA 8/10. It is an eclectic mix of moods, themes, emotions, and motifs that all blend well on the dance-floor. The juxtapositions of murder with loving life, money with love, strength with admitting defeat, and sex with religion make this album one of Madonna’s best. There are one or two songs I don’t care much for, but don’t tell Madonna that! I cannot wait to see these songs performed live!
What do you think of MDNA? Let us know!
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