material_boy

I'd prefer an EP of all the studio versions of recents covers: Send in the Clowns La Vie en Rose If I had a Hammer Between the Bars Toxic

I love this performance I wish she'd done an updated Miami mix performance during the instead of "La Isla Bonita" for the 10 billionth time.

Her song choices on tours since 2001 have really downplayed her 90s catalogue. There's this impression among the general public that she's an 80s queen, like MJ. But in reality, she ruled the 90s almost as thoroughly as she ruled the 80s. Even in the U.S. -- where her singles performance suffered more greatly post-"SEX" than most other areas -- she scored as many top 10s in the 90s as she did in the 80s ... and basically NO ONE acknowledges that. I feel like she had two tours in which she really could have highlighted her 90s work, and she missed out on doing it both times: The Drowned World Tour and Rebel Heart Tour. Obviously, her 90s catalogue was still new-ish in 2001, and she could have squeezed at least a couple more 90s hits into that setlist without losing any of the aesthetic of story she was trying to tell in that show. (The cowgirl section would have been especially easy to fit another song or two into, as she could have simply staged a little acoustic singalong in there instead of the idiotic "Funny Song" and it would have made total sense as part of her country/cowgirl character.) The Rebel Heart Tour would really have been a nice place to let her 90s work shine too. 90s retro cool was really coming to forefront of pop culture in 2015 and it would have been a perfect time for M to remind everyone that she ruled the decade by packing in some forgotten hits. "Deeper and Deeper" and "Take a Bow" (and even "DCFMA" at the Miami show) showed that crowds know and love her 90s stuff.

I thought she was supposed to sing it on a raised platform, a la "Crazy for You" in RIT?

Her last real hit. Everyone knows this song ... even if several friends have called it "that Justin Timberlake song she did." (I never bother to correct them that he's actually the guest on her track.) Kind of amazing she's not done it live since 2009. It'd be like not doing "Hung Up" or "Music" since 2006 / 2001. And kind of sad that fans don't even care that she's never done. People would have lit their hair on fire if had skipped "HU" in 2008/9 and 2012, or "Music" in 2004, and 2006.

Wait a minute. She says "I have TWO ballads on it," referring to "Like a Virgin." Other than "LDLHA," what could she be referring to? Is there a Nile-Madonna ballad demo sitting on the cutting room floor somewhere? Or is she thinking "Pretender" is a ballad?

This has to be joke. Right? The urban cowboy look exploded in 2000-2001 after the "Music" album (and especially "Don't Tell Me" video) release. I was in high school at the time girls across school were suddenly rocking cowboy boots and hats. It was the only fashion trend in high school that I liked. The idea that this look wasn't instantly iconic is rewriting history. Just go to Google Images and type in "madonna pink" and "cowboy hat" is the second hit, after the "Material Girl" dress. ("Leotard" is fourth for those keeping score.) Mmm ... honey, no. Don't put words in my mouth. I didn't say that was the only thing I was considering. I gave my opinion, and I gave an anecdote support that opinion. I'm not saying that concert costumes alone is a sign of iconic value. Also, pink leotard seems like the easiest thing to dress up as. I just Googled it. You can get one on Amazon for $19.99. That anyone took the time to put together some of the elaborate matador costumes -- some with friends who were dressed up like bedazzled bulls -- is the real feat. And how has no one mentioned "Evita?" That scene of her on the balcony of La Casa Rosada is one of the most famous images of her ever.

Both the cowgirl look and Dita outrank the pink leotard. Other than matadors, wedding dresses and cowboy hats were the most-worn costumes I saw fans wear to the Rebel Heart Tour. I don't know that I've seen a fan do a "Hung Up" costume at a concert since the Confessions Tour.

I dunno. I just don't see how that adds up -- even if she was on vacation from for a whole month from mid-December to mid-January. "Rescue Me" broke onto the airplay chart dated December 1, which means radio stations were adding it to their playlists in big numbers in the third and fourth weeks of November at the latest -- maybe as soon as "TIC" was released on November 9. Warners and Madonna would have been able to see the hit potential they had here as early as Thanksgiving. She did the Nightline interview on December 3, 1990, so we know she was still working at this time, and it's hard to believe she didn't know "Rescue Me" was getting picked up in big enough numbers to break the charts, even as the label pushed "JML." Production times on videos were pretty tight around this time, too. "Cherish" was filmed in a day and world premiered a month later. "Express Yourself" was the biggest-budget music video production in history at the time, and it world premiered just a month after it was filmed. "Justify my Love" was filmed in one day (November 9, 1990) and MTV announced that it would ban the video on November 20, which means editing and other post-production work took no longer than 11 days. It seems like, if she really wanted to make a video, she had time in the first half of December to film one for January 1991 release. Or, considering the single wasn't available for sale until March, she could even had filmed one in the latter half of January for a February release. But who knows. Maybe you're right. Maybe she went off on holiday the day after the Nightline interview and didn't come back until March to start rehearsing for the Oscars. (She did have a very big 1990 to recover from, she certainly eared a three-month vacation if she wanted one.) I just find it hard to believe she'd take that much time off.

I LOVE THIS SONG SO FUCKING MUCH One of my all-time favorites. I wish she'd done it live on the Girlie Show. I've always wondered this. Her schedule was pretty light in early 1991 -- "Truth or Dare" didn't debut until May, and "A League of their Own" began filming in July. Other than her Oscars performance in March, she didn't have much going on. The only reason I could ever imagine was that M just didn't care for the track. Early solicits for "The Immaculate Collection" advertised just one new track. It may have been that "Rescue Me" was just some Madonna-Pettibone reject that Warners tacked on the end because the pair had scored a megahit with "Vogue" and / or because the label was worried "JML" was too outside the mainstream to draw attention to the album.

Eh, maybe. This isn't an "Into the Groove"-like situation where there's a ton of data on its performance on Billboard or similar charts, like Radio and Records. There's so much data on "ITG"'s performance that we can definitively say she was robbed of a top five there -- potentially a #1. But "Spotlight?" It's #32 airplay peak is very weak compared to singles from the era. That it reached #32 without major support from the label is obviously a triumph, but there's no way to say how much higher it could have risen as an official single. That it was only released for sale in Japan doesn't given any real information about how it would perform in single sales. There's really no way to say. Maybe it'd have hit #1. Maybe it would have peaked at #20 and broken both her top five and top 10 streaks early. It's all just guesswork when it comes to "Spotlight." And, let's be honest, the real blunder here was not releasing "Where's the Party" as a single to promote "YCD" during the Christmas season. The album version got significant radio play in some markets. They had a new single mix to promote, and a live video from the WTG Tour to give to MTV if M was too bored to make an original video. That it appears on both "YCD" and "True Blue" means it could have moved more copies of both albums. This was the missed opportunity of 1987, not "Spotlight."

I don't know for sure, but I'd guess it was because Warners thought they could move more albums by keeping "YCD"'s sole new track off the single market, or because M was in one of her "I'm bored" moods and didn't want to do a video, which was crucial for her success at the time. I met a woman once who worked in WB's marketing department in the 00s and worked on the "Confessions" campaign. I think I've posted about on here before. It was a great convo.

OVERRATED

"Music" era might be my favorite era

Netflix doesn't only produce series. They produce original movies and other one-time content pieces, like comedy specials and that weird Bill Murray Christmas thing. So they could just bankroll a 90-minute movie or whatever it is she's already planned. But whatever. I hope this is fake news and she ditches this stupid project (and movies generally) and gets back to the recording studio.