Jump to content

William Orbit's Thoughts on MDNA


karbatal

Recommended Posts

This.

She is about to give the world the most mind blowing show on a gold platter. Working her ass off 24hrs a day for what is about to be the show to end all shows. There is no time for one off performances for TV this era, sorry but the tour IS the promo. Every detail and every effort put into it will be well worth the wait. The tour will start in less than 2 weeks so this negativity will be all but a faint memory. I expect nothing but a combo of DWT RT CT :dramatic: with all the amount of creative juices she has poured into this show for the past three months.

Yes! :thumbsup:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This.

She is about to give the world the most mind blowing show on a gold platter. Working her ass off 24hrs a day for what is about to be the show to end all shows. There is no time for one off performances for TV this era, sorry but the tour IS the promo. Every detail and every effort put into it will be well worth the wait. The tour will start in less than 2 weeks so this negativity will be all but a faint memory. I expect nothing but a combo of DWT RT CT :dramatic: with all the amount of creative juices she has poured into this show for the past three months.

THANK YOU!

:thumbsup:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Demolition Crew was a pleasant surprise. I wish she did the whole record with them. Gang Bang and I'm Addicted sound NOTHING like William Orbit and Benny Benassi, it's obvious they were the real producers behind these tracks.

The Demolition Crew + Madonna = Next album

+1

Id say they saved Orbits ass. He's a dated mess. From day 1 I said don't work with him. Im happy Madonna turned most of his tracks down.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Could u elaborate on that?

2gsr9cm.gif

:rotfl:

William shoud have left it. Before the albums launch he praised the tracks to high heaven. After not having maybe the sales and critique he desired he suddenly showed a great deal of disdain. What for?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Demolition Crew is the best surprise of the MDNA era. I hope she explores them more on her next album! :thumbsup:

Im glad Orbit was on board, but i understand that he will not take her any further and i don't think she is interested in work with him again. I love all of his work with her though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As much as I've always defended Madonna in the past, I think she needs this slap in the face to be honest. I didn't become a fan hers to see her direct films, open gyms, sell clothes to teenagers, flog perfume etc; it always came down to the music. But if Madonna is now giving that less than 100% - which reading between the lines is sort of what Orbit seems to be saying - then I will lose interest and, so too, I imagine, will other long standing fans, and the public at large.

I don't actually mind about any of the side projects, as long as she's producing the best pop music of the day, which is really what made her so famous in the first place and sustained her career for so long. But when a song like Girl Gone Wild sounds like a Britney or Rihanna reject then she really has a serious problem on her hands. If we're honest, she's taken her fans for granted and what's happening with the failure of MDNA is basically pay back.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As much as I've always defended Madonna in the past, I think she needs this slap in the face to be honest. I didn't become a fan hers to see her direct films, open gyms, sell clothes to teenagers, flog perfume etc; it always came down to the music. But if Madonna is now giving that less than 100% - which reading between the lines is sort of what Orbit seems to be saying - then I will lose interest and, so too, I imagine, will other long standing fans, and the public at large.

I don't actually mind about any of the side projects, as long as she's producing the best pop music of the day, which is really what made her so famous in the first place and sustained her career for so long. But when a song like Girl Gone Wild sounds like a Britney or Rihanna reject then she really has a serious problem on her hands. If we're honest, she's taken her fans for granted and what's happening with the failure of MDNA is basically pay back.

What's funny though is that it was nearly unanimous praise from her diehard fans and critics alike for this album prior to and those first couple weeks after release. NOW of course that it hasn't performed the way some fans want, it's "failure" (Top five selling album of the year worldwide so far...can I PLEASE have a failure like that?) is supposed to be some sort of pay back?? Pay back for what?? Giving me her best music, videos and imagery in 15 years? Pay back for putting together the most massive tour of her career?? I don't think she's going on stage to model MG clothing and discuss how it was threaded nor go on stage and explain to an audience of 50,000 her process of selecting the scents for her perfume. She's going on stage to perform her MUSIC. Perhaps better single choices could've been made for this album but please let's not act like MDNA is an album full of Britney and Rihanna rejects. If anybody stated to me that was their opinion of the entire album, my reply to them would be that they are lying and they didn't listen to the album. :lol:

I don't really know what her goal is these days as far as promoting and selling her music goes, maybe she even doesn't know. It's not really for me to worry about. As long as the music is good then I'm there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That we know of, she started working on this album in 2010 (Hardy mentioned working on some tracks & said the sound/direction she was going for changed later). Also, that we know of, she started recording in early July 2011 and "finished" sometime toward the very end of the year. Actually, even in early 2012, she was still working on some tracks (the acoustic ones). That's a really long time (and yes, I'm aware that there were interruptions in the middle of that). Wasn't LAP done in like 4 weeks? On MDNA, she had to split her time between Martin, the Benassi cousins, Michael, Hardy, The Demolition Crew, and Orbit, so maybe he wasn't used to that after his experience with her on ROL. Aside from Orbit, none of the others seemed to indicate that they were pressed for time. (Btw, if I remember correctly, didn't years ago M mention that Orbit would take forever on every little thing while working on the ROL album w her & it seems he's a bit of a scatterbrain while she tends to be more decisive & I guess quicker/more organized when she works on songs, so she would perhaps sometimes get frustrated...?) From the interviews we got, the other producers mentioned that she was very involved. Orbit was also very complimentary, but did such a turn around, as did a lot of fans after the album didn't end up being as successful on the charts as perhaps expected. I understand the frustration with the handling of the singles, the releases, promo & all that (and of course, w M focusing her time on the tour & not having time to promote as much as she probably should have), but some of the rewriting of history and claims that Madonna does not give a fuck about the music is just a bit much. Maybe she's not as concerned with charts and promoting, I don't know, but why would she invest all that time on the album, months prepping for the SB to deliver a big performance & months training for a tour in which a lot of the songs performed come off of "an album she doesn't give a fuck about"? This is her longest tour ever & if she didn't care, I would think she'd probably not want to invest so much energy, effort, and time into that. She's mentioned many times that still loves performing & music, even recently. There's a quote she made about how as long as she feels passionate about it (& feels like she has something to say), she'll continue on. The jokes about "paying the rent" have been around since the early '90s, but it seems only recently that people seem so bothered by them.

The one song mentioned on here from CB's new album did not sound amazing at all, quite the contrary. That was probably just Orbit hyping his new projects and those artists' fans won't probably harass him if those projects under-perform, so maybe he won't have a turnaround with them. Either way, I'll still check out the other tracks he &/or Free School were involved in to see if there was a missed gem on there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

^ Yes, but remember that she was "working" while working on the film and all that. In fact, was it only a rumour or a fact that she was given the songs with somebody impersonating Madonna? I think it was fake, but it shows that just in the very beginning rumour said that she was too busy to concentrate on the album because she was editing her film.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What's funny though is that it was nearly unanimous praise from her diehard fans and critics alike for this album prior to and those first couple weeks after release. NOW of course that it hasn't performed the way some fans want, it's "failure" (Top five selling album of the year worldwide so far...can I PLEASE have a failure like that?) is supposed to be some sort of pay back?? Pay back for what?? Giving me her best music, videos and imagery in 15 years? Pay back for putting together the most massive tour of her career?? I don't think she's going on stage to model MG clothing and discuss how it was threaded nor go on stage and explain to an audience of 50,000 her process of selecting the scents for her perfume. She's going on stage to perform her MUSIC. Perhaps better single choices could've been made for this album but please let's not act like MDNA is an album full of Britney and Rihanna rejects. If anybody stated to me that was their opinion of the entire album, my reply to them would be that they are lying and they didn't listen to the album. :lol:

I don't really know what her goal is these days as far as promoting and selling her music goes, maybe she even doesn't know. It's not really for me to worry about. As long as the music is good then I'm there.

It's on the top 5 so far because no major acts have released albums this year, if Gaga, Britney, Katy or Rihanna would have released albums this year Madonna would be out of the top 10, let's not kid ourselves.

Ultimately I really don't care about the charts with this albums but it was managed poorly, poor single choices, confusing single release dates, etc, the only thing good so far are the videos, this time the videos have been great.

And the album, the album has 4 or 5 excellent songs and I really love them, but it also contains her worst fillers ever, and it's the album with more fillers than the others in my opinion.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's on the top 5 so far because no major acts have released albums this year, if Gaga, Britney, Katy or Rihanna would have released albums this year Madonna would be out of the top 10, let's not kid ourselves.

But Katy did release an album this year... granted it was a rehash of Teenage Dream, but you'd think since nearly every single of hers went #1 and the rest top 5, she would be selling her album like hot cakes. Also, Rhianna released her album last November, since then she's only sold a little over a million copies.

But to me this is just silly talk... Like Kurt said above, for such a flop, it has managed to sell over a million which is more than what most anyone is doing anymore (except if your name is Adele). I am not even sure Britney and Gaga would sell much more if they just released an album. Both their last albums have underperformed to a lot of people (though, I don't know how since Lady Gaga's last album went on to sell over 8 million WW. If I recall, Britney's last album only sold about 2 million WW).

The music business isn't what it used to be. Artists aren't selling albums like artists of the past. But who are we kidding... Madonna just doesn't have the same mass appeal she did before. It happens to most artists who have been around for years and years. The music business success is mostly measured within the younger generation anymore. I don't agree with it, but if you look at those who sell albums, they are usually younger acts... lastest trends. Madonna doesn't really fit that mold anymore.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Let's face it. She's old and ageing quicker by the day - this is a very significant factor for a pop artist. She isn't flavour of the month anymore and she knows that she has a shelf life so she's cashing in on her brand while she can hence she has her finger in so many pies right now. It's all downhill from here on. Her focus is on the contracts, the money and creating a spectacle...but not necessarily on the quality or the detail.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's on the top 5 so far because no major acts have released albums this year, if Gaga, Britney, Katy or Rihanna would have released albums this year Madonna would be out of the top 10, let's not kid ourselves.

Ultimately I really don't care about the charts with this albums but it was managed poorly, poor single choices, confusing single release dates, etc, the only thing good so far are the videos, this time the videos have been great.

And the album, the album has 4 or 5 excellent songs and I really love them, but it also contains her worst fillers ever, and it's the album with more fillers than the others in my opinion.

Well, Love Makes The World Go Round, Don't Stop and Spanish Lesson are much worse than anything in MDNA. But taste is relative. It also depends on what one means by calling it a "filler." Is it a track with no hit potential, a track that repeats a theme already explored, an album track that doesn't fit?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

William isn't happy with the album just as im not. Madonna's management needs to be fired. MDNA could have been a lot better if her career was properly managed its getting beyond ridiculous

No offense but it's rare I've seen you happy with anything she does that wasn't 20 years ago. Nothing wrong with that...just sayin....I doubt she'll knock your socks off ever again the way she used to.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What's funny though is that it was nearly unanimous praise from her diehard fans and critics alike for this album prior to and those first couple weeks after release. NOW of course that it hasn't performed the way some fans want, it's "failure" (Top five selling album of the year worldwide so far...can I PLEASE have a failure like that?) is supposed to be some sort of pay back?? Pay back for what?? Giving me her best music, videos and imagery in 15 years? Pay back for putting together the most massive tour of her career?? I don't think she's going on stage to model MG clothing and discuss how it was threaded nor go on stage and explain to an audience of 50,000 her process of selecting the scents for her perfume. She's going on stage to perform her MUSIC. Perhaps better single choices could've been made for this album but please let's not act like MDNA is an album full of Britney and Rihanna rejects. If anybody stated to me that was their opinion of the entire album, my reply to them would be that they are lying and they didn't listen to the album. :lol:

I don't really know what her goal is these days as far as promoting and selling her music goes, maybe she even doesn't know. It's not really for me to worry about. As long as the music is good then I'm there.

+1

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's on the top 5 so far because no major acts have released albums this year, if Gaga, Britney, Katy or Rihanna would have released albums this year Madonna would be out of the top 10, let's not kid ourselves.

Ultimately I really don't care about the charts with this albums but it was managed poorly, poor single choices, confusing single release dates, etc, the only thing good so far are the videos, this time the videos have been great.

And the album, the album has 4 or 5 excellent songs and I really love them, but it also contains her worst fillers ever, and it's the album with more fillers than the others in my opinion.

Of course the younger "hot stars" of the day would dethrone her from a higher position on worldwide album sales chart. SHE IS OLD! :lol: How unreasonable would it have been to expect Diana Ross or Aretha Franklin's latest albums to dethrone Madonna's Like A Virgin or True Blue albums as top sellers back in the 80's?? Or even Madonna herself dethroning Alanis or Mariah during their peaks in the 90's?? Just not reasonable. All of the artists you mentioned (minus Britney) are pretty much at their commercial peak. Just to play devil's advocate though...it's funny that with all those hit singles Britney "only" managed to shift about 1.5 million copies worldwide of FF. She had hit singles and a hit tour plus she's younger with a massive very dedicated fanbase. Now MDNA so far has shifted somewhere around 1.1-1.2 million and that's with a minor hit single, no promo and a tour that hasn't even started yet.

As far as your opinion on the music goes, well that's your opinion. Many share it but most don't. The critics and most fans agree that this is her most solid albums in many many years.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Let's face it. She's old and ageing quicker by the day - this is a very significant factor for a pop artist. She isn't flavour of the month anymore and she knows that she has a shelf life so she's cashing in on her brand while she can hence she has her finger in so many pies right now. It's all downhill from here on. Her focus is on the contracts, the money and creating a spectacle...but not necessarily on the quality or the detail.

For better or worse I agree. Whether we like it or not this is pretty much how it is these days.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What's funny though is that it was nearly unanimous praise from her diehard fans and critics alike for this album prior to and those first couple weeks after release. NOW of course that it hasn't performed the way some fans want, it's "failure" (Top five selling album of the year worldwide so far...can I PLEASE have a failure like that?) is supposed to be some sort of pay back?? Pay back for what?? Giving me her best music, videos and imagery in 15 years? Pay back for putting together the most massive tour of her career?? I don't think she's going on stage to model MG clothing and discuss how it was threaded nor go on stage and explain to an audience of 50,000 her process of selecting the scents for her perfume. She's going on stage to perform her MUSIC. Perhaps better single choices could've been made for this album but please let's not act like MDNA is an album full of Britney and Rihanna rejects. If anybody stated to me that was their opinion of the entire album, my reply to them would be that they are lying and they didn't listen to the album. :lol:

I don't really know what her goal is these days as far as promoting and selling her music goes, maybe she even doesn't know. It's not really for me to worry about. As long as the music is good then I'm there.

What's really funny is that, having heard some of the MDNA tracks pre-release including the dire GAYL, this particular die-hard fan had zero interest in buying the album. In the end, a generous friend sent me their copy after they'd put it on their ipod, and, in all honesty, when I got round to playing it all my fears were realised. It was bereft of things that make Madonna songs so great; the catchy tunes, the gorgeous melodies, the thoughtful, yet universal lyrics. There's not a single song here that I wouldn't care if I never heard again and I simply don't believe there's anything on the album that even remotely comes close to her finest work. It really feels like an imposter trying to 'do' a Madonna album, with the faux controversy, like Gang Bang and Girl Gone Wild, and using the word 'Fuck' in not one, but two, tune-free tracks, amidst a sprinkling of disposal songs (Superstar, TUTR, GAYL)

Madonna has always been calculating but this has to be the most cynical record she's ever made. She might be pop, but when she wants to, the girl's got soul, but there's no trace of that here. So, if she won't put her heart into her music then, well, she can't expect anyone else to give a f***.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Let's face it. She's old and ageing quicker by the day - this is a very significant factor for a pop artist. She isn't flavour of the month anymore and she knows that she has a shelf life so she's cashing in on her brand while she can hence she has her finger in so many pies right now. It's all downhill from here on. Her focus is on the contracts, the money and creating a spectacle...but not necessarily on the quality or the detail.

if you say so :vogue:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What's really funny is that, having heard some of the MDNA tracks pre-release including the dire GAYL, this particular die-hard fan had zero interest in buying the album. In the end, a generous friend sent me their copy after they'd put it on their ipod, and, in all honesty, when I got round to playing it all my fears were realised. It was bereft of things that make Madonna songs so great; the catchy tunes, the gorgeous melodies, the thoughtful, yet universal lyrics. There's not a single song here that I wouldn't care if I never heard again and I simply don't believe there's anything on the album that even remotely comes close to her finest work. It really feels like an imposter trying to 'do' a Madonna album, with the faux controversy, like Gang Bang and Girl Gone Wild, and using the word 'Fuck' in not one, but two, tune-free tracks, amidst a sprinkling of disposal songs (Superstar, TUTR, GAYL)

Madonna has always been calculating but this has to be the most cynical record she's ever made. She might be pop, but when she wants to, the girl's got soul, but there's no trace of that here. So, if she won't put her heart into her music then, well, she can't expect anyone else to give a f***.

"Falling Free" has one of the most gorgeous melodies that I've ever heard from Madonna.

"Girl Gone Wild","Turn Up The Radio",Some Girls","Love Spent",even "Superstar" are all catchy,hook-filled tunes.

I truly feel that,if a diehard Madonna fan can't find something they like on this album,then they're probably just "over" Madonna.They probably won't like anything else she does in the future.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"Falling Free" has one of the most gorgeous melodies that I've ever heard from Madonna.

"Girl Gone Wild","Turn Up The Radio",Some Girls","Love Spent",even "Superstar" are all catchy,hook-filled tunes.

I truly feel that,if a diehard Madonna fan can't find something they like on this album,then they're probably just "over" Madonna.They probably won't like anything else she does in the future.

I find it hard to give Turn Up the Radio and GGW any love as they really are contrived tracks that don't suit her one bit. I don't think a singer has to write their songs but it does need to compliment them as an artist. Both of those songs could easily have been sung by any other pop princess and are beneath her. Some Girls is really quite horrid, and Superstar, whilst catchy is so lyrically dumb that I don't want to stick with it for too long. So that just leaves Loves Spent which, to my ears, is this album's Love Profusion - Ok, but nothing to get remotely excited about.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Let's face it. She's old and ageing quicker by the day - this is a very significant factor for a pop artist. She isn't flavour of the month anymore and she knows that she has a shelf life so she's cashing in on her brand while she can hence she has her finger in so many pies right now. It's all downhill from here on. Her focus is on the contracts, the money and creating a spectacle...but not necessarily on the quality or the detail.

I agree essentially with what your saying, but I don't think the quality and/or the detail is an issue here. Most people agree MDNA is a great album. Of course, some have their thoughts/reservations regarding the single releases, but over all, it's a top notch album. As for "detail"... I'm sure she's paid a lot of attention to detail when crafting the album and I'm sure with this tour as well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I find it hard to give Turn Up the Radio and GGW any love as they really are contrived tracks that don't suit her one bit. I don't think a singer has to write their songs but it does need to compliment them as an artist. Both of those songs could easily have been sung by any other pop princess and are beneath her. Some Girls is really quite horrid, and Superstar, whilst catchy is so lyrically dumb that I don't want to stick with it for too long. So that just leaves Loves Spent which, to my ears, is this album's Love Profusion - Ok, but nothing to get remotely excited about.

I totally agree. Madonna is so talented and has an ear for great music and great producers, but some of her songs really don't suit her. Turn up the Radio is horrid because the lyrics are as bland as can be and because it could have been thrown onto any pop artist. She should take some risk with her musical style and try not to be so 'current' -- it worked for her on Ray of Light and on Music.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Kurt

Fans are revising their initial praise because the album hasn't held for them without the rose colored glasses of newness.

Perhaps, but I have a very strong feeling if the album were still currently at number one and on it's way to 6 million copies worldwide thus far then I'd be willing to bet some opinions would be different. It's not a large number of people that are changing their minds and with any album the "novelty" wearing off happens and some reevaluate. It's not like the overall consensus is that MDNA is shit now. Most still adore it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...