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Rick Nowels: Madonna doesn’t get the credit she deserves as a writer

Guest Fukujima

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Guest Fukujima

Guest Fukujima

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lovely and interesting article!

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Rick Nowels: Madonna doesn’t get the credit she deserves as a writer

Madonna and I wrote nine songs together over a two week period in late April 1997.

Madonna would show up at 3 p.m. and we would start from scratch. She would leave at 7:00 and we would have a finished song and demo with all her lead and background vocals recorded.

She is a brilliant pop melodist and lyricist. I was knocked out by the quality of the writing. The lyrics to ‘The Power Of Good-Bye’ are stunning. I love Madonna as an artist and a songwriter…

I know she grew up on Joni Mitchell and Motown, and to my ears she embodies the best of both worlds. She is a wonderful confessional songwriter, as well as being a superb hit chorus pop writer… She doesn’t get the credit she deserves as a writer.

from Madonnarama.com

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nightcutter Rising Star

nightcutter

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Of course she is a good songwriter. The evidence speaks for itself. It won't stop critics saying she can't write though.

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Guest Fukujima

Guest Fukujima

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what are the nine songs?

Power Of Goodbye, To Have and Not to Hold, Little Star, Revenge, Gone Gone Gone... ?

imagine all the unreleased demos from this session still unknown :wow:

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Chimera Rising Star

Chimera

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Of course she is a good songwriter. The evidence speaks for itself. It won't stop critics saying she can't write though.

ye right? she can't write, she can't sing, she can't dance, she can't act, she can't direct, she can't do a shit...I wonder how was she able to achieve such status (any other artists would kill to have) without being able to do anything right...hmmm....whatever

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CMoody Community Regular

CMoody

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She is a great melody writer and lyricist when she wants to be. ROL is some of her all-time greatest work in this department.....since then,....ehh, not so much. A lot of her writing in the past decade has been simple, amature, sometimes just plain stupid and embarrassing. Coming from such stellar tracks as those on ROL, I can't figure out of she went in this direction on purpose or if she received a lot more help on the more complex tracks from the past than I first imagined.

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mtzlplk Proficient

mtzlplk

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She is a great melody writer and lyricist when she wants to be. ROL is some of her all-time greatest work in this department.....since then,....ehh, not so much. A lot of her writing in the past decade has been simple, amature, sometimes just plain stupid and embarrassing. Coming from such stellar tracks as those on ROL, I can't figure out of she went in this direction on purpose or if she received a lot more help on the more complex tracks from the past than I first imagined.

ROL may be her most solid lyrically, well she's just starting motherhood and all too spiritual... but we really can't say her writing skills went downhill from there, MUSIC, AMERICAN LIFE and even COADF have some songs with great lyrics in it... as for Hard Candy and MDNA, well, let's say this divorce didn't do her any good...

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ryan Mentor

ryan

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She put a lot of work and effort into making ROL into what it is today. From the engineering, the lyrics, the melodies, the instruments, the production, she had a hand in it all because she wanted a stellar album that showcased she was a changed woman, and because she wanted Grammy praise. Sorry but it's the truth. There's a reason why Guy O had a hand in the studio.

As much as I love that album, my 2nd favorite from her, it does come off as being a bit artificial. I'm NOT saying that her heart was not in the project or that it was forced or synthetic, all I'm saying is that you can hear it in the album that she really wanted praise.

And it's a bunch of bullshit to say that her lyrics recently have been simple and embarrassing. Singles aside, that is absolutely not true. Some of her deepest lyrics have come from the past 3 albums. Take the bitter taste out of your mouth from GMAYL and Bday song and look at the other tracks. Fuck, look at the tracks that built the other albums from the abandon musicals; you can hear the heartbreak so early on. She's been giving us her life story even after ROL.

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Nightshade Rising Star

Nightshade

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She put a lot of work and effort into making ROL into what it is today. From the engineering, the lyrics, the melodies, the instruments, the production, she had a hand in it all because she wanted a stellar album that showcased she was a changed woman, and because she wanted Grammy praise. Sorry but it's the truth. There's a reason why Guy O had a hand in the studio.

As much as I love that album, my 2nd favorite from her, it does come off as being a bit artificial. I'm NOT saying that her heart was not in the project or that it was forced or synthetic, all I'm saying is that you can hear it in the album that she really wanted praise.

I understand where you are coming from, although I'd argue she was looking more to riding the electronica bandwagon of 1997-1998 than kiss Grammy ass. After all, she could've worked with Diane Warren or one of those other Grammy-cookie-cutter writers to do her album. Orbit was pretty left-of-the-recording-academy. I think the biggest reason why ROL was such a well-crafted album (at least in the critical, universal sense) was that Madonna came across actually INSPIRED. She had gone through one of her greatest creative labors ("Evita"), given birth to her first child, and was embarking on yet another career peak while turning 40. I think she does her best when she feels inspired and alive...whether that feeling comes from joy or absolute grief.

I do think she's less consistent on the lyrical front but the gems are still there. Even MDNA had the brilliance of "Falling Free" and "Love Spent".

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acko Mentor

acko

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She put a lot of work and effort into making ROL into what it is today. From the engineering, the lyrics, the melodies, the instruments, the production, she had a hand in it all because she wanted a stellar album that showcased she was a changed woman, and because she wanted Grammy praise. Sorry but it's the truth. There's a reason why Guy O had a hand in the studio.

No, Guy was her A&R guy...the whole Grammy thing is bs whoops. She hadn't done an album in almost 4 years. She was hungry & ready.

+ she spent a lot of time in England 4 Evita...& shit was happening over there music wise...The UK was just amazing in that period...I'm pretty

sure it triggered a lot...next 2 being a mother course.

4 The record:

The lyrics 4 Erotica r just as good, if not better :wow:

In the past few years, I think it has 2 do with her having her finger in far 2 many pies, next 2 having a busy family life.

So she goes with her 'I do simple really well' mantra..but it's kinda auto pilot work 2 my ears. Celebration 4 instance, that melody

is fantastic...but at the same time it's like she took a shit in her sleep. I can't fault her 'introspective' songs..They r just as good a sthey've

ever been. I'm just done with TUTR/HU type of songs.

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Guest bluejean

Guest bluejean

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There is nothing artificial about Ray of Light whoopie. If you read the way it came together she actually started out working with Babyface, Rick Nowels and Patrick Leonard then as things progressed she wanted to avoid making another Bedtime Stories type album of 2 different styles and instead have it all tie in together soundwise. That's how the bulk of the album ended up being produced by William Orbit. There's the letter to Pat Leonard where she explains that.

In the Kurt Loder interview she actually says she was worried that the album didn't have enough commercial appeal (or something to that effect.) I think it's one her least contrived projects actually. She really just went in and did whatever she felt like.

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CMoody Community Regular

CMoody

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Don't forget Erotica and Bedtime Stories!

They are truly masterpieces lyric-wise.

This is very true.....and I adore the albums after ROL, but I just feel that she either purposely watered down her lyrics or was heading in a more simplistic direction. How many "fuzzy dreams" did we have to hear about....

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CMoody Community Regular

CMoody

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I understand where you are coming from, although I'd argue she was looking more to riding the electronica bandwagon of 1997-1998 than kiss Grammy ass. After all, she could've worked with Diane Warren or one of those other Grammy-cookie-cutter writers to do her album. Orbit was pretty left-of-the-recording-academy. I think the biggest reason why ROL was such a well-crafted album (at least in the critical, universal sense) was that Madonna came across actually INSPIRED. She had gone through one of her greatest creative labors ("Evita"), given birth to her first child, and was embarking on yet another career peak while turning 40. I think she does her best when she feels inspired and alive...whether that feeling comes from joy or absolute grief.

I do think she's less consistent on the lyrical front but the gems are still there. Even MDNA had the brilliance of "Falling Free" and "Love Spent".

To bad she didn't write either LS or FF....two of the very best on MDNA.

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acko Mentor

acko

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To bad she didn't write either LS or FF....two of the very best on MDNA.

Actually WO said she went deep 4 the lyrics on FF.

& LS could very well have been demoed with her lyrics...it's rather 2 personal.

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