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Madonna talks about leaks + Illuminati + album in NEW interview with The Guardian


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http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/dec/21/madonna-album-hack-living-state-terror

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Madonna: 'Obviously there is a person, or a group of people, behind this that were essentially terrorising me.' Photograph: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images

Madonna has defended her description of the leak of 13 unfinished demos from her forthcoming album as “a form of terrorism” and “artistic rape”.

Speaking to the Guardian on Sunday, the singer said she was “living in a state of terror” following the leak, adding that there was “a big possibility” that they were the result of her personal computer being hacked.

“Obviously there is a person, or a group of people behind this that were essentially terrorising me. I don’t want to sound alarming, but certainly that’s how I felt. It’s one thing if someone comes into your house and steals a painting off your wall – that’s also a violation – but your work, as an artist, that’s devastating. I’m an artistic person, I’m very expressive. I’m sorry if words alarm people, but that’s what it felt like. It was not a consensual agreement. I did not say, ‘Hey, here’s my music, and it’s finished.’ It was theft.”

On Saturday, Madonna unexpectedly released six tracks from Rebel Heart on iTunes, following the leak of the unfinished songs earlier in the week; the album itself is not due for release until March. She immediately reached No 1 in the iTunes chart in 36 countries, a situation she described as “a miracle”.

The appearance of the unfinished recordings from Rebel Heart is the latest in a series of high-profile music leaks in the teeth of ever more stringent security measures by record companies. Last year, Kanye West’s keenly anticipated album Yeezus appeared in full online in advance of its release, ironically four hours after the website buzzfeed.com published a feature detailing the painstaking security around the album – which apparently included storing the music on a hard drive in an airtight, watertight case that could withstand the impact of a plane crash or tsunami – under the headline 8 Reasons You Won’t Hear Yeezus Early.

But Madonna suggested that the leak of her demos differed from previous security breaches – frequently traced back to employees of record companies or recording studios – because other, non-musical material appeared online at the same time. “It wasn’t just music,” she said. “Images were coming out that I’d never seen before. It was then I started to think, ‘OK, what’s happening? What is the source of the leak? It’s not just one person, or someone sitting next to me in an office, or someone in a recording studio. I’ve had leaks before, a couple of weeks before an album was released, a lot of other artists have too, we all have to deal with that. But to have songs in the earliest demo form, from last March, that’s extremely disturbing to me.”

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The singer said that the leak had forced her to reconsider her working practices, and, in the wake of the Sony Pictures hacking scandal, posed wider questions for the entertainment industry as a whole. “You have to rethink your approach to making music, how to get the information back and forth to people, how to work in a more secure environment. It’s alarming. Alarming because what do we do as artists? We want to finish writing our book or editing our film, we want to finish writing or producing our music. People need the arts, we need to be inspired, we need to hear people’s records and see people’s films. Why destroy that process for creative people? It’s going to affect everybody.”

The six songs from Rebel Heart released thus far do not shy away from controversy: one, Illuminati, mocks the various conspiracy theories abroad on the internet that implicate a variety of entertainers – including Jay-Z and Lady Gaga – in membership of a shadowy ruling elite.

“There’s a lot of talk in pop music right now about people saying, ‘Oh, this person’s a member of the Illuminati,’ or ‘They’re Illuminati’, or ‘You’re Illuminati’, and people’s idea that there’s a group of entertainers or very wealthy people, and they work behind the scenes and they control things and they’re very powerful, and there’s possibly a reference to something dark, or black magic, or something like that. And I have to say I laugh at all of those things.

“I think there are some people who don’t mind being referred to as that, but I know who the real Illuminati are, and where that word came from. The root of the word is “illuminate”, and that means “the enlightened ones”, and it came from the Age of Enlightenment, when a lot of arts and creativity flourished, from Shakespeare to Isaac Newton, to Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo: the philosophers, artists, scientists were all engaged in a kind of high level of consciousness through their work, and they were enlightening and inspiring people around the world. And those are the true Illuminati. So the purpose for writing that song was really in a way, ‘So, if you think I’m the Illuminati, then thank you very much, it’s a compliment, because I would like very much to be part of that group, the real Illuminati, and this is what it’s not.’”

Madonna also claimed that her children acted as her artistic advisers, helping her to make decisions about which producers she worked with: Rebel Heart features contributions from, among others, Kanye West and EDM stars Avicii and Diplo. “I’m certainly not out in nightclubs all the time, but my kids are. My daughter and my son are my A&R people now. They’re constantly playing stuff in the house, in the car, and I’m like, “Who’s that? Who’s that? Who did that?” They bring me stuff all the time. And I listen to music as well, it’s a combination. I manage to surround myself with people who introduce stuff to me, keep me in touch, in tune. I feel like just as connected to street culture, pop culture, underground culture, as I’ve ever been.”

By Alexis Petridis

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Madonna is so full of shit. She's not an idiot. She's been a tactical planner for the last 30+ years. She knows what she was doing long before that cab ride "to the center of everything" in New York City.

This was planned!

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Madonna is so full of shit. She's not an idiot. She's been a tactical planner for the last 30+ years. She knows what she was doing long before that cab ride "to the center of everything" in New York City.

This was planned!

Huh?

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I think maybe next time she shouldn't start to promote the album so early. Stay off Instagram about producers, work quietly. I'm all for waiting but it was just dragging on and on, not even an official date being announced. People can't steal what they don't know about or won't if there isn't all this built-up hype that makes the product valuable. Gather your ingredients, bake it THEN head to Instagram. That Bey lady was able to do it.

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I love what she said about the Illuminati and how she has turned the table on the stupid theories about modern day artists as some kind of satanic cult. The amount of people who are so paranoid about everything and every image now is what is alarming. I know people who refuse to watch the Wizard of Oz, Dumbo etc and if any celebrity has a family member who dies, it is all - O'h, they had them killed because of the Illuminati. I work with them and I have had them tell me all about Madonna being the High Priestess etc - even using her Mother's death as evidence ! So good on her for turning the table and showing the absurdity of it all and being ironic and funny at the same time.

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I think maybe next time she shouldn't start to promote the album so early. Stay off Instagram about producers, work quietly. I'm all for waiting but it was just dragging on and on, not even an official date being announced. People can't steal what they don't know about or won't if there isn't all this built-up hype that makes the product valuable. Gather your ingredients, bake it THEN head to Instagram. That Bey lady was able to do it.

I actually absolutely loved her for that...giving us blinks and insights into the creative process. I hope she will contine doing that in the future.

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Madonna is so full of shit. She's not an idiot. She's been a tactical planner for the last 30+ years. She knows what she was doing long before that cab ride "to the center of everything" in New York City.

This was planned!

NO.

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Oh my God so many good interviews. She's on another state of mind that she was for MDNA. I love everyting she said. I totally agree about what she said of Illuminatis. I know so many people who are paranoid and they're just ignorant people who don't even have basic knowledge of History or culture, I want to slap them with an encyclopedia.

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GREAT interview! First of this new era.

I love to read her fears in terms of security. The fact that the demos are from LAST MARCH

What i don't understand is when she thinks that the pictures leaked at the same time. Many others have been out for months. Maybe we got the pictures but not de demos????

Anyway, really cool. And what about when she is so happy that claims is a "miracle" the success of the songs?

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Great interview! It's her intelligence (and talent of course) that really separetes her from the other pop stars. It's also a reason I love her so so much.

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She says that some things have hapened before, but not this way. To be fair, nothing has ever happened this way, not even that Britney's album.

What really would like to know is WHEN Madonna was aware, because they demos have been out there since August.

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Madonna is so full of shit. She's not an idiot. She's been a tactical planner for the last 30+ years. She knows what she was doing long before that cab ride "to the center of everything" in New York City.

This was planned!

I used to feel it was planned, but right now i think it's not.

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But tour demos can't have come from record company or people at pressing plants etc. They came from inner circle surely - and that started long long long time ago?

And Hard Candy tracks were in hands of fans apparently in late 2007 - that's a bit similar to this situation IMO.

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Guest Rachelle of London

"Madonna also claimed that her children acted as her artistic advisers, helping her to make decisions about which producers she worked with"

:chuckle:

article-2044450-0E2E499A00000578-752_468

:dead:

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Well, according to the Billboard inverview, the process was like some open door where loads of young DJs were coming for a few days and going. I can't be sure, but this maybe isn't the best way to keep demos safe.

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Great interview

BUT somebody should tell her that the stolen "demo album" doesn't have anything to do with the leaked outtakes that have been floating around for years. I don't think her personal computer was hacked ...

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Madonna is so full of shit. She's not an idiot. She's been a tactical planner for the last 30+ years. She knows what she was doing long before that cab ride "to the center of everything" in New York City.

This was planned!

Wow, some people do not expect her to be human. She's not a robot. She has feelings. She makes mistakes. She's not in control 100% of the time. She has a life. To suggest that this was a career ploy to sell more records/hype the media is insulting.

tumblr_n9yd0g8XBo1sm3pe7o2_250.gif

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Wow, some people do not expect her to be human. She's not a robot. She has feelings. She makes mistakes. She's not in control 100% of the time. She has a life. To suggest that this was a career ploy to sell more records/hype the media is insulting.

tumblr_n9yd0g8XBo1sm3pe7o2_250.gif

I know seriously! if you think this was planned, you don't know Madonna.

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Guest Rachelle of London

I know seriously! if you think this was planned, you don't know Madonna.

I get what youre saying but NONE of us really "know" Madonna. And why would we want to anyway.

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Wow, some people do not expect her to be human. She's not a robot. She has feelings. She makes mistakes. She's not in control 100% of the time. She has a life. To suggest that this was a career ploy to sell more records/hype the media is insulting.

So, you haven't listened to any of the leaks then?

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