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"Rebel Heart" Reviews [continued] - thread 2

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Guest ziggy

Guest ziggy

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"Rebel Heart capitalises on the comeback charm of 2012’s MDNA, and in places repeats aspects of its success."

I choose to take this statement as a sampling of first rate British sarcasm.

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Shane Rising Star

Shane

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the independent

4 stars

I think it counts for Metacritic

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/madonna-rebel-heart--album-review-a-confirmation-of-madonnas-sustained-musical-relevance-10090878.html

they compare her beautiful voice with karen carpenter.

This counts. What a terrific review.

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Shane Rising Star

Shane

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"Rebel Heart capitalises on the comeback charm of 2012s MDNA, and in places repeats aspects of its success."

I choose to take this statement as a sampling of first rate British sarcasm.

LOL. But the thing is, MDNA was pretty decently reviewed. It's the fans who have rewritten it as a trashed era.

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loowee Rising Star

loowee

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But if the lyrics mine familiar tropes of sex, dance, religion and celebrity, the music pushes out from her electropop template, with the brittle beats and wheezing dubstep electronic flourishes

For those who think this record lacks cohesiveness and theme, this explains it ALL. :superman:

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Wunderkind Collaborator

Wunderkind

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Excellent, slightly funny review from spiegel online (German). I was waiting for this one, expected them to be very negative. What a surprise! They even tore the writer from Tagesspiegel and his ridiculous review a new one!

http://www.spiegel.de/kultur/musik/madonna-rebel-heart-25-gruende-das-neue-album-zu-hoeren-a-1022003.html

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Guest ditaluver

Guest ditaluver

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Here's a nice review from the heart of Texas. Who would have thunk it? Not always the friendliest area to Madonna. But I guess Texas is a rebel state!

http://www.star-telegram.com/entertainment/arts-culture/article12670982.html

Watching Madonna attempt to wrestle the 21st century into submission ahead of her new studio album, Rebel Heart, has been fascinating.

A refugee from musics monocultural heyday, Madonna has tried to seem nimble and flexible rather than a MTV relic.

One stumble after another has dogged Her Madgesty, whether its her recent, painful tumble at the BRIT Awards or Hearts Internet leak a full month ahead of its release.

In each instance, shes forged ahead, but these missteps underscore how difficult a high profile publicity campaign is no matter your stature in the Internet age.

She even included a brief memo to journalists with Heart, her first studio album in three years, following 2012s MDNA.

In it, the 56-year-old singer-songwriter shares her initial vision I knew I wanted to explore the duality of my personality which is renegade and romantic, Madonna writes as well as what seems like a disclaimer as defensive as it is paradoxically vulnerable.

I have opinions, she writes. What else can you do if youre an artist? I dont know any other way except to offer up my heart, or Come on, you wanna f with me? Lets go.

Such overbearing, pre-release micromanaging gives a whiff of preemptive damage control, mitigating the impact of a forgettable record (for my money, Madonnas last high water mark was a decade ago, on 2005s Confessions on a Dance Floor), so imagine the pleasant surprise: Heart manages to balance the tough and tender sides of Madges personality in entertaining fashion.

For a substantial stretch of Heart, from the gorgeous atmospherics ofGhosttown through to the gritty Joan of Arc, Madonna offers a side of herself she hasnt exhibited since the transitional 90s. The human side of being an icon is fertile terrain, often left unexplored, because introspection doesnt always mesh well with pop escapism.

And while Madonna has some fun with tabloid rumors Illuminati, her much-touted collaboration with Kanye West, is bitingly funny, as well as pleasingly of-the-musical-moment Heart takes hold when she drops her guard, and distances herself from guests like Nicki Minaj and Chance the Rapper, admitting the high cost of global superstardom.

I dont want to talk about it right now/Just hold me while I cry my eyes out, she sings on Joan of Arc, a mid-tempo ballad providing sharp contrast with boastful tracks like the reggae-tinged, Diplo-produced Unapologetic B.

What sneaks up on you as Rebel Heart unfolds a little lengthy in its 55-minute version; absurdly over-long in its 75-minute deluxe edition format is Madonna, for all the hiccups in the months prior to the albums release, hit upon a realization as true in the 21st century as it was in the 19th: being yourself, regardless of the consequences, will win out every time.

In other words, substance almost always trumps style, but for a rare few artists, one can enhance the other.

Having the chutzpah to pull it off, in this short-attention-span age, is Madonnas true act of rebellion.

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/entertainment/arts-culture/article12670982.html#storylink=cpy

Thanks for posting. This is my local paper.

Such a shame she skipped the state again. Oh well

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Mr Ciccone Community Regular

Mr Ciccone

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Posted (edited)

Wow, so The Telegraph, The Times, The Independent and The Daily Mail all giving great reviews!! And The Guardian too gave a good review! Really expected these UK papers to trash her!

Edited by Mr Ciccone
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Guest

Guest

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the independent

4 stars

I think it counts for Metacritic

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/madonna-rebel-heart--album-review-a-confirmation-of-madonnas-sustained-musical-relevance-10090878.html

they compare her beautiful voice with karen carpenter.

If any confirmation were required of Madonna’s sustained cultural relevance, it was surely provided by a mere wardrobe malfunction out-shining the combined micro-celebrity wattage of the entire Brit Awards line-up. :chuckle:

what’s most impressive is Madonna’s singing, which for the most part eschews the excessive vocal treatments of R&B in favour of a simple clarity, which, on “Ghosttown” and “Joan of Arc”, recalls the purity of Karen Carpenter. :dramatic: :dramatic:

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HolidayGuy Experienced

HolidayGuy

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MDNA, unlike ROL and Music, and to a lesser degree, COADF, did not fare well on year-end best-of lists, though. We'll have to see how RH fares.

The EW review is odd, with the two-critic ratings (B/C+).

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vocalism Rising Star

vocalism

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Posted

"I don't listen to what art critics say. I don't know anybody who needs a critic to find out what art is." - Jean-Michel Basquiat

I think it's fine for people (artists, fans, whoever) to ignore critics if they want to. But I don't put much value in artists' opinions of criticism's worth. Criticism has and always will be an essential part of "art," whether we or they like it or not. And there's different calibers of criticism, just like there's different calibers of art. Miley Cyrus is not Beethoven. And a random gossip blog is not The New York Times.

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Querelle Collaborator

Querelle

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could you translate?

Roughly:

Bow down b!tiches!

After 30 years Madonna reviews we are exhausted! All we can do is surrender and mindless embrace Madonna: You won! Nobody knows, if their striking, all-encompassing and large pure-making 13th album is not her last. We celebrate, while we still can! http://www.spiegel.de/kultur/musik/madonna-rebel-heart-25-gruende-das-neue-album-zu-hoeren-a-1022003.html

Edited by BetteDavisDub
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Mr.Candy Collaborator

Mr.Candy

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Excellent, slightly funny review from spiegel online (German). I was waiting for this one, expected them to be very negative. What a surprise! They even tore the writer from Tagesspiegel and his ridiculous review a new one!

http://www.spiegel.de/kultur/musik/madonna-rebel-heart-25-gruende-das-neue-album-zu-hoeren-a-1022003.html

it's very interesting... the "upper class" of the german press thinks very positive about "Rebel Heart"

Die Zeit: http://www.zeit.de/2015/10/madonna-rebel-heart-album

Focus: http://www.focus.de/kultur/musik/madonna-rebel-heart-die-wiederauferstehung-der-madonna_id_4524991.html

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung: http://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/pop/madonnas-neues-album-rebel-heart-13455205.html

Sueddeutsche: http://www.sueddeutsche.de/kultur/rebel-heart-von-madonna-wenn-der-teufel-betet-1.2379127

Spiegel: http://www.spiegel.de/kultur/musik/madonna-rebel-heart-25-gruende-das-neue-album-zu-hoeren-a-1022003.html

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Wunderkind Collaborator

Wunderkind

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I translated the spiegel review as good as I could for now. Didn't spell check though.

Kneel, Bitches

Time to retire? Nobody wants to hear her anymore? Much less see her?

That's all nonsense. Here are 25 reasons why it's worth giving Madonna a chance.

1. "I lived my life as a masochist" Madonna sings on the title track.

"Rebel Heart", released on Friday, is her most personal album. She says. It is definitely her most varied in terms of style. From the embracing dance-hymn, the delicate Gospel-Ballad to the hard HipHop track, it's all there. She worked hard for us. Respect.

2. Diplo, Kanye West, Avicii, DJ Dahi, Sophie, Blood Diamonds, Ryan Tedder, Ariel Rechtshaid, Nicki Minaj, Nas, Chance the Rapper and, uhm, Mike Tyson. When Queen Madonna calls, they all show up. Wether Superstar or Underground. Value for money!

3. Rule for all superheroes: Never wear a cape. After all, it was the long cape that caused her to fall at the Brit Awards. The humiliation! But she got up, despite whiplash, and finished performing the song. At age 56!

4. "Living For Love" is a very solid single which refrains from giving in to the Kiesza sounding Nineties-Eurodance-Revival but shamelessly references the late eighties one-hit-wonder "The only way is up". Boldness. Wins.

5. "Devil Pray" with its mix of acoustic guitar and dance beats reminds of "Don't tell me" from her last fully good album "Music". That was 15 years ago. And now she is finally picking up where she left there. Amazing.

6. Take that, Miley. "We could do drugs and we could smoke weed and we could drink whisky/Yeah, we could get high and we could get stoned/And we could sniff glue and we could do E and we could drop acid/Forever be lost with no way home" Madonna sings in "Devil Pray". What would qualify as a scandal for the california brat simply causes a yawn for Madonna: Been there, done that. The only drug that works for her is religion: "Sing Hallelujah, the devil's here to fool ya".

7. About religion. Pop music and the catholic church are part of Madonna's holy trinity. And sex, as she told the U.S.-Hipster-Magazine Pitchfork in a recent interview. "Why not? All three together, if possible". A threesome that she keeps going.

8. Talking about interviews, also called audiences. She gives them rarely. Those journalists that got to meet her, had to play a tough drinking game with Tequila. For each dumb question a shot for the interviewer, for each inspiring question a shot for Madonna. Rock'n'Roll.

9. "Maybe it was all too much, too much for a man to take. Everything's bound to break" (Ghosttown). Marbel, rock and marriages break, Men break. Only Madonna doesn't. Eternal girl power.

10. "Unapologetic Bitch": Reggae with a pressing fanfare and the classic justification for bitching. Sometimes you gotta say it how it is. Madonna is the better Gwen Stefani.

11. "Illuminati": brutally produced by Kanye West. Madonna's comment on corporate paranoia and the fear of Facebook and Google. "Everybody in this party's shining like Illuminati". Clearly she has the best solution of them all "Let the music take you out of control". According to the conspiracy theory of numbers, it should have been track 23 (but it's number 5).

12. "Bitch, I'm Madonna" with Rapper Nicki Minaj: What's to say against a 56 year old still recording Teen-Hymns? Wonderfully pseudo-cheap production from Diplo and the up and coming British Sophie. " I just wanna have fun tonight".

13. Age doesn't matter. Not covering up at 56, showing yourself sexy and playing the eternal Lolita. That's Madonna's ongoing, rebellious and emancipating act.

14. Of course she is still vain. Her face was never, ever shown up close at the Brit Awards. But hey. The far younger Paloma Faith looked far older, while standing in the rain during her heartbreak ballad "Only love can hurt like this".

15. "Joan of Arc". A ballad about Madonna feeling hurt over bad words written about her. Really! But she doesn't want to talk about it right now. Sob. Then the beat kicks in. By the way: She's not Joan of Arc...not yet ".

16. According to rumours, Jay-Z didn't want to do the guest rap on "Iconic". What does Madonna do? Gets Chance the Rapper and box veteran Mike Tyson into the studio. Good punch.

17. Honestly: Lady Gaga is crazy shit, Rihanna always gets naked, Beyoncé is cool but way too demure. Only Madonna is megalomaniac enough to show herself as a Mega-Martyr with a nail through her hand. Strike a (Jesus) Pose.

18. As long as Madonna's albums appear on the Internet way before they are released, everything is in order. Upsetting as such a leak is, it's also reassuring that there is still demand.

19. "Cut me down the middle, fucked me up a little". When Madonna spews lines like this, with holy contempt, Christian Grey can do whatever he wants with his cable binders. "That's all child's play" says Mum. (Heartbreak City).

20. "bless yourself and genuflect". It's always good when rare words show up in Pop-context (Holy Water")

21. "Jesus loves my pussy best" she says in "Holy Water". With Madonna, not only sweat tastes like Holy Water. Bam!

22. "Inside Out": Madonna kinda just chucks this as track 13, for Rihanna it would have been a single. Give it a try!

23. Self-Referencing: "Wanting", "Needing", "Waiting"... Those words in "Best Night" sound a lot like "Justify my love". Fun fact: the protagonist of Mondinos Sado-Maso clip now says that the best night of your life is the one "without sex-tapes and cameras". Well, that was 25 years ago. Today, intimacy is the new scandal. Or so.

24. "Veni, Vidi, Vici". Rapper Nas joins for a rapped list of Madonna's life story. "I came, I saw, I conquered". That is a bit stupid.

25. "Oh my god, you're so hot" she moans in S.E.X.

Only a fool would think that Madonna is not holding a conversation with herself here.

One of the very best reasons to find Madonn's album absolutely super are articles like this one from "Tagesspiegel". After 30 years of Madonna criticism, we are all tired. Unconditional surrender is all that's left. Madonna, you win!

And besides. Who knows if her all-encompassing 13th album is her last. Let's celebrate her as long as we still can.

Edited by Wunderkind
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XXL Mentor

XXL

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Posted

I just love The Independent review

I'm not even bothering to read tabloid reviews or those obnoxious bitchfork, slant, whatever, insert name of any other pretentious BLOG. It's amazing how the same newspaper can write two polar opposite assessments of her career/music/persona. I think it's obvious and so true what Madonna said herself numerous times, "some people are reviewing me personally and not my work". I'm also very happy about USA Today and The Times reviews. Madonna is once again getting the musical praise she so deserves.

Rebel Heart

A confirmation of Madonna's sustained musical relevance

567a0ad9-e937-4289-841f-28e9702a20d7-102

If any confirmation were required of Madonna’s sustained cultural relevance, it was surely provided by a mere wardrobe malfunction out-shining the combined micro-celebrity wattage of the entire Brit Awards line-up. :chuckle:
It’s fortunate, then, that this ironic triumph should be followed by confirmation of her musical relevance. Rebel Heart capitalises on the comeback charm of 2012’s MDNA, and in places repeats aspects of its success. Nicki Minaj reprises her role as Madge’s rapping henchgirl on the amusingly abrasive “Bitch I’m Madonna”; and Madonna again slips sly hints of hits such as “Vogue” into the arrangements, like straps binding the material to her legacy.
The most welcome reminders are those which recall the career-apex achievements of Like a Prayer, particularly “Devil Pray” and album closer “Wash All Over Me” – the latter mining a resistant melancholy while the former urges the adoption of a deeper spirituality not dependent on drugs. A less reverential employment of religious imagery, however, occurs in the controversy-courting cunnilingus anthem “Holy Water”, where she proclaims, “Bless yourself and genuflect/Jesus loves my p***y best.”
But if the lyrics mine familiar tropes of sex, dance, religion and celebrity, the music pushes out from her electropop template, with the brittle beats and wheezing dubstep electronic flourishes augmented by the kalimba groove of “Body Shop”, the choral responses of “Heartbreak City” and the Middle Eastern drone of “Best Night”.
The inventive Diplo is a frequent collaborator, with support from Avicii, Michael Diamond and Kanye, but what’s most impressive is Madonna’s singing, which for the most part eschews the excessive vocal treatments of R&B in favour of a simple clarity, which, on “Ghosttown” and “Joan of Arc”, recalls the purity of Karen Carpenter. It’s a sonic nakedness that’s more revealing than any flirty flash of boob or buttock.
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Guest Pud Whacker

Guest Pud Whacker

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Posted

I just love The Independent review

I'm not even bothering to read tabloid reviews or those obnoxious bitchfork, slant, whatever, insert name of any other pretentious BLOG. It's amazing how the same newspaper can write two polar opposite assessments of her career/music/persona. I think it's obvious and so true what Madonna said herself numerous times, "some people are reviewing me personally and not my work". I'm also very happy about USA Today and The Times reviews. Madonna is once again getting the musical praise she so deserves.

Rebel Heart

A confirmation of Madonna's sustained musical relevance

567a0ad9-e937-4289-841f-28e9702a20d7-102

If any confirmation were required of Madonna’s sustained cultural relevance, it was surely provided by a mere wardrobe malfunction out-shining the combined micro-celebrity wattage of the entire Brit Awards line-up. :chuckle:
It’s fortunate, then, that this ironic triumph should be followed by confirmation of her musical relevance. Rebel Heart capitalises on the comeback charm of 2012’s MDNA, and in places repeats aspects of its success. Nicki Minaj reprises her role as Madge’s rapping henchgirl on the amusingly abrasive “Bitch I’m Madonna”; and Madonna again slips sly hints of hits such as “Vogue” into the arrangements, like straps binding the material to her legacy.
The most welcome reminders are those which recall the career-apex achievements of Like a Prayer, particularly “Devil Pray” and album closer “Wash All Over Me” – the latter mining a resistant melancholy while the former urges the adoption of a deeper spirituality not dependent on drugs. A less reverential employment of religious imagery, however, occurs in the controversy-courting cunnilingus anthem “Holy Water”, where she proclaims, “Bless yourself and genuflect/Jesus loves my p***y best.”
But if the lyrics mine familiar tropes of sex, dance, religion and celebrity, the music pushes out from her electropop template, with the brittle beats and wheezing dubstep electronic flourishes augmented by the kalimba groove of “Body Shop”, the choral responses of “Heartbreak City” and the Middle Eastern drone of “Best Night”.
The inventive Diplo is a frequent collaborator, with support from Avicii, Michael Diamond and Kanye, but what’s most impressive is Madonna’s singing, which for the most part eschews the excessive vocal treatments of R&B in favour of a simple clarity, which, on “Ghosttown” and “Joan of Arc”, recalls the purity of Karen Carpenter. It’s a sonic nakedness that’s more revealing than any flirty flash of boob or buttock.

yes fabulous>

What's most impressive is Madonna’s singing...which, on Ghosttown & Joan of Arc, recalls the purity of Karen Carpenter.

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sotos8 Rising Star

sotos8

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Music Review

Madonna: Rebel Heart album review - "Some truly great pop songs"

Released on Monday, Mar 9 2015

madonna-rebel-heart-artwork.jpg

Madonna's influence on modern pop culture is something that can never be taken away from her. For over 30 years the Bay City native has pushed the mainstream's envelope, stamped down doors for female artists, and has weaved through musical styles more times than she has turned her nose up at hydrangeas. It's an achievement that very few - if any - will match again, but it leaves Madonna with the dilemma of expectation. What can she do next? The answer, according to new album Rebel Heart, is to have a few attempts all on one disc.

Rebel Heart contains some truly great pop songs that can contend with Madonna's best, but as an overall collection, it feels like the start of three separate projects lumped together. It starts with lead single 'Living For Love'; a thumping, uplifting dance anthem which nods back to the '90s, but confirms her relevancy as part of house music's revival nonetheless.

It sits nicely alongside the glitchy electronics of 'Iconic', where a towering pre-chorus drops into stabs of ice-cold synths for a club-ready dash of trap-pop. But between these two numbers, it's almost like there's a mini sonic evolution of Madonna on this record.

Rebel Heart goes from the brilliant, dancehall groove of 'Unapologetic Bitch' and the scuzzy squiggles of 'Bitch I'm Madonna' - both helmed by Diplo - to more reflective and sombre pop ballads such as 'Ghosttown' and 'Hold Tight'. At this stage in her career, if Madonna doesn't have 'pop chameleon' on her LinkedIn profile (and what a 'resumé' that would be), then Rebel Heart alone is enough to endorse that title.



'Bitch I'm Madonna' hears the Queen of Pop at her most fabulously ridiculous; popping corks, "kissing anybody that's around us" and threatening to "blow up the house", with PC Music's Sophie keeping production ahead of the curve with a hyperpop emboss, and Nicki Minaj strolling in as her partner in crime. It's a track that could possibly grate on first listen, but if you let it, its teeth are waiting to dig in.

'Unapologetic Bitch', on the other hand, takes full advantage of Diplo's knack for a breezy, reggae-pop production. Despite appearing carefree on the surface, Madonna is overcoming a break-up in the only way we'd all expect her to; pause, reflect, forget. "It took a minute, but now I'm feeling strong/ It almost killed me, but I'm moving on," shesteely declares, never willing to let a man dent her armour, and rightly so.

Essentially, staying faithful to its title, Madonna's heart is placed firmly at the centre of the album. 'Ghosttown' is prime example that the icon still has that straight-down-the-line pop clout when she wants to do it. It's an affecting serenade to loyalty that will bury deep into the cranium, and one that shows the most potential when it comes to mainstream chart success. 'Hold Tight' nips at its heels with its marching beats and flourishes of pastel electronics. However, what is most encouraging on each track is the space Madonna's voice is given to shine - something we'd like to hear more often.

Where Rebel Heart does stumble, though, is when Madonna is revisits two of her favourite themes: religion and sex. It's most explicitly touched upon in the Kanye West-produced 'Holy Water', where orgasmic gasps form part of the chorus as Madonna demands "Kiss it better, kiss it better/ Don't it taste like holy water?" It's frustrating because the production is sharp and offers some of the most interesting moments on the album, but the overtly sexual lyrics (which includes "Yeezus loves my pussy best") feel like forced shock value. Are they gasps of disgust, or are they gasps of pleasure? Of course, shocking the audience is Madonna's business, but here it feels more crass than clever.

If anything, the most radical moment on Rebel Heart comes in the form of guitar-led ballad 'Joan of Arc'. "I can't be a superhero right now/ Even hearts made out of steel can break down," Madonna admits, continuing to grapple with the pressures of fame and expectation 30 years into her career. It's a reminder that behind the superstar - and when we say that, we mean the superstar - there's a woman who is still very much a sensitive soul despite a hardened public persona. Madonna acknowledging her mortality, for some reason, feels wholly more intriguing than suggestive rhetoric that belongs with her work back in the '90s.

So yes, Madonna's 13th studio outing can feel like a confused bag sonically as she continues to experiment with a host of modern music's finest. But ultimately, when she's wearing her heart on her sleeve, Rebel Heart is some of her most captivating work in years.

star4.png


Tracks to download: 'Living For Love', 'Ghosttown', 'Iconic', 'Joan of Arc', 'Rebel Heart'


Read more: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/review/a633737/madonna-rebel-heart-album-review-some-truly-great-pop-songs.html#ixzz3TcwoZx8J
Follow us: @digitalspy on Twitter | digitalspyuk on Facebook








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jackaboo Collaborator

jackaboo

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DIGITAL SPY - http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/review/a633737/madonna-rebel-heart-album-review-some-truly-great-pop-songs.html#~p6b3fMkTO7vTxp

Madonna: Rebel Heart album review - "Some truly great pop songs" - 4 STARS

Madonna's influence on modern pop culture is something that can never be taken away from her. For over 30 years the Bay City native has pushed the mainstream's envelope, stamped down doors for female artists, and has weaved through musical styles more times than she has turned her nose up at hydrangeas. It's an achievement that very few - if any - will match again, but it leaves Madonna with the dilemma of expectation. What can she do next? The answer, according to new album Rebel Heart, is to have a few attempts all on one disc.

Rebel Heart contains some truly great pop songs that can contend with Madonna's best, but as an overall collection, it feels like the start of three separate projects lumped together. It starts with lead single 'Living For Love'; a thumping, uplifting dance anthem which nods back to the '90s, but confirms her relevancy as part of house music's revival nonetheless.

It sits nicely alongside the glitchy electronics of 'Iconic', where a towering pre-chorus drops into stabs of ice-cold synths for a club-ready dash of trap-pop. But between these two numbers, it's almost like there's a mini sonic evolution of Madonna on this record.

Rebel Heart goes from the brilliant, dancehall groove of 'Unapologetic Bitch' and the scuzzy squiggles of 'Bitch I'm Madonna' - both helmed by Diplo - to more reflective and sombre pop ballads such as 'Ghosttown' and 'Hold Tight'. At this stage in her career, if Madonna doesn't have 'pop chameleon' on her LinkedIn profile (and what a 'resumé' that would be), then Rebel Heart alone is enough to endorse that title.

'Bitch I'm Madonna' hears the Queen of Pop at her most fabulously ridiculous; popping corks, "kissing anybody that's around us" and threatening to "blow up the house", with PC Music's Sophie keeping production ahead of the curve with a hyperpop emboss, and Nicki Minaj strolling in as her partner in crime. It's a track that could possibly grate on first listen, but if you let it, its teeth are waiting to dig in.

'Unapologetic Bitch', on the other hand, takes full advantage of Diplo's knack for a breezy, reggae-pop production. Despite appearing carefree on the surface, Madonna is overcoming a break-up in the only way we'd all expect her to; pause, reflect, forget. "It took a minute, but now I'm feeling strong/ It almost killed me, but I'm moving on," she steely declares, never willing to let a man dent her armour, and rightly so.

Essentially, staying faithful to its title, Madonna's heart is placed firmly at the centre of the album. 'Ghosttown' is prime example that the icon still has that straight-down-the-line pop clout when she wants to do it. It's an affecting serenade to loyalty that will bury deep into the cranium, and one that shows the most potential when it comes to mainstream chart success. 'Hold Tight' nips at its heels with its marching beats and flourishes of pastel electronics. However, what is most encouraging on each track is the space Madonna's voice is given to shine - something we'd like to hear more often.
Where Rebel Heart does stumble, though, is when Madonna is revisits two of her favourite themes: religion and sex. It's most explicitly touched upon in the Kanye West-produced 'Holy Water', where orgasmic gasps form part of the chorus as Madonna demands "Kiss it better, kiss it better/ Don't it taste like holy water?" It's frustrating because the production is sharp and offers some of the most interesting moments on the album, but the overtly sexual lyrics (which includes "Yeezus loves my pussy best") feel like forced shock value. Are they gasps of disgust, or are they gasps of pleasure? Of course, shocking the audience is Madonna's business, but here it feels more crass than clever.

If anything, the most radical moment on Rebel Heart comes in the form of guitar-led ballad 'Joan of Arc'. "I can't be a superhero right now/ Even hearts made out of steel can break down," Madonna admits, continuing to grapple with the pressures of fame and expectation 30 years into her career. It's a reminder that behind the superstar - and when we say that, we mean the superstar - there's a woman who is still very much a sensitive soul despite a hardened public persona. Madonna acknowledging her mortality, for some reason, feels wholly more intriguing than suggestive rhetoric that belongs with her work back in the '90s.

So yes, Madonna's 13th studio outing can feel like a confused bag sonically as she continues to experiment with a host of modern music's finest. But ultimately, when she's wearing her heart on her sleeve, Rebel Heart is some of her most captivating work in years.


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