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MADAME X album reviews


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1 minute ago, cocolattee said:

"old white woman" sounds pretty misogynist, indeed

I thought the same.

 

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Madonna: Madame X review – Big, ballsy and more than a bit bizarre

3/5

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/music/madonna-madame-x-review-big-ballsy-and-more-than-a-bit-bizarre-1.3920630

Very few living artists compare to Madonna for cultural impact and musical legacy. Over almost four decades in the public eye she has caused controversy for merely existing. On Madame X, her 14th studio album, she uses various personas and borrows heavily from Latin hip hop, dancehall and reggaeton to steer the power of controversy into something positive.

The album begins with Medellín, on which she is joined by the Colombian rapper Maluma. It’s a quirky, low-tempo island song – and very much a Marmite one – designed to get you moving, its “One, two, cha-cha-cha” refrain telling you exactly what to do.

The playfulness of Medellín is quickly overshadowed by Dark Ballet and God Control, songs that take an experimental stand against authoritarianism and gun control through distorted Black Mirror-style pop. Now that’s a mouthful.

While she sounds like a circus ringmaster on the fritz on Dark Ballet, which samples The Nutcracker, God Control rattles together a gospel choir, gunshots, vocodered vocals and disco beats to basically shake our shoulders and tell us to wake up, sheeple.

Recorded between her homes in New York, Lisbon, London and Los Angeles, Madame X sees Madonna go global in her musical quest for peace and equality, singing in English, Spanish and Portuguese.

While the gypsy taunts of Killers Who Are Partying miss the mark (“I’ll be Islam if Islam is hated, I’ll be Israel if they’re incarcerated, I’ll be Native Indian if the Indian has been taken,” she drawls), the gimmick-free, uplifting ballad I Rise is more earnest.

Opening with a snippet of We Call BS, the viral speech made by the young gun-control activist Emma González, who survived the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting last year, she sings: “Freedom’s what you choose to do with what’s been done to you.” Madonna knows the power she wields, and as a long-time advocate for the LGBTQ+ community and people living with HIV, she plays that card very well.

The most interesting moments come when we hear how she navigates the personal. Removing the brand and the bravado, she breaks it down on Looking for Mercy. She shows strength in her weary cry for empathy, removing the many layers of armour she has had to wear as Madonna the icon.

But don’t confuse this need for love as a weakness. On the zorbing 1990s disco song I Don’t Search I Find, complete with Vogue-style sass, she reminds us that she always gets what she wants. “Finally, enough love is coming…”

Madonna’s choice of collaborators is the album’s strongest suit by far. The Brazilian pop star Anitta joins her on Faz Gostoso, a Latin-tinged seduction track that comes fitted with a carnivale breakdown – alarms, sirens and drums all piling up – and the American rapper Quavo joins her on Future, a sun-kissed call for progress.

Ever altering her identity, either physically, spiritually or emotionally, Madonna takes on numerous characters (and many, many accents) to create a wild and varied universe that’s reflective of the general doom the world is swilling around in. “Madame X is a secret agent. Travelling around the world. Changing identities,” she says in the album’s teaser video. “A nun. A singer. A saint. A whore. A spy in the house of love.”

Her voice is heavily disguised throughout, pushing the sometimes manic concept of this album even further. Standing up against technological, social and political distortion, it’s a big and ballsy production that’s so bizarre in places, you can’t help but be impressed.

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12 minutes ago, cocolattee said:

"old white woman" sounds pretty misogynist, indeed

Only when read by itself, without the context of the entire article. It’s less a statement and more a description of how men see her. 

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Just now, Wunderkind said:

Only when read by itself, without the context of the entire article. It’s less a statement and more a description of how men see her. 

oh ok, that makes more sense... thx for clarifying 😃

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18 minutes ago, Crux said:

Madonna: Madame X review – Big, ballsy and more than a bit bizarre

3/5

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/music/madonna-madame-x-review-big-ballsy-and-more-than-a-bit-bizarre-1.3920630

Very few living artists compare to Madonna for cultural impact and musical legacy. Over almost four decades in the public eye she has caused controversy for merely existing. On Madame X, her 14th studio album, she uses various personas and borrows heavily from Latin hip hop, dancehall and reggaeton to steer the power of controversy into something positive.

The album begins with Medellín, on which she is joined by the Colombian rapper Maluma. It’s a quirky, low-tempo island song – and very much a Marmite one – designed to get you moving, its “One, two, cha-cha-cha” refrain telling you exactly what to do.

The playfulness of Medellín is quickly overshadowed by Dark Ballet and God Control, songs that take an experimental stand against authoritarianism and gun control through distorted Black Mirror-style pop. Now that’s a mouthful.

While she sounds like a circus ringmaster on the fritz on Dark Ballet, which samples The Nutcracker, God Control rattles together a gospel choir, gunshots, vocodered vocals and disco beats to basically shake our shoulders and tell us to wake up, sheeple.

Recorded between her homes in New York, Lisbon, London and Los Angeles, Madame X sees Madonna go global in her musical quest for peace and equality, singing in English, Spanish and Portuguese.

While the gypsy taunts of Killers Who Are Partying miss the mark (“I’ll be Islam if Islam is hated, I’ll be Israel if they’re incarcerated, I’ll be Native Indian if the Indian has been taken,” she drawls), the gimmick-free, uplifting ballad I Rise is more earnest.

Opening with a snippet of We Call BS, the viral speech made by the young gun-control activist Emma González, who survived the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting last year, she sings: “Freedom’s what you choose to do with what’s been done to you.” Madonna knows the power she wields, and as a long-time advocate for the LGBTQ+ community and people living with HIV, she plays that card very well.

The most interesting moments come when we hear how she navigates the personal. Removing the brand and the bravado, she breaks it down on Looking for Mercy. She shows strength in her weary cry for empathy, removing the many layers of armour she has had to wear as Madonna the icon.

But don’t confuse this need for love as a weakness. On the zorbing 1990s disco song I Don’t Search I Find, complete with Vogue-style sass, she reminds us that she always gets what she wants. “Finally, enough love is coming…”

Madonna’s choice of collaborators is the album’s strongest suit by far. The Brazilian pop star Anitta joins her on Faz Gostoso, a Latin-tinged seduction track that comes fitted with a carnivale breakdown – alarms, sirens and drums all piling up – and the American rapper Quavo joins her on Future, a sun-kissed call for progress.

Ever altering her identity, either physically, spiritually or emotionally, Madonna takes on numerous characters (and many, many accents) to create a wild and varied universe that’s reflective of the general doom the world is swilling around in. “Madame X is a secret agent. Travelling around the world. Changing identities,” she says in the album’s teaser video. “A nun. A singer. A saint. A whore. A spy in the house of love.”

Her voice is heavily disguised throughout, pushing the sometimes manic concept of this album even further. Standing up against technological, social and political distortion, it’s a big and ballsy production that’s so bizarre in places, you can’t help but be impressed.

Why three stars? This review looks  like 4 star review.

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1 hour ago, cocolattee said:

"old white woman" sounds pretty misogynist, indeed

Since when 60 old? Are these people living in the Dark Ages? 

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5 hours ago, rebelgirl said:

the text does not correspond with the qualification, it seems more a 4.star..

or even 5 star. I read only one critic about Killers so one out of 15... Well I do not get it.

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On 6/9/2019 at 2:57 PM, Carey said:

the daily mail review is in theory good but it's still littered with the same trite attacking nonsense throughout.

 

 

 

 

Just review the album, thanks!

 

I Know Right  :lmao:

Usual poor journalism

They even make a point of telling you that she went from the 1,300,000 copies of COADF to the 80,000 of Rebel Heart, without telling you at the same time about the collapse in radio air time post Celebration and that bono and friends are not selling more than she is

Usual nonsense and biased unilateral shit. They loved the record but still struggle to admit it

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6 hours ago, side_streets said:

Why three stars? This review looks  like 4 star review.

 

I was wondering about that Irish Times review myself, it reads more like a four star review than a three star review. Sometimes I think it's a way of taking the piss with some of these journalists

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Just now, XXL said:

 

I was wondering about that Irish Times review myself, it reads more like a four star review than a three star review. Sometimes I think it's a way of taking the piss with some of these journalists

Yeah, this review is really positive.

It sounds more positive than first Guardian review for example and they gave 4 stars to the album. 

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32 minutes ago, Gaudet said:

 

He writes for Milenio, a big newspaper in Mexico and Also he's a big fan.

Last week he wrote about Dark Ballet and said is the most original M song ever 

https://www.milenio.com/espectaculos/musica/dark-ballet-tema-original-discografia-madonna?fbclid=IwAR0OK5CtBf8D2ZK4TZLs0AXtHRl-ds4_Ql6JZgRa0qgs-sOaWnRrs-wtKqE

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This is just a negative moment for me — on the whole, I’m thrilled we get a new album this week, so don’t mind my grumpy note here, but — have we ever been reminded SO OFTEN in a review cycle that Madonna is (gasp) white? It’s getting really annoying. Almost every review has to point it out, like “for the uninitiated millennials reading this (yeah, right), you may not be aware of Madonna’s skin color...” I cannot roll my eyes enough. The one review had to mention her “white woman reggae accent” on “Future” and others mention the “white savior” complex ...

Call me insensitive, but I’d rather Madonna fall in that category than be apathetic to the plights and crises of the disenfranchised of the world ... content to pile up coins and not help those suffering from HIV or orphaned in Malawi, etc. It’s easier to criticize her because she does things to help than to look for the good and praise it. (And her version of “white savior” is not what most criticize. I think her work in Malawi has always been about helping the people there to learn and work together to improve conditions. Not for her to show up wearing a cape, heal the sick single-handedly one day and abandon her pet project the next. She has invested for the long term — not only with financial resources but with education and relationship-building ... and raising awareness with others around the world, to inspire them to help from a distance, even if they can’t travel to Malawi to help physically.)

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6 hours ago, peter said:

This is just a negative moment for me — on the whole, I’m thrilled we get a new album this week, so don’t mind my grumpy note here, but — have we ever been reminded SO OFTEN in a review cycle that Madonna is (gasp) white? It’s getting really annoying. Almost every review has to point it out, like “for the uninitiated millennials reading this (yeah, right), you may not be aware of Madonna’s skin color...” I cannot roll my eyes enough. The one review had to mention her “white woman reggae accent” on “Future” and others mention the “white savior” complex ...

Call me insensitive, but I’d rather Madonna fall in that category than be apathetic to the plights and crises of the disenfranchised of the world ... content to pile up coins and not help those suffering from HIV or orphaned in Malawi, etc. It’s easier to criticize her because she does things to help than to look for the good and praise it. (And her version of “white savior” is not what most criticize. I think her work in Malawi has always been about helping the people there to learn and work together to improve conditions. Not for her to show up wearing a cape, heal the sick single-handedly one day and abandon her pet project the next. She has invested for the long term — not only with financial resources but with education and relationship-building ... and raising awareness with others around the world, to inspire them to help from a distance, even if they can’t travel to Malawi to help physically.)

giphy+(1).gif

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22 hours ago, side_streets said:

Why three stars? This review looks  like 4 star review.

The conclusion of this review says it all ....“you can’t help but be impressed“....🙄

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2 minutes ago, Hapertje said:

Also saying it is a treat and she is the queen of pop and then 3 stars??? HOW?????

It's Madonna!

It's not cool to give Madonna more than 3 stars. 

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Are some of these 3 star review out of 4 or 5 I know some publications (like hotels) don't do 5 star anymore. 

 

Also you have to factor in other aspects, it clocks in at nearly 70 minutes. That's a long time these days, plus as mentioned above it's Madonna so people can't be toooo kind 🤣

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