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Madame X featured on Best of 2019 lists


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They’re posted and buried in several threads so I thought I’d post them all in here for easy access and to give that acclaim the focus it deserves!

Billboard Magazine

https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/list/8545657/best-albums-of-2019-top-50

The 50 Best Albums of 2019: Staff Picks

46. Madonna, Madame X

After two albums of Madonna sounding like she was largely playing catch-up to mainstream trends (2012's EDM-courting MDNA and 2015's collaborator-stuffed Rebel Heart), the pop GOAT decided to go back to blazing her own trail, and not looking over her shoulder at how many were following her lead. Top 40 and streaming audiences might not have been particularly amenable to her genre-hopping free-for-all, but longtime fans found plenty to chew on in the set's unpredictable excursions -- including a Walter Carlos-like dip into synthified Tchaikovsky in "Dark Ballet," a Random Access Memories-worthy prog-disco odyssey in "God Control," and a welcome return to Latin pop in the breezy Maluma team-ups "Medellín" and "Bitch I'm Loca." Madge can rest assured that anyone still trekking along with her at this point is in for the long haul, and excited as ever for what twists and turns lay ahead. -- ANDREW UNTERBERGER

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NME

https://www.nme.com/features/the-greatest-albums-of-2019-2586777

The 50 best albums of 2019

45. Madonna, ‘Madame X’ (Interscope)

In a nutshell: The ultimate pop icon taps into the Latin pop zeitgeist

On her best album in years, Madonna returned under the guise of ‘Madame X’, an alter-ego that encompassed roles of a mother, child, teacher, spy, nun, saint, and more. The album that shared her new pseudonym was similarly imaginative, pulling together inspiration from the Latin-pop and Batuque music she’d been exposed to since moving to Lisbon, Portugal. Ultimately, ’Madame X’ represented an eclectic, masterful new phase that stood tall amid her inimitable back catalogue. 

Key track: ‘Medellín’.

Best moment: The glittery pop waltz of ‘Crazy’’s chorus. RD

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Slant Magazine includes “God Control” in its list of the “The 50 Best Songs of 2019”. 

https://www.slantmagazine.com/features/the-50-best-songs-of-2019/4/

12. Madonna, “God Control”

Madonna has a reputation for being a trendsetter, but her true talent lies in bending those trends to her will, twisting them around until they’re barely recognizable. Madame X’s pièce de résistance, at least in that regard, is the six-minute “God Control,” which begins with the queen of pop conjuring the spirit and disaffected monotone of Kurt Cobain—“I think I understand why people get a gun/I think I understand why we all give up,” she sings through clenched teeth—before the whole thing implodes into a euphoric, densely layered samba-disco-gospel mash-up. Madonna’s vocals alternate between Auto-Tuned belting, urgent whispers, and Tom Tom Club-style rapping as she takes on the gaslight industrial complex and so-called political reformers. On paper, it might sound like the ingredients for a musical Hindenburg, but—somewhere around the midpoint, when she declares, “It’s a con, it’s a hustle, it’s a weird kind of energy!”—it all coheres into the most exhilaratingly batshit thing she’s done in years. Cinquemani

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Albumism.com

https://www.albumism.com/lists1/best-albums-of-2019-madonna-madame-x

Albumism’s 50 Best Albums of 2019 

November 29, 2019 Albumism Staff

#12 | Madonna | Madame X
Interscope

According to Mark J. Marraccini: “Madonna’s radically adventurous and globally-inspired Madame X polarized fans and critics for good reason. It’s her least accessible album, but it’s also up there with the best she’s ever made….Years from now, we’ll look back on Madame X as the Madonna album that’s most closely aligned with the real Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone, and one of her most artistically audacious and authentic offerings.”

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Slant Magazine

https://www.slantmagazine.com/features/the-25-best-albums-of-2019/3/

The 25 Best Albums of 2019

12. Madonna, Madame X

With their naïve—some might say crude—expressions of bloody-hearted empathy, there’s something almost Björkian about songs such as “God Control” and “Killers Who Are Partying.” English is, of course, Madonna’s first language, and lyrics like “I’ll be Africa/If Africa is shut down” are received with less generosity when one’s claws are already out. We expect pop stars to stay in their lane, but Madonna is at heart a rock auteur, with all of the inclinations toward upending the status quo and expressing a singular vision that designation implies. Inspired by her time living in Lisbon, where she was surrounded by musicians and art in a way she hadn’t been since her pre-fame days in the East Village, Madame X plays like a musical memoir, sometimes literally: “I came from the Midwest/Then I went to the Far East/I tried to discover my own identity,” she sings on “Extreme Occident.” The album is far from her creative zenith, but it’s her most fearless effort in at least 15 years—the sound of an artist who’s got no more fucks to give. Sal Cinquemani

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Yorkshire Times

https://yorkshiretimes.co.uk/article/Top-60-Albums-of-2019-60-To-51

Top 60 Albums of 2019

60. Madonna - Madame X

Madonna is one of the pop world's greatest innovators. Madame X sees her channel her Portuguese influences into a whole new direction. Smart and sexy, Madame X is a clever reincarnation.

 

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Good Morning America

https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/culture/story/50-best-albums-2019-67812514

49. MADONNA – “MADAME X” (DELUXE)

Thirty-six years after her debut, Madonna doesn’t seem to aim for the pop charts in a calculated way. Sure, the politically-charged, “I Rise” is a rather traditional pop-anthem, but much of the record finds her in performance-artist mode. This is a spiky, tangled collection. Don’t let the chilled vibe of the Maluma-assisted, “Medellín” fool you. Sure, it is indicative of the Latin-tinged, digital haze heard across the record, but once “Dark Ballet” morphs into a computerized protest-fueled nod to Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker Suite,” it becomes immediately evident that this is one of her strangest and most compelling albums to date. With highlights like “God Control” and the densely-constructed and blunt “Killers Who Are Partying,” Madonna makes “Madame X,” a cleverly-constructed protest record, meant to be examined as a piece of art. Madonna still courts controversy, but with a unique, globally-minded sense of maturity.

 

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I Don't Search I Find #8 on New York Post's Best Songs of 2019:

8. Madonna, “I Don’t Search I Find”
Although the adventurous “Madame X” won’t go down as the favorite Madonna album of any Madge fan, this club jam mixes the EDM of “Confessions on a Dance Floor” and the deep-house pose of “Vogue” to disco-ball-dizzying effect.

https://nypost.com/2019/12/26/best-and-worst-songs-of-2019-from-lizzo-madonna-lil-nas-x-and-more/

 

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16 hours ago, Beautiful Killer said:

I Don't Search I Find #8 on New York Post's Best Songs of 2019:

8. Madonna, “I Don’t Search I Find”
Although the adventurous “Madame X” won’t go down as the favorite Madonna album of any Madge fan, this club jam mixes the EDM of “Confessions on a Dance Floor” and the deep-house pose of “Vogue” to disco-ball-dizzying effect.

https://nypost.com/2019/12/26/best-and-worst-songs-of-2019-from-lizzo-madonna-lil-nas-x-and-more/

 

kinda surprising from them but deserved!

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20 minutes ago, jonski43 said:

Graham Norton said on his radio show today that this was one of his two favourite albums of the year full of ear worms even though the album didn't do very well.

it didnt "do very well"?

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9 minutes ago, dollhouse said:

it didnt "do very well"?

No it didn’t but I think Graham’s comment was highlighting albums that are no where near as MX That did do well rather than a put down.

 

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4 hours ago, Confessit said:

No it didn’t but I think Graham’s comment was highlighting albums that are no where near as MX That did do well rather than a put down.

 

oh

I think it did very well, It got her the best reviews since Confessions and Music.

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Sturgis Journal

https://www.sturgisjournal.com/news/20191227/countdown-2019-top-songs-of-year

Countdown 2019: Top songs of the year

By David T. Farr 

Posted Dec 27, 2019 at 11:52 AM 

10. "Come Alive," Madonna. "Madame X" took me a few listens before I fell in love with it, but then this track spoke to me. It was exactly the song I needed to hear at that time. The lyrics are simple, yet its meaning is divine. I'm on fence with her need to be relevant, musically speaking. However, she's the ultimate when it comes to being a true artist. Her vision and drive has been at the forefront of music for 40 years and most everyone we've seen come and go since Madonna's debut can thank her for the influence.

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14 hours ago, I Don’t Search I Find said:

Sturgis Journal

https://www.sturgisjournal.com/news/20191227/countdown-2019-top-songs-of-year

Countdown 2019: Top songs of the year

By David T. Farr 

Posted Dec 27, 2019 at 11:52 AM 

10. "Come Alive," Madonna. "Madame X" took me a few listens before I fell in love with it, but then this track spoke to me. It was exactly the song I needed to hear at that time. The lyrics are simple, yet its meaning is divine. I'm on fence with her need to be relevant, musically speaking. However, she's the ultimate when it comes to being a true artist. Her vision and drive has been at the forefront of music for 40 years and most everyone we've seen come and go since Madonna's debut can thank her for the influence.

He knows what's up.

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Digital Journal

http://www.digitaljournal.com/entertainment/music/op-ed-madonna-releases-best-album-by-a-female-in-2019-madame-x/article/564442

Op-Ed: Madonna releases best album by a female in 2019 — 'Madame X'

Madonna_.jpg
 

December 31, 2019

BY MARKOS PAPADATOS

Pop megastar Madonna has released the greatest album by a female recording artist in 2019 — "Madame X." Digital Journal has the scoop.

Madame X was a highly eclectic musical effort, and it showcased a wide variety of musical styles, genres, and melodic flavors. It was described as "stunning," and rightfully so. It illustrates Madonna's ability to constantly reinvent musically creatively and artistically. She is not afraid to be bold and vulnerable at the same time. Madame X is an exceptional work of musical art.

Her inspirational song "I Rise" is worth the price of the album alone. Other noteworthy tunes include "Extreme Occident," "Come Alive," "I Don't Search I Find," as well as "Medellín," her infectious collaboration with Maluma. She still possesses the voice of an angel after all of these decades, and she is a true visionary.

With Madame X, Madonna was able to once again top the Billboard 200 all-genre charts. That was her ninth career No. 1 album and it sold 95,000 units in its first week, where 90,000 of those units were pure album sales.

Madame X is available on Apple Music and on Spotify, and it is worth more than just a passing glance.

In other Madonna news, Digital Journal proclaimed (-link-) her residency at the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House (-link-) as the "greatest concert by a female artist in 2019."

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