Priceless

I would be curious to know how much muscle Interscope has in the territories where Anitta is popular. Would they even have been able to handle the single properly?

I was very impressed with this piece (although it has me wondering if Donatella had some assistance writing this) and it manages to touch on so many reasons why Madonna is phenomenal.

If we are to believe everything we've read, Madonna was told about Casey's involvement and tried to make it right. However, her lawyers FAILED in not getting this wrapped up before he blew his top and went on his Insta-rant. (Why does she always have such lousy lawyers?) They could have paid him his $25,000 (a drop in the bucket for her) and he would have been gone. Is it possible he refused to sign the non-disclosure agreement he alluded to in one of his posts? Regardless, I always think it's cool to hear other people's demos and what Madonna winds up doing with them. The pieces of what became the opening lines of God Control are there, but it's clear that she made even further changes to the melody (the rhythm of the words are different, too) and made additional adjustments to the lyrics. Her vocal performance also brings to life what was an otherwise tepid idea. I'm confident that we would have wound up with a great track even without Casey's involvement. It's a shame it wasn't handled better from the start.

The irony of Madonna getting snubbed when the Grammys avoided chart-toppers and also getting snubbed now that they have embraced chart-toppers (and she is no longer one of them) is somewhat irritating.

I'm not sure the bright, peppy voice belongs to Madonna. Vocal manipulation aside, it just doesn't sound like her voice in the slightest. I would love to be proven wrong!

Agreed, it's terrible. Once I realized that it cut out the intro with just her voice and the piano, I deleted it. The other edit that was posted weeks ago was much more professional.

Some of the worst wobbly vocals are on the remixes for Take A Bow. It sounds like they changed the chords for the song and did pitch correction to match...and it sounds like she's singing while drunk.

This version has really grown on me, too! (I never really cared for the demo very much.) I like it mostly because of the world music vibe and the way the vocals are chopped up and repeated. I'm also very fond of hearing her sing "i'll be wearing diamond grills and seeking thrills a lot" because it's a line that only she can really get away with singing because everybody knows it's the damn truth. The sparse use of the "do it" refrain is also a definite improvement. (The way it repeated on the demo was severely grating.) I never have and probably never will come around to liking Birthday Song. I remember hearing Madonna talk about recording the "Like a Prayer" album and she said that one day she and Pat decided they were going to write a really crap song just to get it out of their system. This sounds like something she would come up when she's really trying to lay a turd (metaphorically speaking.)

I agree that Warner's promoted her music to radio and MTV (back in the day) so they could fatten the bottom line. But now that she's with Interscope, who knows what their arrangement is? I think we all see that Madonna is not treated like Interscope's other artists; it's entirely possible that if she's generating her own music video budget, it's not out of the realm of possibility that she and her team are also responsible for the costs of promoting her music to various industry outlets. And she simply might have looked at that line item in the budget and said "nope." I'm just speculating, as I am not an industry insider. Btw, the note I referenced is below. I think (but I'm not positive) that "Russ and Stu" are Russ Rieger and Stu Bergen (Maverick and Warner executives, respectively.)

I know we're talking about MTV here, but when I recently saw Madonna's handwritten note to the industry people who helped "Take A Bow" get to #1 on the Billboard charts, it really confirmed for me that getting these awards and chart achievements really boils down to having a team that 1) is dedicated to working on those things for the artist and 2) has solid connections in the industry that will cooperate with that team. I feel like Madonna simply doesn't want to spend the money on this kind of stuff anymore, despite her comments to Keith Caulfield about Billboard not giving her #1 singles anymore. And I've said before, I think once she left Warner's, she lost all of those connections. After all, they were most likely Warner's connections, not really hers. I admire her current approach of raising her own funds to pay for music videos, releasing them on her own schedule and saying "to hell" with charts and awards. I just hope she feels like continuing this model in the future, because as many people have pointed out - this trend of being ignored by the charts and by awards committees will only continue its current trajectory.

I feel like this is what sets her apart from so many other pop performers out there...she truly inhabits a mood, a feeling and a character in so much of her work and she employs a level of specificity and detail that other performers simply cannot match. There were several reviews that spoke of her using "so many accents" on this album - it's like, duh, of course she is speaking in different accents on this album, this is what Madonna does. I think her use of a vocal producer and vocal effects are really just an extension of that...she's trying to push her voice into new territory and different realms. And her voice is particularly suited for that, because on its own it's so clear and melodic that it really lends itself well to manipulation and distortion. I understand it's not everyone's cup of tea, but when has Madonna ever pleased all of the people all of the time?

I share many of the sentiments in this thread. Yes, the MTV VMAs are not important. Yes, they pander to the youth market. Yes, they're corporate and corrupt and ageist. And yet I'm still pissed off about this. Madonna (in part) MADE MTV and they've paid her absolute dust for the last 3 video cycles. It's infuriating, since she has been truly creative, daring and prolific this time - 5 original videos? (I don't count that Time video for "I Rise.") Gorgeous painterly video? Check. Avant-garde pro-trans video? Check. Trendy age-defying trap video? Check. Provocative protest disco video? Check. Historically respectful tribute video? Check. Somewhere, Madame X is rolling her eyes and saying "how ironic."

I love this song and the strings that underscore the second verse are EVERYTHING.

Welp, sometimes life just isn't fair. They already made a show on Broadway last year with all of Donna Summer's music in it (it did get a few Tony nominations) and it's now on tour but it certainly isn't getting the kind of reception that Mamma Mia got. And the less said about "We Will Rock You" (the Queen musical,) the better.

I agree that it's nice to have different producers on an album for the sake of variety. I absolutely love what Mirwais did with some tracks, but I'm not in love with ALL of them. I don't think he's infallible. I also agree that Crave is the only obvious single...just further proof in my eyes that if there weren't such a resistance to Madonna in today's commercial music landscape, she'd easily have more hits. I even think God Control could be a modest hit, protest-vibe-and-all, but only with that radio edit. I played it for someone I know and like and he said "Whoa! Now God Control sounds like a dance/pop song. That other version you've been playing (the album version) has a totally different feel."