Braby

As someone who works for the Beeb, I know for a fact that the pointless Alexandre Palace thing was supposed to be a primetime BBC One special. Would have been under the "At the BBC" strand similar to what Adele did a few years back and Arianna Grande last year. Look up on YouTube. She would have performed five or six songs, did a sketch and Graham would have interviewed her in between. Venue was booked, Graham was booked, air date was circulating here in house. Would have given her a huge boost in the UK on release week. Then it was cancelled My speculation, and what others think... Eurovision went down so so badly, either the BBC didn't want to take the risk (unlikely she's still a huge ratings draw and gave Eurovision a major boost and added around 500,000 viewers to Graham last week). Or, and this is ridiculous, but her team (is there even a team?) cancelled because of damage limitation. Funny enough, she hasn't picked up a mic to sing since, so she's obviously aware of the whole thing. She honoured her commitment somewhat by turning upto the Ally Pally thing, and so did Graham. Neither would have been paid from the BBC so did it for free. All good but utterly pointless in terms of promo. Wasn't even filmed. They shoehorned her on Graham's chat show at the 11th hour because there was nothing else. I imagine she could have got the full hour again, and not suffer the indignity of sitting next to someone who used to be in Eastenders, Again, she (or someone) was reluctant to appear after Eurovision, which is why they didn't even promote her appearance and no time to plan a video montage of her career before she appeared. Hence, the strange cold opening. Whole thing was so poorly planned. Yes so how do you solve the problem of Madonna UK promo? My opinion only: I wouldn't have bothered with any perfomances this time around. She's just not connecting here, despite her new PR team doing a decent job. (Notice all the puff pieces in the Sun and, shockingly, the Mail this campaign. Money talks.) Would have concentrated on a huge TV ad campaign instead. A few posters on the Tube didn't cut it. I'm inclined to belive she doesn't have a personal promo team any more. Not a single person. Shocking.

Any interest in a UK topic this time around? No idea how the singles will do, but not expecting much. Hoping for another #1 album though, which would tie her for second place in the all-time list alongside Elvis. Possible promo: Rumour: The Graham Norton Show in May/June Rumour: "Madonna at the BBC" primetime BBC One special in May/June

I wouldn't worry too much about it yet. I can't see any malice. It only premiered yesterday. She should, at the very least, get C-list on Radio 2. Someone over at PopJustice who works for the BBC says she's penciled in for Graham Norton again around May/June as well as a seperate primetime special, probably part of the "... at the BBC" strand. So they will give either this, or the next single, a major push.

Beautiful Game listed as a 2018 single release on the UK New Music Release Schedule. UK chart experts -- these lists are usually pretty reliable, no? http://www.buzzjack.com/forums/index.php?s=7f2433f492248a326e105ae983d2b15c&showtopic=215315 No new album listed for 2018 or early 2019, though. Single release this year, album next?

From Madonnalicious.. I can't remember half of this stuff. What was the Confessions computer game thing? ]

Release date: November 11, 2005 (AUS), November 14, 2005 (UK), November 15, 2005 (US) A PHENOMENAL ERA. Here are a few articles published today celebrating the anniversary. VH1: Fact: Madonna’s Confessions on a Dance Floor Is Her Best Album to Date Idolator: Madonna's 'Confessions On A Dance Floor' Turns 10 PopCrush: Dancing Queen: Discovering Madonna Through ‘Confessions On A Dance Floor STATZ: The first album to top the album charts in 40 countries. Metacritic score: 80 (her highest, I believe?) Grammy award for Best Electronic/Dance Album Included in the Top 30 albums of 2005 in NME and Rolling Stone

If you're talking strictly from a MARKETING perspective then YES to a certain degree. There was the Attitude magazine feature and the G-A-Y performance in the UK which springs to mind. She could swapped both of those for something much more 'high profile'/mainstream if she really wanted to. So I suppose there was an intention to market it to her gay fanbase, although it never seemed like she was really PANDERING. Whether that was her decision or her team's, I don't know... In terms of the sound being 'gay', wasn't that more of a reaction from the media at the time? From the Attitude interview:

:clap: Thanks! The Hung Up marketing strategy was a MASTERSTROKE.

Can anyone remember if the first 1 minute 20 seconds of Hung Up we heard ten years ago today on Motorola.com was the finished song with the ABBA sample? Or that remix they used for the ad? I always thought we got the Motorola version FIRST but my memory is patchy... I can't believe it's been 10 years. Also, isn't it ODD that Radio 1 were the ones to bring us the album release dates first (although they were wrong). How times have changed!

Wednesday, 7 September 2005 Which all leads us nicely to THIS, which happened 10 YEARS AGO TODAY... The first 1 minute 20 seconds of Hung Up is available to listen to on Motorola.com. I'm presuming "Confessions on THE Dance Floor" is just a typo. A photo still of the upcoming Motorola ad is also published on the company's website. Source: Motorola; Scans: Madonnalicious Wednesday, 7 September 2005 Also 10 years ago today, we first learned that Confessions would be continuously mixed. Source: MadonnaTribe

Tuesday, 30 August 2005 Madonnalicious.com reveals that an instrumental version of Hung Up will feature in the upcoming Motorola commercial. Source: Madonnalicious Wednesday, 31 August 2005 Madonna.com update their front page with a countdown to the album release dates. You can hear a ticking sound when you visit the site, which is LATER confirmed to be from Hung Up. Source: Madonna.com Wednesday, 31 August 2005 Madonnalicious reveal that Hung Up is played to UK radio programmers and that the single contains a sample from ABBA's Gimme Gimme Gimme - NOT Ring Ring as was previously reported. Source: Madonnalicious Wednesday, 31 August 2005 First photo from the set of the Motorola commercial is released. Source: Associated Press Thursday, 1 September 2005 In an interview with MTV News, Madonna says she wants people to "jump out of their seats" when they listen to her upcoming album. Source: MTV News Monday, 5 September 2005 The lyrics to Hung Up leak online. Monday, 5 September 2005 A 13-second clip of Hung Up verse leaks online. Tuesday, 6 September 2005 DrownedMadonna reports that the video for Hung Up will be directed by David LaChapelle. Source: DrownedMadonna Tuesday, 6 September 2005 Amazon list Confessions on a Dance Floor for pre-order. It is also revealed that the album will be released on iTunes a day before retail stores with a bonus track. Source: Amazon/iTunes

Friday, 12 August 2005 Stuart Price talks to Rolling Stone about Confessions on a Dance Floor; he says that Madonna describes the sound of the album as "future disco". Source: Rolling Stone; Scan: Madonnalicious Friday, 12 August 2005 A supposed clip of Hung Up circulates on fan forums. Turns out it's NOT Madonna, but a song called It's Only Uh Uh by German Pop Idol contestant Juliette Schoppmann. Monday, 15 August 2005 The first time we hear about the Motorola commercial...

Tuesday, 26 July 2005 Madonna.com confirms the name of the first single as reported by MadonnaTribe a few days earlier. Source: Madonna.com Thursday, 28 July 2005 It's always bizarre looking back at fan-made album tracklists. This one was posted on July 28 2005. Who remembers it? Saturday, 1 August 2005 Undercover.au report that Hung Up will contain a sample from the ABBA song Ring Ring and that the video will be filmed in London "next month". Source: Undercover.au Tuesday, 4 August 2005 Liz Smith of the New York Post talks about WBR executives being "blown away" by Confessions on a Dance Floor. Source: New York Post Tuesday, 4 August 2005 Madonna.com reveals that Hung Up will hit radio on Monday, 17 October 2005 and Confessions on a Dance Floor will be released on Tuesday, 15 November 2005. Source: Madonna.com Wednesday, 10 August 2005 The Sun claims that Madonna and Outkast's Andre 3000 will collaborate on the upcoming album. Source: The Sun

Let's take a trip down memory lane shall we? I'm reliving Confessions on a Dance Floor AS IT HAPPENED 10 years ago. I'll be updating this thread as we continue through September, October and November with all the major milestones of this campaign. A lot of this I completely forgot about... My first impressions reading back through this list is how WELL everything was executed by her team. Pretty much EVERYTHING seemed to go to plan. The British media seemed incredibly supportive in the build-up to this era too (including Radio 1 - which we'll discuss a bit later). I might be looking at the whole era with rose-tinted glasses, but I remember the hype surrounding this album was INSANE - well it was here in the UK at least. So far by this point 10 years ago we'd already had the following FABULOUS moments... NOTE: The following is taken from various fansites, Nightshade's epic Genesis thread, and other bits and bobs collected over the years. Friday, 17 June 2005 I suppose this is the best place to start. Madonna.com confirms the new album will be released in "November 2005". Source: Madonna.com Saturday, 2 July 2005 In an interview with MTV News backstage at Live 8, Madonna confirms that her new album is called Confessions on a Dance Floor and will feature a song called I Love New York. She says her album is being mixed "this week". Source: MTV News; Scans: Madonnalicious Saturday, 9 July 2005 BBC Radio 1 says the album will be released on Monday, 28 November 2005. Source: BBC Radio 1 Monday, 11 July 2005 HMV state the album will be released on Monday, 14 November 2005 in the UK. Source: HMV Monday, 11 July 2005 And the rumours start... Someone in the Peter Rauhofer forum says that the new single will be released in September. Source: Peter Rauhofer forum Thursday, 21 July 2005 MadonnaTribe reveals the name of the first single... Source: MadonnaTribe Sunday, 24 July 2005 The now-defunct News of the World is the first major publication to bring us album "news" - most of this was a load of SHITE though... Source: News of the World Thursday, 21 July 2005 DrownedMadonna states that the theme of the new album cover is "Regression". Source: DrownedMadonna Tuesday, 26 July 2005 More lies - this time from the Daily Record who report that Christina Aguilera will feature on the upcoming album. Rumours that Gwen Stefani will feature on the album also circulate. What a NASTY second paragraph in this article. Source: Daily Record; Scan: Madonnalicious Liz Rosenburg debunks these rumors the following day by saying: Source: MSNBC/The Scoop

^ If every single act aside from the Sunday headliner has been announced, it makes me wonder if it's someone who might cause a shitstorm when confirmed - as in, the real music types who balked at Kanye appearing. Which suggests it could be a pop act like Madonna. I bet there will be mock outrage and stories in the press about people 'returning tickets' if it happens. Not that I'm saying it's her, but it's probably someone that won't go down well. They're obviously holding back with the announcement for some reason...