MDNA Press Reviews

[HolidayGuy]

GGW is far from the worst thing she's recorded. It's also far from the best thing she's recorded.

Talking about lyrics- I noted in another thread that the lyric about having the password to her phone appeared in Damita Jo's "Nothing."

[Guest groovyguy]

http://www.facebook.com/madonnatribenews

I'm A Sinner, I Like It That Way

Since I had my first listen to the new Madonna album at a comfy little listening room in a sunny Italian morning last week I felt I had to find a way to share my impression on what it was like.

No, not about what MDNA is like, but precisely about what listening to MDNA for the first time is.

Following Madonna as a fan since the start - and being more closely involved with anything happening online for the past decade - didn't give me many chances to get close to an album release feeling like a virgin. If you are a fan, you can be strong and stay away from any snippet of the new material that floats around - no matter if it's legit or not.

When you run a fansite, you just can't. Sometimes you just have to click on that link that someone you've never heard of before has sent it to you, because you need to figure out what's it about. It can be Lela Pala Tute in loop over 60 minutes or the real thing, and you'll never know if you don't dare to listen.

This didn't happen to me with MDNA.

Believe it or not (and a lot of my closest friends don't) last week it was my very first time with MDNA. And even if before that moment I was feeling a little left out like the worst looking guy in the party nobody wants to dance with - surrounded by people popping out of nowhere spreading words of wisdom about how they got to listen to the new album in advance "but can't share", it was only at the time the record started and the speakers started to blow that I realized how priviledge I was.

Yes, because listening to MDNA for the first time is an experience. Now you've been warned. Don't make it happen by chance. Handle it with care. Take your time. Do it in a single shot. Forget the players control, pump up the volume (and I mean that, so do it when you're sure you can do it). And let Madonna take you on her ultimate journey.

Bang! Shot You Dead!

The stereo is on. The disc is in (shall I say, the iPod is docked?). You can turn off the lights if you want. Get comfortable. Press play.

The good news is that you have 3:43 to prepare yourself. The other news (no, it ain't bad news) it is that in less than 4 minutes (uh-uh 4 minutes) your Madonna experience will not be the same again.

If you've loved Girl Gone Wild, you'll be happy - there's no doubt the song is the perfect album opener. Think of what Give Me All Your Luvin' was to the Super Bowl half time show, "girl" does the same to MDNA. It's great to listen to at full volume (did I mention you should pump it up?) and if you didn't fancy it that much at first sight, chances are that it's now growing on you as we speak, and you'll be happy when you hear it in the album, too.

But then...

Bang!

I couldn't go through this song without some smiles. I don't think this is exactly what Madonna meant when she used to mention the "smiley" side of the album courtesy of Meur Solveig, though. While listening to Gang Bang I smiled, I grinned, I laughed. In an hysterical way.

I felt fooled. I felt raped. I felt owned.

We will probably never know who Madonna is being shooting in Gang Bang (and she wants to shoot over, and over, and over, and over), but I certainly felt like I could be one good target. Well no, don't call me delusional. I don't think I'm so important at all. But Gang Bang shouts "you silly, what were you expecting from me in this record?" from the beginning to the end.

Now we're really getting into the MDNA mood. I felt the song was a complete twist from Girl Gone Wild, I felt displaced, confused, boozed. And still, it has all the M-DNA in. It is violent, but not because of the things Madonna sings, whispers, or shouts. It's a punch in the stomach also musically, it's huge, it's loud and it is so damned good.

"Gang Bang" shifted the listening session completely. As I was looking around to the faces of the bunch of people in the room, I saw some other smiling, too. I heard laughs. And I felt someone was a little petrified.

Yes, this should have come unexpected. I remember someone described GMAYL as "Avril Lavigne on ketamine", and having the chance to see the very same person and test his reaction live while listening to Gang Bang was priceless.

And it got even better as the album went on.

[Kurt420]

Thank you! So glad to have someone besides myself say this. Could not believe people were acting like Madonna stole from JLo

I mean it's a line that's so generic and common. I'm sure many many songs have used that line and as I mentioned, Madonna did her own variation of that line in Music. I don't think it was mentioned at the time, but I remember when Music first leaked I immediately thought of Zhane's "Hey Mr. DJ"....nobody made ruckus about that back then. I don't know what the hell is wrong with her fans these days, they nitpick every minute detail about literally EVERYTHING and it's just stupid. What's next? She's ripping off Robert Palmer with I'm Addicted? Cleverly ripping off Tom Petty with Falling Free?? I mean...where do we draw the line with these accusations??

[Guest LeJazzHot!]

The Star Observer's Madonna’s MDNA: our track-by-track review

[Louise Oriole]

The Star Observer's Madonna’s MDNA: our track-by-track review

Another great review: 4/5 stars! Hopefully there will be more positive Aussie reviews.

Edited March 16, 2012 by Louise Oriole

[San]

The Star Observer's Madonna’s MDNA: our track-by-track review

OMG - they linked the GGW video in there that has that random chick and the cat

Good to hear some Australia news 1 week and it will be in my hot little hands...can't believe I've lasted without listening to snippets....excitement

[SkyHigh76]

I mean it's a line that's so generic and common. I'm sure many many songs have used that line and as I mentioned, Madonna did her own variation of that line in Music. I don't think it was mentioned at the time, but I remember when Music first leaked I immediately thought of Zhane's "Hey Mr. DJ"....nobody made ruckus about that back then. I don't know what the hell is wrong with her fans these days, they nitpick every minute detail about literally EVERYTHING and it's just stupid. What's next? She's ripping off Robert Palmer with I'm Addicted? Cleverly ripping off Tom Petty with Falling Free?? I mean...where do we draw the line with these accusations??

Well said! People need to realize that,in pop music,many phrases and song titles get used over and over.It's absurd for anyone to suggest that Madonna is always "ripping someone off".

[Probed By Greys]

Well said! People need to realize that,in pop music,many phrases and song titles get used over and over.It's absurd for anyone to suggest that Madonna is always "ripping someone off".

They know she's not ripping anyone off, they are doing it on purpose to give people something to talk about. Most entertainment sites live off those silly comparisons.

[XXL]

Madonnatribe

The Australian press was treated with a first listen to Madonna's new album yesterday, and the first reviews are in!

Check out what Kathy McCabe at The Daily Telegraph has to say about MDNA - she wraps her comments with a "Fans should get the deluxe version which includes other bonus tracks including Best friend, B-Day Song and I F...ed Up which are some of her stronger songs."

New Madonna album 'reaffirms' her pop diva status

Daily Telegraph AUS

YOU have to wonder why Madonna didn't insist on a strip search.

Critics privileged to preview her new album MDNA had to hand in their phones and their bags before sitting down in a record company boardroom yesterday.

You just can't trust anyone these days.

MDNA is the many shades of Madonna finally brought together on one album.

Opening track Girl Gone Wild reaffirms her mission to be a dancefloor diva who is one step ahead of the pack.

While her pop princess peers have been riding the 90s Euro house bandwagon for the past three years, Her Madgesty takes a defiant detour into darker, edgier and harder territory. Less wave your hands in the air and more get down and get dirty.

You can hear it most strongly on the underground hardcore of Gang Bang which finds Madonna shooting her lover dead and heading straight to hell. It sounds like The Kills if they went electronic and you'll be hearing the lyrical hook "Drive bitch!'' everywhere for the rest of the year.

Those who grew up with poptastic Madonna need not fear - she has not forsaken you.

Like any song with "radio'' in its title, you can expect to hear Turn Up The Radio all over the airwaves. Co-written with French electronic DJ and producer Martin Solveig, it is one of the bigger pop songs on the album and follows a similar template to his smash hit Hello.

Superstar features her daughter Lourdes on backing vocals, I'm A Sinner sounds like Donna Summer doing a less bombastic version of Bollywood while Falling Free is a heart-striing ballad with stripped-back strings and simple synths and the album's bravest vocal performance.

One of the standout tracks is Beautiful Killer, which is earmakred for the deluxe version only.

Inspired by French film star Alain Delon, the songs sounds like it was plucked from a Cafe Del Mar compilation circa mid 1990s.

Fans should get the deluxe version which includes other bonus tracks including Best friend, B-Day Song and I F...ed Up which are some of her stronger songs.

Why they didn't make the "standard'' version is a mystery unless you are one of those cynical types who suspect her record label may be trying to get a few more bucks out of her fans.

MDNA is out on March 23.

[Guest Xanthium]

Ooooooh I'm loving that guy's headgear, it's very LOKI.

[SkyHigh76]

They know she's not ripping anyone off, they are doing it on purpose to give people something to talk about. Most entertainment sites live off those silly comparisons.

So true.

[Guest groovyguy]

http://www.swide.com/luxury-magazine/Faces/Music/mdna-madonnas-latest-album/2012/3/16

MDNA: Swide listened to Madonna’s latest album

The album is the legitimisation of a type of dance music that until recently lived in the dance clubs sphere, which Madonna today reinterprets in a pop production, although the pop element in some tracks is completely distorted.

Even though I’m no music journalist, thanks to the invitation of a music producer friend who thought to include me in this exciting pre release, I was given the privilege to listen to the most anticipated album of the year MDNA by Madonna. Here I am sharing some of my impressions, avoiding those nuggets which you can find anywhere on collaborations, gossip and rumours.

Firstly, I would like to say that MDNA is a real album, once again Lady Ciccone built a compact and unique art work and does not give into the temptation to use iTunes and the internet as distributors of single radio hits. This work is like a novel, made up of many chapters, written in conjunction with William Orbit, Benny Benassi e Martin Solveig which tell a story of which Madonna is the director, clearly with the intention of leading us in a new era of her musical career. She does it with a real musical manifesto, with her usual self assuredness, believing to the end in herself and in her pride of being the queen of the frontier, aware and sometimes even arrogant: Madge, you afford to be.

MDNA is a universe of dance music, but never banal. Are the dance floors in crisis? Ciccone creates a dance album (mainly techno-house) because dance music has become listening music. The Queen of Pop today has sealed this evolution of dance music. I want to set into your minds that a portion of tracks from MDNA will become food for DJs the world over to devour, but especially its going to be music for billions of people to listen to and for kids who to dance to it into a web cam in their bedrooms. It’s the legitimisation of a type of dance music that until today lived in the dance club sphere, which Madonna today reinterprets in a pop production, although the pop element in some tracks is completely distorted. MDNA starts with a bang and is totally experimental, then it reassuringly melts into pop whirls, many of the tracks in the first portion of the album are destructured, in a true demolition of the pop rules and rather contain within the same track inflated changes of direction of sound, arrangement and melody. I was caught off guard many times during the first time I listened to the album when songs completely changed face in the middle or three quarters of the way through. Its pure folly, which no artist who wants to sell albums would dream to do, but you are Madge, and you can do whatever you wish.

In what I believe are her best and most avant-garde tracks, the ear’s attention is kidnapped by the facets of dark sounds mixed with heavy house rhythms, sometimes bloated and lengthened synthetically with a sound aesthetic from the nineties, with rough scratches which lash the heart, which open to brief, intense breaths of pop melodies, doled out as though they were deep breaths of pure oxygen of a nostalgia for a past that will no longer return, and therefore they’re immediately chocked by avalanches of dance floor hammers.

Although I have listened to the album only twice, I feel that I may declare my preference for two tracks: “Girl Gone Wild” and “Gang Bang. On another note, I heard in the whole album an almost obsessive care for the sound design, almost as though it was the new sound track for a mega video game.

Finally, I want to tell you all, provided you trust me, that this is without a doubt one of the most important albums of Madonna’s career.

Giuliano Federico

Editor in chief at SWIDE.com

[Guest groovyguy]

The Star Observer's Madonna’s MDNA: our track-by-track review

The Star Observer’s resident entertainment writer Nick Bond visited Universal Music’s head offices this morning and sat down for the first Australian listen of Madonna’s new album MDNA, out next Friday.

Here’s his track-by-track verdict on the queen of pop’s 12th studio album.

GIRL GONE WILD

No doubt you’ve heard this one by now — it’s the second single. Things start promisingly with a melodramatic spoken-word prayer intro (very Act of Contrition) but soon go downhill once the song kicks off: for a party song about going wild, Madge has never sounded so bored and lifeless. There are ingredients for a solid Confessions-esque dance song here, but the production (courtesy of the Benassi brothers) sucks the drama out of the song — it’s rushed and monotone throughout. And once you’ve seen the bizarre unofficial parody video that’s been circulating over Facebook in the past few weeks, it’s hard to listen to it the same way again (YouTube ‘Madonna Girl Gone Wild Official Music Video’ if you want a giggle). But fear not, dear readers: there’s much, MUCH better to come…

GANG BANG

…Like this. A bizarre (that’s a good thing) five-plus minute mix of pulsating beats and super-dark lyrics. Rifles crack in the background as Madonna snarls one of the album’s most memorable choruses: “Bang bang, shot you dead/shot my lover in the head”. It’s a little bit Nancy Sinatra, a little bit trance. Trancy Sinatra? In the song’s final minute, the camp melodrama gets ratcheted up as both the music and lyrics become more and more aggressive, with Madge finishing the track screaming like a ’70s sexploitation siren: “Drive bitch! And while you’re at it, die bitch!”

I’M ADDICTED

This wall-of-sound electro house banger sounds like Girl Gone Wild done right. The track builds from quiet verses into an ear-splitting ’90s house chorus. Lyrically, we get our first nod to the true inspiration for the album’s title — “Flows through my body igniting my brain/it’s like MDMA”. “I need to DANCE,” Madge growls at one point, and it’s hard to argue with her.

TURN UP THE RADIO

Earmarked as the campaign’s third single, this really should’ve been our first taster of MDNA. It’s producer Martin Solveig’s best track on the album — gorgeous ’80s Madonna verses give way to an immensely catchy chorus, and Madge’s vocals are at their sugary best. Basically, it’s the antithesis of Girl Gone Wild — a party song about having fun that ACTUALLY SOUNDS FUN.

GIVE ME ALL YOUR LUVIN’

We’ve all heard it, and — judging by the pisspoor chart positions — very few of us like it. We maintain the unpopular opinion that it’s a great ’60s-influenced slice of dance-pop, with killer (if all-too-short) verses from Nicki Minaj and MIA. In the context of the songs around it, though, it certainly screams ‘album track’ rather than ‘comeback single’.

SOME GIRLS

A solid electro-glam stomper. Not the strongest track here, either lyrically or musically, but comes with a VERY William Orbit bridge that could’ve been lifted straight off the Ray of Light album.

SUPERSTAR

A gorgeous slice of effortless Madonna pop fluff, in the vein of True Blue or Cherish. Lourdes provides backing vocals but we couldn’t hear her – what we could hear were lyrics that ranged from the sublime (“like John Travolta, getting into the groove”) to the ridiculous (never has the phrase “You can have the password to my phone” been delivered with such gravitas). Sadly, also comes with the most unwelcome dubstep interlude in a song since Vanessa Amorosi’s Gossip.

I DON’T GIVE A F

Lyrically, this one treads a similar path to American Life, It’s Madonna in defence mode, telling us all just how hard it is being head of the global empire that is Madonna Inc. Probably not her most GFC-friendly track, but we could see Gina Rinehert getting down to this one. Musically, it’s the damp squib that was Hard Candy done right: pop-flavoured hip-hop, with a guest verse from Nicki Minaj. Nicki announces, “There’s only one queen and that’s Madonna, BITCH!” before a demented orchestral finish — grandiose choirs, crashing cymbals and escalating strings.

I’M A SINNER

Produced by William Orbit, this comes off like an updated version of Beautiful Stranger and Amazing. Could’ve been on Ray of Light or Music (this is a very very good thing — we love you William Orbit!) This ain’t no church confessional — it’s Madonna at her most joyful: “I’m a sinner/I like it that way” runs the chorus. There’s even a bridge in which Madge namechecks Jesus, the Virgin Mary and a few saints in dismissive, tongue-in-cheek fashion. Sure to piss a few people off.

LOVE SPENT

A very nice surprise — the one-minute clip that’s been circulating doesn’t do this track justice. With banjos, video game noises, strings and electro beats, this is Orbit’s most eclectic production. Top-shelf pop, with more of those gorgeously sugary ’80s-era vocals from Madonna.

MASTERPIECE

Keen fans will have already heard this one as it surfaced late last year on the soundtrack to Madonna’s film W.E. It’s nice to hear her in ballad mode — something of a rarity these days — but this isn’t one of her best. If stunning soundtrack ballad Time Stood Still (from the 2000 film The Next Best Thing) never found its way onto a Madonna album, then this shouldn’t either. It does have a lovely, folksy chorus, but the song’s central conceit — comparing a lover to a priceless work of art — is stretched to absolute breaking point by song’s end.

FALLING FREE

That’s better! A classic Madonna ballad, her first in many years. Stunning vocals, a tasteful smattering of trademark Orbit blips and bleeps, and lush strings, it’s reminiscent of American Life album closer Easy Ride. Lyrically, it’s about making peace with the end of a relationship — the first lyrical hint about her failed marriage to Guy Ritchie, of which there’s more to come.

DELUXE EDITION BONUS TRACKS

BEAUTIFUL KILLER

A tidy slice of pure pop with a VERY Martin Solveig electro riff. A great chorus and a fantastic breakdown with Papa Don’t Preach strings. Should’ve earned a place on the album proper (in place of Masterpiece, if you ask us).

I FUCKED UP

Madonna in confessional mode, as she claims at least partial responsibility for the demise of a relationship. Lyrically, she’s at her most raw and interesting. Musically, though, it’s all rather tame — a lighters-aloft power ballad.

B-DAY SONG

The ‘60s vibe of this track is heralded from its opening line “…and the beat goes on.” A collaboration with MIA, it’s a daft homage to girl groups of yesteryear. The very definition of ‘bonus track’, but a cute little oddity nonetheless.

BEST FRIEND

Again, Madonna in reflective, confessional mode. “I feel like I lost my best friend,” she sings as she lists — in intimate detail — exactly what she misses about an ex-partner. Musically, though, this one’s a bit naff — stuttering, R&B-lite beats that reminded us of Kylie’s career misstep, Red-Blooded Woman.

VERDICT:

Wisely ignoring the flaccid R&B that stunk up much of Hard Candy, MDNA sees Madonna cherry-picking the best bits of her previous few albums and making them new: the thumping dance beats of Confessions, the quiet introspection of American Life, the William Orbit squiggle-pop of Ray of Light. In doing so, she sacrifices cohesion — this feels more like a collection of songs than an ‘album’ — but comes up trumps way more often than not.

4 STARS

[aorlaan]

OMG - they linked the GGW video in there that has that random chick and the cat

Good to hear some Australia news 1 week and it will be in my hot little hands...can't believe I've lasted without listening to snippets....excitement

i'm proud of you babe

[Apples388]

Na na na na na na na na

Sing my SONG tonight!

*CROW VOICE*

[davejr.]

Rolling Stone

Early one morning the sun was shining and she was lying in bed, wondering why he had her cash and if her hair was still red. An idea for a song bubbled, and she wasn’t sure if this one should be about heartbreak, revenge or the old get-into-the-groove thing. And then – light bulb! – why not multitask it? That was her therapy, after all. Failure? Not an option. Resistance to her will? Futile. The husband who was no longer there? Well, it was nice sometimes to imagine his head popping like a melon. Till death and all that. Now — where did she put her phone?

Yup, MDNA is our lady’s divorce album. Seven out of 16 songs address her split directly, and that’s low-balling if you think the chick with “fake tits and a nasty mood” in “Some Girls” could be the lingerie model who became Guy Ritchie’s new baby mama.

Revealing herself has always been part of her art, and this is hardly her first album that’s dark, messy and conflicted. But MDNA stands as Madonna’s most explicit work. Only who would have expected her to be this explicit with her… feelings?

How explicit?

“Wake up, ex-wife/This is your life.”

“I tried to be you wife/Diminished myself, I swallowed my light.”

“Lawyers/Suck it up/Didn’t have a prenup.”

“Every man that walks through that door will be compared to you for evermore.”

She’s been personal, but never this detailed before. In part, it’s an old punk-rock impulse: Show the world no one can hurt you more than you hurt yourself. Except she has cross-wired exposure and pain, which gives this set of confessions their discomforting immediacy.

As the beats swirl, Madonna pursues release, vows to rise above and wishes things had turned out differently. She also sings about new love (fits like a glove), and asks for someone to lick the frosting off her cake on “B-Day Song.” The music chases the latest articulations of club land ecstasy, but often returns to the blend of synth-driven electro and Sixties-pop classicism she’s staked out since “Like a Prayer.” Back after a 12-year layoff is William Orbit, who handles the most pained tracks (including “Gang Bang,” which bitch-slaps Ritchie’s shoot’em -up aesthetic with a nod to Kill Bill). New in town is Martin Solveig, the French producer behind the cheerleader fantasy of “Give me all your Luvin’” who is forced to curb his love of Prince, in service of sounding like William Orbit. Handling the big dance-floor tracks are Italian duo Benny and Alle Benassi, who put the empty boom of the club into songs like “Girl Gone Wild.”

Hooks emerge quickly; there’s lots of naughtiness for the DJ to bring back, and the music has depth that rewards repeated listening. The first impression is a desperation most people will mistake for Madonna’s old impulse for commercial connection. That’s never far away, but this is something far more personal. There’s something remarkable about Madonna’s decision to share her suffering the way she once shared her pleasure. Her music has always been about liberation from oppression, but for the first time the oppression is internal: loss and sadness. Stars – they really are just like us.

Key Tracks: “I Don’t Give A,” “B-Day Song,” “Love Spent”

Joe Levy – 3.5 / 5

Read more: http://www.madonnarama.com/posts-en/2012/03/07/madonna-mdna-reviews/#ixzz1pHe3XTLd

[davejr.]

i was expecting a 4 stars...Hard candy got 4 stars from them..

[Guest groovyguy]

Rolling Stone

Early one morning the sun was shining and she was lying in bed, wondering why he had her cash and if her hair was still red. An idea for a song bubbled, and she wasn’t sure if this one should be about heartbreak, revenge or the old get-into-the-groove thing. And then – light bulb! – why not multitask it? That was her therapy, after all. Failure? Not an option. Resistance to her will? Futile. The husband who was no longer there? Well, it was nice sometimes to imagine his head popping like a melon. Till death and all that. Now — where did she put her phone?

Yup, MDNA is our lady’s divorce album. Seven out of 16 songs address her split directly, and that’s low-balling if you think the chick with “fake tits and a nasty mood” in “Some Girls” could be the lingerie model who became Guy Ritchie’s new baby mama.

Revealing herself has always been part of her art, and this is hardly her first album that’s dark, messy and conflicted. But MDNA stands as Madonna’s most explicit work. Only who would have expected her to be this explicit with her… feelings?

How explicit?

“Wake up, ex-wife/This is your life.”

“I tried to be you wife/Diminished myself, I swallowed my light.”

“Lawyers/Suck it up/Didn’t have a prenup.”

“Every man that walks through that door will be compared to you for evermore.”

She’s been personal, but never this detailed before. In part, it’s an old punk-rock impulse: Show the world no one can hurt you more than you hurt yourself. Except she has cross-wired exposure and pain, which gives this set of confessions their discomforting immediacy.

As the beats swirl, Madonna pursues release, vows to rise above and wishes things had turned out differently. She also sings about new love (fits like a glove), and asks for someone to lick the frosting off her cake on “B-Day Song.” The music chases the latest articulations of club land ecstasy, but often returns to the blend of synth-driven electro and Sixties-pop classicism she’s staked out since “Like a Prayer.” Back after a 12-year layoff is William Orbit, who handles the most pained tracks (including “Gang Bang,” which bitch-slaps Ritchie’s shoot’em -up aesthetic with a nod to Kill Bill). New in town is Martin Solveig, the French producer behind the cheerleader fantasy of “Give me all your Luvin’” who is forced to curb his love of Prince, in service of sounding like William Orbit. Handling the big dance-floor tracks are Italian duo Benny and Alle Benassi, who put the empty boom of the club into songs like “Girl Gone Wild.”

Hooks emerge quickly; there’s lots of naughtiness for the DJ to bring back, and the music has depth that rewards repeated listening. The first impression is a desperation most people will mistake for Madonna’s old impulse for commercial connection. That’s never far away, but this is something far more personal. There’s something remarkable about Madonna’s decision to share her suffering the way she once shared her pleasure. Her music has always been about liberation from oppression, but for the first time the oppression is internal: loss and sadness. Stars – they really are just like us.

Key Tracks: “I Don’t Give A,” “B-Day Song,” “Love Spent”

Joe Levy – 3.5 / 5

[Roland Barthes]

Rolling Stone

Early one morning the sun was shining and she was lying in bed, wondering why he had her cash and if her hair was still red. An idea for a song bubbled, and she wasn’t sure if this one should be about heartbreak, revenge or the old get-into-the-groove thing. And then – light bulb! – why not multitask it? That was her therapy, after all. Failure? Not an option. Resistance to her will? Futile. The husband who was no longer there? Well, it was nice sometimes to imagine his head popping like a melon. Till death and all that. Now — where did she put her phone?

Yup, MDNA is our lady’s divorce album. Seven out of 16 songs address her split directly, and that’s low-balling if you think the chick with “fake tits and a nasty mood” in “Some Girls” could be the lingerie model who became Guy Ritchie’s new baby mama.

Revealing herself has always been part of her art, and this is hardly her first album that’s dark, messy and conflicted. But MDNA stands as Madonna’s most explicit work. Only who would have expected her to be this explicit with her… feelings?

How explicit?

“Wake up, ex-wife/This is your life.”

“I tried to be you wife/Diminished myself, I swallowed my light.”

That's barely a review.....

“Lawyers/Suck it up/Didn’t have a prenup.”

“Every man that walks through that door will be compared to you for evermore.”

She’s been personal, but never this detailed before. In part, it’s an old punk-rock impulse: Show the world no one can hurt you more than you hurt yourself. Except she has cross-wired exposure and pain, which gives this set of confessions their discomforting immediacy.

As the beats swirl, Madonna pursues release, vows to rise above and wishes things had turned out differently. She also sings about new love (fits like a glove), and asks for someone to lick the frosting off her cake on “B-Day Song.” The music chases the latest articulations of club land ecstasy, but often returns to the blend of synth-driven electro and Sixties-pop classicism she’s staked out since “Like a Prayer.” Back after a 12-year layoff is William Orbit, who handles the most pained tracks (including “Gang Bang,” which bitch-slaps Ritchie’s shoot’em -up aesthetic with a nod to Kill Bill). New in town is Martin Solveig, the French producer behind the cheerleader fantasy of “Give me all your Luvin’” who is forced to curb his love of Prince, in service of sounding like William Orbit. Handling the big dance-floor tracks are Italian duo Benny and Alle Benassi, who put the empty boom of the club into songs like “Girl Gone Wild.”

Hooks emerge quickly; there’s lots of naughtiness for the DJ to bring back, and the music has depth that rewards repeated listening. The first impression is a desperation most people will mistake for Madonna’s old impulse for commercial connection. That’s never far away, but this is something far more personal. There’s something remarkable about Madonna’s decision to share her suffering the way she once shared her pleasure. Her music has always been about liberation from oppression, but for the first time the oppression is internal: loss and sadness. Stars – they really are just like us.

Key Tracks: “I Don’t Give A,” “B-Day Song,” “Love Spent”

Joe Levy – 3.5 / 5

Read more: http://www.madonnarama.com/posts-en/2012/03/07/madonna-mdna-reviews/#ixzz1pHe3XTLd

That's barely a review....

[SkyHigh76]

I expected the Rolling Stone review to be more in-depth than that.

[Guest LeJazzHot!]

i was expecting a 4 stars...Hard candy got 4 stars from them..

Yeah but COADF got 3.5 stars from RS as well

[Michael.]

WTF @ Rolling Stone?!?!?

What kind of review is that? Is that meant to be a good review or a bad one?!?! *puzzled*

[Guest Xanthium]

Yeah that's a really poorly written review. 3.5 is a good score though. Bedtime Stories got 3.5.

[SkyHigh76]

WTF @ Rolling Stone?!?!?

What kind of review is that? Is that meant to be a good review or a bad one?!?! *puzzled*

Yeah,it's a weird review.The writer is too focused on the lyrics that reference her divorce,to the point where he barely mentions anything else.

[davejr.]

I expected the Rolling Stone review to be more in-depth than that.

Ray of light 4.5 stars

MUsic. 4 Stars

American life 3 stars

COADF. 4 stars

HC. 4 stars..

MDNA deserves more than 3.5..

[elijah]

Uou, another great review - I didnt read anything negative - why is it 3,5????????

[Gutten]

Ray of light 4.5 stars

MUsic. 4 Stars

American life 3 stars

COADF. 4 stars

HC. 4 stars..

MDNA deserves more than 3.5..

They might update it later on, they are weird like that.

ROL was originally 4 and Confessions 3.5

[GimmeSomeMo]

It sounded like the guy was high when he wrote it TBQH.

[davejr.]

if im not mistaken, the RS reviewer Joe Levy was the same person who came up with that article proclaiming Gaga as the new Queen of Pop and later had to retract...wasn't he?? he was the same person also alledgedly received some amount from Gaga's camp..

[HolidayGuy]

Levy is one of those commentators you see on VH1 or other entertainment shows and such- he's usually decent enough. I wouldn't say this review is necessarily bad, either- he says some good, noteworthy things. He chose an... interesting way to start off his review, though.