Jump to content

REWIND: Secret Project interview


Apples388

Recommended Posts

Never mind secret (flop) project. This remains one of her most insightful, intellectual interviews from the past ten years. If only all interviewers were like this...

Not so much a flop as a think tank for future projects. And I think it was intended that way all along. You have to admit the Rebel Heart concept that Revolution of Love has morphed into seems to make more sense to her as well as everyone else. :)

Edited by elayman
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Loved this interview. And really appreciated Secret Project. I hope she does more stuff like this in the future.

Having said that,

Do you guys think people around M dont tell the truth about things sometimes? Either to have her not react and just to be "yes" people?

For example, in the Paris Olympia concert as was reported here and in the media fans were booing because the show was so short and so expensive right? She was told that it was skinheads in the audience. Do you think what she was told was the truth and it got misrepresented in the media? do you think it was a mixture and she just doesnt want to admit in the interview that the fans not being happy with the show also played a part?

Also, the Truth Or Dare lingerie line. Why would they cancel a lingerie line because it was too risky? That sounds like so much BS, there are some really provocative lines out there and if anything a Madonna line would be like that. Given that the Truth or Dare collection and fragance didnt do well (there are not statistics but its pretty obvious), do you think they jsut pulled out of the lingerie for money reasons and just told her the excuse it was too provocative?

Also, the leaks. Does she really believe it was just one guy leaking into her computer, given how extensive and for how long it went on for.

Do you guys know what I mean? Do you think there are people just telling M what she wants to hear and sometimes clouds her point of view?

Having said that she is amazingly grounded for a celebratory of her stature and trajectory so many years into her career. I attribute that to her children and friends that keep her eyes open. But she also asks questions and listens, something I think people that reach the high stratosphere stop doing. I think having access to instagram has also given her some insight from audiences about different subjects (leaks etc)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

'the Truth Or Dare lingerie line. Why would they cancel a lingerie line because it was too risky? That sounds like so much BS, there are some really provocative lines out there and if anything a Madonna line would be like that. Given that the Truth or Dare collection and fragance didnt do well (there are not statistics but its pretty obvious), do you think they jsut pulled out of the lingerie for money reasons and just told her the excuse it was too provocative'

Hmmm.. I must admit that crossed my mind too.The other possibiltity, though, is that she was told they were pulling out for financial reasons and this is just the PR spin she's putting on it.

Something else that struck me is where's she talking about being 'angry' (at 29:30) about how 'branding has become so important - more important than everything'. And yet, the reason she, Klein, the dancers and film crew had convened was to shoot a campaign for, er, the brand, Truth or Dare. I got the sense that she was enamoured of the idea of the gun being symbolic of the power of brands over creativity, but I don't think she really thought it through fully enough to be aware of her own cognitve disonnance.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

'the Truth Or Dare lingerie line. Why would they cancel a lingerie line because it was too risky? That sounds like so much BS, there are some really provocative lines out there and if anything a Madonna line would be like that. Given that the Truth or Dare collection and fragance didnt do well (there are not statistics but its pretty obvious), do you think they jsut pulled out of the lingerie for money reasons and just told her the excuse it was too provocative'

My recollection was that the Truth or Dare lines were time limited offers going in, which is nothing unusual in the marketing of vanity products. She has obviously continued with ongoing branding projects (Hard Candy, Material Girl, MDNA facial rinse etc) since the interview so how is it so obvious the Macys skin care and perfume collections underperformed by your standards ?

Edited by elayman
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Never mind secret (flop) project. This remains one of her most insightful, intellectual interviews from the past ten years. If only all interviewers were like this...

Love the collaboration with Vice

Love this interview

And this:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Rocco Papa

Too bad it was a flop merged again with horrible/lack marketing skills by her team.

But that wasn't the point of it. She gave it away for free on BitTorrent. This wasn't a music video. How else could this project have done? People calling this a "flop" seem to be missing the point entirely. I think this film accomplished exactly what it intended to.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

LMAO how is something that was free a flop!??!?! lol it was basically pretty innovative and courageous.

the interview was so fascinating to watch and we really got to understand where she was coming from and it all just made sense.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

But that wasn't the point of it. She gave it away for free on BitTorrent. This wasn't a music video. How else could this project have done? People calling this a "flop" seem to be missing the point entirely. I think this film accomplished exactly what it intended to.

*sarcasm*

Link to comment
Share on other sites

LMAO how is something that was free a flop!??!?! lol it was basically pretty innovative and courageous.

But that wasn't the point of it. She gave it away for free on BitTorrent. This wasn't a music video. How else could this project have done? People calling this a "flop" seem to be missing the point entirely. I think this film accomplished exactly what it intended to.

This and this!

Secret Project is a 17-minute film and it was watched and downloaded by 3 million people. That's not what you call a "flop"...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This and this!

Secret Project is a 17-minute film and it was watched and downloaded by 3 million people. That's not what you call a "flop"...

Not necessarily in a financial or marketing sense just that she doesn't seem to be keeping up with the themes as much since the album started, which is understandable. It was more of an interim project and can't be called useless or a flop especially if it spawned the Rebel Heart idea.

Edited by elayman
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Rocco Papa

I am very interested to see how (if at all) she incorporates the Secret Project/Art For Freedom concept into the Rebel Heart Tour. She did use excerpts from the film's audio for her Grammy performance, so I think it might be part of the show as well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My recollection was that the Truth or Dare lines were time limited offers going in, which is nothing unusual in the marketing of vanity products. She has obviously continued with ongoing branding projects (Hard Candy, Material Girl, MDNA facial rinse etc) since the interview so how is it so obvious the Macys skin care and perfume collections underperformed by your standards ?

Its not about my standards. Hard Candy, Material Girl and potentially MDNA facial products are on-going because they are doing well. Her shoe line and fragance are not on-going because they probably didnt do well. Its just how things works. If there is a demand for something, and it sells, then you continue selling. If not, then you invest in it for some time and then you stop which is what seemed to happen. Probably they pulled the plugged on the lingerie before it went to production because there would be a cost to producing everything and they already saw that products really tied to M's image (truth or dare shoes / fragance) didnt do too well.

Anyways the point of my post was that is that perhaps noone has been straight forward with M about certain things and it shows when she speaks about certain subjects. Thank goodness she has her children, is inquisitive and im sure does have some people around her that tell it how it is.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Its not about my standards. Hard Candy, Material Girl and potentially MDNA facial products are on-going because they are doing well. Her shoe line and fragance are not on-going because they probably didnt do well. Its just how things works. If there is a demand for something, and it sells, then you continue selling. If not, then you invest in it for some time and then you stop which is what seemed to happen. Probably they pulled the plugged on the lingerie before it went to production because there would be a cost to producing everything and they already saw that products really tied to M's image (truth or dare shoes / fragance) didnt do too well.

Anyways the point of my post was that is that perhaps noone has been straight forward with M about certain things and it shows when she speaks about certain subjects. Thank goodness she has her children, is inquisitive and im sure does have some people around her that tell it how it is.

I have no idea what happened to the store contracts, although the first perfume which created a contemporary version of her mother's fragrance must have done alright or there wouldn't have been the Naked line also launched through Macys. Luxury goods were hit hard by the economic slowdown of 2011-2012 so that may have played a part. In any case, for anyone that was looking all the ToD beauty products, accessories and shoes are still available from online vendors (Amazon etc) as far as I can tell.

Edited by elayman
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Also, the Truth Or Dare lingerie line. Why would they cancel a lingerie line because it was too risky? That sounds like so much BS, there are some really provocative lines out there and if anything a Madonna line would be like that. Given that the Truth or Dare collection and fragance didnt do well (there are not statistics but its pretty obvious), do you think they jsut pulled out of the lingerie for money reasons and just told her the excuse it was too provocative?

It is Macy's we're talking about here. Honestly, I'm not into lingerie, so I don't know what all is out there (I think I blush whenever I walk past Victoria's Secret in the mall) ... but Macy's is fairly mainstream. I don't think they were looking for risqué. They were looking for the celebrity endorsement of a line of intimate apparel. When H&M retained David Beckham for underwear and activewear, they didn't sell jockstraps with David Beckham's name on it, simply because he's an athlete. They wanted his name and his sex appeal associated with the clothing. Macy's wanted something similar with Madonna -- they didn't want to sell conical bras, they wanted to sell regular underwear. I'm sure it was similar with the perfume -- they probably weren't all that concerned with Madonna's personal connection to the scent, or that it reminded her of her mother. They wanted to sell more fragrances, and they were banking that Madonna's name could do that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For example, in the Paris Olympia concert as was reported here and in the media fans were booing because the show was so short and so expensive right? She was told that it was skinheads in the audience. Do you think what she was told was the truth and it got misrepresented in the media? do you think it was a mixture and she just doesnt want to admit in the interview that the fans not being happy with the show also played a part?

there were a lot of Marine Le Pen supporters in the audience with pre printed banners and they started the booing and most notably the throwing of bottles onto the stage and yes she was informed of this the next day.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You guys are reading TOO MUCH into the "flop" comment. The project came and went. It was over hyped for an entire year. For almost 7 months, we knew nothing about the content of the project. When it came out, everyone loved it, but you can go and look at previous threads. People were more impressed with the interview than the film. Fact.

This thread was about the interview, not the film.

Yall get way too sensitive when "flop" appears in the same sentence as "Madonna," especially when it's only in jest.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This wasn't a music video. How else could this project have done? People calling this a "flop" seem to be missing the point entirely. I think this film accomplished exactly what it intended to.

Thank You

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...