Guest Katypatra Posted January 25, 2016 Share Posted January 25, 2016 If you take all the songs that have the word dark in them (or darkest), you will end up with 11 solid tracks, a number very common in Madonna's previous albums. I put the "dark" songs together, listened to them from start to finish and realized how melancholy the album would have been. It's definitely not a happy album, but I wouldn't really call it sad either. The "dark" songs are all about surviving, not losing hope, hanging on, staying brave, moving on... Interestingly, it made me think Madonna was in a dark place when she wrote all these songs, but she knew better as not to give up and to keep her focus on the Lighf. I donno. You guys might think this is weird. But considering that she's a Kabbalist, there are no coincidences in Kabbalah. Her putting the word "dark" in these 11 tracks (13 if you include Beautiful Scars and Addicted) must have a reason, some type of hidden message. It's definitely intriguing. Regardless, what would you guys think if Rebel Heart only consisted of these "dark" songs? 1. Living for Love 2. Devil Pray 3. Ghosttown 4. Illuminati 5. Joan of Arc 6. Hold Tight 7. Iconic 8. Inside Out 9. Veni Vidi Vici 10. Messiah 11. Rebel Heart Bonus: 12. Beautiful Scars 13. Addicted Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeakMaker Posted January 25, 2016 Share Posted January 25, 2016 Just because she says dark that doesn't make it a dark song though. Living For Love is NOT a dark track. Devil Pray is. Ghost town is far from dark. Dark is an atmosphere of solitude or of loss you can easily understand from the lyrics and of course the overall grasp from the sound of a particular track. Perfect example is Addicted; lyrically and sonically it's very dark. Gang Bang from MDNA obviously is another good example. Madonna's given us quite a few dark songs and she's good at delivering em but most of thhe songs from RH you mentioned above are not dark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Katypatra Posted January 25, 2016 Share Posted January 25, 2016 Yeah, that's why I put dark in quotations. I don't think they're all dark, but there's something about Living for Love and Hold Tight for instance that makes you think she's been through a lot of darkness and she's learning to "carry on" and "hold tight", with all her "beautiful scars"... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeakMaker Posted January 25, 2016 Share Posted January 25, 2016 ^ So in the end those songs are about Hope which is the opposite of dark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qans1990 Posted January 25, 2016 Share Posted January 25, 2016 Besides JOA, I think the saddest song on RH is WAOM (album version), which doesn't have the word "dark". But I agree the songs reflect a period of sadness and self-doubt that she must have gone through when writing them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeakMaker Posted January 25, 2016 Share Posted January 25, 2016 ^ WAOM has a very dark sound.. It is also a ballad which makes it for sad songs but lyrically I think it's about hope. The song is about the struggles of life but this woman is not trying to avoid them or pretend they don't even exist. She accepts them and embrace them like walking through the storm.. It has a very empowering message which doesn't necessarily need to be sad or "dark". Who am I to decide what should be done? If this is THE END then LET IT COME. It's a very Christian way of living life; accept the suffering ( I'm not running away from this sadness). And in that respect yes, the song is very "dark" because we are talking about pain but by contrast if we accept the pain we can find comfort ( Looking for the answer when it's right in front of me/ Like the tide let it rain, let it wash all over me) so in the end the message is positive and full of hope. Salvation is actually the tribulation basically. ^ WAOM has a very dark sound.. It is also a ballad which makes it for sad songs but lyrically I think it's about hope. The song is about the struggles of life but this woman is not trying to avoid them or pretend they don't even exist. She accepts them and embrace them like walking through the storm.. It has a very empowering message which doesn't necessarily need to be sad or "dark". Who am I to decide what should be done? If this is THE END then LET IT COME. It's a very Christian way of living life; accept the suffering ( I'm not running away from this sadness). And in that respect yes, the song is very "dark" because we are talking about pain but by contrast if we accept the pain we can find comfort ( Looking for the answer when it's right in front of me/ Like the tide let it rain, let it wash all over me) so in the end the message is positive and full of hope. Salvation is actually the tribulation basically. I would say it's actually more spiritual than dark. People tend to forget that about Madonna's music. There's many songs that reflects religion, spirituality, heavenly peace and unity. She carries on the message just like she did originally in Ray Of Light. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qans1990 Posted January 25, 2016 Share Posted January 25, 2016 The WAOM demo gave me a hopeful feeling. The different production in the album version brings an incredibly melancholy feeling, and of resignation to one's fate, even though the lyrics are the same as the demo. It's beautiful, but to me very sad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeakMaker Posted January 25, 2016 Share Posted January 25, 2016 ^ Maybe for you the glass is half empty. lol I think it goes down the category of personal interpretation. Maybe I see hope and salvation in her accepting her fate and you see death and despair for exactly the same reasons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qans1990 Posted January 25, 2016 Share Posted January 25, 2016 It's the music and production, rather than the lyrics, that give me that sad feeling. I would feel it was sad even if it was an instrumental. The lyrics just add the context. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bluejean Posted January 26, 2016 Share Posted January 26, 2016 Just because she says dark that doesn't make it a dark song though. Living For Love is NOT a dark track. Devil Pray is. Ghost town is far from dark. Dark is an atmosphere of solitude or of loss you can easily understand from the lyrics and of course the overall grasp from the sound of a particular track. Perfect example is Addicted; lyrically and sonically it's very dark. Gang Bang from MDNA obviously is another good example. Madonna's given us quite a few dark songs and she's good at delivering em but most of thhe songs from RH you mentioned above are not dark. Devil Pray is not dark either to me. It is a song of hope, of bringing people together to fight against evil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Katypatra Posted January 26, 2016 Share Posted January 26, 2016 ^ So in the end those songs are about Hope which is the opposite of dark. Dark is not necessarily evil you silly! Dark can be a hardship in life. And Madonna put the word dark in these 11 songs, not me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Katypatra Posted January 26, 2016 Share Posted January 26, 2016 ^ Maybe for you the glass is half empty. lol I think it goes down the category of personal interpretation. Maybe I see hope and salvation in her accepting her fate and you see death and despair for exactly the same reasons. No one is trying to convince you that her songs are miserable. What I tried to say in this thread was that all the songs that she put the word dark in them have something to do with some kind of struggle she went through or is going through or is trying to avoid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karbatal Posted January 26, 2016 Share Posted January 26, 2016 I made three homemade edition. A "Love" one, a "Warrior" one and a "Sex" one. And i never play them because Rebel Heart works as a whole. I think that's why i love this album so much, because it shows so many sides. When I played those "editions" they were kinda void. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Katypatra Posted January 26, 2016 Share Posted January 26, 2016 Same!! I tried to make a "consistent" edition lol Never got into it!! I think the album is perfect as it is! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strictmachine Posted January 27, 2016 Share Posted January 27, 2016 Soooooo....you're purpose for making a "dark" edition literally and simply based on songs that include the word "dark" is for?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeakMaker Posted January 27, 2016 Share Posted January 27, 2016 ^ That's the thing I just didn't get as I thought dark was meant as the atmosphere of the song in terms of lyrics and sound or just sound. I'd say some songs can be seen as "dark" because their sound is very raw and melancholic but lyrically there's not much darkness in RH in my humble opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bluejean Posted January 27, 2016 Share Posted January 27, 2016 @ this thread Honestly while I think the album could be a masterpiece if culled to 12-14 tracks put in a different order I wouldn't bother because I really LOVE having a whole 23 track collection of such variety. And then we have dozens more demos to sit alongside it. It's just brilliant in every way. Don't even get me started on the tour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Katypatra Posted January 27, 2016 Share Posted January 27, 2016 Ugh! Never mind! You guys don't understand what I'm trying to say so I'm just not gonna sweat it lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Je5u5 Posted February 25, 2016 Share Posted February 25, 2016 The WAOM demo gave me a hopeful feeling. The different production in the album version brings an incredibly melancholy feeling, and of resignation to one's fate, even though the lyrics are the same as the demo. It's beautiful, but to me very sad. The original demo was a ballad. What you refer to as the demo is a second version where Avicii and co. tried to turn it into an uptempo number. For her it didn't work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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