Rebel Heart album - future acclaimed classic

[Rebel Heartbreaker]

19 hours ago, dollhouse said:

indeed the songwriter camps delivered the best material in years..i guess the ball dropped when putting it all together and mixing the record..

Bingo! That's what it is. The camps certainly helped Madonna deliver the goods, most likely because she is an experienced songwriter, after all.  

She seems to prefer a more one-on-one-producer-writer situation. I mean, look at Erotica, ROL, COADF, AL, Music....albums with a cohesive structure and sound, with maybe one other producer tagging along (Mirwais with Orbit; Andre Betts with Shep; Bray and Leonard on earlier albums).

Anyways, does it take THAT many people to write a song, really?!?

Look at 'Gang Bang':

[dollhouse]

6 hours ago, Rebel Heartbreaker said:

Bingo! That's what it is. The camps certainly helped Madonna deliver the goods, most likely because she is an experienced songwriter, after all.  

She seems to prefer a more one-on-one-producer-writer situation. I mean, look at Erotica, ROL, COADF, AL, Music....albums with a cohesive structure and sound, with maybe one other producer tagging along (Mirwais with Orbit; Andre Betts with Shep; Bray and Leonard on earlier albums).

Anyways, does it take THAT many people to write a song, really?!?

Look at 'Gang Bang':

i think the camps help her not repeating herself like 'hesotation', 'tired of waiting' etc  frases she likes to repeat 

[runa]

2 hours ago, dollhouse said:

i think the camps help her not repeating herself like 'hesotation', 'tired of waiting' etc  frases she likes to repeat 

[caba1]

I had a wow moment yesterday with Heartbreakcity and i sat for 10 minutes to appreciate it. What a wonderful song. I love the melody and the lyrics. I don't know why some fans dislike it. I can understand that it doesn't bring anything new with its sound but it's still great.

Ghosttown-Heartbreakcity-Messiah. What a trinity.

The strong point with this album (compared with MDNA and HC) are the melodies. Especially those who were done with Avicii and his team. In second place, the lyrics.

The weakness of Rebel Heart is its lack of cohesivness, obviosly.
In second place, the album is long and it doesn't have a smash in the middle that can wake up the listener and it feels like it doesn't have so much energy at the end. Apart from that, i feel like songs like SEX, Holy Water, Illuminati and Body Shop doesn't add much to the album. In fact, they affect it in a bad way. Fillers. She did so much better songs talking about those things in the past. It feels more a like a parody of herself or like she's trying so hard to be edgy

Some can say that those songs were her rebel side but Devil Pray, Rebel Heart, VVV or Unapologetic Bitch are so much better and enjoyable to me and express better that side. In a classy and smart way

 

[Flip The Switch]

Time to recap a top 5:

01. Living for Love

02. Joan of Arc

03. Veni Vidi Vici

04. Best Night

05. Inside Out

Honorable mentions: Borrowed Time, Devil Pray, Messiah. 

[Rebel Heartbreaker]

6 hours ago, caba1 said:

I had a wow moment yesterday with Heartbreakcity and i sat for 10 minutes to appreciate it. What a wonderful song. I love the melody and the lyrics. I don't know why some fans dislike it. I can understand that it doesn't bring anything new with its sound but it's still great.

Ghosttown-Heartbreakcity-Messiah. What a trinity.

The strong point with this album (compared with MDNA and HC) are the melodies. Especially those who were done with Avicii and his team. In second place, the lyrics.

The weakness of Rebel Heart is its lack of cohesivness, obviosly.
In second place, the album is long and it doesn't have a smash in the middle that can wake up the listener and it feels like it doesn't have so much energy at the end. Apart from that, i feel like songs like SEX, Holy Water, Illuminati and Body Shop doesn't add much to the album. In fact, they affect it in a bad way. Fillers. She did so much better songs talking about those things in the past. It feels more a like a parody of herself or like she's trying so hard to be edgy

Some can say that those songs were her rebel side but Devil Pray, Rebel Heart, VVV or Unapologetic Bitch are so much better and enjoyable to me and express better that side. In a classy and smart way

 

I wrote a HUGE response to this and my iPad browser reset and lost it!

In short, yes they are amazing songs; album too long; thankful we got so many songs to pick and choose our own listings, etc.

 

[Jazzy Jan]

I never worry at all about albums being cohesive but I know many do.  We are all different but as long as I love the songs and want to listen to them regularly, that is all that matters to me. Also love having plenty of songs to listen to and love. Why I love Rebel heart as love most of the songs on it and just skip the few I don't care for. 

One song that still gets mixed responses is Body Shop. I love it. Lovely melody and bridge with clever lyrics  I think it is so different. Obviously about sex but cleverly done and also sounds like such a sweet love song at the same time.  Truly unusual but insanely catchy song. 

[Creepy Insane Person]

1 minute ago, Jazzy Jan said:

I never worry at all about albums being cohesive but I know many do.  We are all different but as long as I love the songs and want to listen to them regularly, that is all that matters to me. Also love having plenty of songs to listen to and love. Why I love Rebel heart as love most of the songs on it and just skip the few I don't care for. 

One song that still gets mixed responses is Body Shop. I love it. Lovely melody and bridge with clever lyrics  I think it is so different. Obviously about sex but cleverly done and also sounds like such a sweet love song at the same time.  Truly unusual but insanely catchy song. 

Are there any Madonna songs you don’t like?

 

and i choose to interpret Body Shop in a nonsexual manner. I dont like sexual songs much by anyone.

[Jazzy Jan]

Just now, Jitterbug said:

Are there any Madonna songs you don’t like?

Yes,. There are songs I don't care much for.  I just don't dwell on them.  Also, love that fans appreciate different songs with different levels of love and enjoyment. 

Part of Madonna's brilliance is her variety of songs.  I mainly love her songs with exceptional melodies which I think she does better than anyone. They can be fast, slow, sad, joyful, exuberant pop songs and ballads that have melodies to die for.  Also can appreciate her experimental side too.  She creates music magic and has done so from her debut onwards. 

[Creepy Insane Person]

7 minutes ago, Jazzy Jan said:

Yes,. There are songs I don't care much for.  I just don't dwell on them.  Also, love that fans appreciate different songs with different levels of love and enjoyment. 

Part of Madonna's brilliance is her variety of songs.  I mainly love her songs with exceptional melodies which I think she does better than anyone. They can be fast, slow, sad, joyful, exuberant pop songs and ballads that have melodies to die for.  Also can appreciate her experimental side too.  She creates music magic and has done so from her debut onwards. 

I agree. Another thing great with her is her songs can be interpreted in so many different ways, depending on how you choose to interpret them. 

I just hope she doesn’t stray too far from  pop as that has always been her strongest fortay. Most of her albums always have been pop with other experimental elements at times but she generally does pop better than anyone else.

 

 

[Kilt]

Had the demos not leaked in December of 2014, i believe we'd have had slightly different versions of some tracks on the final cut.

[Stereo]

Releasing crappy remixes of LFL on the Super Deluxe instead of Avicii Heart, or any other demo, is a poor choice. It’s like it wasnt released out pf punishment for the fans.

She had an anthem on her hands.

Not releasing Rebel Heart as a single was a weird choice, period.

[Fever]

14 hours ago, Flip The Switch said:

Time to recap a top 5:

01. Living for Love

02. Joan of Arc

03. Veni Vidi Vici

04. Best Night

05. Inside Out

Honorable mentions: Borrowed Time, Devil Pray, Messiah. 

My revisited selection:

01. Ghosttown

02. Living for Love

03. Messiah

04. Joan of Arc

05. Inside Out

Honourable mentions: Devil Pray, Body Shop, Rebel Heart.

[Gabriel]

I still cannot stand the fact that she put the title track on the f***ing DELUXE version. Does this thing has ever happened with any artist before?

[Rebel Heartbreaker]

8 hours ago, Jazzy Jan said:

Yes,. There are songs I don't care much for.  I just don't dwell on them.  Also, love that fans appreciate different songs with different levels of love and enjoyment. 

Part of Madonna's brilliance is her variety of songs.  I mainly love her songs with exceptional melodies which I think she does better than anyone. They can be fast, slow, sad, joyful, exuberant pop songs and ballads that have melodies to die for.  Also can appreciate her experimental side too.  She creates music magic and has done so from her debut onwards. 

Hallelujah, sister!  I don't go on until the milking cows are in the shed about the songs I don't like. What I do like, I throw my full heart and desire into them. Super fan since 1983; signed, sealed and delivered.

As for 'Body Shop' you know I'm in full agreement @Jazzy Jan -- Madonna's voice is really, really lovely in this track. The final production actually surpassed the demo (which I love, too). The bridge and melody are ace. The live version fell a bit flat (on the DVD) but there was a bit of movement going on.

[Genevieve Vavance]

8 hours ago, Jazzy Jan said:

I never worry at all about albums being cohesive but I know many do.  We are all different but as long as I love the songs and want to listen to them regularly, that is all that matters to me. Also love having plenty of songs to listen to and love. Why I love Rebel heart as love most of the songs on it and just skip the few I don't care for. 

One song that still gets mixed responses is Body Shop. I love it. Lovely melody and bridge with clever lyrics  I think it is so different. Obviously about sex but cleverly done and also sounds like such a sweet love song at the same time.  Truly unusual but insanely catchy song. 

Body Shop and Beautiful Scars are some of the best songs she's EVER done  

[Rebel Heartbreaker]

13 minutes ago, Gabriel said:

I still cannot stand the fact that she put the title track on the f***ing DELUXE version. Does this thing has ever happened with any artist before?

Well, it might seem unusual, but it has been done before.

I am a big fan of Electribe 101's 1990 album "Electribal Memories".  This was Billie Ray Martin's group before she went solo ("Your Loving Arms" might jog your memory if one has any clue about electronic music).  The re-release years later had a 9th track that was the title track, but the original does not have a title track of the same name.

So, yes....it happened/happens.

 

[Nick]

1 hour ago, Fever said:

My revisited selection:

01. Ghosttown

02. Living for Love

03. Messiah

04. Joan of Arc

05. Inside Out

Honourable mentions: Devil Pray, Body Shop, Rebel Heart.

1) Ghosttown 

2) Best Night

3) VVV

4) Messiah

5) Rebel Heart

My top five...

[caba1]

i was obsessed with Living For Love that year. After giving it a rest for a while, i can imagine what they were trying to do with that song.

They were trying to recreate the 90s eurodance, with some deep house elements (which was trendy in 2014 because of Kiesza) and adding some Like a Prayer tricks like the gospel singers.

The beat reminds me to Gypsy Woman (She's Homeless)

If you mix these songs, you get LFL but for some reason they couldn't get the magic of them, saddly. It could have been such a great comeback. The whole idea has so much potential. Imagine that amazing voguing anthem

 

 

[tuckeye]

i still jam to this album to this day. this is the only era where i bought every cd version and magazines.

i love everything about RH era and Erotica era.

[tasteinmen]

Would it be impossible for Rebel Heart to receive a remastered super deluxe edition in the future? It sounds like everything was a mess during that era. Wrong version's / stems used etc.

I mean, I know it currently seems impossible to get a remastered deluxe edition of anything as it stands, I'm just thinking hypothetically, surely this one would be a nightmare to repackage?

[miki]

The things I love about Rebel Heart

I love the standard version album cover with her in a red sweater and her finger in her mouth and that weird smile.  I don’t know whether she’s coquettish, wicked or genuinely happy.  But it sure as hell is captivating. Every time I look at it, I end up chuckling amusedly.

I always imagine Living forLove being chanted by Eve in defiance of god as she is expelled from paradise -(‘Took me to heaven, then let me falldown, now that it’s over I’m gonna carry on’).

The devil himself makes a cameo in Devi Pray pleading-(‘Save my soul’)

I love her weary description of the Armageddon in Ghosttown. I feel like she’s dreading the fact that it is here and now but she’s hopefulthat there’s hope yet.

I love how she gets distracted from all these solemn thoughts suddenly and is consumed by something quite trivial in comparison. Her ex. I love how a minute later she dismisses him just as quickly with a (‘Well, fuck you’.)

I love how she equates the Illuminati with enlightenment. The very same thing for which the serpent was condemned. Then, of course another cameo by Lucifer himself insisting that we’re all like him.

Then, just in case all this talk of good and evil had led you to forget who was leading the sermon, Bitch, she’s MADONNA.

I love the soulful meditations on perseverance and fragility in Hold Tight and John of Ark.

I love how she picks herself right back up again, after a momentary lapse in self-indulgence in John of Ark, with some inspired motivational beat in Iconic.

She falls off the wagon again, this time to dejection in Heartbreak City. The hurt is real.

She then escapes, playfully  plunging into her erotic fantasies in Body Shop and Holy Water.

I love how she demands her lover expose his scars in Inside Out.‘Let’s cross the line so far we won’t come back.’

Wash All over Me ends the album in a very somber mood. On the first track she was in a state of defiance battling god.Here, she’s learned to let things be and has resigned herself to whatever. Perhaps, pain is the only way to salvation. And she finally succumbs to the will of god.

Rebel Heart makes you think and feel deeply. It’s philosophical and serious. It also exposes her insecurities. She invites you to laugh at them too.

She’s daring you to love her inside out.

Bye, guys.

 

Edited November 25, 2018 by miki

[Rebel Heartbreaker]

1 hour ago, miki said:

 

The things I love about Rebel Heart

I love the standard version album cover with her in a red sweater and her finger in her mouth and that weird smile.  I don’t know whether she’s coquettish, wicked or genuinely happy.  But it sure as hell is captivating. Every time I look at it, I end up chuckling amusedly.

I always imagine Living forLove being chanted by Eve in defiance of god as she is expelled from paradise -(‘Took me to heaven, then let me falldown, now that it’s over I’m gonna carry on’).

The devil himself makes a cameo in Devi Pray pleading-(‘Save my soul’)

I love her weary description of the Armageddon in Ghosttown. I feel like she’s dreading the fact that it is here and now but she’s hopefulthat there’s hope yet.

I love how she gets distracted from all these solemn thoughts suddenly and is consumed by something quite trivial in comparison. Her ex. I love how a minute later she dismisses him just as quickly with a (‘Well, fuck you’.)

I love how she equates the Illuminati with enlightenment. The very same thing for which the serpent was condemned. Then, of course another cameo by Lucifer himself insisting that we’re all like him.

Then, just in case all this talk of good and evil had led you to forget who was leading the sermon, Bitch, she’s MADONNA.

I love the soulful meditations on perseverance and fragility in Hold Tight and John of Ark.

I love how she picks herself right back up again, after a momentary lapse in self-indulgence in John of Ark, with some inspired motivational beat in Iconic.

She falls off the wagon again, this time to dejection in Heartbreak City. The hurt is real.

She then escapes, playfully and petulantly plunging into her erotic fantasies in Body Shop and Holy Water.

I love how she demands her lover expose his scars in Inside Out.‘Let’s cross the line so far we won’t come back.’

Wash All over Me ends the album in a very somber mood. On the first track she was in a state of defiance battling god.Here, she’s learned to let things be and has resigned herself to whatever. Perhaps, pain is the only way to salvation. And she finally succumbs to the will of god.

Rebel Heart makes you think and feel deeply. It’s philosophical and serious. It also exposes her insecurities. She invites you to laugh at them too.

She’s daring you to love her inside out.

Bye, guys.

 

Something makes me think you went to church today and heard an amazing sermon!!

Very interesting take on those songs and album.

[Jazzy Jan]

On 11/24/2018 at 4:04 AM, Genevieve Vavance said:

Body Shop and Beautiful Scars are some of the best songs she's EVER done  

I adore them too.  The melodies, the bridges and the lyrics.  Classic Madonna. 

[Jazzy Jan]

So hard to do a top 5 from this album but here goes 

Ghosttown 

Beautiful Scars 

Rebel Heart 

Devil Pray 

Borrowed time 

Following very closely behind is Body Shop, Inside out, Messiah and Joan of Arc.  

[Lestat]

On 11/23/2018 at 10:50 AM, Gabriel said:

I still cannot stand the fact that she put the title track on the f***ing DELUXE version. Does this thing has ever happened with any artist before?

She has gone on record saying the deluxe is her true vision of the record (minus the double album idea) so the standard was never her intention.

[Rebel Heartbreaker]

1 hour ago, Jazzy Jan said:

So hard to do a top 5 from this album but here goes 

Ghosttown 

Beautiful Scars 

Rebel Heart 

Devil Pray 

Borrowed time 

Following very closely behind is Body Shop, Inside out, Messiah and Joan of Arc.  

I much prefer the demo of 'Beautiful Scars' to the disco-lite version on the album, but we've all been thru the demo vs album thingy TO DEATH so I will move along...

Me, top 5 is:

Living For Love (sue me!)

Ghosttown

Joan of Arc

Messiah

Heartbreak City

(Body Shop coming close as 6th fave).

[Icykiller]

I'll jump in and add my top 5:

1. Hold tight
2. Living for love
3. Body shop
4. Wash all over me
5. Devil pray

Honorable mention: Queen. What a great track/demo! Sad she didn't use it.

[tasteinmen]

Top 5:

1 Inside Out
2 Rebel Heart
3 Borrowed Time
4 Living for Love
5 Body Shop

[rocknrolla]

What surprises me is that album is so production dependent, for me. With Avicii, it could have been one of my favorites, but as it was released, it is near the bottom.  And I can usually enjoy several of her songs either with official remixes, or for the tours.