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MADAME X: official reviews are in: MADAME X is a hit with the critics!


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One thing to remind ourselves of from just the first reviews we have is how we already see that one critic elevates Dark Ballet when another dismisses it, and Crazy is peak Madonna for Rolling Stone and filler for another. Thus far, aside from RS, these are all British too, and there is a unique angle in the British press when it comes to Madonna! Misogyny seems to rule. It’s all fascinating! 🍿🍷🍫😂

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41 minutes ago, cynthia said:

daily star.jpg

Confessions OF a dance floor / Medellin's psychedelic groove / Future is the worst track and the beat goes nowhere 

Sorry, but I can't take this review seriously. LOL

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1 minute ago, Gabriel Ciccone said:

Reviews so far:

The Sun 100/100

Daily Mirror 100/100

Alternative Press 84/100

Q Magazine 80/100

The Times 80/100

The Guardian 80/100

Rolling Stone 60/100

The Telegraph 60 / 100

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Just now, karbatal said:

Can't read the complete article but the ageist beginning makes me puke. 

that's how most of them start, don't they? pretending to know better than madonna but then doing exactly the predictable ageism thing she accuses them of

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Madonna, Madame X review: a mad mishmash of an album (3 out of 5) The Telegraph

Madonna has often depicted herself as a pop revolutionary, a transgressive, barrier-breaking iconoclast fighting for feminism and sexual freedom. Her latest battle, though, is for survival. “I’m fighting ageism,” Madonna recently told Vogue Magazine. “I’m being punished for turning 60.”

But is she really? Or is she just finding it hard to grow old disgracefully? Music offers many models for veteran stars, from dedicated virtuoso to mature singer-songwriter. But pop thrives on the energy of youth and novelty, the superficial and highly competitive thrill of new sounds, new styles, new effects, new looks. Madonna Louise Ciccone has been one of the reigning superstars of her era, yet given her empowering influence on female artists from Lady Gaga to Ariana Grande, perhaps the erstwhile Queen of Pop should be content with the role of Queen Mother of Pop now. She hasn’t had a hit single in a decade (her last UK top 10 was Celebration in 2009). Medellín, a gentle bit of Latin froth with which she launched her latest album campaign, stalled at number 87 in the UK.

A certain desperation to fit in with chart trends is evident on her 14th album, Madame X. Indeed, the ubiquitous Autotune effect is laid on so thick on the eccentric God Control that she sounds like Cher with her jaw wired together. In the main, the sweet quality and thin tone of Madonna’s voice adapts pleasantly to the kind of glaciation that occurs with digital processing, lending a cool detachment to the understated melodies of Crave and Crazy, both pretty standard modern trap pop tunes created with hip hop producer Mike Dean. But it gets more extreme whenever long serving collaborator Mirwais is at the controls, layering digital voices over one another, reaching a pitch of brain-fizzling incomprehensibility during the extravagantly mad Dark Ballet. It is amusing, ear-catching stuff, an adventurous use of increasingly standardised technology. Perhaps the old Queen can still teach the young pretenders a few tricks.

Autotune can’t save Madonna’s typically awkward lyrics, in which lofty aspirations are brought to earth by clunking rhymes and cod-philosophical statements (“Each new birth it gives me hope / That’s why I don’t smoke that dope”). For Madonna, the medium no longer suffices as the message; she prefers to spell out her personal worldview in self-aggrandising platitudes delivered with the compromised gravitas of a stateswoman at a roller disco (“I will be Islam / If Islam is hated / I will be Israel / If Israel is incarcerated”). On afro-percussive blues-chant Batuka, she makes a stab at Trump (“Get that old man / Put him in jail”) but Madonna’s political thinking has never been entirely consistent. I am not convinced Bitch I’m Loca (a duet with Matuma) is a great campaign slogan but, in this day and age, who can tell?

Madame X sounds like three different albums fighting for space. There’s the Latin pop album, in Madonna performs straight-up sexy dance duets aimed at the world’s fastest growing music market. There’s a strand of trendy, low-slung, sensitive trap pop that lacks the majestic swagger you expect from a grand dame of the game. And neither of these elements sits comfortably alongside the Mirwais spine of fizzy art pop marrying mad production with inflated lyrical themes. Madonna says she is fighting ageism but she is fighting on too many fronts at the same time. In pop’s game of thrones, her biggest weakness remains her ambition to rule over all.

Madame X is released by Interscope Records on June 14

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quickly registered so other people dont have to (and dont have to give them hits)

Madonna has often depicted herself as a pop revolutionary, a transgressive, barrier-breaking iconoclast fighting for feminism and sexual freedom. Her latest battle, though, is for survival. “I’m fighting ageism,” Madonna recently told Vogue Magazine. “I’m being punished for turning 60.”

But is she really? Or is she just finding it hard to grow old disgracefully? Music offers many models for veteran stars, from dedicated virtuoso to mature singer-songwriter. But pop thrives on the energy of youth and novelty, the superficial and highly competitive thrill of new sounds, new styles, new effects, new looks. Madonna Louise Ciccone has been one of the reigning superstars of her era, yet given her empowering influence on female artists from Lady Gaga to Ariana Grande, perhaps the erstwhile Queen of Pop should be content with the role of Queen Mother of Pop now. She hasn’t had a hit single in a decade (her last UK top 10 was Celebration in 2009). Medellín, a gentle bit of Latin froth with which she launched her latest album campaign, stalled at number 87 in the UK.

A certain desperation to fit in with chart trends is evident on her 14th album, Madame X. Indeed, the ubiquitous Autotune effect is laid on so thick on the eccentric God Control that she sounds like Cher with her jaw wired together. In the main, the sweet quality and thin tone of Madonna’s voice adapts pleasantly to the kind of glaciation that occurs with digital processing, lending a cool detachment to the understated melodies of Crave and Crazy, both pretty standard modern trap pop tunes created with hip hop producer Mike Dean. But it gets more extreme whenever long serving collaborator Mirwais is at the controls, layering digital voices over one another, reaching a pitch of brain-fizzling incomprehensibility during the extravagantly mad Dark Ballet. It is amusing, ear-catching stuff, an adventurous use of increasingly standardised technology. Perhaps the old Queen can still teach the young pretenders a few tricks.

Autotune can’t save Madonna’s typically awkward lyrics, in which lofty aspirations are brought to earth by clunking rhymes and cod-philosophical statements (“Each new birth it gives me hope / That’s why I don’t smoke that dope”). For Madonna, the medium no longer suffices as the message; she prefers to spell out her personal worldview in self-aggrandising platitudes delivered with the compromised gravitas of a stateswoman at a roller disco (“I will be Islam / If Islam is hated / I will be Israel / If Israel is incarcerated”). On afro-percussive blues-chant Batuka, she makes a stab at Trump (“Get that old man / Put him in jail”) but Madonna’s political thinking has never been entirely consistent. I am not convinced Bitch I’m Loca (a duet with Matuma) is a great campaign slogan but, in this day and age, who can tell?

Madame X sounds like three different albums fighting for space. There’s the Latin pop album, in Madonna performs straight-up sexy dance duets aimed at the world’s fastest growing music market. There’s a strand of trendy, low-slung, sensitive trap pop that lacks the majestic swagger you expect from a grand dame of the game. And neither of these elements sits comfortably alongside the Mirwais spine of fizzy art pop marrying mad production with inflated lyrical themes. Madonna says she is fighting ageism but she is fighting on too many fronts at the same time. In pop’s game of thrones, her biggest weakness remains her ambition to rule over all.

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3 minutes ago, karbatal said:

Telegraph just published theirs - 3 out of 5 - a mad mish mash of an album

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/what-to-listen-to/madonna-madame-x-review-mad-mishmash-album/

3 minutes ago, karbatal said:

Can't read the complete article but the ageist beginning makes me puke. 

Same here

 

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Quote

perhaps the erstwhile Queen of Pop should be content with the role of Queen Mother of Pop now.

 

Aaaaaand there it is, wont bother reading the rest. 

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so yeah, they're just ageist and want her to make boring ballads and cant see the "art" in auto-tuning for creative reasons and purposely focus on the lyrics and ignore the originality and experimentation. moving on.

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19 minutes ago, Messiah said:

Confessions OF a dance floor / Medellin's psychedelic groove / Future is the worst track and the beat goes nowhere 

Sorry, but I can't take this review seriously. LOL

I mean, Crazy 5/10..?

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14 minutes ago, smirnoff_ice said:

Madonna, Madame X review: a mad mishmash of an album (3 out of 5) The Telegraph

Madonna has often depicted herself as a pop revolutionary, a transgressive, barrier-breaking iconoclast fighting for feminism and sexual freedom. Her latest battle, though, is for survival. “I’m fighting ageism,” Madonna recently told Vogue Magazine. “I’m being punished for turning 60.”

But is she really? Or is she just finding it hard to grow old disgracefully? Music offers many models for veteran stars, from dedicated virtuoso to mature singer-songwriter. But pop thrives on the energy of youth and novelty, the superficial and highly competitive thrill of new sounds, new styles, new effects, new looks. Madonna Louise Ciccone has been one of the reigning superstars of her era, yet given her empowering influence on female artists from Lady Gaga to Ariana Grande, perhaps the erstwhile Queen of Pop should be content with the role of Queen Mother of Pop now. She hasn’t had a hit single in a decade (her last UK top 10 was Celebration in 2009). Medellín, a gentle bit of Latin froth with which she launched her latest album campaign, stalled at number 87 in the UK.

A certain desperation to fit in with chart trends is evident on her 14th album, Madame X. Indeed, the ubiquitous Autotune effect is laid on so thick on the eccentric God Control that she sounds like Cher with her jaw wired together. In the main, the sweet quality and thin tone of Madonna’s voice adapts pleasantly to the kind of glaciation that occurs with digital processing, lending a cool detachment to the understated melodies of Crave and Crazy, both pretty standard modern trap pop tunes created with hip hop producer Mike Dean. But it gets more extreme whenever long serving collaborator Mirwais is at the controls, layering digital voices over one another, reaching a pitch of brain-fizzling incomprehensibility during the extravagantly mad Dark Ballet. It is amusing, ear-catching stuff, an adventurous use of increasingly standardised technology. Perhaps the old Queen can still teach the young pretenders a few tricks.

Autotune can’t save Madonna’s typically awkward lyrics, in which lofty aspirations are brought to earth by clunking rhymes and cod-philosophical statements (“Each new birth it gives me hope / That’s why I don’t smoke that dope”). For Madonna, the medium no longer suffices as the message; she prefers to spell out her personal worldview in self-aggrandising platitudes delivered with the compromised gravitas of a stateswoman at a roller disco (“I will be Islam / If Islam is hated / I will be Israel / If Israel is incarcerated”). On afro-percussive blues-chant Batuka, she makes a stab at Trump (“Get that old man / Put him in jail”) but Madonna’s political thinking has never been entirely consistent. I am not convinced Bitch I’m Loca (a duet with Matuma) is a great campaign slogan but, in this day and age, who can tell?

Madame X sounds like three different albums fighting for space. There’s the Latin pop album, in Madonna performs straight-up sexy dance duets aimed at the world’s fastest growing music market. There’s a strand of trendy, low-slung, sensitive trap pop that lacks the majestic swagger you expect from a grand dame of the game. And neither of these elements sits comfortably alongside the Mirwais spine of fizzy art pop marrying mad production with inflated lyrical themes. Madonna says she is fighting ageism but she is fighting on too many fronts at the same time. In pop’s game of thrones, her biggest weakness remains her ambition to rule over all.

Madame X is released by Interscope Records on June 14

Thanks! Well, this is the most negative so far...

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3 minutes ago, Andyrs said:

I mean, Crazy 5/10..?

Well, we can't judge that until we've heard it.... Unless you have 😏🤣

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14 minutes ago, Nikki said:

so yeah, they're just ageist and want her to make boring ballads and cant see the "art" in auto-tuning for creative reasons and purposely focus on the lyrics and ignore the originality and experimentation. moving on.

Is Madonna Cersei Lannister or Daenerys Targaryen of pop?

She is obviously not loved by some critics. They would like see her doing Vegas shows more instead of creating new music.

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29 minutes ago, Gabriel Ciccone said:

Reviews so far:

The Sun 100/100

Daily Mirror 100/100

Alternative Press 84/100

Q Magazine 80/100

The Times 80/100

The Guardian 80/100

Rolling Stone 60/100

The Telegraph 60/100

which of these count for metacritic?

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Alternative (record of the week) counts.. hope M is featured in that section because that 84 is great.

other than that, the ugly 2 60s from RS and telegraph, the 80 from guardian and 80 from Q mag..

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Madonna’s ‘Madame X’ Album Gets Rave Reviews Ahead Of Release Date

 
Madonna will release her 14th studio album, Madame X, on June 14 via Interscope Records. Ahead of its release, the “Material Girl” hitmaker has been praised by those who have been lucky enough to review the record early.

In a four out of five-star rating review from The Guardian, they state that the album is her most bizarre record ever, but she sounds more natural than she has in years. They mention that the album is all over the place, but most of the songs are really good in their own right.All this baroque weirdness knocks the album off its axis, but most of its 64 minutes are actually full of very decent pop songcraft,” reviewer Ben Beaumont-Thomas summed up the album.In another four out of five-star rating review from The Times, they insist that Madame X is her boldest album to date.

“Now comes probably her boldest, certainly here  strangest, album yet. Madame X veers between pop, Latin and clubby dance music, jumps from the personal to the political and is bound together by an exotic, breezy mood that feels strangely intimate, as if she is revealing a hitherto hidden part of her soul. She isn’t really, of course, but she does a good job of pretending she is,” Will Hodgkinson wrote.

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2 minutes ago, justinian said:

It always AMAZES me from the anglosaxon journalism style how they refer to the person during the article. I mean "the “Get Together” chart-topper"??? Of all the songs! hahahaha. Lovely article, by the way. She needs as much positive press as possible. 

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15 minutes ago, Nikki said:

Alternative (record of the week) counts.. hope M is featured in that section because that 84 is great.

other than that, the ugly 2 60s from RS and telegraph, the 80 from guardian and 80 from Q mag..

The Times counts too, no? 

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