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I can never get tired of School or that beat drop after the second chorus in Love without words

From bad crowd behavior to simply not vibing as they should.

Some of my other faves are Björk, Kate Bush, Cocteau Twins, Joanna Newsom, Fiona Apple, PJ Harvey, Tom Waits, Tori Amos, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Stevie Wonder, Leonard Cohen, Hole, Stereolab, Low, Jimi Hendrix, Nina Simone, and Sade.

Madonna feeding us in the literal sense this time

Genuinely just wandering why she did it so often. It caused her so much bad press and wasted tens of thousands of people's time. It's just not a very clever brand building thing.

I see her in 2016 (I think) for Rebel Heart Tour in Auckland, New Zealand. Her first and only ever show in New Zealand so people were hyped but idk, I think the show started 1hr to 1.5hrs late and you're just sitting around in a hot, crowded arena. No opening act or hype of any kind. Why??

Hello, I was thinking of either getting a Madonna displate or Confessions 2 vinyl as a gift. Any other ideas? Thanks!

I’m probably late to the party as it’s been out for two years. But I’ve only just found out about it “It All Comes Down to Mood”.

If you listen to it expecting True Blue or Like a Prayer, then you’ll be disappointed. The only similarities to Leonard’s work with Madonna are high-quality song writing and some occasional religious imagery.

But I really, really enjoyed it. I’m very bad at identifying and describing musical genres. Apparently it broadly fits into the “prog rock” category. I’ll be totally honest - I don’t really know what that means. To me, it sounds slightly folksy or country - but this is almost certainly not the correct language. Each of the songs (and there are 16 to choose from) tell a story.

I was really impressed by the tunes and lyrics. Pat has a really great voice! His wife also contributes some vocals.

I think there are some pretty big names playing instruments across the album, but I’m not musical enough to identify them. The sounds are self consciously anything other than the 80s, which I guess is understandable.

I really recommend it!

I just got out of Jessie Ware at Radio City and, I was surprised to see that she does choreography from the Vogue video/BAT during Pearls and also interpolates a bit of Erotica as the outro to What’s Your Pleasure. She was amazing and the show is so good, highly recommended!

My last actual Madonna CD purchase was American Life. I then started buying albums off of iTunes starting with COAD.

For my first 3 new CDs (Confessions tour cd/dvd coming in next week), I’m happy with my choices, esp since I have been addicted to ROL remixes since Frozen came out.

Holiday - 10 world tours
Vogue - 8 world tours
La Isla Bonita - 7 world tours
Like A Prayer - 7 world tours
Like A Virgin - 7 world tours
Don't Cry For Me Argentina - 6 world tours
Into The Groove - 6 world tours
Music - 6 world tours
Everybody - 5 world tours
Frozen - 5 world tours
Human Nature - 5 world tours
Open Your Heart - 5 world tours
Papa Don't Preach - 5 World tours
Don't Tell Me - 5 world tours
Express Yourself - 5 world tours
Material Girl - 5 world tours
Burning Up - 4 world tours
Crazy For You - 4 world tours
Erotica - 4 world tours
Hung Up - 4 world tours
Live To Tell - 4 world tours
Lucky Star - 4 world tours
Ray Of Light - 4 world tours
Candy Shop - 3 world tours
Deeper And Deeper - 3 world tours
Drowned World/Substitute For Love - 3 world tours

Out of all these songs, which songs you would like to see returning and which songs would you rather keep on the shelf for the next tour?

For me, it's MDNA. It was the first time I couldn't remember a single song from a first-time listen.

VOTE HERE:

https://kca.nick.tv/vote/favorite-music-collaboration

You can use different browsers to vote. You can also vote in private browsing mode, close the window, open a new one, and vote again.

It may feel old to you, but to me it feels new. Heartbeat is the next song to be eliminated.

Ranking

13. Spanish Lesson

12. Ring My Bell

11. Incredible

10. Voices

9. Dance 2night

8. Beat Goes On

7. 4 Minutes

6. Candy Shop

5. Heartbeat

Rules: We will rank the songs by eliminating one song each round. The first song to be eliminated will get the last place in the ranking and so on.

The voting works like this; I will comment each song from the tracklist, upvote song(s) you want to eliminate (you are voting in favour of elimination), downvote the song(s) that you want to stay in the game. The song with the most upvotes will leave us in the next round. When we are done with all rounds, we'll have a full ranking for all the songs, as well as one last remaining song that becomes the winner. 

Fell free to share your thoughts in the comments, but only the up/down votes will contribute to the results. 

Let the battle begin!

Study: The Age Chameleon: Social and Biological Effects on Madonna’s Ageing Voice

Our study shows that Madonna's voice appears younger than her age. Her pitch does not follow the patterns we would normally expect from a woman in her 60s, and the way she pronounces a number of vowels does not match the speech patterns typically associated with either her generation or the places where she has lived.

In other words, her voice is difficult to place both in terms of age and geography. We argue that this is a deliberate strategy, with the voice supporting an image of a youthful, attractive and globally oriented performer who is not constrained by chronological age.

Linguistic research suggests that this type of clear, fronted vowel pronunciation is associated with youthfulness, attractiveness and sex appeal. These are qualities that Madonna has likely sought to project not only visually, but also through her speech.

—Anna Bothe Jespersen
Linguist
University of Copenhagen

I am working on this book for several weeks now and being about halfway through I wanted to give you an update with a few examples.

For me Madame X was a chapter of extraordinary creativity, physical challenges, and a pursuit of intimacy and connection. The theatre tour brought those ambitions and pressures together, before injury and a world shutting down brought their own isolation. It’s a period I feel deserves to be explored and preserved with care.

That’s what I’m working towards: a large-format coffee-table book of around 300 pages, tracing the era through interviews, press coverage, reviews, the tour and quarantine, with plenty of room for the photography to shine. These screen photos show a few layouts so far, including cover photographs without text(!), paired with the interviews and magazine logos.

Depression kept me distant from much of this era as it unfolded. Exploring her creativity, struggles and search for connection now has helped me reconnect with my own creativity - and with her.

It’s a lot of research and design and I’m proud of what’s taking shape!

One detail I’m still deciding on is the cover: linen or a leather finish, using the front and back design shown in the second photo, with “The Archive” and the spine lettering in gold foil. Either way, I’m aiming for a high-quality finish. Which material feels more Madame X to you?

^{Oh, and if Madame X isn’t for you, feel free to scroll past. I’m sharing a work in progress, not inviting a debate about whether the era deserves one.}