Madonna comes back in 2015 with another album, Rebel Heart. Since 2005 every album of hers has been compared with the incredible work she did on Confessions on a Dance Floor. After Confessions, Madonna released Hard Candy, which was, in my personal opinion, her worst album to date, Hard Candy had a weird sound, annoying music and lyrics and just a few songs were worth listening, i.e 4 minutes, Give it 2 Me and Miles Away.
She then released a compilation album, Celebration, whose lead single was powerful and even nominated for a Grammy that year. She then decided to release and EDM album, MDNA, which wasn't much of an improvement from Hard Candy. Her last two albums were musically consistent, you could tell the song belonged to the album but lyrically Madonna had lost all sense. Songs like "Spanish Lesson" on Hard Candy or "Turn up the radio" on MDNA made Madonna looked like she lost all her ability to write a decent song.
Rebel Heart is overall a good comeback album from Madonna, it is not only musically consistent, but lyrically too. Every song talks about her career, her love life, her young life, her adult life. She mixes the name of several of her hits into one song (Veni Vidi Vici), she talks about drugs and addiction (Devil Pray), she insists on every song that she is "Living for love". She doesn't care to be cheesy and talk about and infinite love but in an original way in Ghosttown.
However not everything is good, Madonna has an obsession on using rapers almost in half of the songs in the album, moreover the production feels weak and it even lowers the quality of Madonna's vocals or her lyrics. It is unavoidable to think that one of the songs is missing more bass, or drums, or another rhythm. I'll also be pointing out later on, how some of her most amazing demos were diminished to become the worst songs of the album.
Commercially the album songs haven't performed all that good, it reminds me of when Gaga released ARTPOP, and before the radical fans start attacking me, you should shut up and see for example Taylor Swift, every song she released as a promotional single took the top 10 for months, Into The Woods and Welcome to New York and Style shared the top 20 with her current single at the time Blank Space and her old single Shake it Off. So yes! I'm saying Rebel Heart by the looks of things is going to flop. Nevertheless we the fans should not be worried, she'd probably sell a million copies and will make another top grossing tour.
Now, let's review the songs.
1. Living for Love (7/10): this song really needed something more, the lyrics were great, but the chorus didn't feel that powerful, maybe it needed a better breakdown, maybe it should have been a better techno. After hearing the whole album, though, I would have picked it too as the lead single.
2. Devil's Pray (7.5/10) : "take my sins and wash them away" Madonna starts with an incredible lyric that is accompanied by a dance-country-guitar that makes the song even better, the breakdown after the chorus may not be the best part. This song also reminds be a little bit of Miles Away.
3. Ghosttown (9/10): Madonna's vocals are on point, the lyrics are creative, the chorus is powerfull, the music is ethereal like the song is supposed to be. One of my favorites without doubt.
4. Unapologetic Bitch (6/10): The song is boring, the rythm is good is kind of reggae and dance, but her voice is just annoying., and then those syrens in the prechorus drives me crazy.
5.Illuminati (6/10): Again the production makes a good song really bad, the lyrics are incredible, she mocks the crazy people that are obsessed with the illuminati symbols, Madonna is amazing , but sadly the music is awful.
6. Bitch I'm Madonna (7/10): the song takes time to like it, but the music is good and Madonna's autotuned vocals in the chorus get stuck in your head for weeks, "I just wanna have fun tonight".
7. Hold Tight (9/10): this is the part when the album gets good. Hold Tight is powerful, the breakdown is catchy and just orgasmic when Madonna says "everything's gonna". The song is strong and when she sings "hold tight as long as you're by my side" it really feels like you should hold tight.
8. Joan of Arc (10/10): I don't usually give 10's but this song was perfect, it's a song that broadcasts a side of Madonna we don't know, we usually see her as a bitch, as someone strong, here she talks about when words break her, and she basically connects to the listener is a song for when you're down, and it cheers you up without the need of having a big production. With a simple guitar, and a bass the song is more powerful than many of her previous ones.
9. Iconic (9.5/10): This is the song that I would love to see being performed on her tour, it's upbeat, it has an incredible instrumental, and the chorus explodes into a weird techno/dubstep that is completely original. This is the first EDM song by Madonna with a meaning, "Tell me I'll do good and I'll be great" she talks about being Iconic in everything she does. When I heard the demo of the song I thought it was dull, but she transformed it into maybe the best song in the whole album
10. HeartBreak City (8.5/10): The vocals are incredible, a break up ballad that starts with a simple piano and grows with a marching band drums pre-chorus. The chorus is simple but catchy.
11. Body Shop (7.5/10): At some points I couldn't understand what she was saying, the prechorus is catchy but the song needed to grow, maybe a more powerfull bass during the chorus or maybe several layers of vocals during the chorus. The song was too plain for me.
12. Holy Water (6.5/10): Honestly the only thing I remember of this song is "Bitch get off my pole". The chorus is annoying and the beat sounds amateur, the orgasmic voices on the chorus just makes it weird
13. Inside Out (4/10): This song was ruined. The demo of the song sounded like maybe a potential success, one of the best dance songs ever, but the problem in the demo, in my opinion, were the quality of the synths that were kind of bothersome, in my opinion they had to enhance the synths, instead they took them and put a weird bass that took the whole energy from the song. And the freaking drums that sound during every second of the songs were really irritating.
14. Wash All Over Me (5/10): Another demo ruined by Madonna, this song in the demo sounded like something from Confessions, fully upbeat, rising chorus, humongous breakdown. Instead the new version is slow and then has some bongos in the chorus, don't get me wrong, I kind of ended up liking it, but everytime I hear this version, I can't stop remembering the demo version and how good it was.
15. Best Night (5.5/10): The song is great, it feels like a pause for the album. The great thing of the album is that is designed musically so you don't get tired, she mixes different genres and different sounds, what I hated of this song was the crying baby or whatever the hell it was in the chorus. But I love Madonna's voice when she talks in the bridge, it reminds me of Erotica.
16. Veni Vidi Vici (9/10): Madonna raps, and she raps the song in a pop way, it's like she is rapping but talking sexy, it's weird but it's amazing. Then she abruptly stops rapping, and she starts singing her typical pop/guitarish chorus that makes it all even better. It's like a song that mixes genres and they all fit perfectly. Definetly one of my favorite songs on the album.
17. S.E.X (5/10): Didn't understand why it was calle S.E.X instead of Sex, furthermore, the song makes me laugh when she screams "Ahhhhh" in the chorus, and the creepy bells that sound during the chorus and the second verse just don't make sense at all. It's like a messy mixture of things that don't stick even if you put glue on it,
18. Messiah (7/10): The song is good it is orchestral, it has meaning, it has power but I don't completely like her vocals in the chorus, they aren't strong enough they are overthrown by the music behind, and for me the worst thing that can happen to an artist is when his/her voice is barely hear-able due to the music on the chorus, The voice always has to be the main attraction, the main focus on the song.
19. Rebel Heart (5.5/10): Another song that was ruined, the demo was faster and I missed the "Rebeel Rebeel Heaart" electronic voices from the demos. The chorus was slowed down a bit. The lyrics are amazing though, but I'm pissed because she could have put the demo version and it would have been so much much better.
20. Beautiful Scars (7.5/10): This is another polemic song between the fans, the demo version was totally different, but I actually like the new 80's kind of style of the song, as oppose to the weird demo version that lacked energy, however what I miss from the demo is the energy on the post-chorus the electronic voices shouting "oh-oh-oh" got stuck in my head and during the whole song I was waiting for them to appear.
21. Queen (6/10): I heard this song was taken from the album, it's good but it's similar to other songs in the album, the weird guy singing in the chorus made me cringe a little. And it's the only song on the album that didn't have a message that connected to the album.
22. Borrowed Time (3/10): I'm gonna be pretty tough on this one. The demo version was INCREDIBLE. When I heard it, I said "Finally this is the best song of Madonna in 10 years", it was strong, it grew in the chorus, it had a message of equality and then it exploded into an Avicii techno, that would have made this song one of Madonna biggest hits. But!!! she had to destroy it, she made it slower, she added a weird techno after the chorus, and the song became pure shit.
23. Graffiti Heart (10/10): this is my favorite song on the album. I like the message on the song "Love is pain, Pain is Art. Show me your Graffiti Heart", that metaphor blew my mind, and the cartoonish techno is good too. I wish she released this song as a single. The only thing lacking for me is a Charli XCX type of voice shouting "oh oh oh" in the second verse post chorus.
24. Autotune Baby (0.5/10): This is the worst song of Madonna in her entire career. I even put in on my ipod by accident and almost screamed when it came up, it's really a nightmare. No Madonna, nobody likes hearing babies crying, and babies crying with autotune doesn't make it ANY BETTER. So I'm glad that this song is off the album.
25. Addicted (9.5/10): Addicted is the perfect conclusion for the album, it has an 80's vibe with the chorus the "You were gonna be the one who broke my heart, you were gonna be the one that got away" sounds so much like and old song and then she explodes into the best techno of the whole album. The verses are sang in typical Confession's Madonna, the chorus is catchy and the techno is incredible. This must be a single, this had to be the first single.
In conclusion. This album is good, NOT AMAZING, NOT THE BEST ALBUM OF HER ENTIRE CAREER. But it's good, it's an album to listen to while driving, while doing chores, it has different genres and even a song made of a baby crying. Nevertheless I'll call Madonna a "Dementor" which are the creatures on Harry Potter that take the soul and happiness of people that are near them. She took the soul and feelings of almost every incredible demo she had, goodbye at the chances of Wash All over Me or Rebel Heart or FREAKING BORROWED TIME of becoming singles, she weakened the songs, maybe because of the hack, maybe because she wanted to change things because of that stupid hack, but she shouldn't had, she made big mistakes with that.
Final Rating= 6.84/10= 6.8/10
She then released a compilation album, Celebration, whose lead single was powerful and even nominated for a Grammy that year. She then decided to release and EDM album, MDNA, which wasn't much of an improvement from Hard Candy. Her last two albums were musically consistent, you could tell the song belonged to the album but lyrically Madonna had lost all sense. Songs like "Spanish Lesson" on Hard Candy or "Turn up the radio" on MDNA made Madonna looked like she lost all her ability to write a decent song.
Rebel Heart is overall a good comeback album from Madonna, it is not only musically consistent, but lyrically too. Every song talks about her career, her love life, her young life, her adult life. She mixes the name of several of her hits into one song (Veni Vidi Vici), she talks about drugs and addiction (Devil Pray), she insists on every song that she is "Living for love". She doesn't care to be cheesy and talk about and infinite love but in an original way in Ghosttown.
However not everything is good, Madonna has an obsession on using rapers almost in half of the songs in the album, moreover the production feels weak and it even lowers the quality of Madonna's vocals or her lyrics. It is unavoidable to think that one of the songs is missing more bass, or drums, or another rhythm. I'll also be pointing out later on, how some of her most amazing demos were diminished to become the worst songs of the album.
Commercially the album songs haven't performed all that good, it reminds me of when Gaga released ARTPOP, and before the radical fans start attacking me, you should shut up and see for example Taylor Swift, every song she released as a promotional single took the top 10 for months, Into The Woods and Welcome to New York and Style shared the top 20 with her current single at the time Blank Space and her old single Shake it Off. So yes! I'm saying Rebel Heart by the looks of things is going to flop. Nevertheless we the fans should not be worried, she'd probably sell a million copies and will make another top grossing tour.
Now, let's review the songs.
1. Living for Love (7/10): this song really needed something more, the lyrics were great, but the chorus didn't feel that powerful, maybe it needed a better breakdown, maybe it should have been a better techno. After hearing the whole album, though, I would have picked it too as the lead single.
2. Devil's Pray (7.5/10) : "take my sins and wash them away" Madonna starts with an incredible lyric that is accompanied by a dance-country-guitar that makes the song even better, the breakdown after the chorus may not be the best part. This song also reminds be a little bit of Miles Away.
3. Ghosttown (9/10): Madonna's vocals are on point, the lyrics are creative, the chorus is powerfull, the music is ethereal like the song is supposed to be. One of my favorites without doubt.
4. Unapologetic Bitch (6/10): The song is boring, the rythm is good is kind of reggae and dance, but her voice is just annoying., and then those syrens in the prechorus drives me crazy.
5.Illuminati (6/10): Again the production makes a good song really bad, the lyrics are incredible, she mocks the crazy people that are obsessed with the illuminati symbols, Madonna is amazing , but sadly the music is awful.
6. Bitch I'm Madonna (7/10): the song takes time to like it, but the music is good and Madonna's autotuned vocals in the chorus get stuck in your head for weeks, "I just wanna have fun tonight".
7. Hold Tight (9/10): this is the part when the album gets good. Hold Tight is powerful, the breakdown is catchy and just orgasmic when Madonna says "everything's gonna". The song is strong and when she sings "hold tight as long as you're by my side" it really feels like you should hold tight.
8. Joan of Arc (10/10): I don't usually give 10's but this song was perfect, it's a song that broadcasts a side of Madonna we don't know, we usually see her as a bitch, as someone strong, here she talks about when words break her, and she basically connects to the listener is a song for when you're down, and it cheers you up without the need of having a big production. With a simple guitar, and a bass the song is more powerful than many of her previous ones.
9. Iconic (9.5/10): This is the song that I would love to see being performed on her tour, it's upbeat, it has an incredible instrumental, and the chorus explodes into a weird techno/dubstep that is completely original. This is the first EDM song by Madonna with a meaning, "Tell me I'll do good and I'll be great" she talks about being Iconic in everything she does. When I heard the demo of the song I thought it was dull, but she transformed it into maybe the best song in the whole album
10. HeartBreak City (8.5/10): The vocals are incredible, a break up ballad that starts with a simple piano and grows with a marching band drums pre-chorus. The chorus is simple but catchy.
11. Body Shop (7.5/10): At some points I couldn't understand what she was saying, the prechorus is catchy but the song needed to grow, maybe a more powerfull bass during the chorus or maybe several layers of vocals during the chorus. The song was too plain for me.
12. Holy Water (6.5/10): Honestly the only thing I remember of this song is "Bitch get off my pole". The chorus is annoying and the beat sounds amateur, the orgasmic voices on the chorus just makes it weird
13. Inside Out (4/10): This song was ruined. The demo of the song sounded like maybe a potential success, one of the best dance songs ever, but the problem in the demo, in my opinion, were the quality of the synths that were kind of bothersome, in my opinion they had to enhance the synths, instead they took them and put a weird bass that took the whole energy from the song. And the freaking drums that sound during every second of the songs were really irritating.
14. Wash All Over Me (5/10): Another demo ruined by Madonna, this song in the demo sounded like something from Confessions, fully upbeat, rising chorus, humongous breakdown. Instead the new version is slow and then has some bongos in the chorus, don't get me wrong, I kind of ended up liking it, but everytime I hear this version, I can't stop remembering the demo version and how good it was.
15. Best Night (5.5/10): The song is great, it feels like a pause for the album. The great thing of the album is that is designed musically so you don't get tired, she mixes different genres and different sounds, what I hated of this song was the crying baby or whatever the hell it was in the chorus. But I love Madonna's voice when she talks in the bridge, it reminds me of Erotica.
16. Veni Vidi Vici (9/10): Madonna raps, and she raps the song in a pop way, it's like she is rapping but talking sexy, it's weird but it's amazing. Then she abruptly stops rapping, and she starts singing her typical pop/guitarish chorus that makes it all even better. It's like a song that mixes genres and they all fit perfectly. Definetly one of my favorite songs on the album.
17. S.E.X (5/10): Didn't understand why it was calle S.E.X instead of Sex, furthermore, the song makes me laugh when she screams "Ahhhhh" in the chorus, and the creepy bells that sound during the chorus and the second verse just don't make sense at all. It's like a messy mixture of things that don't stick even if you put glue on it,
18. Messiah (7/10): The song is good it is orchestral, it has meaning, it has power but I don't completely like her vocals in the chorus, they aren't strong enough they are overthrown by the music behind, and for me the worst thing that can happen to an artist is when his/her voice is barely hear-able due to the music on the chorus, The voice always has to be the main attraction, the main focus on the song.
19. Rebel Heart (5.5/10): Another song that was ruined, the demo was faster and I missed the "Rebeel Rebeel Heaart" electronic voices from the demos. The chorus was slowed down a bit. The lyrics are amazing though, but I'm pissed because she could have put the demo version and it would have been so much much better.
20. Beautiful Scars (7.5/10): This is another polemic song between the fans, the demo version was totally different, but I actually like the new 80's kind of style of the song, as oppose to the weird demo version that lacked energy, however what I miss from the demo is the energy on the post-chorus the electronic voices shouting "oh-oh-oh" got stuck in my head and during the whole song I was waiting for them to appear.
21. Queen (6/10): I heard this song was taken from the album, it's good but it's similar to other songs in the album, the weird guy singing in the chorus made me cringe a little. And it's the only song on the album that didn't have a message that connected to the album.
22. Borrowed Time (3/10): I'm gonna be pretty tough on this one. The demo version was INCREDIBLE. When I heard it, I said "Finally this is the best song of Madonna in 10 years", it was strong, it grew in the chorus, it had a message of equality and then it exploded into an Avicii techno, that would have made this song one of Madonna biggest hits. But!!! she had to destroy it, she made it slower, she added a weird techno after the chorus, and the song became pure shit.
23. Graffiti Heart (10/10): this is my favorite song on the album. I like the message on the song "Love is pain, Pain is Art. Show me your Graffiti Heart", that metaphor blew my mind, and the cartoonish techno is good too. I wish she released this song as a single. The only thing lacking for me is a Charli XCX type of voice shouting "oh oh oh" in the second verse post chorus.
24. Autotune Baby (0.5/10): This is the worst song of Madonna in her entire career. I even put in on my ipod by accident and almost screamed when it came up, it's really a nightmare. No Madonna, nobody likes hearing babies crying, and babies crying with autotune doesn't make it ANY BETTER. So I'm glad that this song is off the album.
25. Addicted (9.5/10): Addicted is the perfect conclusion for the album, it has an 80's vibe with the chorus the "You were gonna be the one who broke my heart, you were gonna be the one that got away" sounds so much like and old song and then she explodes into the best techno of the whole album. The verses are sang in typical Confession's Madonna, the chorus is catchy and the techno is incredible. This must be a single, this had to be the first single.
In conclusion. This album is good, NOT AMAZING, NOT THE BEST ALBUM OF HER ENTIRE CAREER. But it's good, it's an album to listen to while driving, while doing chores, it has different genres and even a song made of a baby crying. Nevertheless I'll call Madonna a "Dementor" which are the creatures on Harry Potter that take the soul and happiness of people that are near them. She took the soul and feelings of almost every incredible demo she had, goodbye at the chances of Wash All over Me or Rebel Heart or FREAKING BORROWED TIME of becoming singles, she weakened the songs, maybe because of the hack, maybe because she wanted to change things because of that stupid hack, but she shouldn't had, she made big mistakes with that.
Final Rating= 6.84/10= 6.8/10
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