MDNA - Madonna's Back!!
I've spent the last few days with MDNA and it's truly a return to form from our most enduring pop star. When I first heard the album's title, a nod to the club drug MDMA, as well as her name - get it - i thought it was all sounding a bit desperate....but the album really is a sonic rush that's a return to form for her Madgesty after flopping (in my mind at least) with the radio-baiting urban beats of Timbaland and Pharrell on Hard Candy. MDNA is much more in the vein of Confessions On A Dance Floor, Music and Ray of Light. And it finds our pop queen on full assault.
And quite an assault it is. Your reaction to the album could have a lot to do with how you feel about all this 'in your face-ness.' The beats are colder than usual (no gurgly Confessions happiness, or whooshy RoL soundscapes) and the lyrics can be downright juvenile, even cringe-inducing at times. (Let everyone also read into the fact that she's consantly calling herself a "girl" - she's "a different kind of girl" a "girl gone wild" - as if we're to think she's a little whipersnapper doing double dutch at the bus stop). But on the whole she's a solid pop craftsWOman who knows how to get asses shaking...and then slow it down a bit with some drum machined folkery (much refined from her American Life mistep) to tell us what's going on in that mane of blonde ambition.As for the tracks themselves, I liked the pom-pom pop of "Gimme All Your Luvin" more than most people did but it's definitely not a good indicator of what to expect from the album. Opening track (and recent single) "Girl Gone Wild" nips the "Act of Contrition" finale from Like A Prayer before clacking through an opening salvo that sounds like it's trying to compete directly with the Rihanna, Britney or (gulp) J.Lo's of the world. (I don't think Gaga would try something this anonymous). She shouldn't bother. On this track, and others, Madonna's voice is buried in the beats - not that it's a great instrument in the first place - but the cold mechanics really aren't the most welcoming environment for her thinner tone.
Main producers are Martin Solveig, Benny Bennassi, and our old Ray of Light compadre William Obit. Songs like "Superstar", "Some Girls" and, especially "I'm Addicted" (which reminds me of a revved up "Impressive Instant" - anyone else think the bridge sounds like "Barbra Streisand"?) are all good pop tunes that will keep the clubs buzzing for months. Even better is "Turn Up The Radio" which is precisely the straightforward dance-pop tune that we all love from Madonna. (See "Into The Groove," "Where's The Party," "Everybody," "Music," "Don't Stop," etc, etc.). If there's any justice -- we've just found 2012's Song of the Summer. "I'm A Sinner" is my favorite track right now BY FAR. Produced by Orbit it definitely rips off their previous collaborations "Ray of Light" and "Beautiful Stranger," but its Saint name-checking lyrics and general goofiness feel as fun as rollerskating in your tube socks.
Interwoven amongst all the pop gems is definitely what one would call her "Divorce Record." Madonna's always mined her own life for occasional glimpses beneath the hard exterior but it's not often that we see her vulnerability and anger as much as we do here. This rage is new for Madonna. (And now that I think about, didn't her "new, new face" also accompany that relationship's demise? Don't make lifechanging decisions while under stress!). Confessions may have been released 5 years ago, but with this album she truly lives up to the title.
The utterly wacko "Gang Bang" is by far the set's most bracing song. Madonna growls through some Tarantino-esque ultravilolence as a spurned lover bent on revenge. It sounds utterly unlike anything she's ever done and it's all the more fascinating because of it. Another furious turn on the mic is "I Dont' Give A..." (another assist from Nicki M.) which lyrically is also her most revealing.
Orbit guides her through the album's second half, which slows things down and gets more contemplative. "Love Spent" is a "what went wrong" record and one of the album's knockouts. (The deluxe versions contain the much more contrite "I Fucked Up"). Being it's a Madonna album we still can't escape a Spanish guitar for some reason - which this time lilts across her Golden Globe winning song "Masterpiece" (that I could do without.) And the Joe Henry assisted last track "Falling Free" (who helped her out with "Don't Tell Me" and "Jump") closes out the record (or at least the standard version) with a sobering declaration of independence.
As if we would expect anything less.
