Madame X/ Madonna - pop
By NARENDRA KUSNUR
Album:
Madame X
Artiste:
Madonna
Genre: Pop, Latino-pop
Label:
Interscope
Rating: *** ½
In her
36-year career, Madonna has released only 14 studio albums. While that’s a slow
strike rate for someone of her stature, it’s obvious that she’s taken time over
each record, trying a variety of styles while sticking to the basic dance-pop/
electronica sound.
Her latest
album Madame X, titled after a
nickname her dance instructor gave her during her teens, comes four years after
her disappointing Rebel Heart.
Quickly, it has raced to No 1 on the Billboard
200 charts.
Here,
Madonna mixes up her sound, alternating between Latino-pop, trap music (a genre
of hip-hop) and modern pop, using synthesisers and an assortment of rhythms. Madame X starts off with a set of
amazing, loop-worthy songs, but the mistake she makes is she keeps the album
too long. With 14 tracks spread over 56 minutes (besides four numbers on the
bonus disc), one comes across many fillers in the second half. Moreover, there
are tunes which give you a clear heard-it-before feeling.
The album
begins with ‘Medellin’, with Colombian star Maluma doing a Latino-rap. It’s a
pleasant ditty, named after a Colombian city, with Madonna singing, “I took a
pill and had a dream, I went back to my 17th year, allowed myself to
be naïve, to be someone I’ve never been”.
‘Dark Ballet’
uses a story-telling approach, using Joan of Arc as an inspiration. It features
a vocoder and a sample from Tchaikovsky’s ‘The Nutcracker Suite’, with lines
like, “It’s a beautiful life, but I’m not concerned, It’s a beautiful dream, a
dream is earned; I can dress like a boy, I can dress like a girl, Keep your
beautiful words, but I’m not concerned.”
A couple of
songs get into protest and social awareness mode. ‘God Control’, featuring the
Tiffin Children’s Choir, makes a plea to control ownership of guns, specially
after the various shootings in the US. On ‘Killers Who Are Partying’, Madonna
puts herself in place of various minorities. Check out the lines, “I’ll be poor
if the poor are humiliated, And I’ll be a child if the children are exploited.”
The album
has guest artistes like rapper Quavo (on ‘Future’), rapper Sway Lee (on ‘Crave’)
and singer Anitta (on the Latino-flavoured ‘Faz Gostoso’). Though ‘Batuka’ has
Latino-styled melodies, there’s something Indian about its format, with the
Batukadeiras Orchestra repeating every line Madonna sings. There’s a real
beauty in ‘Extreme Occident’, a melodic tune with the lyrics, “I guess I’m
lost, I had to pay the cost, The thing that hurt me most, was that I wasn’t
lost.” Check put the Indian rhythms in the middle of the piece.
The rest of
the album is quite unimpressive. ‘Looking For Mercy’ and ‘I Rise’ may have
catchy tunes, but we’ve sort of grown out of these sounds 20 years ago. Some numbers
are too reminiscent of early Madonna and even Shakira. A couple of fewer songs,
and this album would be just right. Moreover, Madonna’s core fan base has moved
on, and today’s youngsters are tuned in to something else.
Despite
these challenges, it’s a commendable effort by Madonna. From her self-titled 1983
debut, via albums like Like A Virgin,
Like A Prayer, Ray Of Light, Music, Confessions On A Dance Floor, MDNA and
now Madame X, and also some
forgettable work in between, she’s just carried on. In the pop-dance space,
this is worth a listen. Her stardom and image are always a bonus.
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