This is in many ways Madonna’s softest record, but it displays some of her most effortless, appealing songwriting craft. Madonna’s foray into R&B has gotten better with age. Truth be told, there’s very little confessing on Confessions. The lyrics are often breathtakingly beautiful (“Connect to the sky/ Future lovers ride/ Their ambitions high/ Would you like to try”) and occasionally goofy (“I don’t like cities but I like New York/ Other places make me feel like a dork”). Madonna got on the horse after the disappointment of American Life but quick, with an all-dance record that has unlimited replay value. Who else could rock a pop song about child neglect? “Live to Tell” is Madonna’s greatest ballad, and maybe even her best song, period. She wrote all of the words herself. This is when Madonna took the reins and reinvented herself head-to-toe for the first time. True Blue is the highest-selling album by a female artist of the 1980s, and one of the best-selling records of all time. How about the rest of the tracks, though? Do you remember “Think of Me” and “I Know It?” “Borderline,” “Everybody,” “Holiday,” “Burning Up,” and “Lucky Star” are essential Madonna, bona fide pop classics. The album that got this whole thing going is, not unlike Like a Virgin, uneven overall but with sky-high highs. Most of Madame X works well, and like on Erotica, it’s a pleasure to see the most successful female recording artist ever create something experimental, relentlessly anti-establishment and knowingly uncommercial. The whole thing is really spirited (see: “Batuka,” “God Control,” “Faz Gostoso”). “Medellín” and “Crazy” are the album’s best tracks.
That said, Madonna’s work with Maluma is inspired, sexy and sonically lovely. Though there are still too many, the relatively fewer collaborators and guest appearances is a plus. Nothing here quite reaches the highs of “Living For Love” or “Ghosttown,” but the album is more cohesive, and Madonna takes more of the credit. Madonna’s latest is about neck-and-neck with Rebel Heart. There’s a lot to appreciate here, though: “Ghosttown” is gorgeous, and folky “Body Shop” sounds so experimental and appealing it’s easy to overlook the fact that it’s one big sex/car repair innuendo.įor all intents and purposes, this is Madonna’s Latin-American Life. Though it’s not as intrusive as on MDNA and Hard Candy, Rebel Heart suffers from too many cooks in the kitchen, too many trendy references, etc. The lyrics on “Heartbreak City” are uninspired and goofy, and the song stops the album dead for a moment. “Like a Virgin” and “Material Girl” are two of the catchiest, not to mention most iconic tracks in pop music- and they overshadow the rest of the album, which is otherwise mostly filler, save for “Dress You Up” and, to a lesser extent, “Love Don’t Live Here Anymore” and “Angel.”įirst thing’s first: Lead single Living For Love is one of Madonna’s best tracks ever, and Rebel Heart might have been something like a home run if it were a few tracks shorter. Make no mistake: This is the moment Madonna proved she wasn’t a flash in the pan, and became a pop culture giant. There are moments of brilliance: “Nobody Knows Me” has great spirit, “Mother and Father” has a rousing chorus, and “Die Another Day” is a terrific dance track, just a weird fit for Bond…but ultimately American Life is a downer, and not in a good way. The rapping in the lead single is still nails-on-a-chalkboard, and the album never really takes off, only partially committing to a stripped-down singer/songwriter aesthetic. It’s still hard to warm up to American Life.