Madame X

Madame X

by Madonna
Madame X

Madame X

by Madonna

CD

$15.49 
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Overview

Madame X is the rare album from a veteran artist that puts earlier records in a different light. Ever since the 1980s, the conventional wisdom about Madonna claimed she brought trends from the musical underground for the purpose of pop hits, but Madame X -- a defiantly dense album that has little to do with pop, at least in the standard American sense -- emphasizes the artistic instincts behind these moves. The shift in perception stems from Madonna embracing a world outside of the United States. While she's been an international superstar since the dawn of her career, Madonna relocated to Lisbon, Portugal in 2017, a move that occurred two years after Rebel Heart -- an ambitious record balanced between revivals of old styles and new sounds -- failed to burn up any Billboard chart outside of Dance singles. These two developments fuel Madame X, an album that treats America as a secondary concern at best. Madonna may address the political and social unrest that's swept across the globe during the latter years of the 2010s, but her commentary is purposely broad. Perhaps Madonna errs on the side of being a little bit too broad -- on "Killers Who Are Partying," she paints herself as a martyr for every oppressed voice in the world -- yet this instinct to look outside of her experience leads her to ground Madame X in various strains of Latinx sounds, trap, and art-pop, music that not only doesn't sound much like the American pop charts in 2019, but requires focused attention in a manner that makes the songs not especially friendly to playlisting. Madame X has its share of colorful neo-disco numbers and shimmering chill-out tracks, but they're painted in dark hues, and they're surrounded by songs so closely cloistered, they can play like mini-suites. Case in point is "Dark Ballet," an ominous number that descends into a sinister, robotic rendition of Tchaikovsky's "Dance of the Reed Flutes" section from The Nutcracker -- an allusion that recalls not the future, but the dystopian horror show of A Clockwork Orange. Such darkness hangs heavy over Madame X, surfacing fiercely in the clenched-mouth phrasing on "God Control," but present even on the bobbing reggae of "Future." The murk does lift on occasion -- "Come Alive" gains levity from its clustered polyrhythms -- but the somber tenor when combined with fearless exploration does mean Madame X can be demanding listening. The rhythms are immediate but the songs aren't, nor are the opaque productions. While this thick, heady confluence of cultures and sounds may demand concentration, Madame X not only amply rewards such close listening, but its daring embrace of the world outside the U.S. underscores how Madonna has been an advocate and ally for left-of-mainstream sounds and ideas throughout her career. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Product Details

Release Date: 06/14/2019
Label: Interscope / Polydor
UPC: 0602577582714

Tracks

  1. Medell¿¿n
  2. Dark Ballet
  3. God Control
  4. Future
  5. Batuka
  6. Killers Who Are Partying
  7. Crave
  8. Crazy
  9. Come Alive
  10. Faz Gostoso
  11. Bitch I'm Loca
  12. I Don't Search I Find
  13. I Rise

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Madonna   Primary Artist
Kimi Djabate   Primary Artist
Anitta   Primary Artist,Featured Artist
Swae Lee   Primary Artist,Featured Artist
Maluma   Primary Artist,Featured Artist
Quavo   Primary Artist,Featured Artist
Tiffin Children's Choir   Vocals (Background)
The Batukadeiras Orchestra   Vocals (Background)

Technical Credits

Mirwais   Producer
Casey Spooner   Composer
Diplo   Producer
Mirwais Ahmadzai   Composer
Madonna Ciccone   Composer
Jason Evigan   Composer,Producer
Luiz Vieira   Composer
Billboard   Producer
Thomas Wesley Pentz   Composer
Karla Rodrigues   Composer
Edgar Barrera   Composer
Duarte Carvalho   Composer
Stiven Rojas Escobar   Composer
Lauren D'Elia   Composer
Juan Luis Londono   Composer
Quavious Marshall   Composer
Clement Picard   Composer
Maxime Picard   Composer
Khalif Brown   Composer
Swae Lee   Composer
Quavo   Composer
Brittany Hazzard   Composer
Stiven Rojas   Composer
Mateus Seabra   Composer
Rodrigo Carmo   Composer
MC Zuka   Composer
George Forbes James   Composer
David Banda   Composer
Sunamy   Producer
Marvin Rodriguez   Composer
Jeff Bhasker   Producer,Composer
Mike Dean   Producer
Pharrell Williams   Producer,Composer
Madonna   Producer
Emanuel Oliveira   Composer
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