“Madame X is a secret agent, travelling around the world, changing identities, fighting for freedom, bringing light to dark places.

She is a cha cha instructor, a professor, a head of state, a housekeeper, an equestrian, a prisoner, a student, a teacher, a nun, a cabaret singer, a saint, a prostitute. “ (album booklet)

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“Madame X” has been out since June 14^th, and I wanted to wait and listen to it a few times before writing about it as I couldn’t decide whether or not I liked this album.

Some days I was loving it, some others I wasn’t so sure. I think that you have to be in a certain kind of mood to fully enjoy this record. This is not the album you’ll put on casually when your friends are coming over or when you’re cleaning the house.

It’s probably Madonna’s most personal album she’s ever made. She has become more and more political throughout the years and she speaks her truth: gun control, women’s right, religion, oppressed minorities… Madame X speaks on behalf of us all.

“I’ll be Islam, if Islam is hated
I’ll be Israel, if they’re incarcerated
I’ll be Native Indian, if the Indian has been taken
And I’ll be a woman, if she’s raped and her heart is breaking”

(Killers Who Are Partying)

It’s not an easy album to listen to as it’s very intense, lyrically speaking, and it is confusing in so many ways. If I had to sum it up, I would say that most of the songs are like Russian nesting dolls. There are several songs within one and you never know where it’s going to take you.

“Dark Ballet” and “God Control” are the best examples. The first one starts with a piano and vocals, then out of the blue, it goes straight to the Nutcracker Suite with a robotic voice talking about politics:

“They are so naive
They think we are not aware of their crimes
We know, but we are just not ready to act “

“God Control” starts the same way, then a disco beat takes over, building up the intensity of the song with strings and a choir.

“People think that I’m insane
The only gun is in my brain
Each new birth, it gives me hope
That’s why I don’t smoke that dope […]  We need to wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up”

The world of Madame X

“The world of Madame X” is a 22 minutes documentary released by Amazon on June 29th. Madonna tells us the story of the record and I feel like I finally understood the things that didn’t make sense when I heard it for the first time.

The first thing we learn is that Madame X was Madonna’s nickname when she was studying at the Martha Graham school of dance, as Martha thought she was a mysterious young woman. She decided it was a perfect name for her new album.

Madonna found her happy place in Lisbon, where she met Dino D’Santiago, a Portuguese singer of Cape Verdean descent, who took her to living room music sessions. She met all these incredible latin musicians there who play “the music of the soul” and that’s why we can hear some Fado influences (“Killer who are partying”), Cape Verdean rhythms (“Batuka”) and some Portuguese lyrics (“Crazy”) in the album .

Inspired by these sessions, Madonna did some recordings and sent them to producer Mirwais, who worked with her previously on the albums “Music”, “American Life” and “Confessions on the Dancefloor”, hoping he would be as inspired as her. And Mirwais worked his magic. His special sound is very obvious on tracks like “Crave” or “Extreme Occident”.

Madonna also tells us that even if she loves voices that don’t sound human and music that sounds robotic, there always has to be some humanity in everything she’s doing.

This is why the album is so experimental: Madonna combined her musical experiences in Lisbon with the trendy sound of Mirwais, while keeping her soul by writing about her values and what she believes in: freedom, peace and tolerance. I strongly recommend to watch “The World of Madame X“, it’s so interesting.

“I Rise” is opening with a segment of Stoneman Douglas High School shooting survivor Emma Gonzales’ speech and it is the perfect song to end this intense album. It’s about hope and courage, and Madonna gives a voice to minorities who are suffering and don’t have the opportunity to speak their mind.

“Just hold on to the little bit of magic in it “

I’m glad I took some time before writing about “Madame X”. I finally bought the album. Even if I probably won’t listen to it as much as I listen to my favourite album “Ray Of Light”, at least now I know for sure that “Madame X” is iconic in its own bizarre way.

I wrote this review a few months ago, but I’ve never had the occasion to post it.

This song is still one of my favourites at the moment, so even if it has been out for a while, I decided to post this article as Mark Ronson has just released his 5^th album “Late Night Feelings” that features this single.

Every superstar has known this throughout the years: If you need a hit, Mark Ronson is the one to go to.

The gifted songwriter/producer needs no introduction, and his strength has always been his adaptability.

Every artist who has ever collaborated with him got a tailored album, revealing their true musical colours.

Whether we’re talking about Amy Winehouse and her iconic “Back to Black” that suits her voice and personality perfectly or Bruno Mars with the groovy sound of “Uptown Funk”, Ronson seems to have the key to success and turns everything into gold.

Miley Cyrus started to exploit her love for country music in her last album “Younger Now” with songs like “Malibu” or “Week without you” in 2017.

She’s now teaming up with Mark Ronson on the very addictive “Nothing breaks like a heart”, full of country vibes mixed with a pop beat and dramatic strings.

Once again, Ronson found the perfect balance between the truest sound of the artist he’s working with and the musical trends.  Miley is going back to her roots with a guitar that reminds us of “Jolene” (remember the cover she did for the Backyard Sessions in 2012) while keeping the trendy sound of her last album.

 “This world can hurt you, it cuts you deep and leaves a scar, things fall apart but nothing breaks like a heart”

The lyrics are pretty straight forward, the song is about a relationship that is going down in flames.

“We got all night to fall in love, but just like that we fall apart, we’re broken, we’re broken”.

But it may have a deeper meaning if we look at the video.

Miley Cyrus wouldn’t be Miley Cyrus without a little bit of provocation.

She rides her car through the town, witnessing everything that is wrong with the world, and especially with the American society: children with guns, teenagers so obsessed with their phones that they don’t notice the car crashing through a wall, people fighting for toys and chocolate in a very busy store…

“Nothing, nothing, nothing’s gonna save us now”.

Ronson shows again that he really is a hitmaker with this new single, and Miley revealed that it’s not the only song he’s been working on with her of her upcoming album.

She also confirmed that the producer Mike Will Made-It from her album “Bangerz” is back in the game. Let’s not forget that “Bangerz” is the 2^nd best selling album by a female artist in 2013, with the famous “Wrecking Ball”.

With such a great team behind her, Miley Cyrus’s new album will probably be one of the most successful in 2019. She released an EP called “She is coming” on May 30th, and the new album should be called “She is”, but it doesn’t have a release date yet.

What about you, are you waiting for this album as much as I do?