On January 13 2001, Madonna graced the cover of InStyle magazine. Inside included new photos by Regan Cameron (some were later used to promote the Drowned World Tour) and an interview by Tim Allis.
On January 13 2001, Madonna graced the cover of InStyle magazine. Inside included new photos by Regan Cameron (some were later used to promote the Drowned World Tour) and an interview by Tim Allis.
On September 18 2001, Impressive Instant was released as a promotional club single to DJs in the US. Written and produced by Madonna & Mirwais Ahmadzaï, the track is bright and uplifting in its content and composition. Originally intended to be the fourth single of the Music album, a commercial release was cancelled due to a disagreement between Madonna and her recording company.
Potentially fearing the track as being too experimental to garner significant airplay, Warner had instead showed interest in releasing Amazing as the fourth single. If hopes were that it would replicate the airplay success of her similar-sounding summertime hit Beautiful Stranger several years prior, Madonna was reportedly less enthusiastic about repeating herself. Promotional copies of Amazing were issued in Germany, Spain, Columbia and Israel before Warner seemingly pulled the plug on pushing the song – perhaps at Madonna’s insistence. In the end, the rift reportedly resulted in neither track being released commercially, making Music her first studio album (excluding I’m Breathless) to spawn only three commercial singles.
Remixes that had been commissioned for Impressive Instant by the late Peter Rauhofer were finally released to clubs as a promotional single at the tail end of her successful Drowned World Tour.
Official Peter Rauhofer promotional remixes of Impressive Instant :
On August 26 2001, Madonna Live! Drowned World Tour 2001 was broadcast live on HBO and The Movie Network in Canada from The Palace Of Auburn Hills, Auburn Hills, MI. It was seen by 5.7 million viewers – the network’s third highest rated prime-time concert special since 1997.
The broadcast marked the second time Madonna had selected her hometown as a location to record one of her shows, the first being The Virgin Tour home video/laserdisc release, filmed in 1985 at Cobo Arena in Detroit.
With the Drowned World Tour itinerary not including any dates in Canada, many Canadian fans who purchased tickets for one of the two shows in Detroit were pleasantly surprised when it was announced that the second show would be broadcast live in both countries. Madonna’s previous HBO specials for the Blond Ambition and Girlie Show tours did not receive a live broadcast in Canada, although the latter did air on MuchMusic at a later date.
On March 22 2001, Madonna’s What It Feels Like For A Girl music video premiered.
The video was directed by Madonna’s then-husband, Guy Ritchie, and was deemed to be “Too Hot for TV” by MTV and VH1 because the video depicted gunplay, assault and suicide.
MTV released this statement about the video and their decision to ban it:
It’s been some time since Madonna ruffled the feathers of MTV or VH1 execs with a controversial video — perhaps not since 1992’s Erotica clip — so just under a decade later, the first lady of shock pop is out to prove she can still make ’em sweat.
Unlike the steamy segments of Erotica, 1990’s Justify My Love, and the one that started it all, Like a Prayer, it’s not the sexual content of What It Feels Like for a Girl that raises the red flag, it’s the violence — a concerted no-no in the post-Columbine, and more recently post-Santana, decision-making process.
The music in the video, it should be noted, is a dance remix of the version found on Madonna’s latest album, Music. The album cut will serve as the LP’s third single.
The video “shows my character acting out a fantasy and doing things girls are not allowed to do,” Madonna said in a written statement distributed by her record label, Warner Bros. “This is an angry song and I wanted a matching visual with an edgy dance mix.”
Although What It Feels Like for a Girl won’t be added to the music channel’s regular rotation, MTV and VH1 will air the clip just once.