On April 8 2015, Madonna’s Ghosttown music video premiered on VEVO. The music video was filmed in Los Angeles, directed by Jonas Åkerlund and co-starred Terrence Howard.
Category Archives: 2015
Today in Madonna History: March 27, 2015
On March 27 2015, Madonna graced the cover of New York gay magazine Next. The magazine included a four-page spread with an interview to the Queen of Queens by John Russell.
Here’s a snippet of the interview between Russell and Madonna:
I counted at least 13 different producers in the album’s liner notes, but it was never Madonna’s intention to work with so many different people on the album. The same health concerns that forced Avicii to cancel his tour in September also threw a wrench into his work on Rebel Heart. Madonna was forced to find other producers to work with on many of the songs they’d started writing together. Meanwhile, Diplo’s touring schedule and other projects meant that his time was limited as well.
“I ended up working with a lot of DJs—young DJs—and I naively didn’t think it through. Oh, it’s summertime, it’s the festivals, and they’re on tour, and I’ll be lucky if I get them for three days, so a lot of that had to factor in. OK, I can’t wait for three months for this dude to come back. I have to find somebody else.”
Of course, art never gets made in a vacuum, something Madonna knows and accepts. “I had to bend my knees and ride the waves.”
The result is an album that, at first, seems all over the map. But it’s tough to judge an album by an artist like Madonna after just one listen. Even if you’re only familiar with her hits, those past gems loom large in comparison to the new material. You’re listening for her next step and at the same time hoping she’ll retain whatever lighting in a bottle quality her early hits had. On first listen, Rebel Heart has its moments, sure. But it’s not until a week after hearing the full album, when I find myself humming Unapologetic Bitch and Ghosttown on the subway, that it really feels like the album clicks into place. Will anyone but diehard Madonna fans—and that’s not an insignificant demographic within her fanbase—listen to the whole album, start to finish, more than once or twice? Probably not. But I’m not sure that matters. Every pop album has to include some forgettable filler tracks—although with the way we consume music these days a la carte, who knows how much longer that model will last. But even at a whopping 19 tracks—23, plus two Living for Love remixes on the Super Deluxe edition—there’s not much fat to trim on Rebel Heart. As a whole, it’s probably Madonna’s most listenable since Confessions on a Dance Floor.
“I didn’t set out to write certain kinds of songs. I just set out to write good songs,” she says. There are dark turns on the album, also a bit of soul searching. And the ballads are particularly strong. Apparently, Madonna set out to write songs that, stripped of all their production, could also work on an acoustic level.
“When we run out of oil and we don’t have electricity, I can just light a candle and strum my guitar and sing you a song.”
Today in Madonna History: March 18, 2015
On March 18 2015, Madonna’s Rebel Heart album debuted on Billboard’s Canadian Top Albums chart at #1.
All seven of Madonna’s studio albums released since Nielsen SoundScan began monitoring album sales in Canada in 1996 have entered the Canadian chart at #1, as did her 2009 hits collection, Celebration.
In contrast to Billboard’s Top 200 in the U.S., where Rebel Heart entered at #2 before falling to #21 the following week, sales remained relatively steady in Canada, with the album dipping only one position to #2 in its second week.
Interestingly, the album that blocked Rebel Heart from reaching the top spot in the U.S. (the Empire: Season 1 soundtrack) charted for only one week in Canada, peaking at #25.
Today in Madonna History: March 14, 2015
On March 14 2015, Madonna was interviewed by Jonathan Ross for The Jonathan Ross Show on ITV. Madonna was in the UK to promote Rebel Heart. Jonathan had interviewed Madonna once previously in 1992, during the promotion of her Erotica album.
Watch the interview here:
Today in Madonna History: March 11, 2015
On March 11 2015, Madonna was interviewed by Howard Stern on SiriusXM.
Here are some tidbits we learned about Madonna during the interview, according to Rolling Stone magazine:
- Her shocking VMA debut of “Like a Virgin” was an accident. “I had come down the wedding cake and my shoe fell off,” she said. “I was like ‘Oh shit, I can’t dance in one shoe!” The mishap prompted quick decision-making on Madonna’s end as to how to proceed with the performance and led to the controversial stage-humping that took place at the first Video Music Awards. “I didn’t know my skirt was up. I proceeded to sing the song laying down on the ground. I was just making the best of the situation.” She noted that her manager Freddy DeMann told her that her career would be over following the performance.
- She craves normalcy every once in a while. “Every 3 days I crave it,” she said. “Every three days I go, ‘That’s it. I’m moving to a cabin and living in the forest and no one’s gonna fuck with me anymore.'” Stern probed as to why she thinks she could never give up her career and life in the spotlight. “Because I’m an artist and I’m tortured. I’m a masochist and I like to create. I don’t know. Maybe one day I will.”
- Madonna’s first year in New York included multiple robberies, an assault and an unreported rape. “I needed money for the payphone and [a stranger] gave it to me,” she said. “He was a very friendly guy, and the phone was ringing. He was like, ‘Oh, I live right across the street if you’d like to make the phone call from my house.” The then 19-year-old Madonna agreed, blaming her “stupid friendliness” from her Midwestern roots. “I trusted everybody. The rest is not worth talking about.”
- She doesn’t hate David Letterman. Stern acknowledged some early interviews between the pop star and talk show host, noting he could never tell if she liked him or was annoyed. “Oh, that’s how I flirt with people,” she revealed. “One time I was mad at him, when I said the ‘f-word’ a lot, but the rest of the time was good.”
- She dated Tupac Shakur. The late rapper had actually been the reason Madonna was mad at Letterman. “I was dating Tupac Shakur at the time, and he had gotten me all riled up about life in general,” she said. “When I went on this show, I was feeling very gangster.” Stern revealed his surprise about the little-known past relationship. “I think people know, if you’re in the know,” said Madonna coyly.
- The misunderstood meaning of “Material Girl” gets on her nerves. “The song that irritated me the most about being associated with me is ‘Material Girl,'” she said. “It was an ironic song because I’m certainly not a materialistic person.” The topic came up as Stern had her clear up a rumor that she detested the success of “Like a Virgin” because other people had written it. The singer declared the rumor false, asserting that she loves the song and appreciates its writers.
- Upon making her first $1 million, she indulged in buying a Frida Kahlo painting. “That was always my goal,” she said on her art collection. “When I was married to Sean [Penn], I said ‘When I make my first million, I’m going to buy art.'” Madonna had been a huge fan of Frida Kahlo since she was young. “I bought a self-portrait of hers. At the time it was rather inexpensive because people didn’t know who she was.”
- Jean-Michel Basquiat destroyed all the paintings he had given to her. Madonna and Basquiat had dated when the singer was very young, but his heroin addiction ended up pulling them apart. “He was an amazing man and deeply talented. I loved him,” she said. “When I broke up with him, he made me give all [his paintings] back to him. And then he painted over them black.” She regrets giving the art back, but felt pressured to do so since it was something he had created.
- She wrote “Vogue” in a few hours. Madonna stands by the idea that her best songs are the ones she wrote in only a couple of hours, “Vogue” included. “I thought it was a very cool dance, very presentational and elegant and all about vanity,” she said about the dance of the same name. The song had been written for Dick Tracy, the film she made with ex-boyfriend Warren Beatty, and was inspired by all the classic movie stars. “[Warren] dated all of Hollywood, basically.” She would ask him questions about what the stars she admired — and he dated — were like, including Natalie Wood and Julie Christie. “I looked up to [these women] and admired them.”
Today in Madonna History: February 19, 2015
On February 19 2015, Madonna appeared on the cover of Gala magazine.
Here’s a snippet of the interview included in the magazine:
What is the greatest misconception people have about Madonna?
Oh well, there are plenty. One, for sure is that I am not vulnerable. Some people think that I am never sad nor depressed or exhausted and that I never suffer from a broken heart. They think of me as bigger than life. Or they believe that I am cold-hearted and calculating. But you know what? I hate this question (pours tequila and hands it over).
Hold on for a second: you said I had to drink for every stupid question.
Well, I extend it with another category: annoying. Cheers. Drink it up!
And where is the salt and the lemon?
We didn’t have enough money for that (laughs).
Your answer to the question about misconception shows that you are also a vulnerable person. “Rebel Heart” shows this part of your personality. Have you grown softer in the last years?
In some ways, yes. But even 25 years ago I already was romantic and sensitive. The other part of me will always be a rebel.
How do you handle the hostility directed at you?
Sometimes I am very hurt, when I read the hateful and nasty comments people make about me on the Internet. I think it’s shocking how mean and vicious some people can be. It’s a very cowardly behaviour. Those people would never say these things to my face, if they met me in the streets.
You really read the nasty comments about you?
Every now and then, yes I do.
Why do you hurt yourself this way?
Because, I am a very curious person. And luckily, there are not only nasty comments, but a lot of positive things. For me it’s exciting to see what my fans are thinking. And, concerning the haters: I have grown a very thick skin. I have always been criticized. Some people think I am a superwoman. But I am not. Some comments directed at me really get under my skin and hurt me. After all, I am just a normal woman.
Today in Madonna History: December 31, 2015
On December 31 2015, Madonna was featured on the cover of Elle France magazine.
Here’s a snippet of the article inside (translated):
“Morons have always hated her. Or loathed her. For Madonna is not only consumerism. It would be an insult to Madonna fans to speak of her only in terms of figures. Because she was the first to deliver this message to such big crowds, and still does after 30 years: that her femininity is openly in conflict with what religions demand from female individuals, yet her femininity never ceases to be spiritual.”
Today In Madonna History 