Category Archives: 2015

Today in Madonna History: April 24, 2015

April 24, 2016 By in 2015, April Tags: 1 Comment

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On April 24 2015, the second single from Madonna’s Rebel Heart album, Ghosttown, was released as a 2-track single in Germany.

Digital Spy had this to say about the single:

If anyone will prove themselves indestructible come the apocalypse, then surely it will be the enduring might of Madonna that survives? According to her latest single Ghosttown, that’s exactly the case. “When it all falls, when it all falls down/ I’ll be your fire when the lights go out,” Madge promises her love on the haunting pop serenade, which gradually builds into a suitably theatrical finale ready for the Queen of Pop’s forthcoming world tour. It hears Madonna significantly more subdued and reflective compared to her handbag bangers of recent years, but by doing so it makes the biggest possible impact.

Today in Madonna History: April 23, 2015

April 23, 2016 By in 2015, April Tags: , , , , , , , 3 Comments

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On April 23 2015, Tori Amos came to Madonna’s defense when questioned about the ageist undertones on social media – and by the media at large – in reaction to her “wardrobe malfunction” at the 2015 Brit Awards:

Madonna is an entertainer. There are very few people who could’ve gotten up off that floor. It wasn’t because of her that she fell, but it was because of her that the performance carried on. Some of the vilification comes from women as much as men. She’s making choices and she’s able to do things physically that a lot of people 25 years younger can’t; she got up and refused to allow that to shame her. I think people want her to be shamed into a role that they find acceptable for her age. It makes me sad that we can’t embrace Madonna and say, Wow, this is an artist who’s expressing herself in a certain way.”

— Tori Amos

Tori often incorporates one or two cover songs by other artists into her live shows, but there are only a handful of artists whom she has covered multiple songs, and Madonna is one of them. She has performed both Live To Tell and Like A Prayer at numerous concerts, with the most recent Madonna composition to join her live repertoire being Frozen, which made its debut in Amsterdam in 2014.

(Many thanks to YouTube user LittleQueenbee77 for the great live footage of this performance!)

Today in Madonna History: April 21, 2015

April 21, 2016 By in 2015, April Tags: 1 Comment

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On April 21 2015, Madonna appeared on the cover of the Belgium entertainment magazine, Storywood.

Today in Madonna History: April 14, 2015

April 14, 2016 By in 2015, April Tags: , , , , , , 1 Comment

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On April 14 2015, Madonna appeared on the cover of Cosmopolitan magazine’s 50th anniversary cover, to celebrate 50 years of power, provocation and living the Comso-girl life.  The May issue featured four different covers of Madonna, with photos by Ellen von Unwerth.

Here’s a snippet of the interview between Cosmopolitan and Madonna:

On longevity in her career: “Popularity comes and goes. You need to know who you are, what you stand for, and why you’re here.”

On sexuality and ageism: “Don’t be fooled, not much has changed — certainly not for women. We still live in a very sexist society that wants to limit people. Since I started, I’ve had people giving me a hard time because they didn’t think you could be sexual or have sexuality or sensuality in your work and be intelligent at the same time. For me, the fight has never ended.”

On Internet haters: “You can hide behind your computer or your phone and say whatever you want — you’re not known. Could you say it to my face? Would you say it to my face? I doubt it.”

Today in Madonna History: April 9, 2015

April 9, 2016 By in 2015, April Tags: , , , 1 Comment

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On April 9 2015, Madonna performed Bitch I’m Madonna on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. Madonna also made her stand-up debut and performed Holiday with Jimmy Fallon and the Roots (using classroom instruments).

Today in Madonna History: April 7, 2015

April 7, 2016 By in 2015, April Tags: , , 4 Comments

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On April 7 2015, it was announced that the Ghosttown music video would premiere on the Meerkat mobile app that enables users to broadcast live video streaming through their mobile device:

“When it all falls, When it all falls down, I’ll be your fire when the lights go out…” Join us on Meerkat at 10am PST tomorrow for the world premiere of the full Ghosttown video!!”

Jay’s comment: Why Madonna’s management decided to premiere her video through Meerkat instead of a more widely used distributor, I’ll never understand.  The distribution for this video was a disaster.  Advertised as premiering at 10am on April 8 — it never appeared on screen.  By 1pm, Meerkat was still trying to figure it out.  The video ended up premiering the following day.

Madonna’s management seriously needs to review Madonna’s core fanbase and realize that we’re not 14-18 year olds using every brand new gimmicky social media application.  We’re 35-60 now — and getting older by the day.  Her hardcore fans were turned off by this method of release.  Her casual fans were annoyed by the perplexing release strategy.  Was there a kick-back that served to pay for the video? Is that why Guy allowed this disaster to proceed? As a long-time fan — and after so many unacceptable hiccups in the Rebel Heart era, I’m surprised Madonna wasn’t asking for his resignation.  It was her strongest video in years, her best song/single in years — and it was treated as if it were Jimmy Jimmy — Baffling! Madonna – you can do better — you DESERVE better!

 

Today in Madonna History: March 29, 2015

March 29, 2016 By in 2015, March Tags: , , 1 Comment

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On March 29 2015, Madonna performed Ghosttown with Taylor Swift at the iHeartRadio Music Awards.

Here’s what Rolling Stone magazine had to say about the performance:

The 2015 iHeartRadio Music Awards promised there would be “unexpected collaborations” between the marquee artists attending the Los Angeles event, and the ceremony didn’t disappoint as Taylor Swift joined Madonna for an acoustic rendition of the Rebel Heart singer’s new single Ghosttown.

Following the performance, Madonna tweeted, “My new favorite guitar player! Thank you Taylor!”