On June 20 2006, Madonna’s first live album, I’m Going to Tell You a Secret, containing songs from the documentary of the same name, was released.
The two-disc set included a CD with 14 songs (including a previously unreleased Demo Rock Version of I Love New York), and a DVD with the documentary film.
The documentary provided a behind-the-scenes look at Madonna’s 2004 Re-Invention Tour. The documentary was directed by Jonas Åkerlund.
On June 12 2015, Madonna’s Bitch I’m Madonna music video teaser premiered.
The video was shot in New York City at the Standard Hotel and was directed by long-time fan-favourite director, Jonas Åkerlund.
Jonas explained how the video evolved:
Madonna called me about Ghosttown. We hadn’t worked for a while because of different circumstances so when I heard all the songs from Rebel Heart, I was very excited about Ghosttown. I connected to it creatively. And, yeah, we enjoyed working together. I was supposed to start something else right after and that got pushed [back] and she asked me to do Bitch I’m Madonna. I saw it being so completely different from Ghosttown, something a little bit less serious, just fun and crazy.
On May 12 1998, Madonna’s Ray of Light video premiered on MTV.
The video was directed by Jonas Åkerlund, with Madonna’s scenes being shot on March 25–26, 1998 at Raleigh Studios and Florentine Gardens nightclub in downtown Los Angeles. The images of various cities include Los Angeles, New York, London, Las Vegas and Stockholm.
The video was ranked No. 40 on VH1’s 100 Greatest Videos, listed No. 1 on Back In… 98’s Top 5 Best Videos, ranked No. 7 on Listed’s Top 40 Memorable Videos Pt. 1 & 2, on MuchMoreMusic, and ranked No. 26 on MuchMusic’s 100 Best Videos. It was ranked at number four on “The Top 100 Videos That Broke The Rules”, issued by MTV on the channel’s 25th anniversary in August 2006.
The video received a total of eight MTV Video Music Awards nominations, becoming Madonna’s second most-nominated video at the award show, after “Vogue” in 1990. It won five awards for Video of the Year, Best Female Video, Best Direction, Best Editing and Best Choreography, becoming her most-winning song at the show.
On February 24 1999, Madonna performed Nothing Really Matters at the 41st Annual Grammy Awards. Madonna also took home 4 Grammies:
On February 10 2008, Madonna won her 7th Grammy Award. The Confessions Tour film, directed by Jonas Åkerlund, took home the award for Best Long Form Music Video.
It marked Madonna’s fourth Grammy nomination for Best Long Form Music Video, and her second win in the category:
On May 8 2006, Warner Bros. announced that Madonna would be releasing her Jonas Åkerlund-directed documentary I’m Going to Tell You a Secret as a DVD/CD package on June 20.
“It’s sort of a circle around three families: the family of the people I work with, the family that I live with, and the family of man, the world that I live in.”
“It’s about the trials and tribulations of putting a show together, the struggle to balance my life as an entertainer with my life as a mother, and it’s also about the world, my politics, my belief systems, my philosophy, about where I feel my place in the world is.”
On April 16 2003, Madonna released an edited version of the American Life video on VH-1.
The edited version (also called the “flag” version) featured Madonna singing in front of a backdrop of ever-changing flags of different countries.
