This often happens. Madonna does not release music as frequently as someone like Rihanna. As much as I would LOVE to have Madonna release a new album every year, that is not going to happen. Madonna does not abide by any rules other than her own. She will release music whenever she is ready to release new music and I just have to wait.
And the anticipating of hearing new Madonna music is excruciating. My mind always tends to wander to thinking about what the music will sound like. Will it be danceable? Will it be fresh? Will it be GOOD?
Because if there's one thing any Madonna fan knows, it's that throughout the course of her 30-year career, not every Madonna album is as amazing as you might want it to be. She releases an album like Erotica which everyone pans, but then follows it up with Bedtime Stories and everyone is back on board. She releases and album like American Life which deemed Madonna a failure, but then she releases Confessions on a Dancefloor and people are praising her all over again. Everybody loves a good comeback and Madonna has had many.
The first time Madonna "disappointed" me was with the release of her Erotica album. Although the album was mostly overshadowed by the release of her SEX book, the album brought with it the lead single and accompanying video for "Erotica" which was basically soft-core porn. The video was raunchier than Madonna had ever been. The song was a dark, thumping, orgasmic-sounding S&M filled tune with Madonna's shrill orders to "put your hands all over my body." I sorta liked the song, but it wasn't in the same league as "Vogue." There was no anthemic dance video. And worse, there was no radio play. US radio was not ready to be part of Madonna's kinky orgy.
Erotica the song was lackluster for me. I remember wondering why on earth she was doing any of that. What was she thinking? How on earth did she think this was a good idea? Where had the Madonna from Vogue gone? Vogue-Madonna was AMAZING! I worshipped at the altar of Vogue when that song and video came out. I was a sixteen-year old, unknowingly gay teenager in love with the idea of dancing and being dramatic and hearing Madonna ordering me to "strike a pose." Where had THAT Madonna gone???
But that's how she is. Just when you get used to one Madonna, she changes and evolves and grows as a person and along with that so does her art and then she's putting out a new album and it doesn't quite sound like the last one you loved and you see the video and she's not dancing the same or she's not dressed like she was and this sense of disappointment comes and you wonder if you'll ever love Madonna ever again.
But Madonna doesn't reveal all of her cards at the same time. She likes to establish a tone, but that doesn't mean that's the ONLY tone. Which is exactly what happened with her Erotica phase. After being awash in the seedy sex of the book and the video and the lyrics of Erotica, Madonna released her second single which was "Deeper and Deeper." It was and still is, one of the catchiest dance tracks of her career. You can't not sing along to the chorus. It is insanely infectious and impossible to forget. By the time she sings lyrics from Vogue (one of the most heavenly, self-congratulatory self-samples EVER) you can't NOT dance along.
Having been able to grow up and re-listen to her albums over and over and over and over, I have come to appreciate what she did with her Erotica album. Just like I'm able to appreciate some of her other albums that I didn't LOVE right away (American Life, Hard Candy). Sometimes I guess I can get so wrapped up in what I thought she should be doing, that I don't appreciate what she actually IS doing. But in the space when she hasn't released new music, I go back and re-listen to many of her older albums and find things I didn't notice before, or remember things that I loved upon first listen. I fall in love with the songs all over again.
Lately, Madonna's taken some serious ageist criticism. Everybody thinks Madonna is too old to continue doing what she's doing. She's no longer relevant. She should stop making music. Madonna should pack it in. She should start "acting her age." To clarify, the woman is 55-years old. Though that is not the young Madonna who danced onto the scene back in 1982 with the release of her first single "Everybody," she is certainly not a senior citizen ready to be carted off to a retirement home. Anybody who can put on a two-hour show like her MDNA tour is not old, they are talented and bold and inspiring.
Madonna at 55 is a prime example that life doesn't have to end as we grow older. It doesn't have to mean we are purposeless and fragile and weak and sedentary. We should be praising her for continuing to achieve the feats she does, rather than tear her down. And though I may not always be happy she uses fillers and freezers to maintain a younger face, it is her decision and hers alone. If my career depended on my physical self, maybe I'd be doing the same thing.
But for now, I anxiously wait for her to release new music. It is one of my all-time favorite experiences in the world: hearing new Madonna music. There is nothing quite like it. There is sheer and utter joy when hearing a Madonna song for the very first time. Sometimes it is followed with disappointment, and sometimes it is filled with euphoria, but it is ALWAYS filled with gratification. Because it just means she's grabbed you and she's not letting go and you're in her world and you better enjoy the ride. Or else you might get a spanky.
No comments:
Post a Comment