Madonna’s Madame X, her 3rd studio album in a decade and 14th overall in the 36 years since her 1983 self titled debut, finds the 60 year old reigning queen of pop music in a reflective mood. Not unlike Bowie and his revolving cast of characters Madonna too has metamorphosed over the years from one iconic persona to another. In brief manifesto style fashion she types out the details of her latest transgression:
Madame X is a secret agent
Traveling around the world
Changing identities
Fighting for freedom
Bringing light to dark places
She is a cha cha instructor
A professor
A head of state
A housekeeper
An equestrian
A prisoner
A student
A teacher
A nun
A cabaret singer
A saint
A prostitute
In short, a laundry list of the many faces of Madonna herself. There’s precious little else along the lines of detailed information given in the accompanying liner notes other than four featured artists credits given out to Maluma, Quavo, Swae Lee and Anitta. In an age of information overload Madonna has ironically chosen not to reveal too much.
In true dancing about architecture fashion the proof is in the pudding and in the case of Madame X the first five tracks alone tell much of the story. 25 minutes into the near hour long album Madame X seamlessly segues from cha cha beats to arty spoken word, classical, choral, 70s disco, faux reggae dancehall and straight up EDM beats. To be clear, Madonna’s not fucking around. For over 20 years now she has been saddling up the hottest hired gun DJ music production teams money can buy and Madame X is no different. A veritable Mercedes Benz of production value Madonna’s Madame X fields the Yankees and knocks another one straight outta the park.
Rating: 8/10
Star Rating: 4/5
2019 Song Of The Day Club 14/52