Madame X - Madonna (2019)
Fast forward 30 years from Like A Prayer, and Madonna had lived a whole life. She’d stayed in the spotlight far longer than most of her 80s peers by developing her vocal ability, pursuing more acting, starring in the film version of Evita, and generally being a globetrotting celebrity.
Her move to Lisbon in 2017 dropped her into a whole new world of music as she began to meet and play with local musicians and learn some Portugese.
As I said before, Madonna has always had an ear to the ground for the “next big thing” in dance music. Her intake of local Lisbon flavor combined with the rising trends in Latin and Caribbean rhythms in dance and pop, and she went to the studio with a headful of ideas and her usual production crew from the previous few years.
What came out was probably never going to be a top-selling pop record like the ones she made when she was younger. But it is a fully realized vision of what she wanted to communicate, both musically and lyrically.
If anything, it’s hard to listen to the music and separate it from the celebrity persona who’s creating it. But she’s gotten ever better over the years at curating her musical tastes and combining it with sincere and personal lyrics to make a statement in a way few artists are prepared to.
