''Madame X'' is the fourteenth
studio album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
by American singer-songwriter
Madonna
Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...
. It was released on June 14, 2019, by
Interscope Records
Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner Mus ...
. The album was creatively influenced by her expatriate life in
Lisbon
Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
,
Portugal, after relocating there in summer 2017. Madonna co-wrote and co-produced the album with a number of musicians, including
Mirwais,
Mike Dean, and
Jason Evigan. It also features guest appearances by
Maluma,
Quavo,
Swae Lee
Khalif Malik Ibn Shaman Brown (born June 7, 1993), known professionally as Swae Lee, is an American singer and rapper. Known for his wide vocal range and genre-bending, Swae Lee is one half of the hip hop duo Rae Sremmurd with his brother Slim J ...
, and
Anitta.
The album includes the singles "
Medellín
Medellín ( or ), officially the Municipality of Medellín ( es, Municipio de Medellín), is the second-largest city in Colombia, after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia. It is located in the Aburrá Valley, a central re ...
", "
Crave __NOTOC__
Crave or Craving may refer to:
Entertainment and media Companies and services
* Crave (streaming service), a Canadian video-on-demand streaming service
* Crave (TV network), a Canadian linear pay TV service operated in conjunction with ...
", "
I Rise
I Rise is an American hardcore punk band from Worcester, Massachusetts, United States. They released an album, an EP, and a split EP on 1917 Records, and Eightfold Path Records, and toured extensively throughout the United States, Canada and E ...
" and "
I Don't Search I Find
"I Don't Search I Find" is a song by American singer Madonna from her fourteenth studio album, ''Madame X'' (2019). The track was written and produced by Madonna, alongside Mirwais Ahmadzaï. It was released to Italian contemporary hit radio b ...
". All four singles reached the top spot on the
Dance Club Songs
Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as t ...
in the United States, extending her record as the artist with the most number-one songs on a singular ''Billboard'' chart, with a total of 50. It also featured two promotional singles: "
Future
The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently ...
" and "
Dark Ballet
"Dark Ballet" is a song by American singer-songwriter Madonna from her fourteenth studio album ''Madame X'' (2019). It was released on June 7, 2019 as the album's third promotional single. Written and produced by Madonna and longtime collaborator ...
".
Music critics gave generally positive reviews for the album, praising its experimental composition. ''Madame X'' debuted atop the
''Billboard'' 200 chart, becoming her ninth number-one album in the United States. It also topped the charts in Argentina as well as Portugal and reached number-two in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. The
Madame X Tour, an all-
theatre tour in North America and Europe, began on September 17, 2019, and concluded on March 8, 2020. The tour was chronicled in the documentary of
the same name.
Background and development
In January 2018, Madonna announced on Instagram that she had begun working on her fourteenth studio album. Four months later, in May 2018, she performed at the
Met Gala in New York. As part of her performance of her hit single "
Like a Prayer", Madonna sang a brand new song "
Dark Ballet
"Dark Ballet" is a song by American singer-songwriter Madonna from her fourteenth studio album ''Madame X'' (2019). It was released on June 7, 2019 as the album's third promotional single. Written and produced by Madonna and longtime collaborator ...
" (then known as "Beautiful Game"). In October 2018, she was featured on the song "
Champagne Rosé" by rapper
Quavo, who in return became her collaborator on this album.
Madonna relocated to
Lisbon
Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
, Portugal in 2017, seeking a top football academy for boys for her son David, who wanted to become a professional
soccer
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
player.
However, she later found her life becoming relatively dull, so she decided to meet artists, painters, and musicians.
One of the first musicians Madonna met in Lisbon was a man named Dino D'Santiago, who she said introduced her to a great many more musicians in the area, including the Batukadeiras, a collective of drummers who she collaborated with on the track "Batuka" on this album.
Believing "music is the soul of the universe", she felt connected to her new influences, so she then decided to record an album based on her musical experience in the Portuguese city, which she believed to be "a melting pot of culture musically, from
Angola to
Guinea-Bissau to
Spain to
Brazil to
France to
Cape Verde
, national_anthem = ()
, official_languages = Portuguese
, national_languages = Cape Verdean Creole
, capital = Praia
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, demonym ...
".
During the period while the album was being worked on, Madonna posted short video clips and images chronicling her work on the album. French producer
Mirwais Ahmadzaï, who has previously co-produced three of Madonna's albums, ''
Music'' (2000), ''
American Life'' (2003) and ''
Confessions on a Dance Floor'' (2005), was confirmed to be one of the key producers for ''Madame X''.
Mike Dean, who co-produced ''
Rebel Heart
''Rebel Heart'' is the thirteenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Madonna, released by Interscope Records on March 6, 2015. She worked on the album throughout 2014, co-writing and co-producing it with various musicians, including Di ...
'' (2015), was also enlisted in the album's production.
In February 2019,
Maluma uploaded a picture on his Instagram account with Madonna in a studio. In her interview with ''
Vogue Italia'', Madonna divulged that her album was due for release in 2019. On April 14, 2019, she posted a series of teaser clips on her Instagram account, revealing ''Madame X'' as the album title.
Title, artwork, and themes
In a one-minute teaser uploaded to Madonna's official Instagram and YouTube accounts, Madonna declares herself as "Madame X", an alter-ego her album is named after, a title shared by a
1908 play written by
Alexandre Bisson
Alexandre Bisson (9 April 1848 – 27 January 1912) was a French playwright, vaudeville creator, and novelist. Born in Briouze, Orne in Lower Normandy, he was successful in his native France as well as in the United States. Remembered as a signi ...
, as well as an infamous
1884 portrait by artist
John Singer Sargent
John Singer Sargent (; January 12, 1856 – April 14, 1925) was an American expatriate artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian-era luxury. He created roughly 900 oil paintings and more ...
. The video opens with Madonna singing an excerpt of a song, soon identified via
Shazam
Shazam () may refer to:
Comic book franchise
* Captain Marvel (DC Comics), also known as Shazam, a superhero character published by Fawcett Comics and DC Comics
** Shazam (wizard), a character from the ''Shazam!/Captain Marvel'' comics, who give ...
as being "Extreme Occident", as it follows, "The thing that hurt the most was that I wasn't lost...I wasn't lost..."
She then elaborates that Madame X features different personas and characters:
Madame X is a secret agent. Traveling around the world. Changing identities. Fighting for freedom. Bringing light to dark places. She is a dancer. A professor. A head of state. A housekeeper. An equestrian. A prisoner. A student. A mother. A child. A teacher. A nun. A singer. A saint. A whore. A spy in the house of love. I am Madame X.
Madonna claims she was given the nomenclature "Madame X", at the age of 19, by her then dance teacher
Martha Graham
Martha Graham (May 11, 1894 – April 1, 1991) was an American modern dancer and choreographer. Her style, the Graham technique, reshaped American dance and is still taught worldwide.
Graham danced and taught for over seventy years. She wa ...
. According to Madonna, Graham said "I'm going to give you a new name: Madame X. Every day, you come to school and I don't recognize you. Every day, you change your identity. You're a mystery to me."
The album artwork features a close-up of the Madame X persona, with the title etched across her ruby red lips to give the illusion of her mouth being sewn shut.
Mike Wass from ''
Idolator
An idolator is a practitioner of idolatry.
Idolater or Idolator may also refer to: Books
*''Os Idólatras'', 1968 Portuguese novel by Maria Judite de Carvalho Music
* Idolator (website), an American music blog
* ''Idolator'' (album), third album ...
'' called it an "already-iconic artwork" and compared the imagery to that of
Frida Kahlo
Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón (; 6 July 1907 – 13 July 1954) was a Mexican painter known for her many portraits, self-portraits, and works inspired by the nature and artifacts of Mexico. Inspired by the country's popular culture, ...
, as Madonna's name is written across her eyebrows in a manner that echoes Kahlo's
unibrow. In an interview with iHeartRadio's "The Box", Madonna disclosed that she is representing her mother, Madonna Fortin, as the photo depicts what she "look
dlike". It is used in most digital and physical formats of the album, except the digital deluxe and box set, both of which feature another photograph of blonde Madonna.
Music and lyrics
According to
AllMusic and ''
The Daily Telegraph'', the album consists of three main sounds:
Latin music,
trap
A trap is a mechanical device used to capture or restrain an animal for purposes such as hunting, pest control, or ecological research.
Trap or TRAP may also refer to:
Art and entertainment Films and television
* ''Trap'' (2015 film), Fil ...
, and
art pop.
According to Rich Juzwiak of ''
Pitchfork'', the album has a very diverse sound. He stated that it combines genres "as disparate as Portuguese
fado, Brazilian
baile funk, Cape Verdean
batuque, and good old American trap to make a literal, at times clinical, rendering of
world music." CJ Thorpe-Tracey of ''
The Quietus'' deemed the record a "swirling fusion of trap, fado,
dub, and
disco
Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...
", while Craig Mathieson of ''
The Sydney Morning Herald'' classified it under the
electronic pop genre. ''Madame X'' is Madonna's most linguistically diverse album, sung in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.
When dissecting the purpose of this album, she explained that it's a love letter to multiculturalism. "Art belongs to everyone. It's not a question of appropriating what other people do and taking it as your own. For me, it's an homage to all the music that I've listened to – and giving a platform and a voice to all of this incredible music that the rest of the world doesn't really have the privilege to hear."
The album opens with "
Medellín
Medellín ( or ), officially the Municipality of Medellín ( es, Municipio de Medellín), is the second-largest city in Colombia, after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia. It is located in the Aburrá Valley, a central re ...
", a
Latin pop
Latin pop (in Spanish and in Portuguese: Pop latino) is a pop music subgenre that is a fusion of US–style music production with Latin music genres from anywhere in Latin America and Spain. Originating in Spanish-speaking musicians, Latin po ...
duet with Colombian
reggaeton singer
Maluma that depicts the pair longing for a trip to the song's titular Colombian city while reflecting on their past struggles. Madonna revealed after ''Madame X'' was released that she decided to collaborate with Maluma after she realized that he loves horses, as she does. The following track, "
Dark Ballet
"Dark Ballet" is a song by American singer-songwriter Madonna from her fourteenth studio album ''Madame X'' (2019). It was released on June 7, 2019 as the album's third promotional single. Written and produced by Madonna and longtime collaborator ...
", is an
experimental pop song, featuring heavy use of
Daft Punk
Daft Punk were a French electronic music duo formed in 1993 in Paris by Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. Widely regarded as one of the most influential acts in dance music history, they achieved popularity in the late 1990s as p ...
-like vocoder and orchestral music, structured similarly to that of "
Bohemian Rhapsody". Additionally, the song features a sample of "
The Nutcracker Suite: Dance of the Reed-Flutes" by
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
In an interview, Madonna revealed that the concept behind the song was influenced by one of her favorite films, ''
A Clockwork Orange''. She also revealed in the album's press release announcement that it was based on
Joan of Arc's life. In Madonna's own words, "Joan of Arc fought the English and she won, still the French were not happy. Still they judged her. They said she was a man, they said she was a lesbian, they said she was a witch, and, in the end, they burned her at the stake, and she feared nothing. I admire that."
"
God Control" is an experimental
disco
Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...
song that blends a gospel choir, gunshots and vocodered vocals. While describing the inspiration behind the song, Madonna stated that she wanted to incorporate elements of disco music from the late '70s, as it reminded her of when she first moved to
New York City and would frequently hang out at
Studio 54
Studio 54 is a Broadway theater and a former disco nightclub at 254 West 54th Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Operated by the Roundabout Theatre Company, Studio 54 has 1,006 seats on two levels. The theater was ...
– a place where she felt liberated. It talks about standing up against authoritarianism and America's gun-control laws. Madonna further recounted the song's theme as how "Nowhere is safe any more – places where we used to go to dance and escape and have fun... or pray, or go to school... No public gathering is safe. I was thinking about Studio 54, because I caught the end of that wave – I moved to New York in 1979 that was the last year that Studio 54 was sort of in existence before
o-foundersIan
chragerand Steve
ubelgot arrested. And so, just the idea that those kinds of places, that used to bring people together, are no longer safe, is a really scary thought to me. And sad. People feel like gods when they have guns in their hands." Controversy arose in November 2019 when
Casey Spooner alleged that he wrote "God Control" with Mirwais and was subsequently not credited nor paid for his work.
The fourth track, "
Future
The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently ...
", is a
dancehall
Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) "The Rou ...
song featuring American rapper
Quavo. Lyrically, it discusses how one's viewpoint regarding the poor and underprivileged affects us on the long run. "
Batuka" is heavily inspired by the music of
Cape Verde
, national_anthem = ()
, official_languages = Portuguese
, national_languages = Cape Verdean Creole
, capital = Praia
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, demonym ...
, specifically
Batuque.
It features background vocals by The Batukadeiras Orchestra, a collective of all-female drummers,
and its narrative is about commencing a revolution in an effort to defeat oppression.
The sixth track, "Killers Who Are Partying", is heavily inspired by
fado and it features a
Portuguese guitar accompanied by a minimal beat.
According to Madonna, this was the first track she wrote for the record. While elaborating its topic, Madonna specified that it's about her carrying the burden of all marginalized people. She further elucidated that "we have all these powerful men positioned in places all around the world who are celebrating and abusing their power while minorities are suffering, being degraded. The civil rights that we fought for the LGBTQ community, women's rights, everything started to go backwards and I felt that it was really important to reflect my rage, my sense of betrayal." Madonna also sings a few verses in Portuguese.
"
Crave __NOTOC__
Crave or Craving may refer to:
Entertainment and media Companies and services
* Crave (streaming service), a Canadian video-on-demand streaming service
* Crave (TV network), a Canadian linear pay TV service operated in conjunction with ...
", is a midtempo
pop
Pop or POP may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
* Pop music, a musical genre Artists
* POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade
* Pop!, a UK pop group
* Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band
Albums
* ''Pop'' (G ...
and
trap
A trap is a mechanical device used to capture or restrain an animal for purposes such as hunting, pest control, or ecological research.
Trap or TRAP may also refer to:
Art and entertainment Films and television
* ''Trap'' (2015 film), Fil ...
ballad featuring
acoustic guitar
An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...
, hand-clap
beat, and guest vocals by American rapper and singer
Swae Lee
Khalif Malik Ibn Shaman Brown (born June 7, 1993), known professionally as Swae Lee, is an American singer and rapper. Known for his wide vocal range and genre-bending, Swae Lee is one half of the hip hop duo Rae Sremmurd with his brother Slim J ...
.
Madonna stated in an interview backstage at the
2019 ''Billboard'' Music Awards that it was one of the first songs she wrote for the album and that she wanted to sing with a man on the track. On working with Swae Lee, Madonna said: "He's really talented...I think he's a great writer, a great singer and he's so cute. Cute's important." It paints the pair singing about an unreciprocated lover. The eighth track, "Crazy", is a
soul-inflected track featuring a Portuguese
accordion
Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...
.
Lyrically, it portrays Madonna as a woman madly in love who refuses to get consumed by her feelings. This is the second song on the record to feature verses sung in Portuguese.
"Come Alive" pays homage to the music of
North Africa, specifically that of the
Gnawa tribe.
In the track, Madonna further unfolded that "there's an interesting story
bout
Bout can mean:
People
*Viktor Bout, suspected arms dealer
*Jan Everts Bout, early settler to New Netherland
*Marcel Bout
Musical instruments
* The outward-facing round parts of the body shape of violins, guitars, and other stringed instrumen ...
the shackles that the slaves wore so they couldn't escape. Once they were free, they turned what enslaved them into music – and they made those
krakebs. I wanted to bring that instrument back into the story."
The tenth track, "Extreme Occident", features elements of
morna and
Indian music. Madonna is once more heard singing a few lines in Portuguese.
Its subject matter centres around Madonna's travels around the world searching for her own identity.
"Faz Gostoso", is a cover of the Brazilian-born Portuguese singer
Blaya
Blaya, stage name of Karla Rodrigues (born May 27, 1987), is a Brazilian-born Portuguese singer and dancer.
Career
Blaya started singing in 2001, but her professional career only began in 2008, after joining Buraka Som Sistema as a dancer, e ...
's signature hit.
It features guest vocals by Brazilian singer
Anitta and it remains faithful to the original version's
baile funk style. Madonna felt it was pivotal to pay tribute to her Brazilian fans by singing in
Brazilian Portuguese. According to the singer, it felt very different than
Portugal's Portuguese, so she had to relearn the language. Lyrically, it's about engaging in an extramarital affair.
The twelfth track, "Bitch I'm Loca", is a
reggaeton song, and the second duet on the record with Maluma. It features Madonna singing most of her verses in Spanish. "I Don't Search I Find", is a
house
A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...
-inflected
EDM
EDM or E-DM may refer to:
Music
* Electronic dance music
* Early Day Miners, American band
Science and technology
* Electric dipole moment
* Electrical discharge machining
* Electronic distance measurement
*Entry, Descent, and landing demonstra ...
and
deep house
Deep house is a subgenre of house music that originated in the 1980s, initially fusing elements of Chicago house with the lush chords of 1980s jazz-funk and touches of soul music. Its origins are attributed to the early recordings of Larry Heard ( ...
, track that heavily draws influence from Madonna's own work with
Shep Pettibone, namely "
Vogue".
The fourteenth track, "Looking for Mercy", displays Madonna at her most autobiographical – in which she admits to feeling isolated. "
I Rise
I Rise is an American hardcore punk band from Worcester, Massachusetts, United States. They released an album, an EP, and a split EP on 1917 Records, and Eightfold Path Records, and toured extensively throughout the United States, Canada and E ...
", described as a "powerful and uplifting anthem",
deconstructs surviving and rising up from the adversities from the modern world. It contains a spoken intro taken from the speech of social activist, advocate for
gun control
Gun control, or firearms regulation, is the set of laws or policies that regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, or use of firearms by civilians.
Most countries have a restrictive firearm guiding policy, with on ...
Emma González
Emma may refer to:
* Emma (given name)
Film
* Emma (1932 film), ''Emma'' (1932 film), a comedy-drama film by Clarence Brown
* Emma (1996 theatrical film), ''Emma'' (1996 theatrical film), a film starring Gwyneth Paltrow
* Emma (1996 TV film), '' ...
, survivor from the
Stoneman Douglas High School shooting
On February 14, 2018, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz opened fire on students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in the Miami suburban town of Parkland, Florida, murdering 17 people and injuring 17 others. Cruz, a former student at t ...
and co-founder of committee
Never Again MSD,
during an interview in February 2018.
The bonus disc of the deluxe 2-CD release and the box set edition of the album feature 3 additional songs: "Funana", "Back That Up to the Beat", and "Ciao Bella". In "Funana", an
electropop
Electropop is a hybrid music genre combining elements of electronic and pop genres. Writer Hollin Jones has described it as a variant of synth-pop with heavy emphasis on its electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a re ...
track, she sings about idealizing a scenario of union and while name-dropping several musical icons, such as
Elvis Presley,
Bob Marley,
Whitney Houston,
James Brown
James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, dancer, musician, record producer and bandleader. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century music, he is often referred to by the honor ...
,
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Referred to as the " Queen of Soul", she has twice been placed ninth in ''Rolling Stone''s "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". With ...
,
George Michael
George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the most significant cultural icons of the MTV generation and is one of the best-selling musici ...
,
David Bowie,
Tupac Shakur,
Freddie Mercury
Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara; 5 September 1946 – 24 November 1991) was a British singer and songwriter, who achieved worldwide fame as the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. Regarded as one of the greatest singers in the ...
and
Prince. In addition to these, she mentions Swedish DJ and former collaborator
Avicii and
Mac Miller
Malcolm James McCormick (January 19, 1992 – September 7, 2018), known professionally as Mac Miller, was an American rapper and record producer. Miller began his career in Pittsburgh's hip hop scene in 2007, at the age of fifteen. In 2010, h ...
. "Back That Up to the Beat" is a reworked version of a leaked demo from Madonna's previous album ''
Rebel Heart
''Rebel Heart'' is the thirteenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Madonna, released by Interscope Records on March 6, 2015. She worked on the album throughout 2014, co-writing and co-producing it with various musicians, including Di ...
''. "Ciao Bella" features uncredited vocals from
Bissau-Guinean
Guinea-Bissau ( ; pt, Guiné-Bissau; ff, italic=no, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫 𞤄𞤭𞤧𞤢𞥄𞤱𞤮, Gine-Bisaawo, script=Adlm; Mandinka: ''Gine-Bisawo''), officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau ( pt, República da Guiné-Bissau, links=no ), ...
musician
Kimi Djabate.
Release and promotion
Interscope Records
Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner Mus ...
released ''Madame X'' on June 14, 2019.
A 23-minute documentary titled ''World of Madame X'' was released on June 29 on paid streaming service
Amazon Prime
Amazon Prime is a paid subscription service from Amazon which is available in various countries and gives users access to additional services otherwise unavailable or available at a premium to other Amazon customers. Services include same, one- ...
. Directed by Nuno Xico, the short film breaks down the album production and the inspiration behind the music, as well as featuring sneak peaks of album photoshoot and behind the scenes of music videos. An exclusive Madame X Radio channel was launched on
Sirius XM Satellite Radio
Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. It was formed by the 2008 merger of Sirius ...
on July 1. It showcased music spanning her career, especially ''Madame X'' songs and the background stories behind them. On March 24, 2020, Madonna announced via her Instagram page and her Twitter account that she would release her third fragrance, subsequent to Truth or Dare, called Madame X Eau De Parfum. The perfume was announced on Twitter and released on her official store on October 13, 2020, described as a limited edition fragrance, "made up of fresh and floral scents from the
Mediterranean coast, mystical flavours of the
Orient
The Orient is a term for the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of ''Occident'', the Western World. In English, it is largely a metonym for, and coterminous with, the c ...
, all transcended by Madame X's sensuality and rebellious spirit."
The flavours include: orange blossom, raspberry, rose, patchouli, musk and amber.
With the release of ''Madame X'', Madonna completed her three-album contract with Interscope. In 2021, Madonna announced her return to her original record label
Warner Music Group. Under the new career-spanning deal, ''Madame X'' and her other two Interscope albums will be transferred to Warner's catalog in 2025.
Singles
The album's lead single, "
Medellín
Medellín ( or ), officially the Municipality of Medellín ( es, Municipio de Medellín), is the second-largest city in Colombia, after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia. It is located in the Aburrá Valley, a central re ...
", was released on April 17, 2019, coinciding with the album becoming available to pre-order. The music video premiered on April 24, during a live
MTV
MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
special broadcast simultaneously around the world. It aired across numerous MTV networks and digital channels. Spanish director Diana Kunst and multi-disciplinary artist Mau Morgó, directed the video. "Medellín" reached the top-ten of the charts in several countries, including Colombia, Croatia, Hungary, Israel, and Venezuela. In the United States, the song charted at number 18 on the
Hot Latin Songs
The ''Billboard'' Hot Latin Songs (formerly Hot Latin Tracks and Hot Latin 50) is a record chart in the United States for Latin songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Since October 2012, chart rankings are based on digital sales, rad ...
and number 1 on the
Hot Dance Club Songs
Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as t ...
.
"
Crave __NOTOC__
Crave or Craving may refer to:
Entertainment and media Companies and services
* Crave (streaming service), a Canadian video-on-demand streaming service
* Crave (TV network), a Canadian linear pay TV service operated in conjunction with ...
" was released as the second single on May 10.
It officially impacted
Hot/Modern/AC radio in the United States on May 20. The music video, directed by Nuno Xico, was released two days later.
The song achieved her highest debut on the US
Adult Contemporary chart
The Adult Contemporary chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary radio stations in the United States. The chart is compiled based on airplay data submitted to ''Billboard'' by stat ...
, launching at number 19 and reaching number 11. It was her 37th entry on the chart and her second appearance for the
2010s
File:2010s collage v21.png, From top left, clockwise: Anti-government protests called the Arab Spring arose in 2010–2011, and as a result, many governments were overthrown, including when Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi was Death of Muammar Gadd ...
after "
Ghosttown" in 2015 and became her best-charting AC hit since "
Frozen
Frozen may refer to:
* the result of freezing
* a paralysis response in extreme cases of fear
Films
* ''Frozen'' (1997 film), a film by Wang Xiaoshuai
* ''Frozen'' (2005 film), a film by Juliet McKoen
* ''Frozen'' (2007 film), a film by Sh ...
" in 1998. The official remixes for "Crave" were released 26 October 2019.
"
I Rise
I Rise is an American hardcore punk band from Worcester, Massachusetts, United States. They released an album, an EP, and a split EP on 1917 Records, and Eightfold Path Records, and toured extensively throughout the United States, Canada and E ...
" was first released as a promotional single on May 3, 2019. Madonna partnered with
Time Studios to create the music video for "I Rise", released on June 19, 2019. It was directed by Peter Matkiwsky and includes footage of Parkland shooting survivors, LGBTQ supporters, women's rights protesters, Olympic gymnast
Aly Raisman's testimony about sexual abuse and other social justice movements. The song's remixes, produced by
Tracy Young, were commercially released on July 19, 2019, as part of Worldpride 2019. This remix won a
Grammy award for
Best Remixed Recording
The Grammy Award for Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical is an honor presented to producers for quality remixed recordings at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Honors in sever ...
at the
62nd annual ceremony. The song peaked at number 1 on the US Dance Club Songs chart, becoming Madonna's 65th entry on the chart. It also reached number 37 on the US
Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart.
"
I Don't Search I Find
"I Don't Search I Find" is a song by American singer Madonna from her fourteenth studio album, ''Madame X'' (2019). The track was written and produced by Madonna, alongside Mirwais Ahmadzaï. It was released to Italian contemporary hit radio b ...
" was released as the fourth single to Italian radio stations on May 22, 2020. Two remixes EPs were released featuring remixes from
Honey Dijon,
Chris Cox,
Offer Nissim
Offer Nissim ( he, עופר ניסים) is an Israeli DJ, remixer, and record producer. He produced the winning entry of the Eurovision Song Contest 1998, "Diva", by Dana International. Besides his work with Dana International, Nissim has often ...
and other producers on December 6, 2019, and May 1, 2020.
Promotional singles and music videos
In the lead up to the full release of ''Madame X'', "
Future
The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently ...
" and "
Dark Ballet
"Dark Ballet" is a song by American singer-songwriter Madonna from her fourteenth studio album ''Madame X'' (2019). It was released on June 7, 2019 as the album's third promotional single. Written and produced by Madonna and longtime collaborator ...
" were released as promotional singles on May 17 and June 7, respectively.
The music video of "Dark Ballet" stars a
Joan of Arc-inspired story-line featuring
Mykki Blanco
Mykki Blanco (born April 2, 1986) is an American rapper, performance artist, poet and activist. She has collaborated musically with artists including Kanye West, Teyana Taylor, and Blood Orange.
Early life
Blanco was born in Orange County, Cal ...
,
where several heads of the church arrest and execute him.
Within the video, Blanco is shown to be interpretative dancing in the iconic
conical bra. The Honey Dijon remix of "
I Don't Search I Find
"I Don't Search I Find" is a song by American singer Madonna from her fourteenth studio album, ''Madame X'' (2019). The track was written and produced by Madonna, alongside Mirwais Ahmadzaï. It was released to Italian contemporary hit radio b ...
" was released on download and streaming services as of December 6, 2019. On February 14, 2020, the song became Madonna's record-breaking 50th number 1 on the Hot Dance Club Songs, the first artist to achieve this on any chart as well as in the span of 5 decades.
A music video for "
God Control" was released on June 26, 2019. The video was directed by
Jonas Åkerlund
Hans Uno Jonas Åkerlund (; born 10 November 1965) is a Swedish film director, screenwriter, music video director, and drummer. His video for Madonna's song "Ray of Light" won a Grammy Award for Best Music Video, Short Form, and a record of fiv ...
and depicts a
shooting scene in a
nightclub that resembles the 2016
Orlando nightclub shooting, and contains a
call to action in favor of
gun control
Gun control, or firearms regulation, is the set of laws or policies that regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, or use of firearms by civilians.
Most countries have a restrictive firearm guiding policy, with on ...
.
A music video for the track "
Batuka", directed by
Emmanuel Adjei
Emmanuel Kwasi Adjei is a Ghanaian-Dutch film director and visual artist. Adjei was featured as co-director and creative collaborator of ''Black Is King'', the acclaimed musical film and visual album by American singer Beyoncé, which premiered ...
(who also had directed "Dark Ballet"), premiered on July 19, 2019.
The video is very simple and revolves around Madonna and the Orquestra Batukadeiras dancing and playing
Batuque. Near the end of the video, they stand together in a line, holding hands, watching the sunset and waves. The video's final shot shows what appears to be ghost
sailing ships fading away as a storm forms over the ocean.
The track "Faz Gostoso", featuring
Anitta, peaked at number 53 on the
Portuguese Singles Chart and 47 on the monthly streaming chart published by
Pro-Música Brasil.
The track "Bitch I'm Loca", featuring "
Maluma", was used for Madonna and Maluma's ''
Rolling Stone'' photoshoot and interview. A video containing the ItsMiggs Remix and the behind-the-scenes recording of the shoot was uploaded both onto Madonna's
Instagram
Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...
and
YouTube channel.
Other singles
In 2022, the demo version of "
Back That Up to the Beat", from ''
Rebel Heart
''Rebel Heart'' is the thirteenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Madonna, released by Interscope Records on March 6, 2015. She worked on the album throughout 2014, co-writing and co-producing it with various musicians, including Di ...
''s recording sessions began gaining popularity on video sharing app
TikTok, leading to Madonna releasing the track on digital music platforms on December 30, alongside a sped-up version of the demo.
Live performances
Madonna and Maluma performed "Medellín" together at the
2019 ''Billboard'' Music Awards on May 1, 2019. Madonna appeared as an interval act during the final of the
Eurovision Song Contest 2019 in
Tel Aviv,
Israel, on May 18, 2019. She performed "
Like a Prayer", a portion of "Dark Ballet", and "Future", accompanied by Quavo as a guest performer.
On June 30, Madonna included "God Control" and "I Rise" during her mini concert for
Stonewall 50 – WorldPride NYC 2019 at
Pier 97, Hudson River Park, New York City. On May 6, 2019, the
Madame X Tour was officially announced, with concerts in theatres between September 2019 and March 2020.
On 8 October, alongside the release of the film ''
Madame X
''Madame X'' (original title ''La Femme X'') is a 1908 play by French playwright Alexandre Bisson (1848–1912). It was novelized in English and adapted for the American stage; it was also adapted for the screen twelve times over sixty-five ...
'' on streaming platforms, Madonna performed a surprise concert at the Red Rooster in Harlem. She performed a stripped version of "
Dark Ballet
"Dark Ballet" is a song by American singer-songwriter Madonna from her fourteenth studio album ''Madame X'' (2019). It was released on June 7, 2019 as the album's third promotional single. Written and produced by Madonna and longtime collaborator ...
", "Crazy", "
Sodade
"''Sodade''" is a Cape Verdean song written in the 1950s by Armando Zeferino Soares, and best popularized by Cesária Évora on her 1992 album '' Miss Perfumado''. The name is the Cape Verdean Creole variant of the Portuguese term '' saudade''.
...
", "
La Isla Bonita", and then proceeded to sing "
Like A Prayer" down the streets of the city in the night.
On 24 June 2021, Madonna hosted a live performance and club event in New York, titled "Boom x Pride", at the top of
The Standard, High Line, in honor of Pride Month, where she performed both "
Hung Up" and "I Don't Search I Find". As part of the event, she auctioned three polaroids with the proceeds going to The Ali Forney Center, Haus of Us and The Door, which are three New York based organisations dedicated to created safe spaces for LGBTQIA+ youth. Additionally, Madonna recorded a Pride-themed video entitled ''No fear, Courage, Resist'', which was being shown in Times Square to encourage donations to the three charities.
Critical reception
''Madame X'' was met with generally positive reviews.
At
Metacritic, which assigns a
normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an
average score of 70, based on 21 reviews.
Aggregator
AnyDecentMusic?
AnyDecentMusic? is a website that collates album reviews from magazines, websites, and newspapers. Primarily focused on popular music – covering rock, pop, electronic, dance, folk, country, roots, hip-hop, R&B, and rap – albums are adjudg ...
gave the album 6.9 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus.
The more positive reviews of the album generally praised its unique and experimental nature. Kitty Empire of ''
The Guardian'' hailed it as being a "splendidly bizarre return to form" for Madonna, describing the production as "fluid... but one tempered by Madonna's solid confidence in her own aesthetic decisions". Similarly, Nick Smith of ''
musicOMH
MusicOMH (stylized as musicOMH) is a London-based online music magazine which publishes independent reviews, features and interviews from across all genres including classical, metal, rock and R&B.
History
MusicOMH was founded and launched by ...
'' praised the album, calling it "bold, bizarre, brazen and beguiling".
In his "
Consumer Guide
A consumer is a person or a group who intends to order, or uses purchased goods, products, or services primarily for personal, social, family, household and similar needs, who is not directly related to entrepreneurial or business activities. T ...
" column,
Robert Christgau
Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...
viewed ''Madame X'' as an indication that Madonna remains a "colorful" professional who releases solid records, even the songs "about forswearing dope and feeling the oppressed … well-intended ideas executed with the appropriate brio and calm, respectively".
However, mixed reviews of the album criticized its production aspects, as well as the nature of the singer's artistic direction. Neil McCormick of ''
The Daily Telegraph'' summarized ''Madame X'' as being "a mad mishmash of an album" and criticized its lack of cohesiveness, stating that Madonna was "fighting on too many fronts at the same time".
Similarly, Rob Sheffield of ''
Rolling Stone'' described the album as being "admirably bizarre", remarking that its "strongest songs" were buried beneath "disasters".
In a more critical review, Rich Juzwiak from ''
Pitchfork'' denounced the album as being "muddled and convoluted", calling it "lyrically inarticulate".
Accolades
Various publications listed ''Madame X'' in their year-end lists of the best 2019 albums, including winning a poll hosted by ''Billboard''.
The documentary ''World of Madame X'' won at the "Best Documentary" category during the
Buenos Aires Music Video Festival (BAMV Fest) in 2020.
Commercial performance
''Madame X'' debuted at number one on the US
''Billboard'' 200 with 95,000
album-equivalent units, of which 90,000 were pure album sales. It became Madonna's ninth number-one album in the United States.
Madonna also topped the ''Billboard''
Artist 100 chart for the first time since its launch in 2014. Due to lack of sales and streaming, the album fell to number 77 on the next week's ''Billboard'' 200, and dropped out of that chart on its third week (the shortest American performance for a Madonna studio album), but it remained for nine weeks on the
Top Album Sales chart. In February 2022, almost three years after its release, the album was certified Silver in the UK. In France, it started at number four on the album chart with 15,900 traditional units. It also entered the Sales Albums Chart at number five. In Germany, ''Madame X'' became Madonna's lowest charting studio album since 1992's ''
Erotica'', peaking at number five.
Track listing
Notes
* signifies a co-producer
* The 15-track deluxe edition was released on digital platforms and as an exclusive CD on
Target and
Fnac and
HMV.
* The deluxe box set edition includes the deluxe 2-CD edition, the 7" vinyl single, and the 13-track cassette.
* On the 2-CD of ''Madame X'', "Future" has Quavo and "Crave" has Swae Lee credited as an featured artists instead of a co-lead ones respectively.
* "Dark Ballet" contains a sample of "
The Nutcracker Suite: Dance of the Reed-Flutes", composed by
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
* "Faz Gostoso" is a cover of the song of the same name, originally performed by
Blaya
Blaya, stage name of Karla Rodrigues (born May 27, 1987), is a Brazilian-born Portuguese singer and dancer.
Career
Blaya started singing in 2001, but her professional career only began in 2008, after joining Buraka Som Sistema as a dancer, e ...
.
* "Ciao Bella" features vocals by
Kimi Djabate.
* “Madame X” (International Deluxe) was made available to stream on all platforms on 13 January 2023.
Personnel
*
Madonna
Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...
– main vocals
*
Anitta – featured artist
* The Batukadeiras Orchestra – background vocals
*
Swae Lee
Khalif Malik Ibn Shaman Brown (born June 7, 1993), known professionally as Swae Lee, is an American singer and rapper. Known for his wide vocal range and genre-bending, Swae Lee is one half of the hip hop duo Rae Sremmurd with his brother Slim J ...
– featured artist
*
Maluma – featured artist
*
Quavo – featured artist
* Tiffin Children's Choir – background vocals
*
Steven Klein – photography
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications and sales
See also
*
List of ''Billboard'' 200 number-one albums of 2019
*
List of number-one albums of 2019 (Portugal)
*
List of number-one digital albums of 2019 (Australia)
References
External links
''Madame X''on Madonna.com
*
{{Authority control
2019 albums
Madame X (Madonna)
Albums produced by Diplo
Albums produced by Jason Evigan
Albums produced by Jeff Bhasker
Albums produced by Madonna
Albums produced by Mike Dean (record producer)
Albums produced by Pharrell Williams
Art pop albums
Interscope Records albums
Latin music albums by American artists
Madonna albums
Trap music albums
Experimental music albums
World music albums by American artists