Tuesday, April 3, 2012

MDNA: A Review


Madonna


MDNA


PopMusicMogul Rating: **** out of 5.


By MIKE LEE

April 3rd, 2012.

“I'm gonna’ be OK/ I don't care what the people say /I'm gonna be alright /Gonna’ live fast and I'm gonna’ live right”.  Just as soon as Madonna utters these words on her track “I Don’t Give A”, it is very clear what’s going to be happening on her latest musical effort, MDNA.  It seems that the “Queen of Everything “has temporarily stopped trying to push pop music forward.  She’s stepping back, having fun, and giving a finger to everyone who has ever stood in her way.

The album suffers from sort of a confused “Jekyll and Hyde” disposition.  There are amusing and pleasurable ass shakin’ pop songs, like the banging religious “Girl Gone Wild” or the euro tinged anthem “Turn Up The Radio”, or the cheerleading chant of “Give Me All Your Luvin” and the breezy “Superstar”, and interwoven with those “fist pumping party songs”,  are the “gritty divorce” songs. The “Love Spent”, “I Don’t Give A”, “Gang Bang” side of the album. They are all pulsing and tender, with her thumping angrily over a few house beats and hints of psychedelic electronic disco. These are the songs that make the album unique, and by far, her most raw and personal tracks in her entire career.

It makes sense, and yet, it doesn’t. Is she trying to get over her divorce, or is she trying to have fun? Or both? I guess, we’re just supposed get up and dance, and then sit back down and enjoy it. The album just really lacks a direction, but that doesn’t mean the tracks do. The album is fun, and in the end, and with Madonna at the helm, that’s really all that matters.

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