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| At 47, Madonna is busy with a new album, a disco look, a documentary and hints of performances to come. (Photo courtesy MTV) |
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HOME > SOVO SCENE > MUSIC
By: KEVIN NAFF
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A MADONNA FAN’S cup runneth over these days, as the 47-year-old queen of pop unleashes a series of projects sure to please her loyal subjects.
First up was the October release of the single “Hung Up,” a catchy dance track that Madonna describes as “future disco.” It features an ABBA sample from the 1979 song “Gimme Gimme Gimme” and light-hearted lyrics that are a welcome return from the heavy-handed departure of her last album, “American Life,” the lowest-selling Madonna record ever. The video for “Hung Up” premiered on VH1 in October.
Madonna opened MTV’s Europe Music Awards earlier this month with a choreographed version of “Hung Up,” in which she and several dancers descended to the stage in a disco ball. The performance reportedly stole the show.
The songs on the new album, “Confessions on a Dance Floor,” released on Tuesday, are all danceable. The pop chameleon embraces a ‘70s disco persona this time out, which seems to be resonating with fans — the album topped the Amazon.com pre-order chart before its release.
Other singles on the new album include, “Get Together,” “Sorry,” “Future Lovers,” “Let It Will Be,” “Forbidden Love,” “Jump,” “How High,” “Isaac,” “Push,” “Like It Or Not,” and a tribute to her former home base, “I Love New York.”
But the album and new single aren’t the only projects keeping Madonna busy these days. She also released the long-awaited documentary about last year’s “Re-Invention Tour,” called “I’m Going To Tell You A Secret,” which aired Oct. 21 on MTV and repeated on VH1 and the gay network Logo the following week. The DVD of the documentary is due in 2006.
The documentary features footage of Madonna as she prepares for her world tour. Unlike her last behind-the-scenes concert film, the critically acclaimed “Truth or Dare,” the latest effort focuses more on matters of family and faith than fashion and sex, in accordance with her maturing age, her settled real life marriage to British filmmaker Guy Ritchie and raising her two children.
Madonna also embraced iPod, with an array of videos now available for $1.99 per download on the new Apple device. There’s reportedly even a customized Madonna iPod Nano in the works that comes pre-loaded with her entire back catalogue of songs. Oh, and it’s pink, girl.
Known as a savvy businesswoman, the singer also plans two special releases of “Confessions on a Dance Floor” in early December. Just in time for Christmas, the releases reportedly include bonus tracks, a flip-side DVD and photo books peppered with Madonna’s own “confessions.”
AND WHAT’S A Madonna release without a little controversy? In interviews in the U.K. and with Newsweek, Madonna is starting to sound like that other big gay icon, Mommie Dearest.
She tells Newsweek that she’s the disciplinarian at home with 9-year-old Lourdes and 5-year-old Rocco. The kids are not allowed to watch TV (“It’s trash”), read magazines, or apparently, ingest milk or ice cream.
No word on whether the kids were allowed to sneak a peak at any of mama’s TV appearances.
Madonna also created some heat with the track “Isaac” on “Confessions.” A group of rabbis in Israel slammed the song without hearing it because the lyrics reference centuries-old Kaballah teachings. Madonna publicly shrugged off the label “blasphemy.”
The Madonna-thon surrounding “Confessions” is what we’ve come to expect — luscious new photos of Madonna in a new look, a press tour filled with shocking new revelations about her private life and, most importantly, hot dance beats.
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