Topping charts left and right, the queen of pop has returned with her12th album“MDNA.” This pop album is perfectly blended with 80s dance-pop and the modern sensation of dubstep. Dance anthems briskly move the album along before coming to a gentle and beautifully lyrical close which showcases Madonna’s superb writing.
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Madonna's newest album "MDNA" is the perfect blend of 80s dance-pop and dubstep. |
Madonna proves that she can still bring out the big guns with her song “Gang Bang,” which is clearly about her divorce with director Guy Richie. The thumping bassline and ominous feel immediately sets the tone that this song is going deep and dark. Stripping her bubble-pop persona, Madonna reaches into her bag of tricks and pulls out some dubstep as the song’s tempo drops, “You had to die for me baby/ That’s right, you had to die for me baby/ How could I move on with my life/ If you didn't die for me baby.” Her voice barely rises above a whisper as she spits out the harsh lyrics that crawl from the speakers. The tone of vengeance and sadism is readily apparent as she swears to kill the person who broke her heart, “Bang bang, shot you dead, shot my lover in the head.”
M.I.A. and Nicki Minaj’s appearances in “Give Me All Your Luvin’” almost seem thrown in to add more time, or perhaps relevance, to the song. They sound really out of place, besides that the two are completely different types of rappers. M.I.A. has more of a smooth flow and is straight-forward with her raps, whereas Minaj is known for her extreme, boisterous raps. On the contrary, Minaj’s contribution to “I Don’t Give A” fits perfectly with the tempo and manages not to throw the song into a frenzy of grunts and snarls. The almost hip-hop beat and Madonna’s singing/rap give the song an extra push that allows Minaj to squeeze in, finishing the song with “There's only one Queen, and that's Madonna.”
“Masterpiece” was featured on Madonna’s film “W.E.” and won a Golden Globe. The words “And I can’t tell you why/ It hurts so much/ To be in love with a masterpiece/ Cause after all/ Nothing's indestructible” escape from Madonna’s soft and delicate voice as she sings this sorrowful song. Although “Masterpiece” won an award, “Falling Free” is the most powerful song on the album, which makes it an even better choice as a closer. Her voice rises and falls in the moving ballad -- it carries and holds where it needs to and is perfectly sweet and soft in other places. “Deep and pure our hearts align/ When I let loose the need to know/ Then we're both free, we're free to go” flows gently from her and lands softly in the hearts of listeners.
Whatever it is Madonna does to consistently create great albums does not need to be known. Whether it is the hiatuses or the crazy media she attracts, it has been working for 25 years and shows no stopping with “MDNA.”
“MDNA” by Madonna receives 4 out of 5 stars.
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