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In Madonna’s Superbowl XLVI performance, she sang and publicized her new single “Give Me All Your Luvin’,” featuring the always-unpredictable Nicki Minaj and offensive performance of M.I.A. In the song’s chorus she sings: “Every record sounds the same, you gotta step into my world.” Thank you, Madonna, for admitting what America has been thinking throughout your last three comeback album attempts, with 2003’s American Life, 2005’s Confessions on a Dance Floor and 2008’s Hard Candy.
Since the ’80s, Madonna’s albums have had similar dance-floor-appropriate songs, techno beats and auto-tuned vocals. Her most recent album, MDNA, is no different. This album consists of a variety of songs, sounding similarly to old tracks any loyal Madonna fan will recognize. The two most popular songs from the album, “Give Me All Your Luvin'” and “Girl Gone Bad,” have attracted fans due to either familiar attachment or those seeking a new club filler. However, both songs lack quality of lyrical message and creativity.
Madonna, 53, is trying too hard to pull off a comeback from her 1980s reign as “Queen of pop.” She makes Britney Spears’ mediocre comeback attempt seem legendary. Madonna appears to be stuck in the decade that made her famous, but like every talented artist, she needs to learn to adapt to the current times and trends. Her 2005 album, Confessions on a Dance Floor, had some money-raking success and reached widespread popularity with the infectious single “Hung Up.” However, many songs from MDNA appear to have the same hip-popping rhythm. The new song “I’m Addicted” takes almost the exact same beat as “Hung Up” but with different lyrics.
As that song title suggests, drugs and addiction are prominent lyrical themes on MDNA, the pop singer seems to have an uncomfortably open theme regarding drugs. Although the title of her album, MDNA, is supposed to be an abbreviation of the name “Madonna,” it is simultaneously a pun referring to MDMA, the drug socially known as ecstasy. Although the acronym pun is clever, considering many of her songs mention themes of addiction and drugs, it does not complement her age well. As a Madonna fan, it can be unsettling to listen to her songs focus so heavily on an illegal drug-related theme when she is the mother to a 15-year-old daughter.
Although this album provides no extreme motivation to listeners, Madonna is Madonna – no other explanation needed. She provides numerous fun dance songs, such as “Superstar” and “I’m Addicted,” which are sure to pump up any crowd. She also teams up with female-rap queen Nicki Minaj on a second song, “I Don’t Give A,” which adds a new element to her typical 1980s beats. For the most part, however, if you are a veteran Madonna fan, this is the same-old, same-old, with little innovation to offer.
Despite MDNA‘s mediocrity as a creative work, it has already brought notable commercial success, with Madonna this week breaking the UK record for most #1 debuts of all time (a record previously held by Elvis Presley.) This accomplishment, however, results far more from the pop singer’s former relevance than any excitement provided from her new albums.
At this point, you should retire your expectations of a Madonna comeback because, according to this fourth comeback album attempt, the fat lady has officially sung.
