MDNA: The queen is back

Madonna has a new CD out in the stores. It is titled MDNA. It is her 12th studio album and her first since Hard Candy four years ago. It made its US debut at No. 1 last week and it is every bit worthy of the Madonna name. Truth to tell, I see the album as something that could have only come from the pop legend she has become.

You know that Madonna has been somewhat quiet these past few years. She wrote books and got divorced from Sherlock Holmes director Guy Ritchie. Then she decided to go into writing and directing a movie herself. The result of her efforts was W/E, a take on the legendary love story of the British King Edward VIII and the American divorcee Wallis Simpson. She also composed and performed the theme, Masterpiece, which won in this year’s Golden Globe Awards for Best Original Song.

It is time now for Madonna to get back into the pop music scene. It seems like she has these past few years been sitting back, watching all those new wannabes. Is there a new Madonna in the batch? Couldn’t tell if there is, so she stood up to take the spotlight herself, probably thinking, “Not bad girls, but let Momma show you how these things are done.” And boy did she show them in a big way. Madonna is not only back, she is back on top.

Nicki Minaj, who has been recruited as handmaiden for two cuts, heartily agrees. She raps out with a strong, “I don’t give a f***. There’s only one queen and that’s Madonna, Bitch!” in the song I Don’t Give A. How’s that for some affirmation. She is also in the first single, Give Me All Your Luvin’ with M.I.A., which is now better known as Madonna’s Superbowl song.

Maybe because of the Superbowl performance and the video’s theme, Give Me All Your Lovin’ is now associated with football and cheerleaders. While these remain part of the fantasies of American males, I find Madonna’s use of them and themes like gang bang, girls gone wild, even of the radio, too adolescent for a 50-something pop diva. But if that is the market that she wants to reach and since they work in her favor, then so be it. Everything else about the music of MDNA is great anyway.

Before you start thinking of her lyric writing as limited though, give a listen to how she fares in the other songs where she delves on her personal experiences. Most of the songs are about a great love and her regret over a broken relationship. She is in a confessional mood. In fact, Madonna opens the CD with the Act of Contrition. “O my God, I am heartily sorry… but most of all because I love Thee and I want so badly to be good.” As if that were not enough, she also has one cut titled I’m A Sinner. She loves being one but in a burst of guilt, puts in a Hail Mary.

One of these days, I would like to find time to analyze how Madonna has treated the long-time conflict between her overt sexuality and traditional Catholic upbringing in her music. You can already find this in her early works like Like A Prayer. This is at its most obvious in MDNA. But that will be for later. The moment belongs to the new CD where her music is at its most varied.

You want fun, there is Girls Gone Wild. You want a good time driving song, there is Turn Up The Radio. You want to play name games, there is Superstar. You want a hypnotic, club scene, there is Gang Bang, which despite the title is one of the best cuts. I also like the heartbreak ballads a lot, like the lovely Masterpiece from the W/E soundtrack and the softly affecting Falling Free.

But as always, a Madonna CD is not just about the music. It is also about the entire recording process. I never cease to marvel over how she treats sound. How she layers and mixes her music is what makes her every recording special. The results found in MDNA are truly excellent.