It’s hard to avoid hyperbole when the tears haven’t even dried yet, but CONFESSIONS II is…sort of the album of her life, isn’t it?
This is a Greatest Hits that isn’t a Greatest Hits. It’s basically The (Stalled) Biopic in album form, or Celebration Tour as a concept record.
Does it surpass Confessions on a Dance Floor? Probably. Is it her best album? Possibly.
It’s her essence. It encapsulates everything. Her commitment to the dance floor. Her self-empowerment mantras. Her origin story. Her family. Her sexuality. Her spirituality. And her decades-long refusal to be told who to be or what to do. (Don’t ever tell her to stop.)
I can’t land on a favorite because the whole thing is a skipless, start-to-finish journey. Everything we’ve already heard sounds even better in context.
And now we know the non-stop panic of a campaign matches the quality of the music, which largely came down to two brilliant minds with a singular vision working late into the night in an attic studio in London together.
I have a trillion thoughts, but… the gut-punch of the back half of this album. “Fragile.” The “Little Star” mention kicking off “The Test.” “Betrayal.” And here I thought “L.E.S. Girl” was going to be the “B-Day Song” of the album. Meanwhile I’m here sobbing. “Everything fades away…” How could you, M?
There are too many sonic and lyrical references to her catalog to count – from ‘Erotica’ onwards, especially.
After years of reinvention and making a point to never repeat herself, I suspect digging through the archives for her movie, several losses and a near-death experience of her own led her to reflect on her life.
Words are useless, especially sentences. But the overwhelming feeling I have is just…pride.
She really did it. Again. It’s yet another career peak, which sounds ridiculous to say about a 67-year-old pop star, but face it…she’s Madonna.
Age shouldn’t matter, but it does. It shouldn’t still be this good (or better than ever), but it is. And why shouldn’t it be? If anyone was going to prove everyone wrong, it was always going to be Madonna.
The best to ever do it.
Queen of Pop for a fucking reason.
MADONNA.
Photo credit: Rafael Pavarotti
