I'm curious to see what the next in the 'Bitch I'm...' trilogy is because ...Madonna and ...Loca both slap.
As one of the most enthusiastic Rebel Heart fans out there, I have to say that some of the tracks from the album have truly aged TERRIBLY, and HeartBreakCity is probably the one my opinion changed on the most. On its parent album, I thought it fit nicely into the whole theme with its apocalyptic imagery and very in-character defiance, but in all these years I never came back to it while listening to my favorite album cuts. Listening to it again for this rate showed me why: there's just not much to come back to. It's a definition of a filler track on an already bloated album, it deals with some very on-brand topics that so many Madonna tracks do a million times better, and while it's definitely not awful, I don't see it adding anything unique to Madonna's discography. And on top of that, its standard edition placement probably helped it overstay its welcome over some clearly better bonus tracks (like S.E.X. or Borrowed Time). Edit: I just realized I gave it an 8????? That was definitely an accident, sorry @RJF. Hopefully I didn't push it too far forward.
167 SCORE: 6.561 2015 PLACEMENT: 137 of 210 (6.593) HIGHEST SCORE: 10 x 3 (@Sprockrooster @joeee @Weslicious) LOWEST SCORE: 1 x 1 (@theelusivechanteuse) MY SCORE: 6/10 Y'all said NO to the Rebel Heart ballads today, huh? Second verse, same as the first to be honest. This gets an additional point for me over "HeartBreakCity" because I really like the lyrics and think in general it's just a far stronger song with a far more memorable chorus to boot, but again, it's just a production issue where it's so drab and boring. Like, you get arguably the most conceptual and strange lyrics on the whole album and... it's another standard piano ballad? Okay, I guess. Definitely one of the strongest compositions on Rebel Heart though; it just doesn't make a compelling final result. This is another one that has nine writers as well, which honestly boggles the mind. Madonna, Avicii, Kanye West, and Tommy Brown to name just four. Since this is from Rebel Heart, it obviously has a demo, and if memory serves me correctly it was actually one of the first demos that leaked before we ended up getting everything. I think it was this and the now infamous "Rebel Heart" demo that appeared first, but feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. Despite thinking it honestly was a bit basic at the time... I've maybe come round to the fact that the demo is the better treatment over the years. It's not perfect, but it is better. It just nails the drama far more, and has cute little structural changes like the chorus ramping up the stakes when you least expect it at the end. It's hardly one of her best ever, but I definitely think the production was the make or break element here. I'll link to the demo below for anyone who hasn't heard it yet. I would be interested to know what direction the song was initially conceived for, because even in the demo the vocals feel like they were intended for a ballad treatment but the eventual ballad treatment it gets is really disappointing, but I guess getting a coherent idea is hard when nearly ten people have a hand in making it. What an odd song overall.
Poor Rebel Heart today. I like Heartbreak City but when i listened to Rebel Heart again, it wasn't as good as I remembered. I still like it. The mash-up with Love Don't Live Here Anymore was genius. Shame it wasn't included on the DVD/Blu-ray.
I think both 'Heartbreak City' and 'Wash All Over Me' have nice melodies and her voice sounds good but I agree that the production could be a bit different. It's funny that they both have military drums. Maybe she had the first minute of 'Fernando' in her head or something.
I was about to correct you because I for sure remembered watching the performance on the stairs on the release, but I've just looked it up and realised they've edited the "Love Don't Live Here Anymore" section out of it. I wonder if it was a rights issue considering it's originally not her song.
I totally forgot Into The Hollywood Groove existed. Was that the first time Madonna collaborated with another female artist? It did come out a couple of months before Me Against The Music.
The piano demo of Wash is beautiful. You are correct, the Avicii version of Wash and the infamous and iconic Avicii Rebel Heart were the first two to leak, November 29 2014! Why do I remember the dates of everything. She sounds amazing on HeartBreakCity and yes, while not essential, I enjoy it lots. Eradicating the Love Don't Live Here portion from the tour broadcast was NOT gay rights.
These Rebel Heart eliminations are most pleasing to me. I don't find the album to be much better than MDNA - while the former has better concepts, lyrics and production, I feel the latter having only 12 songs examplifies self-awareness and has overall higher highs. The thing is, every time I try to trim Rebel Heart down to a nice 10-13 track album, I end up with five or six songs and none of them sound like singles. Ghosttown my be my least favorite Madonna single since the 2000s.
"and I still feel shitty" I get why she removed that from the final version of 'HeartBreakCity', but I kinda liked how human it was/is.
