Voices should have fucking left at about #178, but I know I can't trust y'alls questionable taste, so here we are. Does it have something to do with some of these orchestral versions being better than the ones we got, hun? xoxo
I’ve always enjoyed Voices, but this, WHY. Similar to the Rebel Heart title track - Is it intentional that my headphones sound broken?
Voices is my least favorite track on Hard Candy. Here I was calling for Candy Shop and Voices a lower score. Also, I'm glad I'm not the only one that doesn't care for Body Shop. Definitely should've been out before Best Night.
Because I'm a fool for not mentioning them (although maybe I cursed these songs ddd FUCK), let me pray for Inside Out (aka one of her best songs post 2000 aka one of my Rebel Heart 10s) and Body Shop (aka at worst an 8 aka a beautiful, charming song that sounds like it was produced by Rostam and what a collab that could be). I get there are issues with Rebel Heart on the whole but I dunno why some of yall are acting like it doesn't contain a lot of impressive, interesting songs? But then there are folks who unironically stan Girl Gone Mild and someone deadass said Like A Prayer was shit so, what can you do with all those brain worms.
I had a slight moment with Voices recently. The production would be inexcusable if awful levels/mastering weren’t a common feature of her albums ever since (sad!). I have an ounce of time for it!
Don’t care about Voices leaving but Best Night not even reaching an average score of 7....I hate this rate (but you’re doing a great job RJF).
151 SCORE: 6.791 2015 PLACEMENT: N/A HIGHEST SCORE: 10 x 5 (@nikkysan @eatyourself @Cutlery @wintersleep @fancygreen) LOWEST SCORE: 2 x 3 (@Aester @Markus1981 @happiestgirl) MY SCORE: 7.5/10 This elimination order is starting to get a little weird. "Batuka" is probably one of the densest production treatments on Madame X and is part of a group of opening tracks that do kind of put the listener through the ringer a little, so maybe y'all were just a little fatigued by the time you got to it, but I think it's great. We've talked a bit about Madonna's cultural appropriation over the years this week, but I think in this instance she gets it completely right, where the entire track is about honouring the people who had inspired her, enabling them to do their thing alongside her and not behind her, and using her considering clout to bring more awareness to their story. It just sounds so defiant and formidable and unique thanks to the batuque elements, and it's just classic Mirwais/Madonna magic brought eloquently into 2020. Madonna was first introduced to the Batukadeiras Orquestra through Dino D'Santiago, who was responsible for connecting her with a lot of regional musicians for Madame X. She was immediately enthralled by what they did and requested a collaboration, to which they agreed. The song is basically about... perseverance, and steadfastness, and how fucking strong women are. The song almost had a title that was more on the nose re: feminism, but Madonna wanted something a little less conventional but still powerful, settling on the current title we have now, saying, "that's what it is, that's the style of music that it is. That seemed to work. Created by women, played by women." thus furthering the credit she was giving, which is great to see. Madonna plucking inspiration from another culture for her new album in 2019 could have been a disaster, but I think the way she went about it here was marvellously navigated and thankfully not the only example of her still being way ahead of her peers in terms of contemporary standards. Y'all will also notice that the iconic David Banda is credited as a writer also! All of Madonna's kids sing on this track, but he was the only one to request a writing credit despite only changing one-word, to which Madonna begrudgingly acquiesced, which is a SCREAM. I mean, sis, if nothing else at least you taught him right. The song received the fifth and final video of the Madame X era, with Madonna looking to recreate the magic of the night she was introduced to the Batukadeiras while also highlighting the origins of their music, creating a shockingly sensitive and powerful video that managed to speak on slavery in a respectful manner, while exhibiting the brilliance of something that had managed to grow out of such suffering and adversity. The ghostly ships on the horizon are a fantastic image to add to the Madonna canon. It was an amazing way to cap off what was an incredible run of videos, and proof positive that Madonna can never be counted out. The song was also performed with the Batukadeiras during the Madame X Tour, and everyone who went says it slapped but I'm afraid we'll have to wait until the official release before we can corroborate that claim.
You did! Just realised it was a name scramble from when I had been tallying the highest/lowest for the previous track. Fixed now!
151. Batuka - 6.791 152. Voices - 6.785 153. Best Night - 6.755 154. Veni Vidi Vici (Feat. Nas) - 6.752 154. Broken (I'm Sorry) - 6.752 156. Shanti / Ashtangi - 6.73 157. Addicted - 6.712 158. Iconic (Feat. Chance The Rapper & Mike Tyson) - 6.702 158. Ciao Bella - 6.702 160. Spotlight - 6.694 161. I Love New York - 6.652 162. Messiah - 6.639 163. Love Song - 6.621 163. I'd Rather Be Your Lover - 6.621 165. Supernatural - 6.615 166. Candy Shop - 6.588 167. Wash All Over Me - 6.561 168. HeartBreakCity - 6.558 169. Bitch I'm Loca (Feat. Maluma) - 6.548 170. Your Honesty - 6.524 171. Beautiful Scars - 6.461 172. Something To Remember - 6.458 173. Love Don't Live Here Anymore - 6.448 174. Over And Over - 6.433 175. Another Suitcase In Another Hall - 6.409 176. Stay - 6.367 177. Don't Stop - 6.339 178. Girl Gone Wild - 6.324 179. I Know It - 6.267 180. Act Of Contrition - 6.245 181. Fighting Spirit - 6.227 182. I Don't Give A (Feat. Nicki Minaj) - 6.203 183. It's So Cool - 6.191 184. Illuminati - 6.167 185. Funana - 6.161 186. Dance 2Night - 6.152 187. Borrowed Time - 6.118 187. History - 6.118 189. Sooner Or Later - 6.109 189. One More Chance - 6.109 191. Back That Up To The Beat - 6.076 192. Let Down Your Guard - 6.036 193. Killers Who Are Partying - 6.015 194. I'm A Sinner - 6.012 195. I Fucked Up - 5.964 196 - Some Girls - 5.933 197. He's A Man - 5.924 198. Give Me All Your Luvin' (Feat. Nicki Minaj & M.I.A.) - 5.921 199. Buenos Aires - 5.894 200. Super Pop - 5.848 201. Revolver (Feat. Lil Wayne) - 5.827 202. Can't Stop - 5.776 203. Ain't No Big Deal - 5.736 204. Turn Up The Radio - 5.727 205. Best Friend - 5.721 206. Graffiti Heart - 5.697 207. Hanky Panky - 5.691 208. Love Makes The World Go Round - 5.679 209. Back In Business - 5.67 210. Pretender - 5.661 211. Lament - 5.615 212. Cyber-Raga - 5.603 213. Incredible - 5.545 214. Jimmy Jimmy - 5.521 215. Now I'm Following You - 5.497 216. Ring My Bell - 5.424 217. S.E.X. - 5.373 218. Spanish Lesson - 4.997 219. Shoo-Bee-Doo - 4.948 220. More - 4.852 221. What Can You Lose - 4.436 222. Superstar - 4.391 223. Auto-Tune Baby - 4.121 224. Cry Baby - 3.367 225. I'm Going Bananas - 3.327 226. B-Day Song (Feat. M.I.A.) - 3.000 227. Hey You - 2.976
Damn... "Voices" is one of the best "Hard Candy" tracks and I just knew it was going to end up underrated. Would've gotten a 10 from me if it wasn't for that production.
Green titles denote fully intact albums. TOP 150 Madonna (1983) 1. Lucky Star 2. Borderline 3. Burning Up 5. Holiday 6. Think of Me 7. Physical Attraction 8. Everybody Like A Virgin (1984) 1. Material Girl 2. Angel 3. Like A Virgin 6. Dress You Up True Blue (1986) 1. Papa Don't Preach 2. Open Your Heart 3. White Heat 4. Live To Tell 5. Where's the Party 6. True Blue 7. La Isla Bonita Like A Prayer (1989) 1. Like A Prayer 2. Express Yourself 4. Till Death Do Us Part 5. Promise To Try 6. Cherish 7. Dear Jessie 8. Oh Father 9. Keep It Together 10. Spanish Eyes I’m Breathless (1990) 11. Vogue Erotica (1992) 1. Erotica 2. Fever 3. Bye Bye Baby 4. Deeper And Deeper 5. Where Life Begins 6. Bad Girl 7. Waiting 8. Thief Of Hearts 9. Words 10. Rain 11. Why's It So Hard 12. In This Life 13. Secret Garden Bedtime Stories (1994) 1. Survival 2. Secret 5. Inside Of Me 6. Human Nature 7. Forbidden Love 8. Love Tried To Welcome Me 9. Sanctuary 10. Bedtime Story 11. Take A Bow Ray Of Light (1998) 1. Drowned World/Substitute For Love 2. Swim 3. Ray Of Light 4. Candy Perfume Girl 5. Skin 6. Nothing Really Matters 7. Sky Fits Heaven 9. Frozen 10. The Power Of Goodbye 11. To Have And Not To Hold 12. Little Star 13. Mer Girl 14. Has To Be Music (2000) 1. Music 2. Impressive Instant 3. Runaway Lover 4. I Deserve It 5. Amazing 6. Nobody's Perfect 7. Don't Tell Me 8. What It Feels Like For A Girl 9. Paradise (Not For Me) 10. Gone 11. American Pie American Life (2003) 1. American Life 2. Hollywood 3. I'm So Stupid 4. Love Profusion 5. Nobody Knows Me 6. Nothing Fails 7. Intervention 8. X-Static Process 9. Mother And Father 10. Die Another Day 11. Easy Ride Confessions On A Dance Floor (2005) 1. Hung Up 2. Get Together 3. Sorry 4. Future Lovers 6. Let It Will Be 7. Forbidden Love 8. Jump 9. How High 10. Isaac 11. Push 12. Like It Or Not Hard Candy (2008) 2. 4 Minutes (Feat. Justin Timberlake & Timbaland) 3. Give It 2 Me 4. Heartbeat 5. Miles Away 6. She's Not Me 8. Beat Goes On (Feat. Kanye West) 11. Devil Wouldn't Recognize You MDNA (2012) 2. Gang Bang 3. I'm Addicted 10. Love Spent 11. Masterpiece 12. Falling Free 13. Beautiful Killer Rebel Heart (2015) 1. Living For Love 2. Devil Pray 3. Ghosttown 4. Unapologetic Bitch 6. Bitch I'm Madonna (Feat. Nicki Minaj) 7. Hold Tight 8. Joan Of Arc 11. Body Shop 12. Holy Water 13. Inside Out 19. Rebel Heart Madame X (2019) 1. Medellín (Feat. Maluma) 2. Dark Ballet 3. God Control 4. Future (Feat. Quavo) 7. Crave (Feat. Swae Lee) 8. Crazy 9. Come Alive 10. Extreme Occident 11. Faz Gostoso (Feat. Anitta) 13. I Don't Search I Find 14. Looking For Mercy 15. I Rise B-Sides, Rarities, Complilation Tracks, Etc. Into The Groove Gambler Crazy For You Who's That Girl Causing A Commotion The Look Of Love Justify My Love Rescue Me This Used To Be My Playground Goodbye To Innocence I'll Remember I Want You (With Massive Attack) You'll See You Must Love Me Don't Cry For Me Argentina Beautiful Stranger Time Stood Still Celebration
Batuka is great. A 7.5 from me, and I toyed with giving it more. The rest of MDNA can get the fuck out.
It's very cruel to hang the twin albatrosses that are American Pie and Cyber-raga around Music's neck... That album is still intact and will hopefully be for some time to come!
