Oh no... 80 SCORE: 7.942 2015 PLACEMENT: DOWN 15 - 66 of 210 (7.843) HIGHEST SCORE: 10 x 21 (@nikkysan @AshtrayHeart @P'NutButter @eatyourself @HEARTCORE @Dangerous Maknae @rav4boy @Remyky22 @Cutlery @soratami @Andrew.L @torontodj @scottdisick94 @citoig @Jimmyandroid @Crisp X @phoenix123 @Lila @Filippa @sexercise @Music Is Life) LOWEST SCORE: 2 x 1 (@Syzygyz... bitch you didn't even give it a ZERO?!?!) MY SCORE: 7/10 Right, do I even need to do a fucking explanatory write up for this song? Doesn't every single Madonna fan know the hateful, torrid, bloodstained history of this song and not want to repeat it? Do we really need to rehash it again? Will I do it for those of y'all who came to class late and maybe did not do your research to find out the absolutely depraved history of this song? FINE. It's late 2014, and two songs from Madonna's sessions with Avicii for her new album leak, one called "Rebel Heart" (the rumoured title track) and the other called "Wash All Over Me". Fandom response to both of these tracks is... shockingly positive, with many a houmousexual whimpering and whinnying about releasing the title track now, it'll be her biggest hit in years because radio and audiences always support A Good Song and never support A Bad Song and all of Madonna's songs since her last hits in 2005 have been Bad Songs apart from "4 Minutes" being bigger than "Hung Up" in some territories but we ignore that!!! Shortly after, fucking everything leaks. Thirteen versions of every single song leak, and fans start rifling through them like a pervert going through an underwear drawer. People have their favourites, people start building albums out of them before Madonna has even announced an album. It's carnage. And then the Rebel Heart era begins, Madonna starts to release songs, and she's... not managed to pick a unanimous favourite treatment for each song for the wicked gays who fondled her private property and got stupidly, dumbly attached to unfinished versions of songs. We more or less get through the early stages of this unscathed, despite the trembling bottom lips of many a redacted... until we start to hear rumblings. Murmurings. Whisperings. Rebelllll heeeeaaaarrrrtttttings, if you will. There have been changes to the title track which everyone loved purely because it had a synth pop production. "Small changes?" The wicked gays lisp lispfully. Oh, no. She's- I- It's now an acoustic version. Gays, perpetually, for the next five years: I am SO GLAD that I don't have commentary in this rate purely for the fact that I could not have handled 100+ queers in my inbox qualifying whatever their score was by mentioning the goddamn demo. After five years, I do not care. I do not care about your petty squeals. I do not care about your entirely wrong deduction that this would have been some "Believe" moment for her. I do not care about you, in general. In fact, I do not care even particularly care about this song, which has always been good no matter what treatment it gets, and has always had flaws no matter what treatment it gets, namely the lack of middle-eight, which makes an undeniably tightly written song feel unfinished, both musically and narratively. Outside of that, the chorus is lovely, the verses are similarly warm and... easily autobiographical? There's no real pretence to it; no eagerness to namecheck achievements at the cost of musicality, which, while that is Madonna's right, is also can sometimes make a song not as good, which some of Rebel Heart's more introspective tracks suffer from. It's just a light, easy, breezy listen, and a lovely mission statement for Madonna, now and forever. It's bulletproof melodically as well. The song was of course performed during The Rebel Heart Tour, and frequently seemed to be Madonna's favourite song to perform of the evening. We've spoken a lot since the album release about how it felt like Madonna kinda... thawed out towards fans with this era, as she had always been a little frosty or straight out irked by them in the past, which... is kind of understandable. Madonna came up in a time when the only way to interact with fans was when they were behaving like maniacs behind fences or shoving pictures for her to sign in her face. Fandom moving online has its drawbacks, but the good thing about it is that she can also get to see the pure, chilled out stuff, which is a decent chunk of it despite a big part of it still being insane in an albeit different way. She can see the beautiful artwork people make of her, how she inspires fellow creatives, and, hopefully, she maybe even gets to see us go to bat for her as the media seems to get more hostile every year she dares to age more. Madonna deserves to read nice things about and see lovely illustrations of herself. Anyway, in the performance, she stands at the end of the runway and performs the track on guitar, while countless works of fan art swirl on the screens behind her, binding us to her as she performs a song all about how we've been through so much together as a unit. Sniff. It's actually a great, emotional performance. The bit as she takes it in the final chorus as illustrations of all her different alberm lewks fill the screen behind her... THERE. WILL. NEVER. BE. ANYONE. ELSE. LIKE HER!!! ... ... ... Oh, fine. Here's the demo as well in case anyone has been living under a fucking rock.
TOP 80 Lucky Star Borderline Burning Up Holiday Material Girl Like A Virgin Dress You Up Papa Don't Preach Open Your Heart Live To Tell True Blue La Isla Bonita Like A Prayer Express Yourself Till Death Do Us Part Promise To Try Cherish Oh Father Vogue Erotica Deeper And Deeper Bad Girl Waiting Thief Of Hearts Rain Secret Human Nature Sanctuary Bedtime Story Take A Bow Drowned World/Substitute For Love Swim Ray Of Light Skin Nothing Really Matters Sky Fits Heaven Frozen The Power Of Goodbye To Have And Not To Hold Mer Girl Music Impressive Instant I Deserve It Don't Tell Me What It Feels Like For A Girl Paradise (Not For Me) Gone American Life Hollywood Love Profusion Nobody Knows Me Nothing Fails Intervention X-Static Process Die Another Day Easy Ride Hung Up Get Together Sorry Future Lovers Forbidden Love Jump Isaac Give It 2 Me Miles Away Devil Wouldn't Recognize You Living For Love Devil Pray Ghosttown Bitch I'm Madonna (Feat. Nicki Minaj) Medellín (Feat. Maluma) God Control Crave (Feat. Swae Lee) I Don't Search I Find Into The Groove Crazy For You Justify My Love Rescue Me You'll See Beautiful Stranger
'Avicii Heart' is a lost iconic Madonna track for the masses, but I do love the album version as it feels a lot more nostalgic and personal.
@RJF eviscerating the d*mo whiners while pointing out the song's egregious lack of middle-eight in any form replenished my electrolytes, increased my crops tenfold, cleared my skin, and put a temporary salve on my depression. <3 I do like Rebel Heart quite a bit, though. It's a sweet "hey thanks for sticking around" love note to fans, and has been known to thread a tear through the needle of my eye every now and again. The tour performance is so lovely.
That is probably the best Top 80 ever of a single artist/act.......who could even come close? All we ever hear about in the popular music press/radio/TV etc is The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Prince, David Bowie, Bob fucking Dylan etc etc as being the whatever of the whatever of recorded popular music and none of them come even close for me. Almost all of them had way more dud albums than Madonna ever had (Prince in particular, she only had one for me....MDNA) but it is never mentioned in any kind of retrospective. I know they are all men, the women rarely get a look in apart from Aretha, Kate and Joni......I have lost my train of thought.
Never heard the demo for it and intend on staying so. Demoitis has already played too many tricks on me, last one being that godforsaken colorful, kind and yet punk album. As for my scores... delete my ballot at this point tbh.
I largely swerved the Rebel Heart thread since I hate the album, but the demo is >>>. The song in general has one of her best chorus melodies in the past 20 years.
This was such a tragedy. Especially as I was one of those perverts and the era is always linked with tracks I wanted on the album or the demo version of Wash All Over Me being the official one. It somehow prevented me from loving the album more than it deserved and even years later it is tainted. Despite all of that I still feel like it was a strong era. And not once I felt less of a fan of her. Perhaps I grew as a fan as it created a way of insight in the production process of the album. It did however made perched for a next effort. She delivered for me. Actually a serve. Maybe this weird low for an album release experience for a fan elevated the way the next era was handled.
I used to think it was funny that Words literally ends with the sound of WoRDs!!! and is followed by Rain ending with the sound of rAIN!! but now realise that is actually true art. Sorry mum.
Listened to Rebel Heart (song) for the first time in like 5 years and yeah Demo or Final they're all... whatever. At least there's a warm sentiment over the final with that acoustic production. I really hate Avicii Heart. Now, WORDS??? It already hurts that she paid it dust and never mentioned such an opus and then it's out before top50?? For stuff like Miles Endless Away and Living For Love outdoing it?? This is the first time I really feel bothered. As pointed on the last page, the demo is fantastic, probably my favorite leak. I love how they really redid the whole song for the final version Thinking about it, some type of joke this and then Rebel Heart back-to-back.
Aw. Honestly, next to Devil Pray this was probably my favourite remaining track from Rebel Heart. It’s a nice retrospective track and one of her warmest. It could have definitely held on for another eliminations or so.
Which brings to mind this comment about "Rain" from 'The Complete Guide To The Music Of Madonna' published in the nineties: "The coda introduces a counter-melody and it winds up with an unaccompanied vocal harmony and the sound of ... chips frying. Why does rain on record always sound like chips frying? Or are we back in the kitchen "Where Life Begins". We should be told."
Losing two sub-8 scores feels nice, for a change. "Words" is very good, though I don't consider it among the "Erotica" highlights and "Rebel Heart" is cute in its campfire glory, but nothing special at all. I'm a bit surprised by how much love it receives compared to the rest of the album (and the rest of her discography, actually). Also, is "Rebel Heart" the longest-lasting bonus track of the rate? Poor "Messiah" and "Extreme Occident" were robbed when it comes to that title.
