Her Majesty was interviewed on the Ellen show in the States, and when asked what she's currently doing workwise she said that once she's finished editing W.E (her film) she's going into the studio to work on new music (AT LONG LAST!!!!!!)

I wouldn't really say this was news but at least she's talking about her recording career which to me is far more exciting than any film news.

At least it's confirmation she's going to be making more music, as there has been a fear amongst some Madonna fans that she may be done musically and wouldn't record again. Then again, people had her written off prior to Ray of Light saying she was done musically and then she came back with that monster album.

I think she's done musically.

New Madonna material is long overdue or at least it will be by the time it is released. I know a lot won't agree and I am a major fan but Madonna has never released a bad album in my opinion, sure some have been better than others.

And Yorkshire Guy although I don't agree with you, I think you mean done musically in a creative sense. She isn't done with music by far, not while she is only a year or two into her 10 year deal with LiveNation that includes albums not just touring.

Hmm what she will come up with next, latino album?
Hope its dancey poppy stuff, stick to what you're good at and all that.

Ridiculous.

There's not much more she can do now. Classical perhaps? It's just about the only type of music she hasn't covered. That'd shock 'em.

I listen to Hard Candy all the time, it's a great album. I leave out 3 tracks, but the rest are all gold.

I would never have called myself a Madonna fan before this year but I'm SO there for whatever she does next.

As an aside, I do always hate it when someone of Madonna's stature does something they will never be great at (in this case directing). I'm a huge Janet fan and it makes me so sad that she said she only wants to act now

I think I've listened to Hard Candy about 4 times, whereas I've loved every other Madonna album - Erotica is one of my favourite albums of all time.

Hard Candy wasn't as strong or coherent as its predecessor, Confessions, but it certainly had its moments of brilliance such as Miles Away, Give It 2 Me, She's Not Me, Beat Goes On & Devil. I think the cold / ugly artwork and poor videos associated with this album, have made it difficult for people to warm to the album and look for the gems amongst some pretty mundane R&P/pop songs...

I agree that Erotica remains Madonna's best album to date and in my opinion the album that sounds least dated of any of her work, and sounds as fresh today as it was when it was released nearly two decades ago.

I think most would agree that American Life was crap.

I'm not most then. It isn't as good as many of her other albums that's true but I still like it a lot. There are some very good songs on there.

Apparently she's working with Taylor Swift and T-Pain

I want her to do really bleak and beautiful songs again like You'll See and This Used To Be My Playground ..

I would put Erotica and Hard Candy at the bottom of my list - I would also beg to differ with mj_monrose in that i feel Erotica is the MOST dated of Madonna's albums in that it's Shep Pettibone production is very much of it's time - don't get me wrong I loved a lot of his production and mixes for lots of artists in that era but it's one of the few Madonna albums that you can tell exactly what time period it was made/released whereas most of her albums still sound quite fresh, True Blue and Like A Prayer being my favourites.

Also, I seem to be one of the minority who absolutely LOVES American Life and still listen to it regularly, and after True Blue would probably fight with Like A Prayer to be my 2nd favourite Madonna album. I feel it's much more coherent than Music which I loved at the time but grew tired of very quickly, yet 7 years later I still love American Life.

Hard Candy I don't like much and I don't even own so much as a downloaded copy of the Celebration single - a completely underwhelming track and not worthy of Madonna at all.

I liek American Life, but I can completely understand why anyone would find it annoying!



Have you heard Devil Wouldn't Recognise You? It's not quite as slow as the 2 you mentioned, but it's a fab song with great lyrics

Nopes!! might youtube..

Miles Away is such a bland, weak song - probably my least favourite Madonna single ever. I'm not surprised it's her lowest ever charting song, barely scraping into the top 40!

I feel the same. I really, really, really don't wanna see her try to be young and edgy and compete with all the current batch of popstars. 4 Minutes really gave off that kind of vibe of desparation, and I'm worried she'll do that again, even moreso now since the arrival of You-Know-Who on the pop scene in the last couple of years. It would be better for her to go down the road of something dark and haunting, maybe she sould take some inspiration from someone like Fever Ray.

the thing is she doesn't need to compete because she wipes the floor with all the others when she's on top form. Ditch the 'trendy' producers and do what she's always done - lead the way by being different, fun and exciting.

I'm certainly looking forward to new Madonna material, even though some of the recent leaked demos are certainly being played to death on my ipod at the moment.

For me she can't really do wrong, love the likes of Crazy For You, Look Of Love, You'll See, Power Of Goodbye just as much as Express Yourself, Vogue, Music, Hung Up and 4 Minutes - whatever style she has for the next album, my ears will be open and my body will be ready to move !!!

Confessions was amazing and Hard Candy was great, she definately has albums left in her yet.

I liked "Miles away" that is a good song.

i would agree here that 'hard candy' has to go down as the most unaatractively marketed madonna album to date ( and that's before i even stumbled across the un-airbrushed photoshoot for the cover)
despite classing myself as a 'lifelong' madonna fan i would question the somewhat "desperate" feel to most of the songs on it too .......

favourite albums are always gonna be a contentious choice but i am afrain that hard candy, for me, sits bottom of the pile alongside 'erotica' ..............as for what's on top, i guess 'true blue' and 'confessions' ........

oh, and i make absolutely NO apologies for the above choices !

[quote
oh, and i make absolutely NO apologies for the above choices !
[/quote]


I think it just proves how great Madonna has been. Each of her albums are loved by someone, some more than others.

Madonna put the following message out via her Facebook page....

"It's official! I need to move. I need to sweat. I need to make new music! Music I can dance to. I'm on the look out for the maddest, sickest, most bad ass people to collaborate with. I'm just saying......" - Madonna


Thoughts?????


As much as I love her music and admire Madonna, I really hope that if she sticks with the dance genre, it's dance with soul and depth in the same vein as ROL, not just another 'escape all your troubles on the dancefloor' type album and lyric.

I was kind of hoping she might go completely the opposite, and go down the organic, accoustic road, and really show off the beauty of her voice in its raw form, with heartfelt lyrics. For example, watch this accoustic version of Mother & Father, which IMO is one of the best live performances I've ever seen her do; honest, heartfelt, raw, moving, human and vulnerable- a side of Madonna we never, ever see normally. If she did an album in this vein, I think she would really surprise people and I think she would re-connect with fans and the wider public, who've kind of turned on Madonna in recent years.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZMPPqDtI6g

Firstly, what a great find that video is. I never knew Madonna had done anything like that and had it released to the public. Plus it was a bonus with it being really quite good and shows to doubters that Madonna can sing.

On your point on Madonna doing a whole album of that kind of sound, I agree it would be good to hear something really different from her however I don't think it would sell in any large numbers. Madonna has tried recording a song along those lines before, remember "One More Chance" from Something to Remember? I happened to like that song but it got slated by all critics and even a lot of Madonna fans would probably name it her worst single ever.

I can't say I "dislike" any of her albums because I can find something special on every single one of them. Secret from Bedtime Stories is one of my favourite tracks.
I'm always interested in her music.

If she ever cunjoures up something cool in the vein of "Frozen" then I think she'd huge again. I don't rate anything she's done since that era at all.

EVERYONE, including RnB singers are heading in a more dance music-orientated direction, I don't think she should risk looking like she's trying to be on trend. Although I know my flatmate thinks a duet with Lady Gaga would be incredible

I don't want her to sound like her but I rather like what Robyn has been doing and would like Madonna to be more innovative again. I just feel she has almost lost her identity and would love for her to return with something really new and out there. When she came back with Like A Prayer (album) it was new and nothing like what we'd heard from her before and more importantly is wasn't anything like anything else was doing at the time. The same for Ray Of Light and even American Life.

she's going back into the studio in July to begin album number 12

If she does some dance songs it could be golden, but of course her latest effort will be compared to Lady Gaga no doubt.

She's had her day and just won't be able to compete against the likes of Beyonce, Rhianna and the act that has finally taken her throne who does not even need to be named.

Her output has been patchy over the years with a few good songs amongst the countless duds. The best she can hope for is a big hit single to raise her profile enough to see a few concert tickets to her stanbase.

I'm happy to hear this but also a bit miffed that she hasn't already been in the studio. If she hasn't started work on the album yet then we have to wait even longer.

Rugbypeach, your comment prior to mine is mostly opinion based. I personally love all her songs and just think one or two are a bit so-so. I fully accept she will probably never sell bucketloads of music nowadays for reasons I've stated in other threads but also because apart from a select few who are selling well at the moment, nobody sells huges amounts.

The success of her next album commercially will almost certainly have no bearing on whether her concerts sell as Madonna has enough loyal long term fans that will pay to see her whatever her current music is like.

the 'she's over' / 'she'll never compete with todays artists' / 'she's had her day' stuff always makes me chuckle: i remember telling a mate of mine "i've just heard Madonna's got a new album out in a few months", and all the 'has been' type comments were his response. the album was 'Like A Prayer'.

LOL. That's a little harsh - every single she released between 1984 and 2008 hit the top 20 and even then only two didn't make it into the top 10! The general public might disagree with the 'countless duds'. (Although that will no doubt have me labelled as a 'stan' )

Sadly - some of the best (in my opinion) songs from the Hard Candy era were left off the album. If you like the more upbeat give this a listen:

http://youtu.be/sLOF6MQMSDA

...and if you liked Miles Away - give this a go:

http://youtu.be/WHLuZ6wfsj0

why Across The Sky was left off the album I'll never know and the same for Animal (whilst it does remind me of Furtado's Maneater) it's a fun song and could have been a B-Side.

We really need an album of previously unreleased songs from Madonna.

A collection of 'rarities / b-sides / unreleased etc' would be amazing, but not likely to see light of day (officially) as long as Madonna still has breath in her body. If it did happen, i'd like a chronological journey of the tracks that failed to make the final cut of some of the best albums of our time. A remastered collection of early recordings would also be good. The vaults will no doubt start being plundered if for any reason Madonna decides to call it quits (like that's ever gonna happen!), meantime, we have a brand new album to look forward to! Yay!

No doubt the walking cum rag that is Perez Hilton is already sharpening his pencil to slate Madonna’s new album & accuse her of copying CaCa! Why nobody has removed that cunt from this planet yet is beyond me!

New Madonna material is long over-due. My favourite albums are Ray of Light, Bedtime Stories, and American Life. I like 'introvert' Madonna so something in that vein would be brilliant!

She's been gone too long. Gaga owns it now. She should let it go and leave her legacy behind her.

She's been gone too long. Gaga owns it now. She should let it go and leave her legacy behind her.

Madonna's first day in recording studio on the new album today. eeeek!!!!

A-Ma-Zing!!!

she's back


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qlXMA0v-WA





oh, should prob add:

Madonna and her production teams have been working on the next album – her first with Live Nation as a record company – for a few months now.
Their goal: Create some killer innovative electro-pop!

WHAT WE CAN EXPECT…

The Sound: A modern and mostly upbeat sound. The blend of electronica informed by ethnic influences such as oriental music will be compelling as well as memorable. Each song is expected to be catchy, powerful with a fantastic selection of trippy and hazy electronica tingles. After all, William Orbit, responsible for Madonna’s impeccable Ray Of Light as well as some of Music, is all about the subtle little details that make his work quite unique.

The Lyrics: Madonna has been working on those for quite awhile. We can expect some personal lyrical content, as well as the “fun and dancing” recurrent theme. William Orbit also co-wrote a few tracks and we all know how consistent and funny our favorite Englishman can be.

HOW IT WORKS…

Basically, Madonna’s working on this album the same way she did with Ray of Light and Music…

1. She gets a basic instrumental demo from a composer or producer… Sometimes, the producer uses a demo vocalist to give more coherence to the instrumental, turning it into what could be a song.

2. Madonna starts to imagine melodies that could go with the instrumental demo (humming on the music) and starts writing ideas for the lyrics.

3. She then discusses the instrumental with the producer/composer and the structural changes she’d like to add or remove.

4. Once both Madonna and the producer are on the same page, she starts writing the lyrics, sometimes with the help from others for inspiration. For this particular album, William Orbit is also co-writing the lyrics with Madonna, as he did on ROL and Music.

5. Once the lyrics are finished, they meet up in a professional studio, so they can forge ahead with recording the instrumental version in a professional setting. Finally, the vocals are recorded.

6. Madonna might later decide to make some small changes after getting feedback from her record company, friends, manager or other musicians.

Right now, she’s between the 4th and 5th stage of this process.

so we're looking at a 'Like A Prayer' / 'Ray Of Light' type plan with single in feb / march with album following soon after!

eeek!

"Fun and dancing"...fucking hell.

They shouldn't let her write one word of it.