There was a real storm in the Madonna forums, once again, about what Madonna, after more than 40 years of career, had to do. Madonna had to present the second part of ‘Confessions on a Dancefloor’ with a solo song like ‘Hung Up’. Without distracting features like those of Justin Timberlake and Maluma, both much better than their fans were able to identify.
In the end: neither for you, nor for me. Madonna has presented ‘Confessions II’ with the album’s intro, ‘I Feel So Free’, a song that has especially connected with her 90s fans thanks to its spoken word and elaborate structure, with a multifaceted use of Lil’ Louis’ male voice. Surely he will never discover that he plays the typical creep who approaches you on the dance floor. A free translation of that soon iconic “don’t be a vibe kill” would be:
-How is the night going, beautiful?
-Leave me alone, thank you.
And now he unleashes the heavy artillery: a ‘Bring Your Love’ of a commercial and friendly nature that aims to please or at least not bother the hit playlists, just as ‘Popular’ didn’t bother anyone.
Regarding the version presented live at Coachella, there are notable differences. The main one is that the intro seems totally akin to the “continuous mix” that ‘Confessions II’ will have, emulating the structure of ‘Confessions I’. What we hear at the beginning of this future “track 4” seems like the end of track 3. Madonna’s voice also looks adulterated in contrast to the naturalness with which she appeared at Coachella: we especially identify her voice in the spoken parts. For the rest, both appear somewhat camouflaged, like Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande in ‘Rain on Me’.
The song is funny because the chemistry with Sabrina Carpenter is such that even from behind they look like the same person. Both come to sing about love and freedom apart from “numbers” and “haters”, in a self-referential theme.
And I’m not talking about the excessive appeals “Madonna, Sabrina.” But from the feminist quote to ‘Express Yourself’ or the early 90’s fashion that permeated ‘Vogue’ and all of ‘Erotica’. The ‘Good Life’ sample, so discreet, makes sense. It is a 100% Madonna song, in which Sabrina fits, who always had a very similar mischief. Not a Sabrina theme that M is shoehorned into.
‘Bring Your Love’ does not give us the musical revolution of ‘Music’, nor a “reinvention” even in the sense of ‘Medellín’, but it is likely that it does manage to introduce Madonna to a generation of young people who barely knew who she was. Afterwards, and because of Stuart Price’s playing in clubs, the album seems to be much less friendly. Let us remember that death will be one of its main themes. ‘Bring Your Love’ seems like a good way to forget about her this summer, at least for 3 and a half minutes.
Charging …