Madonna – “Rebel Heart”
You may have noticed a gap in our Madonna album reviews. It comes between “MDNA” (2012) and “Madame X” (2019)! Well, here it is at last, the missing Madonna album – 2015’s “Rebel Heart”. Madonna’s thirteenth studio album saw her collaborate with the largest number of writers and producers yet along with singers Nicki Minaj, Chance and even boxer Mike Tyson! Diplo, Ariel Rechtshaid, Avicii and Kanye West were prominent among the producers to see this latest collection to the record stores.
From the outset, Madonna made this her most personal work to date with most of the tracks carrying lyrics from either her personal life, experiences, loves and thoughts, and was preceeded with the lead single, “Living For Love”, which came in December 2014, although pre-publicity centred around her performance at the February 2015 British Music Awards where, halfway through “Living For Love”, she was pulled backwards up a flight of stairs when the cape she was wearing failed to undo.
“Rebel Heart” was released on 6th March 2015 with a fourteen track standard edition and a nineteen track bonus edition, giving nearly an hour and a half of music! So let’s see what we have…
Living For Love
Madonna kicks off this new collection with a return to the ‘floor’ with “Living For Love”, taking a good hard look at herself and setting it to an R&B/Drum’N’Bass beat, and she even says she’s not gonna stumble(!)
Devil Pray
Track two sees Madonna return to the Latin sound of “La Isla Bonita” and “Take A Bow” with this foot-tapping, instantly catchy number which then dives deep into D’N’B territory with some ever deeper, honest and slightly shocking lyrics.
Ghosttown
Sometimes a Madonna song comes along that towers above all others as well as those of her own peers. “Ghosttown” is one such. Iconic and incredible, “Ghosttown” has mega hit written all over it. Makes the hairs stand up from head to toe.
Unapologetic Bitch
Madonna returns to rapping and Drum’N’Bass territory again with sounds of Reggae in the mix as she takes no prisoners in her own personal statement on her standing and how she reacts to those who don’t understand.
Illuminati
“Illuminati” is transient, pulsing, foreboding. “Illuminati” can be a delight and cool, “Illuminati” can be industrial and rough. Perhaps not one to return to that often.
Bitch, I’m Madonna
After 30 odd years, Madonna actually writes a song with her own name in the title, when so many other’s had done already! Madonna and Nicki share the stage for this musical odyssey. And do you get the impression she’s a bitch?!
Hold Tight
“Hold Tight” is a really good Madonna song with a great euphoric chorus and musical interlude that would not sound out of place on her albums at the beginning of this century. Positive and persuasive lyrics make this definitely one to rewind for.
Joan Of Arc
This one begins as if it’s going to be an acoustic ballad but then wades into “Love Profusion” terroitory and ends up being a delightly respite from the heavy numbers that have gone before. Madonna tells it like it is.
Iconic
“I’m the best the world has ever seen” declares Tyson on a song written about fame and stardom. Think “How High?” but on acid. And just when you think it could launch into a huge dancefloor bop, Madonna takes us back to the electro-Drum’N’Bass pit.
Heartbreak City
Now this is more of a ballad, Madonna and a piano really do go together. Madonna lays her heart on the line for all to see as she recounts love lost and the pain of lost love, all the emotions and angers that stem from it. Nothing is left unsaid.
Body Shop
An ode to the cosmetics retailer? Hmm, Madonna blends some deep forest sounds, South American? aboriginal? A very new and different sound from The Queen and a welcome one here with some gorgeous vocals. How unapologetic.
Holy Water
The bitch is back as “Holy Water” catches fire with a trip-hop backing track that ends up quoting the chorus to “Vogue“! Did that song taste like holy water? Does “Holy Water” taste like holy water? Hmm…
Inside Out
This track begins like an early 80’s synthwave tune but progresses into a D’n’B number retaining that 80’s sound from time to time as the electro beat gives way. Madonna wants to love you from the inside out. Is that how she does it?!
Wash All Over Me
The standard edition of the album closes with a euphoric Pop-R&B track that uses a floating melody with piano backdrop to the verses before the heavy and thick chorus kicks in only saved from Madonna’s light and airy vocal.
For aficionados, the bonus/deluxe edition offer five more tracks beginning with the ‘tribal’ “Best Night”, a track that would not be out of place on the “Erotica” album. Saucy and sexy, this burns bright. “Veni Vidi Vici” (I came, I saw, I won) sees the Lady hook up with rapper Nas. The track is a heavy Drum’N’Bass/Trip trip. Next, you’ve had “Erotica”, now have some “S.E.X.”! Madonna can’t scare with this one as she did two decades earlier. “Oh my god, you’re so hot” she writhes. Calm down dear. “Messiah” goes epic again with a piano and violin and more seductive lyrics as she offers herself to the one she loves with promises only she can give. Oddly the title track of the album is relegated to the bonus edition and also the last song of all. “Rebel Heart” is actually a really great tune that deserves to be on the ‘standard’ album. Shades of “Don’t Tell Me” with a fusion of uplifting electro-Pop beats. Awesome.
“Rebel Heart” is indeed her most frank and open collection of songs thus far. But the whole is not as rich as one would expect. The good tracks are really good, but they are so often followed by something less than average. Madonna has built her career on setting the trends, being at least four steps ahead of the pack and producing music no one else had previously dared to or thought about. Here she so often joins the pack. Any number of the songs on this album could have been recorded by anyone else at any time before or during. When she does ‘step forward’ and step out of the box, the results are astounding (“Ghosttown”, “Hold Tight”…).
Upon release, “Rebel Heart” topped the charts in fourteen countries, but not in her two best and most lucrative markets, the UK and her home country, where the album peaked at No.2, achieving Silver status in the former but no certification in the latter. Worldwide sales barely scraped a million, less than half that of its predecessor, “MDNA”, again signifying a general disinterest in the album from outside Madonna’s enclosed fanbase. Madonna toured the album from late 2015 and into 2016 with the 82 shows played grossing $169m, and finding both critical and public favour for her own stage presence. “Rebel Heart” exists as a bridge between the last one and the next one, but not without some praise or attention.
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