Madonna, snapped in London this week on the set of a photo shoot.
Madonna on music video shoot in London
A day after Madonna's papal debacle – she got in costume with hubby Guy Ritchie as a nun and pope for a London Purim party – the singer (with her makeup man) plays dress up on Good Friday in something more fitting: a glamorous gown for a music video shoot in London.
MADONNA has announced details of the first single to be taken from her new studio album.
’Hung Up’ will be the first track to be lifted from the forthcoming LP ’Confessions On A Dancefloor’, which is expected this autumn.
According to madonna.com, the song was produced by Stuart Price aka Jacques Lu Cont, who is currently in Los Angeles mixing the album with the singer.
Price was Madonna’s musical director for her 2004 Re-Invention Tour and also co-wrote ’X-Static Process’ on the star’s last album – 2003’s ’American Life’.
Madonna is expected to shoot the album cover in mid-August with Steven Klein, who is also lined up to direct her new video.
The Re-Invention Tour is set to be released as a DVD by the end of the year.
MSNBC.MSN.com: Don't believe those reports that Madonna is teaming up with Christina Aguilera. "Christina is working on an album in the same building as Madonna but they have not seen each other," Madonna's spokeswoman, Liz Rosenberg, tells The Scoop.
She went on to debunk another rumor. "Gwen Stefani is not guesting on the record either. It's all Madonna, all the time - a total dance record called 'Confessions on a Dance Floor.' No ballads, no messages. Her fans will go insane when they hear it. It's back to Madonna the queen of the dance floor."
MADONNA LAUGHS OFF AGUILERA AND STEFANI DUET REPORTS
Superstar Madonna has laughed off reports she will collaborate with Christina Aguilera and Gwen Stefani on her eagerly awaited new album.
After her politically themed 2003 album American Life, the singer is returning to dance music with Confessions on a Dance Floor, which hits music stores in November.
After Aguilera and Madonna were spotted leaving the same West Hollywood, Calif., recording studio, reports suggested they were planning to collaborate.
However, Madonna's spokeswoman Liz Rosenberg tells MSNBC.com's the Scoop, "Christina is working on an album in the same building as Madonna, but they have not seen each other. Gwen Stefani is not guesting on the record either. It's all Madonna, all the time -- a total dance record called Confessions on a Dance Floor."
It's a sample of an ABBA song as the muisic (Gimme Gimme Gimme). Madonna's voice sounds good, but I could probably sound like with all filters and stuff they put her voice through. It is a little Gwen Stefani, but not as much as people had said it would be. It's not as good as "Music" I don't think it will do as well.
Swedish pop sensations ABBA will earn millions in royalties from MADONNA's new single HUNG UP, because it heavily samples their 1979 hit GIMMIE, GIMMIE, GIMMIE.
The new track will premiere simultaneously on national radio stations across the world tomorrow (17OCT05), and is expected to shoot to number one across the globe - outselling Abba's original, which only reached number three in the UK chart and was never released in America.
Songwriters BENNY ANDERSON and BJORN ULVAEUS only gave permission for their material to be used because they are both avid Madonna fans.
Anderson says, "Gimmie, Gimmie, Gimmie is the essence of the new song and we have agreed to split the copyright with Madonna and her co-writer.
"We get so many requests from people wanting to use our tracks but we normally say no.
"We said yes this time because we admire Madonna so much and always have done. She has got guts and has been around for around 21 years. That's not bad going."
A worldwide radio premiere yesterday heralded the arrival of Madonna's new single, Hung Up - the first stage in a rumoured £5m campaign to promote her forthcoming album Confessions on a Dancefloor.
Her last album, 2003's American Life, was the worst-selling of the 48-year-old singer's career. Hung Up certainly represents a departure from its ungainly blend of solipsistic lyrics and bungled efforts to court controversy: a video for the title track was withdrawn because its anti-war imagery was "inappropriate" in light of the US invasion of Iraq.
A brash, superbly constructed pop track, it eschews lyrics about the perils of materialism and aims squarely at the dancefloor and radio. Based on a sample from Abba's 1979 hit Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight), it manages to further camp up one of the campest tracks recorded.
Employing her musical director, Stuart Price, as producer seems to be a masterstroke. Madonna has always been most potent when translating cutting-edge club music into mass-market pop - her early hits were based on the electro-funk of mid-80s New York clubs, Vogue on house music and Ray of Light on trance techno. Price is at the cutting-edge of club music and as been responsible for a series of superb remixes for the Killers, Gwen Stefani and New Order.
Her recent years have been far from vintage ones: American Life's lacklustre sales, the failure of her cinematic collaboration with husband Guy Ritchie, and bad publicity surrounding her involvement with Kaballah. These three elements suggest a career on the wane. But between 1992 and 1994 she brought out the excruciating erotic thriller Body of Evidence and the patchy Erotica. She shook off that period with the hugely successful Ray of Light album. Hung Up suggests Madonna is about to pull off the same trick again.
HUNG UP: Featuring a sample from Abba’s Gimme Gimme Gimme this is a massive floor filler and a clear No1 single.
While there’s no way on earth a straight bloke could be seen dead dancing to this camp tune it will go down a storm when she performs it at London’s G.A.Y. nightclub next month. 9
GET TOGETHER: Upbeat track which borrows the bass line from the Stardust dance classic Music Sounds Better With You. She sings, “Do you believe we can change the future?” 8
SORRY: One of the best tracks on the album and likely to be the second single. You’ll recognise the infectious bass line on the chorus as it’s a sample from The Jacksons’ 1981 hit Can You Feel It.
The opening features Madonna saying “sorry” in lots of different languages. 10
FUTURE LOVERS: Madonna wrote this with Mirwais Ahmadzai, who produced her No1 album, Music.
It’s heavy on synths and you can spot a sample from the Donna Summer/Moroder club anthem I Feel Love. 9
I LOVE NEW YORK: Banging dance tune with lyrics featuring a pop at George Bush and his home state. She sings: “If you don’t like my attitude then you can just f off. Just go to Texas, that’s where they play golf.”
The chorus is: “Los Angeles is for those who sleep, Paris and London baby you can keep, No other city will make me dance like New York” 10
LET IT WILL BE: Oddly titled track uses the string opening from Papa Don’t Preach played on a synth. The track is reminiscent of Ray Of Light.
An Eighties-sounding string of chords takes the track into the following number. 10
FORBIDDEN LOVE: This is Kraftwerk inspired and features computer generated, vocoder style vocals.
It sounds very Eighties and is slightly slower than the rest of the album (there are no ballads at all on the CD). 8
JUMP: Features classic Madonna vocals and is reminiscent of Into The Groove. She sings: “The only thing you can depend on is your family.” 9
HOW HIGH: All about Madonna analysing and evaluating her fame and success. She sings: “It’s funny I spent my whole life wanting to be talked about, Was it all worth it? I guess I deserve it, How high are the stakes?” 10
ISAAC: By far my favourite track — a stunning combination of wild rhythms, a hypnotic jewish chant and loads of strings and guitars. The ending is borrowed from Die Another Day. I defy anyone to not be blown away by this track. 11
PUSH: A love song for Madonna’s husband Guy. It’s got a funky La Isla Bonita vibe about it and is ear-marked as a possible single.
She sings about Guy: “I owe it all to you, It’s because you push me, Keep on pushing like nobody.” 10
LIKE IT OR NOT: A bit like her hit Fever, this song is once again Madonna analysing herself and saying, take me as I am.
She sings: “You can call me a sinner or a saint, This is who I am, You can like it or not, You can love me or leave me, But I’m never going to stop.”
This track completes the album beautifully with a classical guitar ending. Quite clever to put out a wholly electronic album – and close it with an acoustic guitar. 10
04-05-2005 04:52 AM
