Shred - Madonna: MDNA

1. Girl Gone Wild
2. Gang Bang
3. I'm Addicted
4. Turn Up The Radio
5. Give Me All Your Luvin'
6. Some Girls
7. Superstar
8. I Don't Give A
9. I'm a Sinner
10. Love Spent
11. Masterpiece
12. Falling Free

13. Beautiful Killer
14. I Fucked Up
15. B-Day Song
16. Best Friend
17. Give Me All Your Luvin' Remix

 
I want to start this review by first talking about something else. Madonna is allegedly the queen of pop, but to be the queen, you also have to deal with rivals and that, is not exactly a walk in a park. Lady Gaga and Britney Spears are on a hiatus, but last year both of them released albums that were brilliant in different ways. Half of Gaga's Born This Way was garbage, but there were over 20 songs and the other half which was listenable, came together as a great pop album and a strong contender to be the album of the year. Britney's Femme Fatale was something much more simple: The usual hit dance/pop record with dub'step influences. Yes, there are dozens of such records around, but Femme Fatale was an exception to the rule by being in every measurable way possible, a perfect album.

So, 2011 gave us two excellent pop records that are in the same league with what Madonna is releasing this year. MDNA's obejctive is no less than to beat Born This Way and Femme Fatale. I don't expect it to, but then again, this is the part I wrote two weeks before I listened to MDNA. Off to the part I wrote just this morning.

After the first listen, MDNA is a bit of a disapointment. It starts and end well, but the middle section acts like a crack in a well constructed cruiser's hull. On top of it, the extra songs on the deluxe version are more of an certificate of doomsday than music. MDNA has only shy of 8 songs which stand up for the Madonna badge, and that isn't much of an album.

Let's start with the good pieces. Girl Gone Wild might be just a lazy copy of Madonna's own song Celebration dating three years back in 2009, but it has an anthemic chorus and it is one of the better constructed songs on the album. It also has the radio friendly single banner above its head so its flaws can be forgiven. Most of the albums budget must have been spent on Gang Bang. The lists of collaborators on this song alone ranks more than rest of the songs on the album. I'd say the money was spent well, because Gang Bang is a five and a half minute blast of stone cold revenge in flavor of Tarantino's Kill Bill.

I'm Addicted gets handed the award of best song on the album the second it reaches the chorus. It relatives to Benni Benassi's Hypnotica album (2003, very much worth listening to) and shows that although Benassi doens't seem to have a lot tricks in his pockets, he does fine with what he's been given. The near excellent opening four is concluded with Turn Up The Radio. It's a simple pop song which you'll propably forget sooner than the year ends, but the naevity of driving in a car and singing along with the radio is sweet.

Gimme All Your Luvin' begins a series of mediocrities. I like the idea of this song and it tries hard to bring something new to the pop scene, but the melody is as weak and vulnerable as a tiny icicle. Some Girls doesn't improve much, but something must have been done with with this track because it sticks to your head like a gum in the hair. Not sure I like it in case of this song though. The next track, Superstar can be put in the same group with the deluxe songs. Cuss, the mediocrity!

I Don't Give A is a more interesting case. Instrumentally it's one of the album's worst, but its lyrics and the operatic ending section save the day. MDNA picks up its game again in I'm a Sinner. This song could accompany Madonna's previous classic albums, Ray of Light and Music. I'm a Sinner is silly and careless, doesn't take itself too seriously and therefore, it is reasoned to be taken seriously.

Love Spent is one of the album's most most pleasing moments. It begins with a banjo riff and although never reaches its full potential, it is still an instant fan favorite. The following song Masterpiece might have won a Golden Globe award, but to me its vague and boring. With different sound choises and more orchestra it could hold a candle to Madonna's big ballads from the 90's.

Madonna collaborates with Joe Henry on Falling Free with whom she made some of her more fan-favorited work with (Don't Tell Me, Jump and Devil Woulnd't Recognize You). Falling Free is a peaceful, gallant ending to the record and it fills a cynical Madgetriber with hope that Madonna can still make great songs and... sing.

MDNA sounds brilliant if you listen it with a really expensive and great sound system, but as I can predict, most people just use regular headphones while sitting in a noisy bus. If this is the case, then MDNA is a tricky record. The hard to like middle section wounds the whole record down from great to average.

Madonna doesn't lose her crown with MDNA. In fact she manages to defend her spot valiently. The heights of MDNA are unreachable by Gaga's Born This Way and Britney's Femme Fatale, but it's thanks to the cohesiveness of those two records that the distance between Madonna and her competition is shrinking with an alarming rate. However, ask a stadium packed with 80 000 people and they'll answer you L-U-V MADONNA.