4 out of 4 stars
When most people think of Madonna, the Queen of Pop, most recall the glorious ’80s when she made hit after hit of classic pop and dance music before the whole sex book and “Evita” mishaps. In those days, Madonna was the definitive pop star and still is to this day. No other pop music artist has intrigued the way Madonna has and still put out good music that’s relevant and just as artistic as rock.
After the dismal success of her last album, 2003’s American Life, many thought Madonna had lost her touch and would never reach her earlier glory again. American Life ventured further from mainstream pop with its techno-folk music that wasn’t received well by critics or fans. Other previous releases, such as Ray of Light and Music were very good albums, but they experimented with weird techno music that is ahead of its time for mainstream pop music.
With Confessions On A Dancefloor, Madonna brings her senses back to ground-roots dance music that doesn’t try new tricks, but reinvents old ones into something that sounds all too familiar, but in the best way possible.
On the brilliant first single “Hung Up,” producer Stuart Price, who produced Madonna’s highly successful Reinvention Tour last year, samples ABBA’s starting synth line on “Gimme Gimme Gimme (A Man After Midnight)” for the whirring strings that fly through the track, along with brooding bass and one catchy ticking clock.
The best thing about Confessions is that, from beginning to end, it never slows down. Even on the downbeat songs like “Get Together” and “How High,” the pulsating bass and drums hold their own against buzzing synths and psychedelic melodies.
The standout track is “Push,” a drug for the ears, where Madonna sings about her mentor’s guidance: “You push me/To go the extra mile/When it’s difficult to smile/You push me/A better version of myself/Only you and no one else.” Clunking tom-toms, sparkling chimes and bending strings surround the infectious melody that will be stuck in your head for days.
Pounding drums and synth-bass dance their way through your mind in “Sorry,” an almost industrial-sounding disco gem that could be the one ballad on Confessions, but with this beat, there’s no need to slow it down. While on “Future Lovers,” futuristic synths and punching drums lead in to Madonna’s obscure observations of love: “Connect to the sky/Future lovers ride/They’re in mission style/Would you like to try?”
However, on “Forbidden Love,” she’s certain about her love: “Just one smile on your face/Was all it took to change my fortune/Just one word from your mouth/Was all I needed to be certain.” And on “Jump,” which sounds more ’80s new wave than any actual Madonna hit from that decade, she hands out advice on life: “Life’s gonna drop you down like a limb from a tree/It sways and it swings and it bends until it makes you see.”
Madonna even gives a shout out to the Big Apple in “I Love New York,” a punk-disco mash-up that shows off Madge’s particular sense of humor: “If you don’t like my attitude/Then you can F off/Just go to Texas/Isn’t that where they golf?,” all over a thin rhythm line and pulsing beats.
Madonna shows off her religion on “Isaac,” a Middle-Eastern club track complete with clanging foreign instruments and warbling chants. It’s the most explicit reference to Kabbalah on Confessions and has the religious influence that hasn’t been seen since the Buddhist-inspired “Shanti/Ashtangi” off Ray of Light.
Confessions On A Dance Floor is meant to be Madonna’s return to her roots: in the clubs. The 12 tracks on Confessions meld into one continuous “DJ mix” and never let up on the pulsating beats. This is good in that there is never a dull moment throughout the CD, but it’s also the one weakness Confessions has: it’s hard to distinguish one track from another when they seem to all be remixes of the same song, albeit the best remixes you’ve heard from dance music in a while.
Madonna succeeds in making us get out of our seats and dance, with any and every sound imaginable squeezed into the dizzying array of techno, house, disco, dance and pure pop perfection that combines to form the tracks on Confessions. Madonna’s songwriting skills, which have been largely overlooked throughout her career, help make Confessions come alive and achieve its primary goal: to make us dance and experience emotions through the sounds and words of the great pop star of our time. Madonna seems to have been holding her dance drive inside for a while, and now the time’s right to let it free.
To quote the Material Mom’s early club hit “Burnin’ Up”: “Don’t put me off, ’cause I’m on fire/And I can’t quench my desire.” As long as you continue putting out albums like Confessions, Mrs. Ritchie, we’ll let you keep burning.