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<\/p>\nMadonna – Confessions II<\/p>\n
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WARNERS<\/p>\n
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Reuniting with Warner Brothers after a 20-year break seems to have concentrated Madonna\u2019s mind. Tracks from her 15th studio album show less of the experimental rhythms and global beats, from Cape Verdean morna to Colombian reggaeton, that drove 2019\u2019s\u00a0Madame X<\/a>. Instead, it\u2019s a return to her gravitational centre in clubland. More the pounding pulse of I Don\u2019t Search I Find, less Batuka.<\/p>\n Confessions II’s opening track I Feel So Free was released on April 18, 2026, a swirling post-disco epic that references Lil Louis\u2019 1989 house classic French Kiss. Madonna\u2019s vocal has an intimate, breathy tone. \u201cSometimes I just like to hide in the shadows,\u201d she whispers, \u201cCreate a new persona, a different identity, I can be whoever I want to be.\u201d Slowly building synth chords and a spacey aura accentuate Madonna\u2019s shamanic female energy \u2013 a dynamism also exuding from the next release, lead single Bring Your Love. Recorded with Sabrina Carpenter, this slice of big room dance pop samples Inner City\u2019s Good Life and is laced with a sense of provocation and defiance. In the same way Madonna teased American Life by kissing Britney Spears at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards<\/a>, she trailed\u00a0Confessions II\u00a0by throwing down the gauntlet to another Disney princess: \u201cBring it Sabrina,\u201d she challenges, \u201cYou got something to say about it?\u201d<\/p>\n These two songs cued up an album that further explores persona and power, a process that started with 2024\u2019s Celebration tour. By turns a sorrowful and joyful reckoning of her life\u2019s choices, this show wasn\u2019t just a Greatest Hits vehicle. One of the stand-out moments was Justify My Love, sung in a dreamlike, languid way as an older woman looking back at memories of a more spikey, sexual self.<\/p>\n Musical director Stuart Price linked remixes of original studio recordings in a way that was sensitively attuned to her live vocals. \u201cThe shorthand was there. We were able to create productively,\u201d he told Billboard. \u201cThe key component of working together is \u2018do you understand each other?\u2019\u201d Given their easy collaborative approach, it\u2019s not surprising that during a break in the Celebration tour Madonna began working on a new album with Price in his Notting Hill studio, picking up where they left off with the first\u00a0Confessions On A Dance Floor<\/a> sessions back in the early 2000s.<\/p>\n Confessions II\u00a0is a continuation of that vibe, plugging into rave culture and her New York disco past, while at the same time infusing tracks with the wisdom of her 67 years. In fact, one of the highlights is Danceteria, a spoken word piece (like the rap Vogue) that reminisces about her NYC club days.<\/p>\n As well as euphoric numbers like Good For The Soul and Love Sensation there are sadder, reflective songs. Fragile, for instance, has the icy feel of Frozen from 1998\u2019s William Orbit-assisted rebirth\u00a0Ray Of Light<\/a>, and recalls her estranged brother Christopher, who died in 2024. For Madonna, the dancefloor is not just about escape but deeper emotions too. \u201cThis album is the story of Madonna\u2019s vulnerability and insight told through her life experiences,\u201d Price told this writer in May.<\/p>\n Not only tracing similar moves to its sonic\/spiritual predecessor (and arguably her last truly great album) 21 years on,\u00a0Confessions II\u00a0places Madonna, now approaching her eighth decade, back onto those dancefloors: New York sweatboxes like Danceteria where the 22-year-old from Michigan first hustled her way towards superstardom, but also the scenes from which she drew so much from for the rest of the \u201880s and \u201890s. Filtering the intervening years, experiences, emotions, and life lessons through the sounds that made her, it\u2019s also a timely reminder of why Madonna was crowned the Queen Of Pop in the first place, and continues to be a vital musical force.<\/p>\n Confessions II is out July 3 on Warners.<\/p>\n ORDER: Amazon<\/a> | Rough Trade<\/a> | HMV<\/a><\/p>\n Track Listing:<\/p>\n 1. I Feel So Free
2. Good For The Soul
3. One Step Away
4. Bring Your Love
5. Danceteria
6. Read My Lips
7. Everything
8. Love Without Words
9. Bizarre
10. School
11. Fragile
12. My Sins Are My Savior<\/p>\n
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