Madonna is reportedly in the studio with Avicii (of ‘Wake Me Up’ fame). I enjoy the latter’s sole claim to fame, and can see Madonna doing something in this folk/dance vein quite well. I’m not sure it’s a groundbreaking collaboration, but it could be perfectly fine – and if her track record is any indication it will likely surpass what we expect. She has a way of forming a musical alchemy with just about anyone – I never thought I’d enjoy her getting on the Timberlake-Timbaland band-wagon, but ‘Hard Candy’ was actually a pretty decent pop record – so while some have scoffed at her seeking out Avicii, I think she may have found someone with whom some organic and new sounds might originate.
That makes this the perfect time to revisit her last studio effort, 2012’s ‘MDNA.’ It’s a banging album – one of her strongest in years – and one that went largely ignored after the flush of its first-week of sales. ‘Girl Gone Wild’ is a fun, throbbing opener, the beats of which are sustained and given additional jolts in ‘I’m Addicted,’ while ‘Turn Up the Radio’ is just about a perfect standard of a modern-day pop song, challenged only by ‘Give Me All Your Luvin’ for pure pop perfection. Deeper cuts like ‘Masterpiece’ and ‘Falling Free’ showcase her prowess with a ballad, and ‘Love Spent’ is a lesson in how to craft musical and emotional drama with a few clichéd phrases. ‘I’m A Sinner’ is an instant Madonna-anthem, a hands-in-the-air celebration of not being anything other than yourself. Lesser fillers like ‘Superstar’ and ‘I Don’t Give A…’ almost rise to single-worthy status, while a throw-away cut like ‘Some Girls’ provides the requisite clunker that she usually reserves for the last song. All in all, ‘MDNA’ is a pretty fine album, even by Madonna standards (which are always higher than the average bear’s.) Of course, my eye is already on what is yet to come… so wake me up when the wait is over.
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