Madonna and her successor(imitator?) Lady Gaga are masters of the eclectic. This is usually a good thing, as in Lady Gaga's ARTPOP album or Knife Party's debut "Abandon Ship", where each song seems its own independent self aware organism. Sometimes though it seems that this is less conscious artistic decision and more of an attempt for the artist to find their own "voice", their own style of deciphering the world around them. I was worried about this being true for Madonna's "Rebel Heart" album, which I put off listening to for a very long time. I am admittedly not a Madonna fan, having only enjoyed "Material Girl." As my father told me, she was of a different generation.
Yet my interest was piqued when I heard of some of the artists who were contributing their talent to the album. Diplo, the EDM genius who with Skrillex headed the interesting albeit tragically dumb Jack U project, was behind several of the tracks. His signature trap style is especially fitting on the track "Unapologetic B***", where it seems oddly fitting in its brash and modern sound. Kanye West also did production for "Illuminati", which gave the song a gritty urban feel. This track was reminiscent of the minimalism found on "Yeezus." Not only that, it gave all of us conspiracy junkies who believed West was a member of the secret society something to chuckle about.
Then there is Avicii, the electronic pop star who seems to be the wizard of creating one catchy hit after the other. I found myself dancing to "Devil Pray" as I listened to it. Oddly enough it gave doing drugs, smoking weed and drinking whisky have a tragic majesty I thought only Pynchon could have.
Besides production credits, I got a kick out of Nas' verse in "Veni Vidi Vici." While I liked the song "B*** I'm Madonna" as a whole, I didn't really feel any positive (or negative) feeling for Nicki Minaj's vocals. This is often how I feel with Nicki Minaj, a sort of dull satisfaction that has no depth upon further examination. This strikes me as kind of funny, since in my forays onto YouTube I have seen the impassioned arguments that break out over her music... though these arguments often center around her egregious sexuality. In which case I think that Nicki Minaj was an excellent choice for this album since individual sexuality seems to be a major theme.
Which brings me to the lyrics. I have to admit, they weren't really too deep. Lady Gaga proved you could be a brilliant person and still pen lines such as "I want to take a ride on your disco stick." I don't think I am going to be looking at the world in a new way since it expresses the rather cliche and hackneyed "live dangerously" and "be yourself" themes so plentiful in popular music. (I think the philosopher Nietzsche, who said “I would believe only in a God that knows how to dance” may have enjoyed the album for its simplicity, power and grittiness, as he did the opera Carmen.) Plus, Madonna seems overly fond of the word "b***" in the same way Eminem seems attached to the word "f***." Their simplicity, however, resonated with me and I found the lyrics kind of powerful. Some of them made me smile. Her lyrics are just so self confident, you feel like she can say whatever she wants and still take herself seriously. I certainly would be dying of laughter if I said out loud "Don't it taste like holy water?"
Also, it would be unfair to leave Madonna's trademark use of religious imagery, along with the sexual, untouched. You cannot ignore that Madonna is trying hard to throw in Christian shout-outs in her music, with track titles such as "Devil Pray" and "Holy Water," to name a few. I like artists who are able to effectively accomplish this task, such as John Donne in his "Holy Sonnets." I feel "Messiah" was the best realization of this artistic vision.
This brings me to my final point- I feel that even though it feels kind of sleazy and shallow in places, it is driven by a vision of "living your life like a masochist"- at all cost being an individual even when it causes pain. The album seems cohesive, even if the thematic content is not necessarily agreeable to me as a Mormon. It also seemed original with its use of electronic dance music and hip hop production. I therefore would have to give "Rebel Heart" 7 out of 10 stars. Congratulations Madonna. I gave your album a fairly positive review.
Tomorrow I will be reviewing the surreal video series "Don't Hug Me I'm Scared" which has gone viral on Youtube. Thank you for your patronage and I hope you have a fantastic day! -Chris Muratore, Jr.
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