YOUR EX’s Oliver Hall previews Confessions II, Madonna’s new album – 21 years in the making
In August 2006, I stood in London’s Wembley Arena next to a runway that stretched out from the stage, holding my breath with anticipation that I was about to see an absolute icon.
Like many of my age, The Immaculate Collection had been my introduction to Madonna. I was given a copy by a friend’s older sister and just kept playing it over and over again, no matter how sick of it my parents got. It remains, I think, the best greatest hits collection ever made.
But for Madonna, that collection came with an asterisk – Greatest Hits *Part One. She would continue to deliver so much more, giving us her versatility on Something to Remember, her spirituality on Ray of Light, dragging disco into a tech-infused future on Music, before staring down right-wing politics on American Life.
With the Confessions on a Dance Floor album release in 2005, she offered something much more carefree: the invitation to dance all our worries away. Its release came after she had fallen from a horse while living in the UK. Initially, the back injury was thought to be very serious. Rumours swirled that she might never walk again, but rehab, mental determination, resilience and the best surgeons money could buy ensured otherwise.
Recorded in a loft studio in London with executive producer Stuart Price, after weeks of being bedridden, Confessions simply celebrated the ability to move again, with no breaks between songs and joyous sampling of disco gems from ABBA on first single, Hung Up, and the Jackson 5 on the second, Sorry.
At The Confessions Tour in London, we stood just a few rows in front of Victoria Beckham, who had been given the prime position right at the runway’s tip. The lights went down and a giant disco ball descended from the ceiling. It landed right next to us and opened to reveal the Queen of Pop in Jean Paul Gaultier-designed horse-riding attire, looking radiant despite her skin being so pale it seemed she had never seen the sun.
For the next 90 minutes, Madonna proceeded to outmove dancers and gymnasts more than twenty years her junior, while taking wild risks like pole-dancing on a moving horse saddle raised high above the audience. She genuinely seemed to ‘feel so free’.
Fast-forward twenty-one years and, with the right still wreaking havoc over the White House, the Queen of Pop is revisiting that era and adding to it. On Confessions II, she again teams with Price to create another non-stop collection of ecstatic songs made to make you move. The first release, I Feel So Free, set the tone, picking up exactly where Confessions on a Dance Floor left off; the Sabrina Carpenter collaboration Bring Your Love seamlessly blends their timeless styles, while Love Sensation has long-time fans comparing it to her eighties heyday. The Queen’s first studio album since the pandemic is shaping up to be an immaculate collection indeed.
In her promotion for Confessions II, Madonna has made it completely clear that the queer community has the ears, hearts and feet this album was created for. She kicked off New York’s Pride Month with a surprise gig in Times Square that gave us a taste of what a Confessions II tour, or perhaps Parisian residency, could look like, with incredibly innovative staging, an army-sized dance troupe and a setlist combining the new and old Confessions with euphoric remixes of iconic hits sprinkled throughout.
Unlike many singers in their sixties who are phoning it in with covers and Christmas albums, the Queen of Pop seems as ambitious as ever, and that creative drive is keeping her fans inspired.
“Madonna has always been my queen because she’s the definition of perseverance and success through hard work,” Rhubarb Rouge, the organiser of New Zealand’s biggest drag festival, Palmy Drag Fest, tells us.
“No matter what people have said about her, she has never stopped evolving, creating and believing in herself. She’s shown me that if you keep working, stay true to your vision and never give up, success will follow.”
It’s well documented just how hard it is for local talent to put on festivals in Aotearoa, but Rouge assures us that no matter how hard the mahi, Madonna is the role model that keeps her going.
“Every year, we work harder, dream bigger and keep pushing forward. The world feels like it’s in a pretty dark place right now, so who better than Madonna to come and Rescue Me with a new disco banger? If anyone can get us all back on the dance floor and remind us to Vogue, it’s her,” says Rouge.
“We only need 4 Minutes for the Queen of Pop to save the world!”
