Word: madonna
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...songs stand out on Ray of Light as Madonna's best work in the last decade. "Frozen," now dominating the singles chart, is an exotic paean that best represents her new sound. In fact, the best part of the song has Madonna barely singing at all. Her subtle hums add breathtaking texture to Patrick Leonard's haunting melody. Even more impressive is the opening track of Ray of Light, "Drowned World" (aka Substitute for Love). As the founder of Maverick Records, Madonna certainly has learned something from Alanis Morissette, her label's recent mega-discovery. "Drowned World" is a colorful...
Electronica is Madonna's ideal realm. Her shallow pop seemed to float without foundation in her previous albums. Every time she tried to be "innovative" or "groundbreaking," it all turned into another exercise in pleasing the Top 40 crowd. The songs on Ray of Light are built around producer William Orbit's spectacular backgrounds: synthesizers illuminate the music with pseudo-stars, comets, flowing rivers, and gurgling heavenly blips. "Sky Fits Heaven," for instance, would be a dismally boring song without the lightly pulsating background that perfectly matches the song's lyrics...
Water is a prevalent them on Ray of Light. Indeed, Madonna equates water with redemptive healing, using it as a symbol for her spiritual awakening. Every once in a while, the results are strained. "Swim" has the singer escaping to the bottom of the ocean floor, but the lyrics seem immature against the brilliantly sophisticated melody. "Mer Girl," on the other hand, closes the album with a soft, edgy song that is certainly her most personal--the album ends on the painful note "And up to the hill / I ran and I ran / I'm looking there still...
Motherhood, then, also plays a crucial role in Madonna's growth. While "Mer Girl" dredges up the aching memories of her own mother's premature death, "Little Star" embraces her future with baby Lourdes. "God gave a present to me," she sings in the album's most bare song, "Never forget how to dream / Butterfly / Never forget where you come from / From love / You are a treasure to me." Finally, her lyrics seem inspired and more than the giggly rhymes of the past...
...Madonna really given it all up? Has she become a "worshipper at the guru's lotus feet" as she professes in "Shanti/Ashtangi"? Probably not. Yet, even if it all is another ingenius marketing ploy, she has certainly matured. With baby Lourdes prompting her to shed the superficial exterior, we're finally seeing Madonna's artistic core. And indeed, it's a captivating, haunting, dazzling alluring one that will reenergize both her career and her fans. Like a prayer indeed...