Madonna was tired but cheerful when she sat down in her Manhattan mansion for her Rolling Stone cover-story interview, just after the Grammys in February. She gave a mini-tour of a small portion of her house, pointing out the Debbie Harry and David Bowie photos in her elevator (“nobody in their 20s knows who that is”), the one-of-a-kind collage the late Keith Haring made for her and many photos by her friend Steven Klein. In the interview itself, she discussed ageism, Lady Gaga, Kanye West and much more — but there was even more that didn’t make the print edition. Here’s the best of the rest, including a look at the creative process behind her new album, Rebel Heart.
I enjoyed the Grammys performance — and watching the rehearsals as well.
It’s a process, yeah. I enjoyed the rehearsals more than the performance.
Really?
I enjoy the process of everything more than the pressure of the finished product. It’s like everything. When I go on tour, I like the rehearsal. I like the creation of everything. like being able to wear my rehearsal clothes and be sweaty and not having to worry about how I look and just get into what it is I’m trying to say and do. Same with making music.
You know, the process is obviously much more liberating than delivering something for the world to judge. [Laughs] Because then you have to say, “This is the final thing.” But actually, it’s never the final thing. You wish you could do it again, or tweak it just a little bit more, or change things. Well, that’s what art is. So I enjoyed the Grammys. But after I did it, I wanted to do it again, only better. [Laughs] And of course, my experience of it is not what everybody else is experiencing. And then you have the TV aspect of it, which is, who knows what they filmed?
Read full interview here: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/madonna-on-making-rebel-heart-the-age-of-distraction-and-joan-of-arc-20150305#ixzz3TWkdN88X
Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook
