12. Madonna, Madame X
With their naïve—some might say crude—expressions of bloody-hearted empathy, there’s something almost Björkian about songs such as “God Control” and “Killers Who Are Partying.” English is, of course, Madonna’s first language, and lyrics like “I’ll be Africa/If Africa is shut down” are received with less generosity when one’s claws are already out. We expect pop stars to stay in their lane, but Madonna is at heart a rock auteur, with all of the inclinations toward upending the status quo and expressing a singular vision that designation implies. Inspired by her time living in Lisbon, where she was surrounded by musicians and art in a way she hadn’t been since her pre-fame days in the East Village, Madame X plays like a musical memoir, sometimes literally: “I came from the Midwest/Then I went to the Far East/I tried to discover my own identity,” she sings on “Extreme Occident.” The album is far from her creative zenith, but it’s her most fearless effort in at least 15 years—the sound of an artist who’s got no more fucks to give. Sal Cinquemani
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