After a long and anxious seven-year wait, Madonna finally plugs back into her clubland roots with a record of shamanic force.
Reuniting with Warner Brothers after a 20-year break seems to have concentrated Madonna’s mind. Tracks from her 15th studio album show less of the experimental rhythms and global beats, from Cape Verdean morna to Colombian reggaeton, that drove 2019’s Madame X. Instead, it’s a return to her gravitational centre in clubland. More the pounding pulse of I Don’t Search I Find, less Batuka.
Opening track I Feel So Free was released on April 18, 2026, a swirling post-disco epic that references Lil Louis’ 1989 house classic French Kiss. Madonna’s vocal has an intimate, breathy tone. “Sometimes I just like to hide in the shadows,” she whispers, “Create a new persona, a different identity, I can be whoever I want to be.” Slowly building synth chords and a spacey aura accentuate Madonna’s shamanic female energy – a dynamism also exuding from the next release, lead single Bring Your Love. Recorded with Sabrina Carpenter, this slice of big room dance pop samples Inner City’s Good Life and is laced with a sense of provocation and defiance. In the same way Madonna teased American Life by kissing Britney Spears at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards, she trailed Confessions II by throwing down the gauntlet to another Disney princess: “Bring it Sabrina,” she challenges, “You got something to say about it?”
Full review at MOJO