LiveToTell86 said:

sometimes artists buy people out of the credits.

The adoption is official!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/a...madonna_14

Madonna's 2nd adoption in Malawi approved

Madonna can adopt a second child from Malawi, the southern African country's highest court ruled Friday, overturning a lower court decision it said was out of touch with the times.

Chief Justice Lovemore Munlo also said the singer's commitment to helping disadvantaged children should have been taken into account when deciding on Madonna's request to adopt 3-year-old Chifundo "Mercy" James.

Madonna has founded a charity, Raising Malawi, which helps feed, educate and provide medical care for some of Malawi's more than 1 million orphans, half of whom have lost a parent to AIDS.

Children's welfare groups had expressed concern that rules meant to protect children were being bent because of Madonna's celebrity, and perhaps out of gratitude for what she has done for Malawi, one of the world's poorest and most AIDS-ravaged countries.

Madonna had appealed after a lower court ruled she could not adopt the girl because the singer had not spent enough time in Malawi. The lower court said residency rules had been bent when Madonna adopted her son David from Malawi last year.

The appeals court said that was a narrow interpretation based on old laws, and that it is possible in today's globalized world to be resident in more than one place at a time.

Wow,Madonna now has four children

StarCat said:

I like it! "Miles Away" is still my favorite song on Hard Candy.It's so melodic and warm,with a strong chorus....easily one of her best songs! All four collaborators work extremely well on this song...

*Timbaland is dong his thing but unlike "4 Minutes",he doesn't dominate the proceedings.He lets Madonna tell her tale while he concentrates on the music.

***Justin does a great job with the vocal harmonies and background vocals.

***Danja makes his appearance at the end,giving the song a hard,club beat during the final minute.What started off as a folksy,pop number has now turned into a funky club jam.I love that part.

More,please...

SoulAlive said:

This is a nice video. It baffles me that they thought it would be better to hold the video back, and release the single without it. I simply dont understand WB.

As for Miles Away, its a great track - however i always want it to develop further. I loooove the clubby bit at the end, and always thought it was a perfect opportunity to release and extended version where it takes the track to a whole new direction - a kind of parts I & II thing.

I like Justins backing vox, but imagine this with Donna & Nikki vox! In fact the whole Hard Candy album was crying out for non-Madonna backing vocals. Candy Shop in particualr would have sounded brilliant with Donna & Nikki singing "Get up out of your seats" parts. She just doesnt want to pay the residuals out. Even when she sang it live this bit was just a backing track of her own vocals....weird! Just for one tour id like to see her drop the backing track. Why hire backing singers if you cant hear them?

Sometimes madonnas thrifty nature really interferes with her music in a negative way.
[Edited 6/12/09 3:39am]

That's actually one of the things I really like about Hard Candy....there are other voices on it (Justin,Kanye,Pharrell) besides Madonna! It gives the album a 'party' feel,which was missing from recent albums like 'Music' and 'American Life' (albums that sound cold and lonely,in certain parts).I hope she adds more background vocals on future albums.

in 205 or 04 she talked about live background vocals and how she would like to use recordings of her own voice in the future. She already did so, but I dislike it.


How great was the BAT with Donna and Nikki having prominent parts, performing and singing?

I agree that especially Madonna's black songs need strong background vocals. Especially the HC songs would have highly profited from that.

I liked PW's vocal performances on the album but some big girl vocals would have been great.

Cinnie said:

I don't care what Anyone says about Madonna, she gives her fans what they want

fans take picture right in the middle of concerts and she gives them pose for it, magazines regularly want to do photo shoots with her Vogue Vogue Brasil W Vanity Fair Q ...

I love her Truth or Dare-Erotica/SEX/Girlie Show-BedTime Stories time period

Erotica Bedtime Stories Ray of Light Confessions on the Dancefloor are my favorite albums from her

Like A Virgin, Angel,
Justify My Love
Bad Girl Erotic Deeper & Deeper
Secret
This Used To Be My Playground
Skin, Little Star,
What It Feels Like For a Girl
Hung Up Sorry I Love NY ForbiddenLove (I pretty much like this whole album)
Miles Away

She's keeps it happening

"Watch Me Burn" - Madonna












[Edited 6/12/09 7:14am]

New interview:

http://www.madonnatribe.c...e&sid=4209

Italian leading newspaper la Repubblica had a nice chat with Madonna on the phone from New York City to talk about the release of "Sacro e Profano" which hits Italian cinemas today.

When Madonna answered the phone she had just finished rehearsing for the 2009 leg of her Sticky & Sweet Tour and asked someone to bring her a towel. She apologised for the time lap - it was not morning yet in Italy at the time journalist Giuseppe Videtti was asked to call her - and said she had "an exausting day, but now let's talk about cinema".

"Filth and Wisdom" is distributed in Italy by Sacher Films, a production and distribution company focusing on quality cinema, led and founded by celebrated director Nanni Moretti. Moretti's name did not ring any bell in Madonna's head, though. "Nanni who?" she asked, and had the journalist spell the director's surname. But she admits she has never heard of him. "I understand that I should be flattered by his interest," she said cautiously. "For me it is already a success that "Filth and Wisdom" was theatrically released in several European countries. It means that according to the public who knew Fellini and the nouvelle vague my movie is not really garbage bin material."

Videtti also asked Madonna about her relationship with the art of Federico Fellini. "In 1993 I was looking for a director for the "Rain" videoclip and immediately thought of him and wrote him a letter," Madonna recalls.

"Well, it was a song from the "Erotica" album, maybe this embarassed the maestro a little bit", Videtti points out.
"Quite the contrary," Madonna reckons. "He answered with a nice letter which was a very courteous refusal. Later on I learnt that he was ill at the time and in fact it would have died a few months later. His message written with his unmistakable handwriting is framed here in the living room of my New York house, side-by-side with the Tamara De Lempicka paintings.

"Did the fact of having been for many years maried with a director somehow trigger your decision to direct a movie yourself?"

"Guy Ritchie is not the only cinema-man in my life," Madonna, who was married to Sean Penn and had a relationship with Warren Beatty, answers. "Directors are visionary artists. I always felt envy and attraction for them. To write and produce a film is an extraordinary challenge. In order to succeed you need to unleash your creativity. For someone like me who for a quarter of a century was on and off with the world of cinema, it was sort of a natural progression. Guy gave me an invaluable tip: trust your intuition."

"Someone said that, as an actress, you were a thorn in the side of the directors you worked with. It was claimed that you has the entire "Desperately Seeking Susan" screenplay re-written to match your pop star iconic image."

"Now I understand that it is not pleasant when someone interferes with your work. If you envision a specific project you want to achieve it in your own way. The story in "Filth and Wisdom" was buzzing in my head for a while. It reflects some of my experiences, but there's more in it. Originally it was meant to be a short film, born from the ideas I had for the H&M commercial. There is the music business in it, that I know very well, but the characters were also inspired by people I actually met along the way, like the lap -ancer or the pharmacist who dreams of doing volunteer in Africa, the two girls who share the apartment with AK."

"Someone said that it was easy for you to become a director with no actual knowledge of what it really is about, but taking advantage of your pop idol status."

"I'm not a film trainee. I have made documentaries about life on the road and more recently "I Am Because We Are. My passion for cinema is old but not remote. As a child I was not attracted by the images on the big screen, but when I went to University in Michigan, I discovered Fellini, Pasolini, Visconti, René Clair and the nouvelle vague of Godard. For me it was as the second coming of Jesus Christ. Do you know what present I gave to my friends for Christmas? A private viewing of "Rocco and His Brothers" in my house. If I were to direct the remake of a classic, I'd choose Visconti's masterpiece. And I'd ask Dolce and Gabbana to design the costumes."

"Your next priority is the Summer tour. When should we expect your second experience as a director?"

"I've got a top secret script ready. We'll do casting this coming Fall and if all goes well - which is, if I manage to find the money to produce it - I'll start shooting in January".

"Pop icon, actress, art collector, now film maker. Isn't it a risk for an artist like you to venture into new territories?"

"Risk is like amniotic fluid for an artist. I doesn't scare me, it stimulates me. At 50 years I don't want to stay closed in a cage. Neither to remain bottled like mineral water. The label that you put on me no longer matches the product? It's your business not mine".

Fantastic quote that last one is, several of her fans should take note.

LiveToTell86 said:

OKAY; let's say she'll start directing in January and it will last like 3 months. Then she has to cut and work on it... where's the time for new music? And then will she do what she did with HC? Promoting album an movie at once?

Well it's just tentative plans, maybe the movie doesn't pan out, or LN tells her to go to the studio.

Her new album will most likely come around November 2010, if she works on movie till April, she can still make a full album after that. Most of her records were done in a very short period of time. Unless she wants to record a full album with Oakenfold and Frank E, she still needs to find a new sound, and a collaborator.

It's also possible that LN will make 2010 a quiet year without any Madonna music/tour so in the spring of 2011 she can come back with new music and go on tour immediately.

As for promoting the album, I'm pretty sure the promo will be doing some fan gigs and then going on tour. It's pointless to invest in anything else, as S&ST proved it.
[Edited 6/12/09 8:21am]

LiveToTell86 said:

may be.

graecophilos said:

And that was successful. One or two gigs in LA, NY and a few scattered appearances where she barely talks about the album. As much as I like "Hard Candy", in many ways it feels like a contractual obligation album. Or maybe Madonna realizes there is no reason to even attempt to push an album when her tours are still gangbusters.

^The contractual obligation album argument falls flat when you realize HC serves as the basis of the first tour of her groundbreaking Live Nation contract. She also has the most fun on stage since 1993, I doubt she could achieve that with songs she does not like.

It's just that any revenue she could get from record sales looks tiny compared to the tour. After all, she earned $11 million from one single night at Wembley stadium. The Israel shows alone are going to double that!

She did talk about HC though, when she was asked. Unfortunately most of the time they still ask her about her family life, gym schedule and relationship with movies. Not that it was any different in 2003...

Besides, I never understood why HC would be the definition of a contractual obligation, when it followed a record that had samples and interpolations of ABBA, Donna Summer & Pet Shop Boys, among others. Don't see how Madonna is more genuine with that music when it's HC that harkens back to her debut, not the Eurodance & 80s synthpop of COADF.

LiveToTell86 said:

I respectfully disagree with almost ALL that.

While she seemed to be having fun - I still sensed greater joy from her onstage during CT.

HC was supposed to be a 'safe' commercial album - and there is NO DENYING it is CONTRACTUALLY her LAST studio album for WB - before her new recording contract with LN (GH notwithstanding). Her last full album of NEW material with WB - it IS that, no matter how you spin it.

I think it was very much a by the numbers, I want to get back on American radio effort. Not anything wrong with that. But they fucked up the singles, royally, almost as bad as the did with American Life. Should have been.

'candy shop' (OFFICIAL maxi/dance club 'preview' single for clubs/online)
'4 min (good idea for FIRST official single, obvi, commercially speaking)
then SHOULD HAVE BEEN 'heartbeat'
then 'incredible'
then 'beat goes on'

but, i do think she was just going through the motions on HC. though it was billed as her 'urban' 'R&B freak' record, in reality it was an EXACT retread of her first two albums, but with ONE great producer and TWO highly overrated producers (timbo and justin).

badujunkie said:

sorry, but anyone who would release Candy Shop and Incredible can't be taken serious. CS is shit whoever remixes it.
Incredible is incredible but no singles.

They released the obvious singles but should have carried on with Beat Goes On and my personal fave Heartbeat although surprisingly many of her gay fans love Devil, which I always disliked.

StarCat said:

That's a nice song!

badujunkie said:

She had just as much joy onstage as on CT, everyone who went to see the show confirmed that, there was no "going through the motions", this is not the RIT where Madonna imposed her old hits on herself.

Yes, I know it is the last Warner album, but if fans weren't aware of that fact, I don't think the whole contractual obligation assumption would have ever come up.

It was NEVER promoted as her "R&B freak" album, Madonna always called it DANCE with an urban flavor, she said she wanted to stay in dance music and Justin's FS/LS was her favorite record in the recent years, she wanted that sound.

I'm sorry but if it's a "by the numbers" album, then what was AL and COADF? The former built on the sound of Music, she didn't even bother to look for a new collaborator or a style, and then COADF was based on Stuart referencing a host of dance/synth pop hits. I find it ridiculous that certain fans think all that is "being herself" but when she claims she loves the work of Timbaland & Pharrell, she's lying and only wants a hit. Of course HC is safe, but so was COADF, and basically all of her albums. Madonna always said she wants to score hits, weird that people only notice it after 25 years. HC is not safe BECAUSE it's the last Warner album, it's safe because it is a Madonna album and her label wants it to sell.

Also, in 2005 interviews Madonna repeatedly said that she was exhausted after the tour, the documentary editing and the turned down film projects, but Warner TOLD HER to go back to the studio, even though she did not know what music to do. That alone makes it a "contractual obligation", because if she wasn't supposed to go back to the studio and put out a new album already, she might have not wanted to record it just yet. She never hinted at anything like that with HC, it's only fans who deduced that Madonna and her collaborators don't fit, so she's faking it.

I understand if you think the producers are overrated, but I still say it's ridiculous to create all these assumptions about Madonna's thoughts only because she did something that didn't blow you away.

As for the singles, it doesn't matter for US radio anymore. "4M" got 60 million audience impressions because it was the first single and was a duet with the best selling male artist of recent years. "GI2M" barely got played, "MA" wasn't even sent to radio stations. It's possible that "HB", "CS" or "BGO" was to be played a bit more than "GI2M" but it wouldn't have reached the top 40 anyway. It's just US radio decided that Madonna does not fit the demographics who still listen to them.

LiveToTell86 said:

I think that came out wrong. I don't think it's a contractual obligation album because it's bad. But the effort into promoting the album certainly was nill beyond the tour (and let's face it, most pop artist can and will do talk shows, radio, awards shows, etc. for a year or two to promote an album).

She likes doing them live but seems to make little to no effort to really push them as singles. It's pretty crazy that an album that has such catchy songs only had two videos ("Miles Away", which is mostly live footage that looks choppy at best and behind the scenes stuff gets released many months after the single tanks). I like when Madonna used to make some effort to push her albums with great videos and good remixes (now the remixes just blur together).

badujunkie said:

"Miles Away" I always thought was an obvious single but they did the same exact thing they did with "Nothing Fails". The radio mix was a dance remix....cause radio will be playing that? It's insane to screw with an obvious single that could play on both pop radio and dominate AC! They also both had NO VIDEO. WB sort of screwed up on that one.

VinnyM27 said:

Ah yes, that I definitely agree with. About the videos, I think Madonna kinda got tired of them after the "AL" fiasco, since then "4M" was the only high budget video...

Then again, I think this just foreshadows the way the music industry is going. There's no real incentive to push an album because even the highest selling album only sells 20% of the huge sellers from a decade ago. I think the next M album will have the same promo pattern as HC, she will release an album and will announce the tour right away, during some tour teaser fan promo gigs. In the end she will be the most lucrative solo artist of the year, no matter if her album only sells big for one single week because of fans.

LiveToTell86 said:

I agree. Her creativity flows into live shows, not videos.

AND: Us fans should not waste time on discussing her album sales or call them flops. The True Blue days are over, when albums sold like bread. 3 mio was great!
I think, btw, that this is the number of hardcore fans who will buy everything Madonna does.
She never dropped under the 3 mio mark with a studio album.,

^I know, I never got why some fans were hung up on the "HC is her lowest selling album ever", when it's so not about album sales anymore.

It's true that her albums never dropped below 3 million (actually both HC and AL are closer to 4 million than 3), but her "for the fans" releases didn't make a dent, like Remixed & Revisited, I'm Going To Tell You A Secret, not even her tour DVDs, CT did well in some markets but not in the UK for example...

I never believed that Madonna has 3-4 million hardcore fans, it's just that with each of her albums, she managed to capture a certain amount of new fans who are into that, and only that sound. While that couldn't transform into album sales in 2008, it did help a lot for "4 Minutes". Hardcore fans alone are not enough to make it one of her best selling singles, same for "Hung Up" which catered to the older crowd who still knew ABBA, and the Euro club people, the difference was that people bought COADF because it was a different demographics and a different time for the industry. In fact since COADF, only a couple of albums reached 8 million+ worldwide, I think Justin & Amy Winehouse managed that only, maybe even Coldplay...

LiveToTell86 said:

Yeah, Coldplay's X&Y album (2005) sold around 12 mio!!

Last years they had the biggest selling album with 5 mio+ sales. So, you see, 3 mio is really quite good!

^Yes, X&Y was massive, sold 2.4 million in the UK alone (compared to COADF's 1.2 mil there), but it was released before COADF, I think June 2005.

Their latest was the highest selling in 2008 worldwie, I think it was above 6 million, but compare that to 1999-2002 when there were many artists who sold 8-10 million in the US alone...

LiveToTell86 said:

yeah, X&Y was sold in Summer but within a year it sold those 12 mio. COADF sold within a year 8 mio? Still massive.

Right now Coldplay are the biggest sellers.

Guy Oseary's Sticky & Sweet Photography Book
Following the critical success of Madonna: Confessions, the powerHouse team, Madonna, and Guy Oseary return with a knockout punch: Sticky & Sweet, a dynamic look at Madonna’s celebrated Sticky & Sweet Tour, which broke all previous records and became the number-one highest grossing tour of any solo artist ever - with Madonna playing before 2,350,282 fans and selling over 280 million dollars’ worth of tickets. The tour has been extended through the summer of 2009 and will have passed the mark of 400 million dollars in ticket sales by the time it’s complete.
In over 500 full-color photographs taken on, and backstage, during the course of this historic 58-show tour, Oseary documents the four acts of the rock-driven, pop journey that is the Sticky & Sweet show.

The book is due for release (in the UK) on Thursday 09 July 2009 - other countries may have slightly different release dates.

^^I can't wait for that book.I really enjoyed the Confessions photo book.For the
Christmas shopping season,they should create some kind of Madonna Gift Set,which contains...

***The Greatest Hits CD
***The Sticky And Sweet Tour DVD
***The Sticky And Sweet Photography Book

Sell it for around $50 and the fans will eat it up.