Madonna with friend Gwyneth who hosted the 2nd Annual Bent on Learning Benefit in NYC.
We see where Lourdes gets her looks from. Madonna is looking as divine as better, maybe even better than she has looked in a long while. Maybe a little to a lot of work have contributed, but the "Queen of Pop" certainly is aging better than most. Say what you want about "Muscles McGee," girlfriend's body is more toned and in-shape at 51 than mine will ever be. Lourdes is so pretty and I wish I knew right what her dress is. I like her style, but then her mother is Madonna. It's nice to see the unibrow disappeared. 
[1]
This week the train stops at Madonna's unforgettable 1986 album "True Blue", dedicated to her then husband Sean Penn this album was deemed more girly and fun than her predecessors Madonna and Like a Virgin. Spawning 5 hit singles this album is said to be the one that secured her place as a superstar in the 80s. I disagree I feel all of her albums up to this point helped her career as they all had several major hits but this one I suppose is different as she took it in a different direction sound wise.
Track List
1. Papa Don't Preach
2. Open Your Heart
3. White Heat (SHOULD HAVE BEEN A SINGLE)
4. Live To Tell
5. Where's The Party
6. True Blue
7. La Isla Bonita
8. Jimmy Jimmy
9. Love Makes The World Go Round
10. True Blue (The Color Mix) *
11. La Isla Bonita (Extended Remix) *
* Bonus Track On The 2001 Remastered Version
Bold = Single
Photography By: Herb Ritts
Old photos of Madonna, most with her ex-assistant Melissa Crow, are being sold on eBay
One of Madonna's beautiful songs. Insightful, true and has a nice beat too!
Madonna é a rainha do pop, mil hits e blablabla blablabla blablabla. Mas ouvindo seus cds, comecei a perceber que eu adoro uma série de canções não tão hits assim. O que é conhecido como Lado B. Resolvi então listar 10 destas canções aqui. Se você é fã (como eu) deve conhecer todas, mas senão conhece, corre atrás. Vale super a pena!
1. Candy Perfume Girl
Faixa quatro do álbum Ray of Light. Tem uma guitarra bem roqueira e na versão ao vivo do dvd Drowned World Tour, de 2001, isto ficavidente.
2. I Deserve It
Balada meio pop country do álbum Music com efeitos eletrônicos e violão lindo por toda a canção. Fofa.
3. Let It Will Be (live)
Esta tem sua versão original no ábum Confessions On A Dancefloor, de 2005. Mas é a versão ao vivo, do cd ao The Confessions Tour, de 2007 que é matadora. Com uma batida que lembra o funk carioca em alguns momentos, "ninguém segura a loira"!
4. Beat Goes On
Do álbum Hardy Candy é a música que melhor funciona na proposta do álbum. Madonna divide os vocais com Pharell Williams e vira quase um "mano" [rs].
5. Love Profusion
Love Profusion foi lançada como single (com um clipe que parece propaganda de xampu) mas pra mim nunca implacou. É do álbum American Life, um dos maiores fracassos de titia. Canção doce. Linda lindinha.
6. Where's the party
1986! Totalmente 80's, com aquela bateria eletrônica característica, refrão delicioso. Integrava o fim do primeiro bloco da Blond Ambition Tour. Do ábum True Blue. Uma festa, como sugere o título.
7. Survival
Babinha deliciosa lançada em 1993 no cd Bedtimes Stories. Babinha porque o cd foi produzido, em sua maior parte, por Babyface, especialista em canções melosas. O cara era Timbaland da época. Secret e Take a Bow são deste álbum.
8. She's Not Me
Irônica. Com uma pegada de rua e uma batida deliciosa. Madonna mano de novo, ou seja, faz parte de Hardy Candy.
9. Runaway Lover
Também de Music é uma faixa extremamente dançante. Ótima para ouvir em quanto se aruma pra cair na noite.
10. Love Song
Parceria de Madonna com Prince, do ábum Like A Prayer. Mega sensual o encontro dos dois. Bom pra fechar gostoso esta mini seleção side b.
Madonna foi flagrada ontem, dia 22, fotografando a nova campanha da Dolce&Gabbana lá em NY, as fotos, claro, eram feitas por Steven Klein, e vamos esperar o lançamento original com photoshop pq não rolou muita fé não..
Por sinal, achei o modelo meio Nick Jonas.. Jesus que se cuide..
Fotos: Chic
Madonna isn't afraid to bear all as she unleashes her divinely ordained navel (or something else..?) on the world.
The mid-eighties witnessed the lapse of Madonna into a chasm of manufactured tedium. The grossly uninspiring Like A Virgin album, followed by the commendable but not exactly mind-melting True Blue were indicators of a seemingly vapid woman, devoid of any creative talents. The mistress of marketing prioritized image over substance, tacky personas over emotional honesty. Her career was beginning to look deciduous.
Like A Prayer was a crucial change in direction for Madonna, and her first and finest attempt at establishing herself artistically. Madge has cast off her old skin of shallow deceit in favour of outright honesty and self-exploration, taking no punches either lyrically or musically. She is explicit about the painful disintegration of her marriage ("Till Death Do Us Part"), her rather complex family values ("Oh Father", "Keep It Together") and even her feelings of grief for her mother, who died of cancer ("Promise to Try"). It's touching and powerful stuff.
The production values (each track is co-produced by Madonna herself) are as intricate and finely crafted as the poignant lyrics. The title track, "Like A Prayer", is layered with base-heavy guitar riffs and Patrick Leonard's typical resonant pop-beats, backed vocally by a divine and benevolent sounding black gospel choir. The song borders somewhere between the spiritual and profane, but the subversive innuendo is just an extra cookie in the jar this time round. It is essentially a woman questioning the value of religion and commonly accepted beliefs, and a violent celebration of intellectual freedom.
Madonna's surprisingly sophisticated quality in songcraft continues throughout the entire album (alas, not her career). "Oh Father", a ballad teeming with emotion, dissects Madonna's ambivalent feelings towards her hit-and-miss father. It also builds on the album's spiritual theme by implying this troubled relationship extends to God. The somber lyrics dangle on depressing. "You can't hurt me now/I got away from you, I never thought I would." Nevertheless, she uses the bad love as an opportunity for self-empowerment, a behaviour she replicates in "Promise to Try", a gentle, heartfelt ballad where a heartbroken girl promises her dying mother that she will try to do her best in life. Madonna ultimately chooses strength over sorrow.
"Love Song" is a clever duet with fellow hypersexual turned religious pop icon, Prince. Its lyrics are wry, the production harmonious. "Till Death Do Us Part" continues the religious/sexual symbolism that has since become iconic (and frequently imitated to this day. I'm looking at you, Britney). Madonna recounts her failed marriage, her feelings of animosity and regret, and her concern for Sean Penn's well-being. A holy melody sets the romantic mood.
"Pray For Spanish Eyes" bravely tackles the fear surrounding the AIDS epidemic of the late eighties, and laments the death of her gay friend who died of said disease. It's a beautiful melody laced with melancholy and outrage, heightened by spanish instrumentation and bellowing trumpets. Madonna sounds as if she's about to burst into tears. It's definitely a rare aberration in her lengthy career.
It may sound a tad personal, but the work is arranged in a way that makes the hardships as universal as humanly possible. And it's certainly not all gloom and doom; "Cherish" is as sunny as it is sonorous, with its hit-making feel-good lyrics and triumphant beats. The strong and sexy "Express Yourself" helps provide some relief from the turmoil, too, creating a fine balance that refrains from emotional discrimination. "Dear Jessie" exudes a Sgt. Pepperish aura of simplicity and consolation. It makes a good foil for the more emotionally ruptured tracks.
Funk-laden "Keep It Together" deals with Madonna's feelings of suffocation amongst her various siblings and the need for independence. It's only when Madonna experiences the cruelty of the world does she realize how precious and reliable her siblings are (note; Madonna and her camp as crystal brother are currently at loggerheads). The album closes with "Act of Contrition", aptly produced by 'The powers that Be'. Her cheeky sense of irony ends the album on a humorous note.
From beginning to end, Like A Prayer is kind to the ears and cruel to the heart, as spiritual as it is timeless. I have listened to this album countless times, from beginning to end, and it never gets old. Like A Prayer is, without a question, Madonna's best and most consistent album. It's one of the elite few pop albums that must be owned by anyone serious about music. A seminal must-have!
For generations, Madonna's enduring success has mystified countless feminists and southern baptist Christians alike. Donning garments that were unquestionably pilfered from a now redundant Cyndi Lauper, and rosary beads fitted in questionable bodily locations, Madonna skyrocketed to stardom faster than she dropped her knickers for a randomer in the back of a van. Not bad for a homely woman who's dancing skills are mediocre at best, coupled with a strained minnie-mouse meets your local hooker vocal style, and acting abilities so bad that one wonders why her throat hasn't been slashed by any self-respecting director stupid enough to feature Madge (those in the know call her Madge. Just don't call her that to her face.) in one of his doubtlessly flopped films. And to top it all off, there is plenty of narcissism present here when it really shouldn't be. It all sounds like a nightmarish formula for failure. Yet despite being so limited and malignant, Madonna lives on as one of the most significant and influential pop icons in existence.
At the dawn of her career, the world was divided in two by Madonna. She was laughed and scoffed at as transient fad by the snobby and self-righteous, her mix of immaculately crafted pop and whiny vocals perplexed critics, while her shameless grinding and sadomasochistic tendencies endeared her to many gay men and women suffering from low self-esteem. Like it or lump it, she was as omnipresent as the God's she challenged.
Madonna, the singer-songwriter's debut album, is where it all began. In the music video for Lucky Star, Madge dovetails Lauper's funky look with bad dancing abilities while her self-conscious gay brother struggles to imitate her (who is also struggling). It's an omen. It's a portent. The video pretty much forecasts a sometimes disgusting, sometimes horrifying career that will darken the world for another thirty decades.
Thank goodness the darkness is limited to image and persona, and not the music itself, which all due respect is of the finest production. From beginning to end, Madonna is a fine treat for the ears. As surprising as it sounds, the lucky (can't stress this adjective enough) star has a partial credit in making the experience worthwhile. The Majority of the album is written by your Madgesty herself, and is an accurate reflection of herself at that point in time; banal and simplistic, but punky enough to attract attention and slutty enough to raise eyebrows.
Two key factors for the gargantuan success of this album and (some of the) ones that followed were the superb production, and Madonna's chameleon image, carefully built and calculated to merge with the accompanying music and current fads. Both were arguably as important as each other. Although the likes of Koda Kumi, Katy Perry and countless others tells us that talent, looks and even good music are not necessary for success in the music industry, Madonna at least contributed a grand host of quality music to the world in her seemingly eternal lifetime.
Lucky Star pulls you in slowly with its wondrous eighties synth heaven. An electric guitar eventually joins in as it gets more uptempo and funky in a melody that, contrary to her bubblegum hits from the Like A Virgin album, never seems to get tired. The following track, Borderline, is my least favourite track…a whiny song featuring Madonna unconvincingly pining over some guy. The girly, camp feel of this song is an exception on this particular album. Don't worry, though. It returns more than once in her monstrous career, albeit with a tacky innuendo or two added to the mix. It isn't a bad song. It's a great song…but the other seven songs on the album are just better. On a side-note, certain people have even taken to using Borderline as a username…my, my. No comment. *shakes head*
Burning Up is typical Madonna, provocative and aggressive, with violent beats that flirt with pornographic, sexual lyrics, and an unrelenting stamina especially present in a woman making her debut. Followed by this is I Know It, another piece of pop bliss that will rack up your Madonna play count. Holiday has become not just a Madonna staple, but a staple for pop music, and does pretty good job representing the singer's former glory as a dance/pop queen.
Moving on to the rear end of the album, we have Think of Me, another finely crafted song. The lyrics aren't going to make you contemplate the meaning of life, but that's not the intention. Simple lyrics and catchy beats you can dance to are the aims of the album, and it's more than successful in achieving this. Physical Attraction returns to Madonna's iconic raunchiness, which is more than welcome in the presence of music THIS good. Unbelievably catchy, and despite being recorder in the eighties, the sound isn't too dated to the point of being inaccessible. The album closes with Everybody, with its catchy hooks slowing down only for the oddly tantalising bridge. A fine finish.
The music videos are as raw and daring as the music. Sure, the wannabe actress' youthful and arrogant persona of the early eighties may annoy some, but for the sane, it's a welcome contrast to the pretentious and increasingly desperate creature that emerged in the nineties and noughties. This album represents Madonna at her rawest, musically. Pop rarely gets better than this.
It's no wonder half this album was included on Madonna's latest greatest hits CD, Celebration. Despite the endless shortcomings, you gotta pay the Queen due respect for her debut effort. For this album, Madonna, we forgive you. Or not.
US pop star Madonna jetted out of Malawi today ending a five-day trip which included laying a foundation stone for a new girls school, an airport official said.
The singer who was accompanied by her biological children Rocco and Lourdes and her other two children whom she adopted in Malawi flew out of Kamuzu international Airport on a private jet bound for London, the official said.
She has built a multi-purpose community centre 50km from Lilongwe which looks after more than 8000 orphans.
Last night Madonna, accompanied by Lourdes and adopted daughter Mercy 'Chifundo' James, visited the centre where a local band and a choir serenaded the pop star and villagers thanked her for her help.
Source: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=1037861
Madonna visits the Mphandula orphanage with daughters Lourdes and Mercy James in Malawi (April 08 2010)
Madonna and Mercy Go To Malawi: Brick Laying at a New $15 Million Girl's School.
Surprises by Her Madgesty don't end on stage - they also happen in schools. Madonna brought daughters Mercy James and Lourdes to Malawi to lay the ceremonial first brick for a $15 million school in the impoverished African country, reports the Daily Mail.
"It has always been my dream to train women leaders who can help develop the country," said Madonna during the ceremony. She had previously visited the site in October 2009.
"It pains me to see children denied their most basic needs to survive because they were born into extreme poverty," Madonna said.
She has donated millions of her own money to the country. "It is my aim to see Malawian girls get the right education," said Madonna, who was raised and schooled in Michigan. Economist Jeffrey Sachs, Special Advisor to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, also addressed the audience. Four in ten citizens in Malawi subsist on less than a dollar a day, and the life expectancy is only 41 years.
The motto "Dare to Dream," as well as "Raising Malawi Academy for Girls," was inscribed on the brick. Malawian education officials and curious villagers attended the ceremony. It was held at the school site in the village of Chinkhota, located approximately 9 miles from the capital city of Lilongwe. Madonna also pumped fresh water into a bucket in front of both her daughters as well as local inhabitants, who appeared delighted. Madonna, however, chose instead to drink what appeared to be Coca-Cola. She normally drinks Kaballah water, a symbol of devotion to the religious movement she follows.
Madonna has a historic association with the Mchinji district of Malawi. Her adopted son David Banda, 4, was born there. The visit is the singer's first since the controversial adoption of a second Malawian child, daughter Mercy James. The Material Girl has been accused of using her material worth to circumvent residential laws pertaining to adoption. Foreigners are normally required to be a resident in Malawi for 18 months before adopting a child. Banda's adoption in 2006 was opposed by Yohane Banda, his biological father. He later complained that he had only seen his son once since the adoption.
Madonna has been revealed as the artist whose recordings have been played in public in the U.K. more than any other over the past 10 years.
The People's Artist Chart, which aired on Radio 2, counted down the top 50 most played acts from 2000 to the end of 2009, as compiled by recorded music licensing body PPL. The PPL data logged licensed play of recorded music across the U.K., including radio and television, as well as pubs, clubs, shops and restaurants.
'Cause everybody wants to party with you!
Madonna beat the Beatles into second place, with Robbie Williams at No. 3, Queen at No. 4 and Take That at No. 5.
Read the full article at billboard.biz
Amazing! Congrats M!
Madonna with Mercy James and Lourdes Leon at the first brick laying of the Raising Malawi Academy for Girls in Malawi (April 06 2010)
Madonna in Malawi 4/05/2010
Mash-up of Stardust's 'Music Sounds Better With You' and Madonna's 'Holiday'.
I hadn't heard this remix before, not until I saw this video of a rare Daft Punk DJ performance at a 1999 WMC afterparty:
(cut to 6:25)
Can't forget the original; one of my favorite house tracks of all time:
What do you think of Madonna?
staronetickets.com
"This is who I am
You can like it or not
You can love me or leave me
Cause I'm never gonna stop"
Madonna
As Much as I Love me some Gaga, Madonna has earned the title Queen of Pop. I believe Lady Gage is still yet a princess, not that one day the torch wouldn't be past, but for now I have no doubt the Queen still has a few more tricks up her spandex. Here is to me hoping they both put out new albums for me to move my dancing feet to sooner than later.
Long Live the Queen and Princess of Pop
C'est une bien triste nouvelle que nous venons d'apprendre, Caresse Henry qui a été la manager de Madonna pendant plus de 10 ans (de 1997 à 2005) est décédée hier à l'âge de 44 ans.
Liz Rosenberg a envoyé ce communiqué à CNN:
Caresse Henry, 44 ans, résidant à Laguna Beach est décédée soudainement le 31 mars à Irvine en Californie.
Malgré des rumeurs prétendant le contraire, la cause du décès n'a pas été déterminée et fait actuellement l'objet d'une enquête.
La cérémonie funèbre aura lieu le vendredi 9 avril à 11h à l'église St Paul à Westwood en Californie.
"La famille a demandé le respect de leur vie privée durant ces moments difficiles" a déclaré Liz Rosenberg, amie de longue date et porte-parole de la famille.
source: madonnatribe
Image: Madonnascrapbook
Italian Vogue's February 1991 cover, featured the material girl, Madonna photographed by Steven Miesel
Madonna is collaborating with her fashionista daughter, Lourdes Maria Ciccone Leon, for a new fashion line called "Material Girl." Not quite sure how Lourdes will manage school and a fashion line simultaneously.
