[johnnox]

Superbowl aside, she's not had a great 12 months.

This story http://www.differentscene.co.uk/?p=6063 pretty much sums up my feeling about her and the terrible MDNA promo campaign and singles choices over the last year.

What do you guys think?

[Hit Em Up Style]

Lots of great points in there but the Gaga thing is irrelevant. Madonna has faught off many Gaga's in her career and while Gaga might be the lady of the moment its not going to last. She has had too much fame too quickly to sustain that sort of hype. Plus Gaga fans are very young. Madonna fans are now adults. Not many teenagers would be interested in a 53 year old woman. Thats life. They cannot relate to someone that age so why would they be buying her work? I mean seriously can you see a 12 year old buying a Madonna album in 2012?

Madonna's biggest problem is alienation of her fanbase. Its that simple. She doesn't need new fans so she should stop trying to get them. She is already the most woman in the world.

However on a side note. An awful lot of music stars underperformed big time in 2012. It wasn't just Madonna. So perhaps this suggests something else is going wrong.

[TH14]

MDNA has some very good moments but the singles and promo have been a disaster really. The one redeeming thing about this era though is the tour which has been spectacular. It didn't get a great write up over here mostly because Hyde Park is an abysmal venue and the sound was horrific and the view awful. In the US and South America though there was not one bad review and the tour has become the most successful this year despite having the worst selling record of her career

She needs to produce a real smash hit album next time around though because like it or not if she doesn't she's just going to be labelled a touring artist. I don't think her heart was truly in MDNA though, I think she wanted her film to succeed so badly and she couldn't dedicate much time to MDNA and promoting it properly

[TH14]

Originally Posted by Hit Em Up Style

Lots of great points in there but the Gaga thing is irrelevant. Madonna has faught off many Gaga's in her career and while Gaga might be the lady of the moment its not going to last. She has had too much fame too quickly to sustain that sort of hype. Plus Gaga fans are very young. Madonna fans are now adults. Not many teenagers would be interested in a 53 year old woman. Thats life. They cannot relate to someone that age so why would they be buying her work? I mean seriously can you see a 12 year old buying a Madonna album in 2012?

Is Gaga the lady of the moment though? There's a case to answer that rihanna is bigger and of course Adele is. Like you said, Madonna has seen of artists that are bigger than Gaga is now

[Hit Em Up Style]

Originally Posted by TH14

Is Gaga the lady of the moment though? There's a case to answer that rihanna is bigger and of course Adele is. Like you said, Madonna has seen of artists that are bigger than Gaga is now

Yeah now I would agree that Rihanna has overtaken Gaga. I was just mearly addressing what the article said about Gaga!

But of course you are right about Adele. She is the leading woman in music currently.

[TH14]

Gaga should be compared to her 'contemporaries' anyway not the likes of Madonna who has been there seen it and done it, the tour grosses suggest the same

[johnnox]

But it's only Gaga that Madonna has had a spat with this year. And I think that's the point of that piece of the article.

[Zone_Out]

Originally Posted by johnnox

Superbowl aside, she's not had a great 12 months.

This story http://www.differentscene.co.uk/?p=6063 pretty much sums up my feeling about her and the terrible MDNA promo campaign and singles choices over the last year.

What do you guys think?

Album & singles aside everything else has been massive especially the tour whilst i`m not a massive Madonna fan myself i do wonder just how many of today`s kids will still be out breaking their own records at her age

[Broken_Arrow]

She's been below par musically for a while now. The last brilliant album she had was Confessions on a Dance Floor. Hard Candy and MDNA aren't essential parts of her discography. With that said, her tours are still doing exceptionally well and there is no chance of her fading into oblivion. All she needs is one great album to remind everyone of her brilliance. As said above, teenagers generally aren't going to gravitate towards her so she should stop chasing that market. Plenty of adults love her.

[Ally_Bowie]

I think the review sums up the whole MDNA thing for me...ive always been a huge fan...but Madonna 2012 has left a cold bitter taste for me and she is going to have to work miracles for me to even notice anything she does in future....its similar to being let down by one of you dearest friends, as a life long fan, Madonna has let me down.

[Ally_Bowie]

Originally Posted by Broken_Arrow

She's been below par musically for a while now. The last brilliant album she had was Confessions on a Dance Floor. Hard Candy and MDNA aren't essential parts of her discography. With that said, her tours are still doing exceptionally well and there is no chance of her fading into oblivion. All she needs is one great album to remind everyone of her brilliance. As said above, teenagers generally aren't going to gravitate towards her so she should stop chasing that market. Plenty of adults love her.

This exactly!

[TH14]

Originally Posted by Ally_Bowie

I think the review sums up the whole MDNA thing for me...ive always been a huge fan...but Madonna 2012 has left a cold bitter taste for me and she is going to have to work miracles for me to even notice anything she does in future....its similar to being let down by one of you dearest friends, as a life long fan, Madonna has let me down.

If she makes music her priority rather than films, clothes, perfumes etc and her heart is in it then i have every confidence she can pull off another epic album. I just got the impression this time around that her heart was in the film, she went across the globe promoting the life out of that and I think MDNA was something she had to release to fulfill a contract more than anything. It has some really good songs on it but it isn't among her best an she needs to work with the right people next time and put her heart and soul into it but she can do it

[jackbell]

She said that David Bowie was an inspiration of hers and so she should take a leaf out of his book again and see that he can get a top ten hit by just bringing out a great song with some meaning. Something that says a bit more than 'You're a superstar, that's what you are'.

[johnnox]

Originally Posted by jackbell

Something that says a bit more than 'You're a superstar, that's what you are'.

ABSO-FRICKING-LUTELY

[glyn9799]

I love her and always will. Even if she starts releasing genuinely crap music I'll still class myself as a fan because I love everything she has put out for the last 30 years.

I loved MDNA too, and blame the whole failure entirely on her management/promo team. I will admit however that she hasn't released anything since Confessions which could be classed as actual amazing.

[kyresa]

Originally Posted by Zone_Out

Album & singles aside everything else has been massive especially the tour whilst i`m not a massive Madonna fan myself i do wonder just how many of today`s kids will still be out breaking their own records at her age

You sound like my parents 30 years ago talking about their favourite artists!!

[Grabid Rannies]

Originally Posted by jackbell

She said that David Bowie was an inspiration of hers and so she should take a leaf out of his book again and see that he can get a top ten hit by just bringing out a great song with some meaning. Something that says a bit more than 'You're a superstar, that's what you are'.

Yes. Perhaps something that scales such heights of profundity as 'Ring ring goes the telephone, the lights are on but there's no-one home', or 'and when the music starts, I never wanna stop it's gonna drive me crazy'... something along those lines perhaps.

[Josh Pinder]

Originally Posted by Broken_Arrow

She's been below par musically for a while now. The last brilliant album she had was Confessions on a Dance Floor. Hard Candy and MDNA aren't essential parts of her discography. With that said, her tours are still doing exceptionally well and there is no chance of her fading into oblivion. All she needs is one great album to remind everyone of her brilliance. As said above, teenagers generally aren't going to gravitate towards her so she should stop chasing that market. Plenty of adults love her.

Nice to see you from the Xena thread

BIIB - the focus for album 13...i truly truly feel is this aspect...a great album to rank along side her best....a great visual/reinvention....great promo campaign and her usual state of the art tour all round to make another sublime era reminding the world not just of MADONNA....but what she can and does do

[446.09375]

She used to do a wide variety of good old pop, each one with a different sound.
For the last x years it's been a nondescript tide of boring stomp stomp dance rubbish.

If she went back to real songs, and not just beats with some warbling over the top, she might do well in the charts again. If that's what she wants. Who knows?

[Josh Pinder]

Personally Madonna does very much still "Justify my love..." MDNA was a solid album....very good actually, the world tour was exceptional! But the promo campaign and the cohesiveness as a strong era didnt work....2012 as a whole was an underwhelming year in many aspects anyway.

Now what Madonna can do next is take her time....let 2013 roll with other side projects....let the wannabes and Pop Superstars of contemporary culture have their year (Beyonce, Justin, DC, gaga, Britney, RIhanna, Katy Perry are all out this year at different stages) And regroup and refocus for the next album and era.....garner influence, and push out a sublime concept and songs hat really make fans of all ages go "woah, check out the new Madonna song its whack!" I mean MDNA effortlessly brought attention on name alone...so its easy for Madonna to garner interest...the trick next is to stem it out, break it down and promote the record in a traditional sense.

Something others have experimented with of recent days....will be very interesting...and I think it will definitely work....just Music and the art of it needs to be her focus again in the studio and on record

[O.Michel]

The fact that 'MDNA' was a bit of a let down (let's be real here, it wasn't up to par) doesn't mean Madonna in general will get any less love from her fans. All that trashtalking about her 45-minute concert, the big venues and the lack of promo is valid, but won't affect her at all. Not in the slightest. If the likes of Nicki Minaj and Rihanna (no shade) can arrive 1 hour late on their concerts and then do their job unbothered, then Madonna, after 3 decades in the game, can do anything she pleases. When it comes to putting on a show, she doesn't have much competition, so even the concert goers that had to use binoculars to see her perform will be lining up since the break of dawn to get a ticket for her next tour.

But I do agree that her next album has to be a complete masterpiece. Not so much for her, but for us. Her legacy is cemented and her brand is strong enough to gain her money for many years to come, but a great Madonna era would do a lot for the pop market, which is currently a snoozefest and, as a fan of pop music and pop culture, I could use some reinvention

[cnbcwatcher]

Originally Posted by Hit Em Up Style

Yeah now I would agree that Rihanna has overtaken Gaga. I was just mearly addressing what the article said about Gaga!

But of course you are right about Adele. She is the leading woman in music currently.

Gaga is coming back this year though. It'll be interesting to see if ARTPOP does well.

[Fear of Fours]

Originally Posted by glyn9799

I loved MDNA too, and blame the whole failure entirely on her management/promo team. I will admit however that she hasn't released anything since Confessions which could be classed as actual amazing.

Madonna is as much to blame as her management and promo team. She's gotten incredibly lazy with promotion for years now and I think she's finally realised she can no longer sell on name alone. She needs to haul ass around the world like most other acts and actually promote her music outside of touring. I personally think she can't be bothered to physically promote her music anymore because the big bucks are no longer made from record sales and it's the money she cares about, hence why MDNA was rush-released as an excuse to tour in 2012 and nothing more. What disappointed me was when she admitted she was unhappy with the album but released it anyway. Madonna used to be a perfectionist and would never have done that in the past.

I guess the biggest highlight this last year was her winning the Golden Globe in 2012 but that's pretty much it I'm afraid. MDNA was an embarrassment and the singles from it utter sh!te.

[Hit Em Up Style]

Originally Posted by Fear of Fours

Madonna is as much to blame as her management and promo team. She's gotten incredibly lazy with promotion for years now and I think she's finally realised she can no longer sell on name alone. She needs to haul ass around the world like most other acts and actually promote her music outside of touring. I personally think she can't be bothered to physically promote her music anymore because the big bucks are no longer made from record sales and it's the money she cares about, hence why MDNA was rush-released as an excuse to tour in 2012 and nothing more. What disappointed me was when she admitted she was unhappy with the album but released it anyway. Madonna used to be a perfectionist and would never have done that in the past.

I guess the biggest highlight this last year was her winning the Golden Globe in 2012 but that's pretty much it I'm afraid. MDNA was an embarrassment and the singles from it utter sh!te.

That's not strictly true. She promoted American Life, Confessions and Hard Candy to death with worldwide promo Tours. Likewise with Ray Of Light. She didn't promote Music because she had just had Rocco but she didn't need to promote it anyway as it sold 4 million in 10 days purely on name alone.

MDNA had no promo at all aside from the two minute GMAYL segment at the Superbowl .

[Josh Pinder]

The problem with MDNA is a lot to do with management....Madonna clearly was rushed....its solid and a nice collage of different styles but its not a cohesive nor conceptualised piece of genius like we all anticipated.

But that is due to the fact she built a status so damn high Hard Candy was at that moment in time her leats promoted album....she had 4 Minutes, the Big Weekend and then that was it bar some selective interviews/magazines...as a result Hard Candy was one of the years top 10 best selling albums....but it was FAR FAR less than American Life before it and obviously COADF, Music and ROL of recent times to that point. Not to mention it didnt have a cohesive concept either in itself.

Poorly chosen singles/timing, zero attention to the album...main focus on name out there, products and side projects and the world tour...and across 2012 that was what it was about.

What they need to do next is for Madonna to decide whether she needs to shake her team up a bit...or utilise her team and work to wherever she wants to head musically. The MDNA world tour highlighted many aspects of Madonna the artist...she still wants to shake the system up a lot...she just needs to bring that energy and force and introspection into her music and lyrics and void....It doesnt have to be "intense" but it can be taken to a new level...i mean LAP and Erotica are masterpeices and also conceptualised albums but they have a variation of sounds within it...they have high energy tempos, anthems, powerhouse balladry/frenetic pacings....and it stems from the soul...same with ROL, Music, AL, COADF and you can tell.....and that can be recaptured again with album 13...i do have a feeling about the next album project....I just do