Madonna - Medellín - Single [Review]

Madonna (considered by many to be the Queen of Pop) has finally returned to the music scene (following her 2015 album Rebel Heart) after a pretty lengthy hiatus with "Medellín," the first single from her upcoming studio album Madame X (which is set for release on June 14th, 2019). "Medellín" (the title of which being in reference to the city in Columbia where collaborative vocalist Maluma was born) is Madonna's first single since "Hold Tight" (which was released in July of 2015, so it has been nearly four years). The song (as previously mentioned) features guest vocals from Latin pop vocalist Maluma and is very Latin pop oriented itself. Madonna is certainly not a stranger to infusing Latin beats and Spanish lyrics into her music. She did it on her hit single "La Isla Bonita" (which she has performed on every single tour since its 1986 release) and on 2008's Hard Candy's "Spanish Lesson" track. "Medellín" offers a catchy chorus, and I love Madonna's whispered vocals when she says "1, 2, cha-cha-cha" and "Slow down, papi." Overall, however, I consider the track to be one of the weaker tracks from Madonna's career thus far. Not only are its Latin style and heavy hip hop beat simply not to my usual preferred style of music (which is saying a lot because I am a very eclectic music listener), I also don't like Maluma's rap (Is it rap? I am honestly not even too sure) parts because they are in Spanish, and as a non Spanish speaker, I can't much appreciate verses of a song that I can't comprehend (although Billboard does graciously offer an accurate translation here). I do like Madonna's filtered vocals in the verses which remind me of her 1998 album Ray of Light (probably my second favorite Madonna album, my first favorite being her 2003 album American Life), but there are parts that are aggressively auto-tuned in a cringe-worthy sort of way, especially when she sings "I felt so naked and alive" in her second verse. I can get behind auto-tuning when it's used in a stylistic sort of way, but it just feels utterly unnecessary here. While I don't much care for the song, however, the music video is visually gorgeous and cinematic and is unlike anything that I have seen in a while from any artist, but I am ultimately hoping for some more introspective and meaningful songs from Madame X, which, as a reminder, is scheduled to drop on June 14th! (Here is to hoping that a leak doesn't lead to an earlier release date as infamously happened with Rebel Heart four years ago!)