Madonna - Future - Single [Review]

"Future" is technically the fourth single released from Madonna's upcoming studio album Madame X (set for release on June 14th, 2019), preceded by "Medellín" (which I reviewed here), "I Rise" (which I reviewed here), and "Crave" (which I reviewed here). "Crave" remains my favorite single released from the album so far, and "Future" definitely has not solidified any confidence in this upcoming album. (I definitely think that it's probably going to go down as one of my least favorite Madonna albums of all time.) "Future" features rap vocals from Quavo, and while I do like the tropical beat and the horns (giving the song a bit of a ska flavor and reminding me of No Doubt songs such as "Underneath It All"), I am kind of annoyed by the song's repetition. (If you look at the song's lyrics, for example, you will see that most of the song is really just a handful of lyrics that are repeated over and over again.) The song also doesn't really feature a catchy hook, as the melody doesn't really ever go anywhere all that fun or interesting. What I will say about this song, however, is that even though it doesn't feature many lyrics and features a really simple structure, the lyrics that are featured are meaningful, as the song is addressing people living in the past, unwilling to embrace change and diversity: "Not everyone is coming to the future. Not everyone is coming from the past." The song's lyrics do remain hopeful, however, as they encourage people to make an effort to change so that they can come into the future: "You ain't woke. Come here woke, and hear the broken. Come give hope; come give life. Only get one, so we gotta live it right... Open your mind. Open your eyes." I, as I said, love the message of the song, but it musically doesn't do a whole lot for me, but who knows? It could very well grow on me. As previously stated, "Future" now makes four songs released from Madame X, so I am wondering if Madonna will release any more singles before June 14th. Five singles would definitely be pretty excessive, but that seems to be the nature of the music business nowadays - more emphasis seems to be placed on singles as opposed to albums, and it really makes me miss the old days. (I am definitely starting to sound like an old geezer, but I digress.)

Lana Del Rey - Doin' Time - Single [Review]

When I first learned that Lana Del Rey would soon be releasing a new single titled "Doin' Time" on May 17th, 2019, I got really excited because I was under the impression that the single would be a new single from her upcoming studio album Norman Fucking Rockwell (which I thought would hopefully mean that we would finally get updates on the cover art, the tracklisting, and the release date), but that impression turned out to be false. "Doin' Time" will reportedly not be featured on Norman Fucking Rockwell and (since the song is a cover of a Sublime song) instead has been released to promote an upcoming documentary about the band Sublime. Lana's cover remains relatively faithful to the original Sublime song (even retaining its original pronouns when Sublime sings that "me and my girl, we got this relationship. I love her so bad, but she treats me like... She spreads her lovin' all over, and when she gets home, there's none left for me."). The instrumental is very similar except a lot more ethereal as opposed to Sublime's somewhat tropical sound, with Lana's version being played on what sounds like harp (one of my favorite instruments), which is eventually joined by a hip hop beat. Del Rey also sings the verses a bit slower than Sublime does. The lyrics of "Doin' Time" speak of a relationship that feels like a prison because you, for one reason or another, feel trapped. Your lover does not treat you properly, saving you for last after sleeping around with others, and you feel like you can't leave: "On lockdown, like a penitentiary." (Interestingly, even though the song says the word "summertime" multiple times, it never says the phrase "doin' time.") Even though I do like the Lana Del Rey version better (which is probably in part because I am biased and have never really been much of a Sublime fan and also in part because I love the softer and more ethereal treatment on Lana's version), I appreciate the Sublime version because it is a lot more personal and features lyrics that quite honestly don't make much sense being sung by anyone else. For example, near the beginning of the song, we hear the lines, "Bradley's on the microphone with Ras M.G. All people in the dance will agree that we're well-qualified to represent the L.B.C., and me and Louie, we gon' run to the party..." Bradley is in reference to Bradley Nowell, the Sublime frontman, and Ras M.G. is in reference to a DJ who worked with Sublime on the song; L.B.C. is an abbreviation of Long Beach, California, where Sublime is from, and Louie is in reference to Nowell's dog, so as I said, these lyrics are essentially meaningless being sung by Lana because they are not universal due to being so specific. As happy as I am to be treated to a new release by Lana Del Rey, I am really looking forward to another original song released from Norman Fucking Rockwell, as it has been far too long.

Madonna - Crave - Single [Review]

"Crave" is technically the third single from Madonna's upcoming studio album Madame X (due for release on June 14th, 2019). (I saw a fellow fan on Facebook say that Madonna has apparently announced that "Crave" is the album's second official single, but I am saying third because we have thus far had "Medellín," "I Rise," and now "Crave" all released as singles, but I guess that "I Rise" is intended as a promotional single and not an actual official single.) Although I am still a bit apprehensive about the direction of Madame X (as I discussed in my reviews of the first two singles here and here), a little bit of faith has been restored after having heard "Crave" because I really like this one, and it's my favorite song of the three that we have heard thus far. The track begins with acoustic guitar under Madonna's opening verse: "I'm tired of being far away from home, far from what can help, far from where it's safe. Hope it's not too late. Rush, rush, rush on you. Love, love, loved on you. Love you like a fool, put my trust in you." The first line of the song about being tired of being far away from home is likely inspired by Madonna's actually being far away from home, as she has been spending a great deal of time in Portugal (which is said to have inspired the Latin flavor of the overall album, which one can definitely hear in "Medellín"). I really love the pacing and rhythm of Madonna's verses, and although the song does have a bit of a generic R&B beat to it (something that I have seen a lot of fans negatively criticize, which I can totally understand), I overall love the song for what it is - a catchy and above average pop song. I even like Swae Lee (whose name I recognize from his collaboration with Post Malone titled "Sunflower") being featured on the song even though I usually don't much care for rappers being featured on pop artists' songs. (Nas, for example, ruined the final version of Madonna's song "Veni Vidi Vici" on her most recent album Rebel Heart.) Lee also contributes some singing (not just rapping) to the song, and I really like his singing voice. (I am even tempted to check out his own discography to see if there is anything that I might like, since I also like the aforementioned "Sunflower" song.) The song is lyrically pretty straightforward, as it is about being deeply attracted to and maybe even addicted to someone: "You're the one I crave," Madge sings in the song's chorus, "and my cravings get dangerous" (reminding me a bit of the Rebel Heart song "Addicted" in which she uses phrases such as "the drug that I crave" and "I'm attracted to the dark"). "Crave" is, as I said, very catchy and is definitely the catchiest of the three songs so far, but I really, really hope that I am wrong about Madame X. I have seen some fans (including a friend of mine) say that Madonna used to set trends but now follows them, and I, for the most part, agree. "Crave" (as much as I truly love it) does seem to be following a trend, but one reason why I love Rebel Heart as much as I do is that I feel like, for the most part, Madonna was just doing what she wanted to do on that album without worrying too much about current trends; it is, after all, definitely not a very mainstream album, with the lead single "Living for Love" even calling back to the gospel flavor of "Like a Prayer." I seriously doubt that Madame X is going to top Rebel Heart (I mean regarding quality, not financial success), but as a longtime Madonna fan, I am still, of course, eager to hear what more the album has to offer.

Madonna - I Rise - Single [Review]

"I Rise" is the second single released from Madonna's upcoming studio album Madame X, a bit of a comeback album considering the fact that it has been four years since the Queen of Pop has released an album (2015's Rebel Heart). I prefer the song to the album's first single "Medellín" (which I reviewed here), but it is still far from being a highlight from Madonna's overall catalogue thus far. The song begins with light static as if it's a vinyl being played with the needle just having made contact with it (a technique also used on "Erotica"), which is quickly interrupted by Emma Gonzalez, who, along with David Hogg, has been a rabid activist for gun control after witnessing and surviving a shootout in February 2018 at her high school in Parkland, Florida. In the intro of "I Rise," Gonzalez angrily and passionately asserts, "...Us kids don't know what we're talking about, that we're too young to understand how the government works! We call B.S.!" The audio was likely lifted from a rally/protest, and the sentiment definitely sets the tone and the stage for the remainder of the song. "I Rise" calls back to political songs from the Rebel Heart era such as "Freedom" (this song even borrows a line from "Freedom": "Freedom's what you choose to do with what's been done to you"), "God Is Love," and "Revolution" (all of which ended up on the cutting room floor and were not used on the final product). "I Rise" addresses rising against tyranny and becoming stronger as a result of trauma, abuse, and hardships, my favorite lyrics being these from the first verse: "There's nothin' you can do to me that hasn't been done. Not bulletproof, shouldn't have to run from a gun" (which obviously makes sense in tandem with Gonzalez being at the beginning). Near the end of the song, the orchestral accompaniment featured reminds me of "Vogue," and the song also sort of has a folktronica flavor that reminds me a bit of American Life, my favorite Madonna album so far. I have seen some fans criticize the song for the melody being relatively static and never going anywhere interesting, and I agree to an extent; it's definitely not the catchiest song that she has ever done, although the chorus (especially since it keeps repeating "I rise") feels anthemic, which is very likely the point (in that it's probably intended to remind listeners of a chant being called out at a rally or protest - again calling back to the song's intro). I have also seen some fans criticize her use of a vocoder on the song's vocals, comparing it to Cher (who definitely overuses autotuning and vocoding in a lot of her music), and while I do understand that, I don't find it anywhere near as annoying or egregious as I do in "Medellín." I definitely appreciate the culturally relevant and important lyrical content and am definitely hoping for more of that from Madame X (the standard version of which will actually close with "I Rise"), but I have to admit that after now having heard two songs from the upcoming release (scheduled to drop on June 14th, 2019), I am a bit worried about this album's direction and am afraid that I am not going to be too fond of it. (I feel that way primarily because I am not overly impressed by either single thus far.) Two songs also isn't anywhere near enough material to make that judgment yet, however (especially since they are very different from each other), so only time will tell.

MARINA - Please Don't Call Me [Unreleased Song] [Review]

[cover art by Marina Downloads, from whom you can also download the song]

I am doing something really unusual here in reviewing an unreleased song, unusual not only for me personally because I don't believe that I have ever done it before but also unusual in general because music reviewers don't usually review unreleased music. I could not resist discussing this song, however, not only because I am such a big fan of MARINA but also because the song is fantastic. Titled "Please Don't Call Me," the song was recorded two years ago for her fourth studio album LOVE + FEAR but unfortunately ended up on the cutting room floor. I admit that when I first heard the song, I wasn't all that impressed because like some of the other LOVE + FEAR songs such as "True" and "You," the song is pretty mainstream Top 40 sounding compared to the indie sound to which most MARINA fans are accustomed. (Even MARINA's second studio album Electra Heart is a pop album while also breaking several rules of pop music, calling back to what MARINA said years ago about her mission as a musician - to be an indie artist with pop ambitions.) After listening to "Please Don't Call Me" several times, however, it quickly grew on me and became one of my favorite songs from the LOVE + FEAR era. The clubby and summery vibes on its production make its intention for LOVE + FEAR obvious, and it would have sounded great next to "No More Suckers," especially since both songs deal somewhat with the same subject manner - choosing being alone over being with people who try to take advantage of you. The chorus is one of the catchiest choruses from the LOVE + FEAR era songs. MARINA, in a fast tempo, sings, "Please don't call me. It's getting me down, down. You straight up ignore me 'til I'm around-round; then you're all about me. This ain't what I want to feel from you."  I find the song to be very relatable as I have dealt with guys like this in the past. One ex in particular always seemed happy to be around me in person (for the most part), but when we were apart, he barely gave me the time of day - rarely responding to text messages and promising to text when he got back home from work and then never following up and doing so. Whenever I would point this out to him, he would apologize, but things never changed, so I eventually called it off. In the second verse of the song, MARINA sums up why I called it off so perfectly well: "You make me feel like I'm not a priority, spinning your wheels for another apology." It's funny that it reminds me a bit of Madonna's song "Miles Away" (from her 2008 album Hard Candy), except that the speaker of that song seems to be dealing with the opposite problem (someone who is loving over the phone but not in person): "You always have the biggest heart when we're 6,000 miles apart... You always love me more miles away." Even though "Please Don't Call Me" is a pop song about a relatively shallow subject (at least in comparison to songs like "I Am Not a Robot," "Sex Yeah," "Savages," and "To Be Human"), it definitely hits home for me, and it's a shame that it wasn't included, especially since one of the songs included ("Baby") had already been released on Clean Bandit's album What Is Love?. "Please Don't Call Me" should have been placed on the FEAR side of the album (as I said, alongside "No More Suckers"), while "Soft to Be Strong" should have been placed somewhere on the LOVE side of the album (instead of "Baby," a song that does not represent love at all anyway, instead representing wistfulness and regret).

MARINA - FEAR [Review]

LOVE + FEAR is Welsh/Greek musician MARINA (full name Marina Lambrini Diamandis)'s fourth studio album following Froot (2015), Electra Heart (2012), and The Family Jewels (2010). The album is divided into two halves (LOVE and FEAR, as the title suggests), and since I have already reviewed the LOVE half here since it was released several weeks ago, this review will consequently focus on the second half of the album, FEAR. FEAR opens with "Believe in Love," a dreamy and atmospheric song that definitely serves as a highlight on the album. It kicks off with a subdued (although bass-heavy) and synthesized introduction, with MARINA coming in with the fast-paced and breathy first verse: "You say that I'm different to the girls you dated. You say that you found me; I'm the one you waited for (on and on). Guess I need to trust you when you say you love me every day you say that you've been thinking of me on (on and on)." I absolutely love this song's chorus, which, as I said, seems dreamy and almost ethereal to me (which is something that I think that MARINA is known for). In the chorus, Diamandis sings, "I need to believe in love. Why is what you give never enough? Losing you is what I'm afraid of. I need to believe, believe in love." The wavering notes and porcelain vocals of the chorus express the sorrow and wistfulness perhaps even more effectively than the lyrics do, especially combined with the gentle tropical accompaniment somewhat similar to that heard in "Orange Trees" from LOVE. Although I am currently single and have been for the better part of the last five years, I definitely strongly relate to "Believe in Love" because even though I am, deep down, a hopeless romantic, I was badly hurt by the man whom I thought I was going to marry, the man whom I thought I was supposed to spend my life with, but that hasn't turned out to be the case despite all the promises of forever that he made me, despite all the times that he claimed to be on the same page as I was. I am therefore now skeptical and sometimes wonder if romantic love is even in my cards, and if it is, how can I believe someone telling me that he loves me when I did that once before and got hurt because of it? I therefore feel you, MARINA, although she does seem to be in a happy relationship currently. (Both this song and LOVE's "Superstar," in fact, are likely both inspired by her partner Jack Patterson of Clean Bandit.) I remember being confused when I saw that a song called "Believe in Love" was on the FEAR half of the album because the title is definitely misleading, as it technically isn't about believing in love but rather wanting to believe in love but not being fully able to because of fear.

"Life Is Strange" might be my favorite song from FEAR, especially since it gives off vehemently strong The Family Jewels vibes. The song legitimately sounds like it could easily belong on that album, and MARINA's manager even brings that up in this recent Q&A session that was held from YouTube space. (MARINA also says during this session that the song's opening lines about knowing "so many boys and girls" is in reference to diamonds, her fans.) There are multiple reasons why "Life Is Strange" reminds fans of The Family Jewels. One is that, as MARINA herself states in that aforementioned Q&A session, "Life Is Strange" features a "jaunty chorus" like many of the songs from The Family Jewels do. (Here's looking at you, "Girls," "Oh No!," "Hollywood," etc.) Another reason is that the lyrical content of the song, especially the lyrics of the chorus, is similar to a lot of the lyrical content found on The Family Jewels. In the chorus of "Life Is Strange," Diamandis sings, "Don't know what I'm doing with my life, but maybe there's no wrong or right," and this reminds me of the choruses of The Family Jewels songs like "Mowgli's Road" and "Oh No!." MARINA also alludes to "Mowgli's Road" in the song when she sings in the second verse, "Is it ever gonna be enough to love another and be loved?" which is a direct reference to this line from "Mowgli's Road": "Do you think you will be good enough to love others and to be loved?" The third song from FEAR is simply titled "You," and while I by no means hate it, it's one of the weaker tracks on FEAR and even from LOVE + FEAR overall. The song reminds me lyrically of the song "Hypocrates" from Electra Heart, as both songs seem to be about someone who is full of themselves and ready to judge the speaker of the song despite their own flaws. It even calls back to a line in "Hypocrates": "I know you only want to own me, and that's the kind of love you show me." In "You," MARINA sings, "You don't own me, but I can cut you loose." "You" also seems to allude to one of my favorite MARINA songs of all time - "Buy the Stars" which is also from the Electra Heart era. In "Buy the Stars," MARINA sings, "Still, you'd like to think you own me... You know only how to own me...," It's possible that all three songs were written about the same person, although I have seen some fans speculate that the target of "You" isn't another person but MARINA herself - the one of her past trying to hold her back from being the best version of herself that she can be (something that most of us can probably understand and relate to), which is plausible. I like "You" a lot more than I did when I first heard it as it has grown on me, but I overall find it to be a catchy but rather mediocre pop song compared to the more alternative songs on LOVE + FEAR like "To Be Human" (which is a masterpiece), "End of the Earth," and "Life Is Strange."

I really like "Karma," the fourth song from FEAR, especially since, like "Life Is Strange," the melody is playful and cheerful, and it apparently underwent a major change between its demo version and final version, as MARINA said on Instagram recently that it originally sounded like a '90s boy band song. (I hope that that version leaks because I would love to hear it.) There is, however, one aspect of the song that disappoints me somewhat. According to the MARINA Wiki, the song "is about the systematic misogyny and sexual abuse employed by powerful figures in the media," something that I read long before FEAR was even released. Reading this really excited me because I love it when music gets political and tackles important issues that are affecting the world today. (That's one of the reasons why "To Be Human" is my favorite song from LOVE + FEAR.) I was also excited because you cannot discuss powerful figures employing misogyny and sexual abuse without discussing current POTUS Donald Trump, and even though the results of the 2016 presidential election devastated me, I was happy to see art responding to it. (Media such as American Horror Story: Cult, Otep's album Kult 45, and a couple of songs on Lana Del Rey's Lust for Life album are just a few examples of works that tackled the state of the world as a result of the election.) Although Diamandis is not American, (a) she responded to it nonetheless such as when she addressed it on Twitter, (b) such a thing definitely impacts many parts of the world, not just the United States of America, and (c) she has addressed American issues in her music in the past, such as the state of American fame in "Hollywood," the Boston Marathon bombing in "Savages," and the relatively recent wave of riots in "To Be Human." "Karma," however, does not address what I believed that it would in a direct manner, not like "Savages" does. It does so in a seemingly safe and abstract manner, a manner in which the lyrics could be interpreted in different ways. You would, in fact, likely only recognize that the song is about what it is if you knew that it was; otherwise, you would likely interpret it as being about someone whom the speaker personally knows, someone such as an ex-lover: "Real hearts don't lie," MARINA instructs in the song's bridge. "Take it from me. (I know.) You'll see in time. Take it from me." The song is extremely catchy and fun to listen to, but I just feel very let down by its lack of brutal honesty. (That sense of brutal honesty and humorous cynicism found in songs like "Savages," "Sex Yeah," "Scab & Plaster," "Obsessions," "Hollywood," and so forth is, in fact, missing from LOVE + FEAR overall, which is probably the main reason why I would say that it's my least favorite MARINA album so far.)

Next on FEAR is "Emotional Machine," which MARINA first performed last fall at the Neon Gold X festival. The song was co-written by (and features background vocals by) Broods, and a part of its instrumental is featured in the LOVE + FEAR album trailer. When I first saw the album trailer, I wasn't really thinking about that performance (which I had initially seen and heard in very poor quality as it was), but the instrumental reminded me a lot of Electra Heart, and I have seen fans say that "Emotional Machine" reminds them of Electra Heart. The song starts off very softly with the instrumentation that you hear in the album trailer, but it quickly picks up speed and volume and becomes an upbeat bop. It isn't necessarily a highlight for me, but I appreciate its soaring chorus and Electra Heart vibes. The lyrics admittedly confuse me a bit because she sings in the chorus, "Since I was a teen, cut my feelings off clean," and the song does seem to be about putting guards up to protect yourself from hurt, but if you cut yourself off from feelings, then how can you be an emotional machine, and since when are machines emotional? Is that the point? Is the song title meant to be an oxymoron? On an unrelated note, though, her reference to cutting her feelings off as a teen reminds me of "Teen Idle," another reason why the song reminds me a bit of Electra Heart. The album then gives us "Too Afraid," obviously appropriately placed on the FEAR half of the album. The song's piano accompaniment reminds me of Troye Sivan's song "Postcard" from his Bloom album, and I checked to see if the two songs share any songwriters (since some songs - such as "True" and "My My My!" as an example - do), but they do not. The song is pretty slow and lyrically speaks of being afraid of change and bettering yourself: "I want to change, but I don't know how," she sings in her opening verse. "I've been trying to turn my life around." LOVE + FEAR's penultimate song is "No More Suckers," an upbeat and playful song about making the decision to no longer allow people to take advantage of you: "I was too open, I was too quick to let other people in, took whatever they could get. Now I see a pattern; I'm getting rid of it." I love the song's catchy and melodically powerful chorus, but there is one aspect of the song that I don't like. In the song's second verse, MARINA sings, "When you stay over, you eat all of my food. Yeah, you mess up all my towels...," and when I first heard that, I wondered, "Who wrote that because I know that it wasn't MARINA." Sure enough, MARINA confirmed recently on Instagram that that particular line was penned by the song's co-writer Alex Hope (who also co-wrote Troye Sivan's song "Lucky Strike" as well as nearly all of his Blue Neighbourhood album - another shared co-writer between MARINA and Troye).

LOVE + FEAR closes with the ballad "Soft to Be Strong," which I think would have sounded a lot better with "Too Afraid" preceding it rather than "No More Suckers" (meaning that, in my opinion, "Too Afraid" and "No More Suckers" should have been switched). I also think that, given the song's lyrical content, it would have made more sense on LOVE, and "Baby" would have made more sense on FEAR, so those two songs should have been switched (although not in their respective places, since "Baby" would make a terrible album closer). The song references the album title multiple times: "I know that when love is lost, it's only fear in disguise... I choose to love you without fear," which makes it a great closing track for the album overall, but the thesis of the song is summed up in this line: "I found out love has to be soft to be strong," ultimately making the song more about love than it is about fear. Many of the song's lyrics also seem to parallel the Electra Heart closing song "Fear and Loathing," which I think has an overall similar takeaway. In "Fear and Loathing," MARINA sings, "I live my life in bitterness and fill my heart with emptiness, and now I see, I see it for the first time, there is no crime in being kind. Not everyone is out to screw you over; maybe, oh just maybe, they just want to get to know you." Here in "Soft to Be Strong," she sings, "I know it hurts to be kind... And I made myself believe other people wanted to hurt me. I took my bitterness and made it sweet." That parallels are, to me, incredibly strong which is why I have come to think of the two songs as sister songs. I strongly relate to the song because it's about not allowing heartbreak and loss to harden you, and the line "Somebody hurt me long ago, and though to heal a heart is slow, it's just a consequence of pain" especially resonates with me. I overall like LOVE + FEAR, but it's definitely, in my opinion, MARINA's weakest album so far, not only because of the aforementioned reasons but also because it lacks the tight focus that her past albums feature, not only musically but lyrically as well. The album is musically all over the place, and the lyrics, despite the album's title and the unique packaging strategy of dividing the album into two conceptual halves, lack an overall theme. After Madonna released her 2012 album MDNA (which suffers from a similar problem of lacking an overall theme), a friend of mine and I developed a recurring joke, which was that Madonna released the album and said, "Here are some songs," and this kind of feels like MARINA's "here are some songs" album. It very likely still has some growing on me to do, but I think that it's unlikely that that opinion will change much. Don't get me wrong - saying that LOVE + FEAR is my least favorite MARINA album isn't really saying much because it's still MARINA and still better than 90% of the other pop albums that I hear nowadays. It's just that while most of the songs by themselves are fantastic, they do little to come together and form a cohesive album.