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Revision as of 23:39, 21 March 2015

Untitled

Rebel Heart is the thirteenth studio album by American singer Madonna. It was released on March 6, 2015 by Interscope Records. After a flurry of unexpected album content leaks, the singer put the album's pre-order out of a sudden on iTunes on December 20, 2014, with six songs being available for download. Madonna co-wrote and co-produced the album in partnership with various musicians, including Diplo, Avicii, and Kanye West. Musically, Rebel Heart is a pop record which merges an array of musical genres such as 1990s house, trap and reggae, as well as the usage of acoustic guitars and gospel choir.

To promote the album, Madonna made several television performances, including the 57th Annual Grammy Awards and the 2015 Brit Awards. The album's supporting tour, the Rebel Heart Tour, is set to kick off on August 29, 2015. "Living for Love" and "Ghosttown" were released as singles from the album. Rebel Heart received predominantly positive reviews from music critics, who called it her best effort in a decade. The album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 chart in the United States and the UK Album Charts. It peaked at number one in various countries across the world, including major music markets such as Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland.

Background and development

Following the release of her twelfth studio album, MDNA (2012), Madonna embarked on The MDNA Tour to promote it.[1] The tour courted many controversial subjects such as violence, firearms, human rights, nudity and politics. Lawsuits were created against Madonna from the concerts.[2] She was enraged by many of these incidents, which she claimed was "injustice" against human beings.[3] These included the imprisonment of Yulia Tymoshenko in Ukraine and Pussy Riot in Russia, gay rights violations, presidential election in the United States and the assassination attempt on Malala Yousafzai.[4][5] In September 2013, she released secretprojectrevolution, a short film directed by her and Steven Klein, dealing with artistic freedom and human rights. The film also launched a global initiative called Art for Freedom to promote freedom of expression.[6] She clarified on L'Uomo Vogue that her next album would be connected with Art for Freedom, saying that she "had" to be committed to the initiative and use her voice as an artist.[7]

By December 2013, Madonna's manager Guy Oseary commented that the singer was "eager to get started" on her next album.[8] However, she had another project in mind, developing the screenplay for the Andrew Sean Greer novel, The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells. Madonna decided to split her time between writing the screenplay and writing songs for the new album.[9] In February 2014, Madonna confirmed that she had already begun working on her thirteenth studio album, saying "I'm right now in the process of talking to various co-writers and producers and talking about where I want to go with my music".[10] Working with a number of collaborators on the album, Madonna faced problem in keeping a cohesive sound and direction for Rebel Heart, since her previous efforts have been with only a core group of people developing the music. She observed that a lot of the people she enlisted would not stay in one city at a time due to their different projects, resulting in Madonna not finishing her songs. "So, I was just the person standing there with a clipboard in the headlights, going 'Ok!' A little bit like a school teacher," she admitted.[11]

Writing and recording sessions

Black-and-white photo of Avicii smiling
Diplo looking down wearing a blue and yellow headphone
Two of the collaborators with Madonna on the album included Avicii (left) and Diplo (right)

By March 2014, Madonna started posting a number of images on social media website Instagram, where she hinted at possible songwriters and collaborators with hashtag captions. First she posted about going into the recording studio with Swedish DJ and producer Avicii, followed by another image of them a few days later, with the caption "The End of a long week with Viking Leader AKA DJ Virgo AKA Avicii! So many great songs!".[8][12] Record producer Carl Falk talked to newspaper Dagens Nyheter in April 2014 about the sessions with Madonna and Avicii. He recalled that eleven demos were recorded within a week at Henson Recording Studios in Hollywood, with acoustic guitars and piano. A total of six personnel were selected by Avicii's manager Arash "Ash" Pour Nouri. They were divided into two groups, the first one consisting of Falk, Rami Yacoub, and Savan Kotecha and the second group consisting of Salem Al Fakir, Vincent Pontare, and Magnus Lidehäll. Avicii worked with both the groups in creating the demo songs, while Madonna arrived at the studio in the afternoon and stayed till 7 am. She worked closely with both teams while writing and changing melodies, and was in charge of the process.[13]

A few days later Madonna posted the image of a sunset with the words "Rebel Heart" on them, and a caption which the media interpreted as lyrics of a new song. The lines posted were: "Day turns into night. I won't give up the fight. Don't want to get to the end of my days... saying I wasn't amazed."[14] Further images showed Madonna with singer Natalia Kills in front of a microphone, and Martin Kierszenbaum, the founder and chairman of Cherrytree Records and senior executive of A&R for Interscope Records, Madonna's label.[8] By mid-April 2014, she also revealed the names of songwriters Toby Gad and Mozella and record producer Symbolyc One on Instagram with images of the group working in studio.[15][16] The list of personnel extended to include producer Ariel Rechtshaid and sound engineer Nick Rowe.[17] In an interview with Sirius XM Radio, Kierszenbaum described the recording process:

We were supposed to be with her in the studio for a couple of days. She kindly invited us to stay a little longer. We don't know what's going to end up on the album but it was an absolute you know honor... For me being such a fan for so long it was so exciting to hear her vocal in the room right next to me, coming out of her head really sounding exactly like all those records we all love and she's a pleasure to work with because she's so in tune with who she is and what she wants to sing. I don't know. It's really great collaborating with her and Natalia is such a great writer.[18]

In May 2014, Madonna posted a selfie where she talked about working with American DJ Diplo.[19] Madonna had invited him for her annual Oscar party, but he could not make it. They eventually started talking about music through texts and decided to collaborate on the album.[20] In an interview with Idolator, Diplo explained that Madonna had asked him to provide his "craziest record" for the album. Together they wrote and recorded seven songs and Diplo added that "Those records are gonna be crazy-sounding. We really pushed the envelope with some of the stuff we were doing... [S]he was up for anything. I love when an artist gives a producer the confidence he needs to work with them, and Madonna was very open-minded to my ideas."[21] One song was composed out of a hook Madonna had sung while drinking in the studio, and Diplo described it as "super weird". Another one (later confirmed as "Living for Love") had almost 20 versions ranging from a piano ballad to an EDM composition, ultimately Madonna and Diplo compromising on a middle level. Rechtshaid and British singer MNEK also joined for writing sessions with them, improving the verse of the song.[11][20][22] Diplo also confirmed another track, known as "Bitch I'm Madonna", which he believed would push lyrical boundary for a pop song.[23] Both Alicia Keys and Ryan Tedder confirmed working on the album, saying that they contributed to the songwriting with Keys playing piano on "Living for Love".[11][24][25] Two other songs, "Messiah" and "Devil Pray", were confirmed by Madonna in different interviews.[26][27]

Titling and themes

Thematically, Caryn Ganz from Rolling Stone felt that the album focused on two subjects: listening to one's heart and being a rebel. Madonna explained that these concepts were not the initial inspiration, but emerged during the sessions with Avicii. One group of musicians explored an upbeat approach to songwriting, while the other team chose darker chords. Madonna observed two distinct themes emerging organically, and felt the need to express that.[28] So the record was titled as Rebel Heart, since it dealt with two different facades of the singer—her rebellious and renegade side, and her romantic side. She wanted it to be a dual album with each part representing these facades.[11] With French radio NRJ, she explained that Rebel Heart could be both autobiographical as well as fiction, since while writing songs she mixed both her own experiences as well as imaginary narratives. The title also stemmed from Madonna's belief that contemporary music artists are not encouraged or inspired to be rebellious, take risks or speak-up and she wanted to highlight it. However, she understood the importance of having love in the rebellious nature, so added the word Heart along with Rebel.[29]

"There's a looking back here, a missing the beginning of my career when I was surrounded by other artists... like Keith Haring and Basquiat and Warhol. It was a time when pop music was more naive and free. I was missing that feeling and that mixture of so many different worlds in New York."

—Madonna talking to Jim Farber of New York Daily News about the album.[30]

Introspection was also listed as one of the foundational themes prevalent in the album, with genuine statements of careerist and personal reflections of the artist and her "obsessive self-regard".[31] Madonna explained to Jon Pareles of The New York Times that although she has never looked back at her past endeavors, reminiscing about it felt correct for Rebel Heart. "And it's bittersweet for me to think about that. It just seemed like a time where I wanted to stop and look back. It's kind of like survivor guilt. How did I make it and they didn't?" she added.[9] During the development phase of the album, she became comfortable to express her ideas in front of a few people, comparing it to "writing your diary in front of somebody and reading it out loud... It was almost like an acting exercise, you know, just putting myself in a room and letting ideas flow even if I didn't feel so connected to the people."[28] Further inspirations for the album came from Madonna's exploration of other cultures and art, literature and music, referencing them in the songs. She believed that the tracks should stand on their own, and could be broken down to minimalist production, so that one could sing them with just a guitar.[28] Madonna also enlisted the help of her daughter Lourdes and son Rocco, calling them her A&R. They frequently visited night clubs and were able to bring news about upcoming music and artists to her, which helped create the sounds she gravitated towards for the album.[30][32]

A generally pop record,[33] Rebel Heart was different from Madonna's releases in the last decade according to Bradley Stern from MuuMuse. He called it an "eclectic record" merging an array of musical genres like 1990s house, to trap, to reggae to usage of acoustic guitars. Stern felt that unlike chasing the current musical trends—like those of Hard Candy (2008) and MDNA—the album was progressive in its sound.[34] Adding to this, Mitchell Sunderland from Vice felt that Rebel Heart was a "lesson learned" from the critique Madonna had received for the last two albums.[35] Jed Gottlieb from Boston Herald found the album to continue Madonna's "increasingly interesting, innovative approach" by combining contemporary musical styles with her previous tastes. He found Rebel Heart to be an improvement from the generic dance tunes in MDNA.[36] For Jon Pareles from The New York Times, Rebel Heart was like a sequel to MDNA in its composition, but while the later was marred with its cold mechanized vocals and cliché songwriting, the former was able to portray Madonna's musical abilities as someone "who ponders sin along with romance and fame".[37] Jay Lustig from The Record believed that Madonna had always lacked a thematic coherence with her previous endeavors. However, with the songs from Rebel Heart she was able to create potentially successful singles despite the different styles of the tracks, thereby maintaining consistency in the record.[38]

Music and lyrical interpretation

Rebel Heart opens with the song "Living for Love". Composed in the house genre it begins with Madonna singing over a "regal" piano line, eventually joined by percussion.[39] Although a breakup song, "Living for Love" talks about being triumphant and hopeful.[28][40] According to Dean Piper from The Daily Telegraph, the song has "some classic Madonna traits: religious references, a gospel choir, 90s piano beats and a whirling bass". It was compared to her 1989 singles, "Like a Prayer" and "Express Yourself" by Jason Lipshutz from Billboard.[39][41][42] The second track, "Devil Pray", was inspired about how one would be enticed to partake of narcotics to achieve a higher level of consciousness and connect to God.[26] Lyrically it asks for salvation from a variety of drug abuses, making allusions to Saint Mary and Lucifer, as well as the pain of healing from drug abuse.[41][43] Produced by Madonna with Falk, Avicii, DJ Dahi and Blood Diamonds, "Devil Pray" starts with gentle guitar sounds which builds up to an electropop production, accompanied with a house beat.[40][44] "Ghosttown" talks about civilizations ending and the world encountering an armageddon, but human beings seeing hope among the destruction.[11][28] Written with Jason Evigan, Evan Bogart and Sean Douglas, it is a power ballad song, where Madonna sings in "piercing" and "warm" vocals like those of Karen Carpenter's, and the production comparable to her 1986 single, "Live to Tell".[45] According to Douglas, "Ghosttown" was written in three days, after Madonna personally requested studio time with him and the other songwriters.[46] Fourth track "Unapologetic Bitch" has reggae, dancehall and dubstep influences, and is a ska song where Madonna speaks negatively about a break-up and her lover, in lyrics like, "It might sound like I'm an Unapologetic Bitch but sometimes you have to call it like it is."[41][45][47] Madonna explained that the song was about having fun irrespective of the situation one is.[28]

Kanye West wearing sunglasses raps into a microphone
Mike Tyson looking to the front
Kanye West (left) produced the tracks "Illuminati" and "Holy Water", while boxer Mike Tyson (right) had guest vocals on "Iconic"

The fifth song, "Illuminati", was inspired after Madonna came to know that people alluded to her with the eponymous term. So she researched about the real Illuminati and wrote the song.[28][32] Lyrically it refers to the Illuminati conspiracy theory, the Egyptian pyramids, the Phoenix, the Age of Enlightenment, and the Eye of Providence among others, with the chorus lyrics: "It's like everybody in this party is shining like Illuminati".[42][48] According to Madonna, Kanye West who produced the track had loved the melody and changed the composition as he found best suited.[28] Minaj appears on the sixth track, "Bitch I'm Madonna", where she raps, asking everybody to "go hard or go home", while Madonna shouts lyrics like, "I just want to have fun tonight, I wanna blow up this house tonight". Produced by Diplo and Sophie, the track has a tearing sound alongside the "bleepy electro" and "churning dubstep" composition.[34][42][44] During the writing sessions Minaj had to rewrite the lyrics until she could get the correct sentiment per Madonna.[28] "Hold Tight" consists of an "arresting" chorus and a drum beat sound, described by Sam C. Mac of Slant Magazine as "innocuous, lyrically platitudinous pop that briefly works itself up into something exciting when it threatens to become a gospelized stomp."[31][49] Track eight, "Joan of Arc", is a ballad where Madonna talks about the media scrutiny of her life, singing "Each time they take a photograph, I lose a part of me I can't get back". It also references the Roman Catholic saint of the same name.[43][50] Madonna's hushed, vibrato-tinged vocals and confessional lyrics in "Joan of Arc" are enhanced by a new beat and utilizes strings in the bridge and acoustics.[31]

"Iconic" features Chance the Rapper and boxer Mike Tyson. The latter had a spoken word introduction to the song, similar to his addition on Canibus' debut single, "Second Round K.O." (1998). Tyson was invited to the recording studio by Madonna, where he talked about his life and recorded it in one take.[51] Consisting of a "weird" beat, "Iconic" finds Madonna embracing herself as an icon through the lyrics.[31] "HeartBreakCity" follows "Iconic", and is a piano ballad talking about lost love with Madonna singing in deeper vocal register, inspired by baroque pop. Containing synths, banjo sounds and hollow drums, "Body Shop" describes love as a damaged car on the highway, requiring a body repairing to be alive.[52] West also produced the next track, "Holy Water", where the singer compares her bodily fluids to the title. With hedonistic sound effects, the song is reminiscent of Madonna's 1990 single, "Justify My Love" and contains a lyrical excerpt from "Vogue".[53] A bassline accompanies the chorus, consisting of moaning sounds, arcade game music and synths.[52] "Inside Out" is produced by Mike Dean, and features Madonna's vocals with reverb, accompanied by piano sounds and restrained chords. "Wash All Over Me" follows, and is the last track on the standard version. Baroque piano sounds and a steady military beat approaches the chorus as Madonna sings about the world changing, heartbreaks and accepting it. A gospel choir and minimum synths backs the song's composition.[52][53]

Release, leaks, and artwork

Obviously there is a person, or a group of people behind this that were essentially terrorising me. I don't want to sound alarming, but certainly that's how I felt. It's one thing if someone comes into your house and steals a painting off your wall: that's also a violation, but, your work, as an artist, that's devastating... I'm sorry if words alarm people, but that's what it felt like. It was not a consensual agreement. I did not say 'hey, here's my music, and it's finished.' It was theft.

—Madonna talking about the leaks to Alexis Petridis of The Guardian.[32]

In May 2014, photographer Mert Alas posted on his Instagram that he was listening to the album, but Billboard clarified that Madonna was still in the process of recording it in Los Angeles.[54] They later posted a 50-second snippet of an instrumental which media claimed to be from Madonna, but the sample was traced back to Dutch DJ Sander Kleinenberg and his song "We Are Superstars".[55][56] Oseary confirmed that Madonna looked forward to a 2015 release date for the album.[57] However on November 28, 2014, two songs leaked into the internet, titled "Rebel Heart" and "Wash All Over Me"; the songs were immediately taken down, with Oseary tweeting and asking assistance in finding the leaks.[58][59] On December 17, 2014, a total of 13 songs were leaked, including artwork suggesting the album to be named Iconic.[60] An aggravated Madonna clarified that the songs were demo versions from earlier recordings; she compared the leak to that of "artistic rape".[61][62] She was subsequently criticized for referring to the hack as "terrorism" in the wake of the Peshawar school attack and Sydney hostage crisis.[63] Madonna said in an interview with Billboard that after the leak, she and her team tried to trace it back to the source, but ultimately decided to release the finished songs.[11] Referring to the Sony Pictures Entertainment hack, she criticized the internet and explained that the incident led to securing her laptop and hard drives, while disabling the Wi-Fi. "I wanted to plan everything in advance. Release the single, shoot a video, start talking about my record. And you know, prepare for the release of the entire album and have everything set up just so... But we sort of were left with no choice," she added.[11]

On December 20, 2014, the album became available for pre-order on iTunes Store. When ordered, six tracks (five in the United Kingdom) were automatically downloaded. Madonna stated that the songs were meant to be "an early Christmas gift" with the final release on March 10, 2015. Originally, "Living for Love" was intended to serve as the lead single from the album. It was to be released on Valentine's Day, with the rest of the record slated for the spring. However, due to the leak the release date had to be pushed up.[64] Oseary recalled that they did not receive a confirmation until Friday night whether the pre-release could be executed, since iTunes was closing for the Christmas weekend. After much discussion on the pros and cons of the release, and with the aid of Interscope Vice Chairman Steve Berman, and Apple Inc.'s Robert Kondrk, they were able to go live slowly.[65] The six songs Madonna chose had to be polished, and since the producers of the tracks were unavailable, Madonna mastered and mixed them on her own.[66] The album's release was compared to Beyoncé's self-titled surprise release in 2013, with The Guardian calling it a "partial Beyoncé".[67] Still the leaks continued with 14 new demos being revealed from December 23–27.[68][69] Three new tracks—"Hold Tight", "Joan of Arc" and "Iconic" featuring Tyson and Chance the Rapper—became available following Madonna's Grammy performance.[70]

The final track list of Rebel Heart was revealed on January 20, 2015, with the standard and deluxe version song names.[71] A day later Israel Police arrested a man, suspecting him of hacking into Madonna, as well as other musician's computers, stealing and leaking content. Lahav 433, a crime-fighting umbrella organization from Israel had led a month-long investigation since the leaks happened, working closely with the FBI. Although Israel Police denied to name the suspect, media identified him as former reality show contestant Adi Lederman, who had participated in Israeli singing competition, Kokhav Nolad, season ten.[72][73] However, the release leaked in full after a week, including the unreleased songs from the deluxe edition.[74] Lederman was charged by Israel's Magistrate court on four counts: Computer trespassing, prohibited secret monitoring and additional computer trespassing, copyright Infringement and obstructing investigation. The investigation also revealed that Lederman was the one who had leaked the demo of Madonna's lead single from MDNA, "Give Me All Your Luvin'". Copies of songs including rehearsal recordings of upcoming performances of Madonna were sold for more than thousand dollars to various clients. Prosecution suggested that Lederman would face up to five years of jail if found guilty.[75]

The cover art, featuring Madonna's face inter-crossed with black wires, became popular in social media resulting in numerous memes being created on Instagram, Tumblr and Twitter. Fans wound black wires across their face to look like the cover, and even created memes with the faces of other celebrities, including Britney Spears, Michael Jackson, Homer Simpson, Jim Carrey, Marlon Brando, and the Grinch.[76][77] Madonna herself forwarded many of the images on her social media accounts. However, three of the images—those of Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela and Bob Marley with the same wires around their face—was heavily criticized for being "disrespectful and racist".[78] The singer explained the photos the next day, saying that she was flattered for the comparison to the said people and relegated herself as a "freedom fighter".[79]

Promotion

See also: Rebel Heart Tour

Madonna had initially spoken about an appearance at the Grammy Awards in December 2014, saying that it was "possibly something that's gonna happen".[11] She later confirmed her appearance at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards, scheduled to take place on February 8, 2015; Oseary clarified that the singer would also perform at the ceremony. Madonna herself confirmed the appearance by uploading an image of the Grammy trophy wrapped with black strings like the memes for the cover art of Rebel Heart.[80] The singer performed "Living for Love" wearing a one-piece outfit in matador red, surrounded by male dancers as Minotaurs similar to the song's music video. Forbes reported that Madonna's performance was the most-watched moment of the night.[81] Her effort to sing live without Auto-Tune during the choreographed performance was also heavily praised.[82][83][84] She also performed the song at the 2015 Brit Awards, on February 25, 2015.[85] However, in the early stages of the performance, a wardrobe malfunction caused her to be pulled down a flight of stairs that made up part of the stage. She later took to Instagram to confirm that she was well, posting "Thanks for the good wishes! I'm fine".[86] It was later revealed that her cape was tied too tight when her dancers attempted to remove it from her neck, causing her to crash to the floor and leaving the audience in shock. After several seconds, she continued the performance as planned.[87]

Madonna partnered with the gay dating app, Grindr, where a contest was held for five users of the app to be selected for an exclusive interview with the artist as promotion for Rebel Heart. The contest included re-creating the artwork for Rebel Heart and post it as the Grindr profile picture. Other winners would receive signed copies of the album.[88] Joe Stone from The Guardian considered this to be a "savvy" promotional method, by directly connecting with the singer's gay audience.[89] On March 2 she appeared on France's Le Grand Journal show, performing an edited version of "Living for Love", as well as "Ghosttown" for the first time.[90] Following this, she travelled to Italy for an appearance on the television show Che tempo che fa, where she performed "Devil Pray" and "Ghosttown" while talking with host Fabio Fazio on numerous topics including the album's development process.[91] Another interview aired on The Today Show on March 9 and 10, 2015.[92] Interviewed by host Carson Daly, the singer spoke about the song leaks and her children's opinion on the Rebel Heart songs.[93] Madonna appeared for the first time at The Howard Stern Show on March 11, 2015, scheduled at a special time for the singer.[94] She discussed about her life, and personal relationships, as well as confirmed "Ghosttown" as the second single from Rebel Heart.[95] She also appeared for her first UK television interview in three years, The Jonathan Ross Show on March 16, 2015, where she performed "Living for Love" and "Ghosttown".[96][97] Madonna appeared and performed on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in US, for the entire week of March 16 to March 20. Songs performed included "Living for Love" where DeGeneres herself joined the singer onstage,[98][99] a stripped down version of "Joan of Arc" and "Ghosttown",[100] and finally her 1985 single "Dress You Up", during the bathroom concert sequence with DeGeneres.[101] On March 29, 2015, Madonna will perform at the 2nd iHeartRadio Music Awards at Los Angeles.[102] She has also been invited to perform at the live shows of The Voice UK, should the BBC be able to meet her stage requirements, which included a 24 ft × 24 ft (7.3 m × 7.3 m) bullring, 10 dancers and 12 gospel singers.[103]

Numerous news outlets started reporting about the supporting concert tour for Rebel Heart. Italian newspaper Torino Today reported Madonna planning on returning to Turin on November 20 and 21, 2015, with the tour.[104] Canadian newspapers, La Presse and Le Journal de Montréal reported that Madonna's tour dates in Quebec City and Montreal had been decided. According to them, Madonna would be inaugurating a new arena in Quebec City, while the shows in Montreal would happen at the Bell Center.[105][106] The tour was confirmed on Madonna's official website in March. Named the Rebel Heart Tour, it is scheduled to take place in North America and Europe, starting from August 29, 2015.[107]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic68/100[108]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[109]
The A.V. ClubB–[110]
Billboard[111]
The Guardian[112]
Los Angeles Times[113]
NME5/10[114]
Rolling Stone[115]
Slant Magazine[116]
Spin6/10[117]
USA Today[118]

Upon release, Rebel Heart received mainly positive reviews from critics.[119] At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from music critics, the album received an average score of 68, which indicates "generally favorable reviews", based on 28 critics.[108] The Daily Telegraph writer Neil McCormick, Andy Gill of The Independent, AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine, and Lauren Murphy from The Irish Times all gave the album 4 out of 5 stars. McCormick felt that "For the first time in years, [Madonna] doesn't sound desperate", praising it in comparison to Hard Candy and MDNA.[120] Saeed called it "a fine collection of sturdy pop tunes in which Madonna finally allows herself to look back and sometimes pilfer from her peak periods of the late 80s and early 2000s".[53] Murphy wrote "the indisputable pop icon is back with a tentative bang" after MDNA had "few memorable pop hits".[121] For Gill, the most impressive factor about Rebel Heart was Madonna's vocals,[122] while Erlewine found Rebel Heart to be a revival of Madonna's defiant side and her confessional mood.[109]

Writing for The Quietus, Amy Pettifer praised the album, describing it as "a darker return to the club culture roots [for Madonna], and it seems – on some level – to face up to the missteps of her more recent releases."[52] Giving it 3.5 out of 4 stars, USA Today writer Elysa Gardner described the album's sound and lyrics as "piercingly direct".[118] Chicago Tribune writer Greg Kot and Randall Roberts from Los Angeles Times awarded it 3 out of 4 stars. Kot believed that the album would have been better without the sexuality referencing songs, but still considered it to be a "fascinating"[123] while Roberts believed that the Rebel Heart stood out "sturdily" because of the production.[113] Writing for The Boston Globe, James Reed opined that Rebel Heart was a "welcome detour in the artist's recent discography... her most satisfying effort in a decade and nimbly connects the dots between Madonna’s various eras and guises."[124] Critic Joey Guerra described Rebel Heart in Houston Chronicle positively as "a complex, consistently strong album".[125]

Slant Magazine editor Sal Cinquemani, Joe Levy from Billboard, and Caryn Ganz of Rolling Stone all awarded the album 3.5 out of 5 stars. Cinquemani wrote the album was "all over the map", yet felt it was "a surprisingly coherent one".[116] Levy wrote that the album was "subtle" compared to "current standards", adding that "These songs unfold slowly, building through foreplay-like intros before hooks are displayed over a shifting series of textures."[111] Ganz felt that Rebel Heart "is at its strongest when Madonna shoves everyone to the side and just tells it to us straight", and added "Deep down, Madonna does have a rebel heart — and you can't fault her for reminding us that pop music is all the better for it".[115] Jamieson Cox from Time commended the album for being consistent in its production and sound, Madonna's vocals and songwriting.[126] Giving it a rating of B, Kyle Anderson and Adam Markovitz from Entertainment Weekly called Rebel Heart as "Madonna's best outing since 2000's Music".[33] Alexis Petridis of The Guardian and Time Out writer Nick Levine gave the album 3 out of 5 stars. Petridis felt that the two contrasting sides of the album did not "quite gel", reasoning that "the former might represent the music Madonna wants to make, while the latter is the music she feels obliged to make".[112] Levine wrote "'Rebel Heart' may lack cohesion, but she's definitely not down for the count: this contains some of the best music Madonna's made in a decade".[127]

Annie Zalesky from The A.V. Club said the album had its "fair share of those head scratching moments", but found it to be a move in the right direction musically.[110] Spin writer Andrew Unterberger gave the album a 6 out of 10 ranking. While describing the record as "clunky", Unterberger also wrote that it "contains a number of Madonna's best songs in years".[128] Writing for The New Zealand Herald, Lydia Jenkin gave a mixed review, deeming the album a bit of a mess" and "confused".[129] Lindsay Zoladz from New York was disappointed, feeling that Madonna sounded "safe" in the songs. She added that "The Madonna of Rebel Heart [has] succeeded once again in the increasingly empty goal of sounding current."[130] Gavin Haynes of NME panned the album, saying that the album "feels like a wasted opportunity. Trite self-empowerment anthem 'Iconic' informs us that there's only two letters difference between Icon and I Can't. Sadly, there are also two letters between class and ass."[114]

Commercial reception

According to Andrew Hampp from Billboard, the pre-order received warm response commercially after its release to iTunes Stores around the world. In the United States, three of the six released tracks debuted on Billboard's Dance/Electronic Songs chart dated January 3, 2015—"Living for Love", "Bitch I'm Madonna", and "Unapologetic Bitch"—despite being available for two days.[66] The six songs have sold a combined 146,000 digital downloads, according to Nielsen SoundScan.[131] The album's pre-orders were estimated at around 50,000 to 60,000 copies, according to industry prognosticators.[66] The album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 chart with 121,000 equivalent album units, behind the soundtrack of the TV series Empire. Although Rebel Heart was the best-selling album of the week with pure album sales of 116,000 copies (96% of overall units), it fell behind the soundtrack when it came to streaming and track equivalent album units, with just over 1,000 and 4,000 respectively. It became Madonna's 21st top-ten album, but was her first studio release not to debut atop the chart since 1998's Ray of Light. Rebel Heart's concert tour bundle amounted to less than 10,000 copies compared to the 180,000 copies sold for previous album, MDNA.[132] The release also prompted Madonna to debut at number 7 on the Billboard Artist 100 chart, moving up by 2,919% in overall Artist 100 points and gaining by 31% in social media activity.[133] In Canada, Rebel Heart debuted at number one on the Canadian Albums Chart with 18,000 copies sold in the first week.[134]

In the United Kingdom, the Official Charts Company reported that Rebel Heart outsold its nearest competitors by a ratio of nearly 3:1, after just 24 hours on sale.[135] However, Sam Smith's In the Lonely Hour pushed ahead at the last minute, and Rebel Heart debuted at number two with difference of 12,000 copies. It became Madonna's first studio album to miss the top spot since Bedtime Stories, which also debuted at number two in 1994.[136][137] The album sold 37,245 copies including 416 from streaming, becoming the lowest first week sales for a studio album by Madonna. However, Madonna extended her lead as the biggest selling female artist of the 21st century in UK, with cumulative sales of 7.65 million copies.[138] Rebel Heart debuted at the top of the German Albums Chart, becoming her twelfth chart-topping record there.[139] Madonna surpassed The Beatles and Robbie Williams as the foreign act with the most number-one albums in German chart history, and equalled Herbert Grönemeyer for the third rank overall, behind only Peter Maffay and James Last with 16 and 13 chart-toppers respectively.[140] In France, the album debuted at number three on the SNEP Albums chart, with three-day sales of 17,000 copies.[141][142] Rebel Heart also debuted at number one on the record charts in Austria, Belgium (Flanders), Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland, as well as the top ten in the rest of European countries.[143][144][145]

In Australia, Rebel Heart debuted at the top of the ARIA Albums Chart, becoming Madonna's eleventh number-one album in the country and tying her with U2, as the act with most number-one albums since the establishment of ARIA in 1983.[146][147] It became Madonna's 19th week atop the chart, ranking her at number 24 on the list of artists with most accumulated weeks at the top.[148] In New Zealand, it debuted at number seven on the Official New Zealand Music Chart.[149] In Japan, Rebel Heart debuted at number eight on the Oricon Albums Chart with first-week sales of 7,548 physical units, becoming her 23rd top-ten album there.[150] It also entered the Oricon International Albums Chart at number one.[151] In South Korea, Rebel Heart gave Madonna two top-ten entries simultaneously on the Gaon International Albums Chart, with the deluxe edition at number one and the standard edition at number seven.[152]

Track listing

Rebel Heart – Standard edition[153]
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Living for Love"
3:38
2."Devil Pray"
4:05
3."Ghosttown"
4:08
4."Unapologetic Bitch"
  • Madonna
  • Pentz
  • Rechtshaid
  • McDonald
  • Gad
  • Madonna
  • Diplo
3:50
5."Illuminati"
3:43
6."Bitch I'm Madonna" (featuring Nicki Minaj)
  • Madonna
  • Pentz
  • Rechtshaid
  • McDonald
  • Gad
3:47
7."Hold Tight"
  • Madonna
  • Pentz
  • Gad
  • McDonald
  • Emenike
 3:37
8."Joan of Arc"
  • Madonna
  • Gad
  • McDonald
  • Griffin Jr.
 4:01
9."Iconic" (featuring Chance the Rapper and Mike Tyson)
 4:33
10."HeartBreakCity"
 3:33
11."Body Shop"
  • Madonna
  • Gad
  • McDonald
  • Griffin Jr.
  • Natche
  • Tucker
 3:39
12."Holy Water"
 4:09
13."Inside Out"
  • Madonna
  • Evigan
  • Dean
 4:23
14."Wash All Over Me"
 4:00
Total length:55:06
Rebel Heart – Media Markt standard edition (bonus track)[154]
No.TitleLength
15."Auto-Tune Baby"4:00
Total length:59:06
Rebel Heart – Deluxe edition[155]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
15."Best Night"
  • Madonna
  • Pentz
  • Rechtshaid
  • McDonald
  • Gad
3:33
16."Veni Vidi Vici" (featuring Nas)
  • Madonna
  • Pentz
  • Rechtshaid
  • McDonald
  • Gad
4:39
17."S.E.X."
  • Madonna
  • Gad
  • McDonald
  • Griffin Jr.
  • Dean
4:11
18."Messiah"
  • Madonna
  • Bergling
  • Pournouri
  • Lidehäll
3:22
19."Rebel Heart"
  • Madonna
  • Bergling
  • Pournouri
  • Lidehäll
3:21
Total length:74:15
Rebel Heart – Media Markt deluxe edition (bonus track)[156]
No.TitleLength
20."Auto-Tune Baby"4:00
Total length:78:15
Rebel Heart – Japanese deluxe edition (bonus track)[157]
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
20."Living for Love" (Dirty Pop Remix)
  • Madonna
  • Pentz
  • McDonald
  • Gad
  • Rechtshaid
  • Emenike
  • Madonna
  • Diplo
4:59
Total length:79:13
Rebel Heart – Fnac deluxe edition (Disc 2)[158]
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Living for Love" (Thrill Remix)
  • Madonna
  • Pentz
  • McDonald
  • Gad
  • Rechtshaid
  • Emenike
  • Madonna
  • Diplo
5:11
2."Living for Love" (Offer Nissim Dub Mix)
  • Madonna
  • Pentz
  • McDonald
  • Gad
  • Rechtshaid
  • Emenike
  • Madonna
  • Diplo
7:12
Rebel Heart – Super deluxe edition (Disc 2)[159] / Digital EP[160]
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Beautiful Scars"  4:19
2."Borrowed Time"  3:24
3."Addicted"  3:33
4."Graffiti Heart"
  • Madonna
  • Gad
  • McDonald
  • Griffin Jr.
 3:39
5."Living for Love" (Paulo & Jackinsky Full Vocal Mix)
  • Madonna
  • Pentz
  • McDonald
  • Gad
  • Rechtshaid
  • Emenike
 7:14
6."Living for Love" (Funk Generation & H3drush Dub)
  • Madonna
  • Pentz
  • McDonald
  • Gad
  • Rechtshaid
  • Emenike
  • Madonna
  • Diplo
6:07
Total length:27:36

Credits and personnel

Personnel adapted from iTunes metadata.[161]

Performing personnel
  • Madonna – vocals
  • Annie from London Community Gospel Choir – female backing vocals (track 1)
  • Nicki Minaj – vocals (track 6)
  • Alicia Keys – piano (track 1)
Technical personnel
  • Madonna – production (tracks 1–6)
  • Avicii – production (track 2)
  • Billboard – production (track 3)
  • Blood Diamonds – production (track 2)
  • Mike Dean – production (track 5)
  • Dahi – production (track 2)
  • Diplo – production (tracks 1, 4, 6)
  • Carl Falk – production (track 2)
  • Charlie Heat – production (track 5)
  • Kanye West – production (track 5)

Charts

Chart (2015)
  • Peak
  • position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[146] 1
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[162] 1
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[163] 1
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[164] 2
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[165] 1
Croatian International Albums (HDU)[166] 1
Czech Albums (ČNS IFPI)[143] 1
Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[167] 2
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[144] 1
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[168] 2
French Albums (SNEP)[169] 3
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[139] 1
Greek Albums (IFPI)[145] 3
Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)[170] 1
Irish Albums (IRMA)[171] 5
Italian Albums (FIMI)[172] 1
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[150] 8
Japanese International Albums (Oricon)[151] 1
South Korean International Albums (Circle)[152]
Deluxe version 		1
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[149] 7
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[173] 2
Polish Albums (ZPAV)[174] 5
Portuguese Albums (AFP)[175] 1
Russian Albums (2M)[176] 2
Scottish Albums (OCC)[177] 3
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[178] 1
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[179] 10
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[180] 1
UK Albums (OCC)[181] 2
US Billboard 200[182] 2

Release history

Region Date Format Edition Label Ref.
Australia March 6, 2015 CD Deluxe Universal Music [183]
Germany
  • Standard
  • Media Markt standard
  • deluxe
  • Media Markt deluxe
  • super deluxe
 [184]
France March 9, 2015
  • Standard
  • deluxe
  • super deluxe
  • Fnac deluxe
 Polydor [185]
New Zealand
  • Standard
  • deluxe
  • super deluxe
 Universal Music [186]
Sweden [187]
United Kingdom Polydor [188]
Canada March 10, 2015
  • Standard
  • deluxe
 Universal Music [189]
United States
  • Standard
  • deluxe
  • super deluxe
[190]
Worldwide Digital download
  • Standard
  • deluxe
 [191]
Japan March 11, 2015 CD Deluxe Universal Music [192]
March 18, 2015 Super deluxe [193]
Germany March 27, 2015 LP Deluxe [194]
Sweden [195]
France March 30, 2015 Polydor [196]
United Kingdom Standard [197]

See also

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