\u201cBizarre\u201d ft. Martin Garrix<\/h2>\n\n\n\tThe album makes its hardest turn into modern commercial dance music via this collaboration with Dutch mainstage mainstay Martin Garrix, who teams up with Madonna for a thumping track that seems to be about her ex-husband Sean Penn, the song\u2019s lyrical \u201cmovie star with deep blue eyes.\u201d \u201cHe drove way too fast\/Shelby Cobra wasn\u2019t built to last,\u201d Madonna sings on the track in an apparent reference to the Shelby GT500 she bought for Penn when they were together from 1985 to 1989, \u201cOnly love can be so bizarre.\u201d While the song is well produced and certainly enticing in terms of subject matter, it\u2019s cluttered with sonic ideas that almost get there but never fully gel. \u2014 KATIE BAIN<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\n\u201cFragile\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\t\u201cPeople really think that there\u2019s a beginning and an ending to this thing called life \/ Energy never dies, this is just a portal we\u2019re going through \/ Still it\u2019s hard to let go.\u201d On one hand, that introduction hits hard, especially in light of her near-death experience in 2023. Sadly, that other hand doesn\u2019t toss back the ball with the same dexterity. The vocal melody doesn\u2019t quite get there, and the production feels meaningful but not entirely memorable. In truth, it\u2019s not a flop \u2013 this is a strong album \u2013 but it\u2019s correctly relegated to the second half. \u2014 JOE LYNCH<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\n\u201cMy Sins Are My Savior\u201d ft. Stromae<\/h2>\n\n\n\tParts of this album will undoubtedly disappoint those hoping for Confessions on a Dance Floor<\/em> redux \u2013 fair enough. But also, deal with it. \u201cMy Sins Are My Savior\u201d is a worthwhile journey that goes from Belgian rapper Stromae\u2019s legato verses to percolating rhythms that evoke Brian Eno\/David Byrne soundscapes to whispered R&B circa Madonna in the \u201890s to random piano meandering. A true album track, this one enriches the experience without standing on its own. \u2014 J.L.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\n\u201cRead My Lips\u201d ft. Feid<\/h2>\n\n\n\tColombian reggaeton star Feid has had a busy year in dance music, appearing on recent albums by John Summit and Skrillex and now, Madonna. A song to dance to if not necessarily a straight-up dance song, \u201cRead My Lips\u201d is centered on pretty, urgent acoustic guitar that adds to the Latin mood fostered by Feid\u2019s presence on the second half of the song, when it becomes an impassioned bilingual duet about lies and love gone wrong. \u201cShut your mouth,\u201d Madonna eventually commands as she naturally gets the last word. This one doesn\u2019t seem likely to be an eventual fan favorite, but does its job in terms of the album\u2019s overall tone-setting, and on a strong project, that\u2019s enough. \u2014 K.B.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\n\u201cBetrayal\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\tMusically, \u201cBetrayal\u201d is quite interesting \u2013 shades of Carl Craig, Miles Davis and Massive Attack. An amalgamation of stop-start minimalism, lonely trumpet playing and trip-hop. Lyrically, it\u2019s also interesting: \u201cTake the hammer hit the nail \/ You\u2019ll never take my mother\u2019s place\u201d (plenty to unpack there). On a weaker album, this might be in the top half \u2013 here, it\u2019s a credit to Confessions II\u2019<\/em>s strength that \u201cBetrayal\u201d fades into the background but also stands as one of the LP\u2019s most arresting, lonely moments. \u2014 J.L.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\n\u201cLove Without Words\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\t\u201cCall it trance \/ call it house \/ call it love without words,\u201d Madonna declares at the opening of the album\u2019s ninth song, evoking the same reverence for clubland and its possibilities of transcendence as she did on \u201cFuture Lovers\u201d from Confessions on a Dance Floor<\/em>. Here she and Price, with additional production help from Italian dance duo Parisi, create a track that grows layer by layer, taking a turn from punchy house to digital noise at its middle point and then building into an Italo-disco drop in which Madonna beckons to \u201ccome into the club, come into the club\u201d with the conviction of someone who knows what\u2019s available within its walls. This message is all over the album, but which we don\u2019t mind hearing again here. \u2014 K.B.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\n\u201cL.E.S. Girl\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\tFor a song (presumably) about Madonna\u2019s pre-stardom musical life in New York City in the early \u201880s, \u201cL.E.S. Girl\u201d sure sounds like it could have been recorded in Williamsburg back in the indie sleaze era. It\u2019s wistful without being romantic, simple without naivety and sweet without sugarcoating. Coming from someone who has seen NYC change over four decades, lines like \u201che played guitar on St. Marks place \/ had Marlon Brando face \/ painted nails the same shade as his boots\u201d hit hard, touching upon the way that a New York romance can feel ephemeral and sempiternal depending on your mood while reminiscing. \u201cEverything fades away,\u201d Madonna concludes at the end of the album. True, but when you commit to posterity on songs like this, it lasts a helluva lot longer. \u2014 J.L.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\n\u201cOne Step Away\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\t\u201cOne Step Away\u201d opens with the album manifesto heard in some of the Confessions II <\/em>promo: \u201cPeople think dance music is superficial \/ But they\u2019ve got it all wrong \/ The dance floor is not just a place \/ It\u2019s a threshold \/ A ritualistic space where movement replaces language.\u201d The sumptuous track then proves a sentiment that could otherwise feel trite by melting strings, throbbing percussion and flourishes of piano into a low simmer production upon which Madonna beckons about being \u201cone step away from your freedom.\u201d It then ramps up in urgency and, like a good night out, leaves you wanting more. \u2014 K.B.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\n\u201cThe Test\u201d ft. Lola Leon<\/h2>\n\n\n\tOne of the album\u2019s most interesting and delicately powerful songs is \u201cThe Test,\u201d Madonna\u2019s first collaboration with her eldest daughter Lola Leon. Written by Madonna and Leon and produced by Price with additional work from Arca, the song finds Madonna looking at the ways her fame affected Leon, who inspired Ray of Light<\/em> and who was nine years old when the first Confessions<\/em> came out. \u201cYou didn\u2019t ask for all the flashing lights,\u201d Madonna sings. \u201cI didn\u2019t think of how it could disturb \/ Or how it hurt \/ I wish I knew the pain I\u2019ve caused \/ My butterfly was always being watched.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\tThe sentiment becomes even more powerful when Leon comes onto the song, calling Madonna her \u201creason to be\u201d in a gorgeous, slightly husky voice, acknowledging and relating to her mother\u2019s struggles in saying that \u201cI know they try to put you to the test \/ I\u2019m not so different \/ time is knocking on my doorstep.\u201d The emotion heightens further when they together sing \u201cI know they\u2019re trying to put us to the test,\u201d a moment that sounds like they\u2019re simultaneously confessing to and comforting each other. A soft, twinkly production reminiscent of a lullaby elevates this one to standout status. \u2014 K.B.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\n\u201cBring Your Love\u201d ft. Sabrina Carpenter<\/h2>\n\n\n\tPerhaps the sweetest declaration of \u201cI know where the bodies are buried \/ Don\u2019t try to shut me up\u201d in all of pop music history, \u201cBring Your Love\u201d was premiered at April\u2019s Coachella when Madonna appeared as a surprise guest during Sabrina Carpenter\u2019s headlining set. The song is reminiscent of Madonna dance music outside the Confessions on a Dance Floor<\/em>, Ray of Light<\/em>, Bedtime Stories<\/em> canon that Confessions II<\/em> largely references, instead evoking the house tendencies of all-timer \u201cVogue.\u201d That, of course, is fabulous, with the sly, frothy duet functioning as another moment of Madonna bridging generations of the pop A-list. \u2014 K.B.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\n\u201cI Feel So Free\u201d<\/h2>\n\nConfessions II <\/em>opens with a song that is far more confessional than \u201cHung Up,\u201d the hooky slingshot that opens Confessions on a Dance Floor.<\/em> After all, the sentiments \u201csafety in numbers\u201d and \u201cI wish I just could be like other people\u201d are not things one associates with the unapologetic Queen of Pop (for that matter, one doesn\u2019t usually expect the damn Queen to tell them \u201cthanks for coming\u201d at the start of an album). But if this is what a loss of confidence sounds like, we should all be so uncertain \u2013 \u201cI Feel So Free\u201d is an irresistible, arpeggiated volley of retro synths about the dance floor as a place of escape, release and self-actualization. More than anyone, Madonna continues to make the case for pop music as a means of self-expression and spiritual fortification. \u2014 J.L.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\n\u201cSchool\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\tHere we find Madonna declaring that \u201cschool is in session\u201d as a euphemism for sexual education, a subject she\u2019s been studying for decades. \u201cPlease someone,\u201d she purrs at the beginning, \u201cteach me something I don\u2019t already know.\u201d The track matches the overt, lip-biting desire of Erotica<\/em> and Bedtime Stories<\/em>, with the swirly, pulsing production elevating the saucy lyrical content. So much noise is made about Madonna\u2019s aging, or as some say her refusing to age or, as she puts it, her just refusing to go away. Here she again defies the haters, proving that Madonna at 67 is as proudly lusty as she was in any other era, and that she\u2019s not only refusing to apologize for it but, as is her legacy, insisting on making it sound and feel good. \u2014 K.B.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\n\u201cLove Sensation\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\t\u201cLove Sensation\u201d is a perfect encapsulation of why Madonna and Stuart Price work so well together \u2013 the swirling melodies, the throbbing beat that never feels forced, the natural exuberance over the dancefloor. This is a duo with a shared love for the dancefloor that verges on religious worship. \u201cLove Sensation\u201d begins in medias res, soaring with an indie disco flavor (think dance music circa 2008 \u2013 tunes influenced in large part by the O.G. Confessions<\/em>) on a track that ebbs and flows with a sweet, irresponsible abandon. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing that we cannot do\u201d would sound trite as a refrain for most \u2013 but when Madonna says it, who could argue? \u2014 J.L.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\n\u201cDanceteria\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\tIn 2005, Madonna caught some side-eye for the rapped lyrics on \u201cI Love New York,\u201d a decade later, the song was canon, a camp masterclass in how to revel in a city without whitewashing it. \u201cDanceteria\u201d sees that song and raises it, finding Madonna in an unusually nostalgic (and literal) mood as she walks us through a night in the fabled Manhattan club in her pre-fame days, when Debi Mazar ran the elevators and you had to hide coke from the nose-hungry DJs (some things never change). \u201cEveryone here is a work of art\u201d could sound trite until you hear M list off the regulars in classic \u201cVogue\u201d style \u2014 Fab 5 Freddy, Basquiat, Keith Haring, David Byrne, Nile Rodgers \u2013 with flavors of Lou Reed\u2019s \u201cWalk on the Wild Side\u201d and some of the rhythms you\u2019d find on the Ultimate Breaks & Beats comps from the \u201880s. You either get it or you don\u2019t: if you don\u2019t, move on and shut up; for those who do, \u201ceverybody get up and dance.\u201d \u2014 J.L<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\n\u201cEverything\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\tGiven what a party it all was, it\u2019s easy to forget that Confessions on a Dance Floor <\/em>was, in its way, a reaction to current events, with Madonna just wanting to get her sillies out after the 9\/11-era horrors she captured on its predecessor, American Life<\/em>. \u201cI was angry. I had a lot to get off my chest. I made a lot of political statements,\u201d she told MTV in 2005. \u201cBut now, I feel that I just want to have fun; I want to dance; I want to feel buoyant.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\tOn Confessions II<\/em>, \u201cEverything\u201d bridges the gap between processing the sadness of the world and trying to avoid it via clubland escapism, with Madonna acknowledging that \u201cWhen I close my eyes \/ Everything is crystallized \/ No one wants to go outside \/ It\u2019s not okay \/ It blows my mind\u201d over a track that feels like her offering the opportunity for catharsis. \u201cIt\u2019s not okay, I don\u2019t f\u2013 with it!\u201d she spits out as the stuttering house track grows, building to a place of poignant urgency in which she insists \u201cso come outside into the light\u201d in a genuinely emotional high point that makes good on all of the album\u2019s other promises of dance floor salvation. \u2014 K.B.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n- \n
\n\u201cGood For The Soul\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\t\u201cEverything begins in consciousness,\u201d Madonna intones at the start of \u201cGood for the Soul,\u201d the second track on Confessions II<\/em>. \u201cInterstellar helix unwinds.\u201d Wait, are we back in Bedtime Stories<\/em>? Lyrically perhaps, sonically, no. \u201cGood for the Soul\u201d is a bit of a sonic marvel, traversing introspective electronica (evocative of Ray of Light<\/em>) while touching on urgent strings (not unlike a few of the entries on her 1995 ballad comp Something to Remember<\/em>) and propulsive, syncopated beats that split the difference between Giorgio Moroder and Avicii. It\u2019s hard not to read lines like \u201cthe ones that you love will keep you above\u201d through the context of Madonna\u2019s near-death experience in 2023; if that\u2019s the case, her message of dance music\u2019s power to succor the soul, connect us to our transient environment and link us with our loved ones shouldn\u2019t be taken lightly. \u2014 J.L.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/lists\/madonna-confessions-ii-album-songs-ranked\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/01-madonna-2026-Credit-Rafael-Pavarotti-billboard-1800.jpg?w=1024″] From murmurs to reality, Confessions II is upon us. Years of online whispers \u2013 which typically mean nothing \u2013 have somehow inadvertently culminated in the creation of the sequel to Madonna\u2019s 2005 classic Confessions on a Dance Floor. It\u2019s the first sequel album she\u2019s ever made \u2013 though in truth, Confessions II […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[48,226],"class_list":["post-2024571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-billboard-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2024571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2024571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2024571\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2024571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2024571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2024571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\tThe album makes its hardest turn into modern commercial dance music via this collaboration with Dutch mainstage mainstay Martin Garrix, who teams up with Madonna for a thumping track that seems to be about her ex-husband Sean Penn, the song\u2019s lyrical \u201cmovie star with deep blue eyes.\u201d \u201cHe drove way too fast\/Shelby Cobra wasn\u2019t built to last,\u201d Madonna sings on the track in an apparent reference to the Shelby GT500 she bought for Penn when they were together from 1985 to 1989, \u201cOnly love can be so bizarre.\u201d While the song is well produced and certainly enticing in terms of subject matter, it\u2019s cluttered with sonic ideas that almost get there but never fully gel. \u2014 KATIE BAIN<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \n\t\u201cPeople really think that there\u2019s a beginning and an ending to this thing called life \/ Energy never dies, this is just a portal we\u2019re going through \/ Still it\u2019s hard to let go.\u201d On one hand, that introduction hits hard, especially in light of her near-death experience in 2023. Sadly, that other hand doesn\u2019t toss back the ball with the same dexterity. The vocal melody doesn\u2019t quite get there, and the production feels meaningful but not entirely memorable. In truth, it\u2019s not a flop \u2013 this is a strong album \u2013 but it\u2019s correctly relegated to the second half. \u2014 JOE LYNCH<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \n\tParts of this album will undoubtedly disappoint those hoping for Confessions on a Dance Floor<\/em> redux \u2013 fair enough. But also, deal with it. \u201cMy Sins Are My Savior\u201d is a worthwhile journey that goes from Belgian rapper Stromae\u2019s legato verses to percolating rhythms that evoke Brian Eno\/David Byrne soundscapes to whispered R&B circa Madonna in the \u201890s to random piano meandering. A true album track, this one enriches the experience without standing on its own. \u2014 J.L.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \n\tColombian reggaeton star Feid has had a busy year in dance music, appearing on recent albums by John Summit and Skrillex and now, Madonna. A song to dance to if not necessarily a straight-up dance song, \u201cRead My Lips\u201d is centered on pretty, urgent acoustic guitar that adds to the Latin mood fostered by Feid\u2019s presence on the second half of the song, when it becomes an impassioned bilingual duet about lies and love gone wrong. \u201cShut your mouth,\u201d Madonna eventually commands as she naturally gets the last word. This one doesn\u2019t seem likely to be an eventual fan favorite, but does its job in terms of the album\u2019s overall tone-setting, and on a strong project, that\u2019s enough. \u2014 K.B.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \n\tMusically, \u201cBetrayal\u201d is quite interesting \u2013 shades of Carl Craig, Miles Davis and Massive Attack. An amalgamation of stop-start minimalism, lonely trumpet playing and trip-hop. Lyrically, it\u2019s also interesting: \u201cTake the hammer hit the nail \/ You\u2019ll never take my mother\u2019s place\u201d (plenty to unpack there). On a weaker album, this might be in the top half \u2013 here, it\u2019s a credit to Confessions II\u2019<\/em>s strength that \u201cBetrayal\u201d fades into the background but also stands as one of the LP\u2019s most arresting, lonely moments. \u2014 J.L.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \n\t\u201cCall it trance \/ call it house \/ call it love without words,\u201d Madonna declares at the opening of the album\u2019s ninth song, evoking the same reverence for clubland and its possibilities of transcendence as she did on \u201cFuture Lovers\u201d from Confessions on a Dance Floor<\/em>. Here she and Price, with additional production help from Italian dance duo Parisi, create a track that grows layer by layer, taking a turn from punchy house to digital noise at its middle point and then building into an Italo-disco drop in which Madonna beckons to \u201ccome into the club, come into the club\u201d with the conviction of someone who knows what\u2019s available within its walls. This message is all over the album, but which we don\u2019t mind hearing again here. \u2014 K.B.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \n\tFor a song (presumably) about Madonna\u2019s pre-stardom musical life in New York City in the early \u201880s, \u201cL.E.S. Girl\u201d sure sounds like it could have been recorded in Williamsburg back in the indie sleaze era. It\u2019s wistful without being romantic, simple without naivety and sweet without sugarcoating. Coming from someone who has seen NYC change over four decades, lines like \u201che played guitar on St. Marks place \/ had Marlon Brando face \/ painted nails the same shade as his boots\u201d hit hard, touching upon the way that a New York romance can feel ephemeral and sempiternal depending on your mood while reminiscing. \u201cEverything fades away,\u201d Madonna concludes at the end of the album. True, but when you commit to posterity on songs like this, it lasts a helluva lot longer. \u2014 J.L.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \n\t\u201cOne Step Away\u201d opens with the album manifesto heard in some of the Confessions II <\/em>promo: \u201cPeople think dance music is superficial \/ But they\u2019ve got it all wrong \/ The dance floor is not just a place \/ It\u2019s a threshold \/ A ritualistic space where movement replaces language.\u201d The sumptuous track then proves a sentiment that could otherwise feel trite by melting strings, throbbing percussion and flourishes of piano into a low simmer production upon which Madonna beckons about being \u201cone step away from your freedom.\u201d It then ramps up in urgency and, like a good night out, leaves you wanting more. \u2014 K.B.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \n\tOne of the album\u2019s most interesting and delicately powerful songs is \u201cThe Test,\u201d Madonna\u2019s first collaboration with her eldest daughter Lola Leon. Written by Madonna and Leon and produced by Price with additional work from Arca, the song finds Madonna looking at the ways her fame affected Leon, who inspired Ray of Light<\/em> and who was nine years old when the first Confessions<\/em> came out. \u201cYou didn\u2019t ask for all the flashing lights,\u201d Madonna sings. \u201cI didn\u2019t think of how it could disturb \/ Or how it hurt \/ I wish I knew the pain I\u2019ve caused \/ My butterfly was always being watched.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe sentiment becomes even more powerful when Leon comes onto the song, calling Madonna her \u201creason to be\u201d in a gorgeous, slightly husky voice, acknowledging and relating to her mother\u2019s struggles in saying that \u201cI know they try to put you to the test \/ I\u2019m not so different \/ time is knocking on my doorstep.\u201d The emotion heightens further when they together sing \u201cI know they\u2019re trying to put us to the test,\u201d a moment that sounds like they\u2019re simultaneously confessing to and comforting each other. A soft, twinkly production reminiscent of a lullaby elevates this one to standout status. \u2014 K.B.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \n\tPerhaps the sweetest declaration of \u201cI know where the bodies are buried \/ Don\u2019t try to shut me up\u201d in all of pop music history, \u201cBring Your Love\u201d was premiered at April\u2019s Coachella when Madonna appeared as a surprise guest during Sabrina Carpenter\u2019s headlining set. The song is reminiscent of Madonna dance music outside the Confessions on a Dance Floor<\/em>, Ray of Light<\/em>, Bedtime Stories<\/em> canon that Confessions II<\/em> largely references, instead evoking the house tendencies of all-timer \u201cVogue.\u201d That, of course, is fabulous, with the sly, frothy duet functioning as another moment of Madonna bridging generations of the pop A-list. \u2014 K.B.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n Confessions II <\/em>opens with a song that is far more confessional than \u201cHung Up,\u201d the hooky slingshot that opens Confessions on a Dance Floor.<\/em> After all, the sentiments \u201csafety in numbers\u201d and \u201cI wish I just could be like other people\u201d are not things one associates with the unapologetic Queen of Pop (for that matter, one doesn\u2019t usually expect the damn Queen to tell them \u201cthanks for coming\u201d at the start of an album). But if this is what a loss of confidence sounds like, we should all be so uncertain \u2013 \u201cI Feel So Free\u201d is an irresistible, arpeggiated volley of retro synths about the dance floor as a place of escape, release and self-actualization. More than anyone, Madonna continues to make the case for pop music as a means of self-expression and spiritual fortification. \u2014 J.L.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \n\tHere we find Madonna declaring that \u201cschool is in session\u201d as a euphemism for sexual education, a subject she\u2019s been studying for decades. \u201cPlease someone,\u201d she purrs at the beginning, \u201cteach me something I don\u2019t already know.\u201d The track matches the overt, lip-biting desire of Erotica<\/em> and Bedtime Stories<\/em>, with the swirly, pulsing production elevating the saucy lyrical content. So much noise is made about Madonna\u2019s aging, or as some say her refusing to age or, as she puts it, her just refusing to go away. Here she again defies the haters, proving that Madonna at 67 is as proudly lusty as she was in any other era, and that she\u2019s not only refusing to apologize for it but, as is her legacy, insisting on making it sound and feel good. \u2014 K.B.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \n\t\u201cLove Sensation\u201d is a perfect encapsulation of why Madonna and Stuart Price work so well together \u2013 the swirling melodies, the throbbing beat that never feels forced, the natural exuberance over the dancefloor. This is a duo with a shared love for the dancefloor that verges on religious worship. \u201cLove Sensation\u201d begins in medias res, soaring with an indie disco flavor (think dance music circa 2008 \u2013 tunes influenced in large part by the O.G. Confessions<\/em>) on a track that ebbs and flows with a sweet, irresponsible abandon. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing that we cannot do\u201d would sound trite as a refrain for most \u2013 but when Madonna says it, who could argue? \u2014 J.L.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \n\tIn 2005, Madonna caught some side-eye for the rapped lyrics on \u201cI Love New York,\u201d a decade later, the song was canon, a camp masterclass in how to revel in a city without whitewashing it. \u201cDanceteria\u201d sees that song and raises it, finding Madonna in an unusually nostalgic (and literal) mood as she walks us through a night in the fabled Manhattan club in her pre-fame days, when Debi Mazar ran the elevators and you had to hide coke from the nose-hungry DJs (some things never change). \u201cEveryone here is a work of art\u201d could sound trite until you hear M list off the regulars in classic \u201cVogue\u201d style \u2014 Fab 5 Freddy, Basquiat, Keith Haring, David Byrne, Nile Rodgers \u2013 with flavors of Lou Reed\u2019s \u201cWalk on the Wild Side\u201d and some of the rhythms you\u2019d find on the Ultimate Breaks & Beats comps from the \u201880s. You either get it or you don\u2019t: if you don\u2019t, move on and shut up; for those who do, \u201ceverybody get up and dance.\u201d \u2014 J.L<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \n\tGiven what a party it all was, it\u2019s easy to forget that Confessions on a Dance Floor <\/em>was, in its way, a reaction to current events, with Madonna just wanting to get her sillies out after the 9\/11-era horrors she captured on its predecessor, American Life<\/em>. \u201cI was angry. I had a lot to get off my chest. I made a lot of political statements,\u201d she told MTV in 2005. \u201cBut now, I feel that I just want to have fun; I want to dance; I want to feel buoyant.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tOn Confessions II<\/em>, \u201cEverything\u201d bridges the gap between processing the sadness of the world and trying to avoid it via clubland escapism, with Madonna acknowledging that \u201cWhen I close my eyes \/ Everything is crystallized \/ No one wants to go outside \/ It\u2019s not okay \/ It blows my mind\u201d over a track that feels like her offering the opportunity for catharsis. \u201cIt\u2019s not okay, I don\u2019t f\u2013 with it!\u201d she spits out as the stuttering house track grows, building to a place of poignant urgency in which she insists \u201cso come outside into the light\u201d in a genuinely emotional high point that makes good on all of the album\u2019s other promises of dance floor salvation. \u2014 K.B.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \n\t\u201cEverything begins in consciousness,\u201d Madonna intones at the start of \u201cGood for the Soul,\u201d the second track on Confessions II<\/em>. \u201cInterstellar helix unwinds.\u201d Wait, are we back in Bedtime Stories<\/em>? Lyrically perhaps, sonically, no. \u201cGood for the Soul\u201d is a bit of a sonic marvel, traversing introspective electronica (evocative of Ray of Light<\/em>) while touching on urgent strings (not unlike a few of the entries on her 1995 ballad comp Something to Remember<\/em>) and propulsive, syncopated beats that split the difference between Giorgio Moroder and Avicii. It\u2019s hard not to read lines like \u201cthe ones that you love will keep you above\u201d through the context of Madonna\u2019s near-death experience in 2023; if that\u2019s the case, her message of dance music\u2019s power to succor the soul, connect us to our transient environment and link us with our loved ones shouldn\u2019t be taken lightly. \u2014 J.L.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/lists\/madonna-confessions-ii-album-songs-ranked\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/01-madonna-2026-Credit-Rafael-Pavarotti-billboard-1800.jpg?w=1024″] From murmurs to reality, Confessions II is upon us. Years of online whispers \u2013 which typically mean nothing \u2013 have somehow inadvertently culminated in the creation of the sequel to Madonna\u2019s 2005 classic Confessions on a Dance Floor. It\u2019s the first sequel album she\u2019s ever made \u2013 though in truth, Confessions II […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[48,226],"class_list":["post-2024571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-billboard-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2024571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2024571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2024571\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2024571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2024571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2024571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\u201cFragile\u201d<\/h2>\n
\u201cMy Sins Are My Savior\u201d ft. Stromae<\/h2>\n
\u201cRead My Lips\u201d ft. Feid<\/h2>\n
\u201cBetrayal\u201d<\/h2>\n
\u201cLove Without Words\u201d<\/h2>\n
\u201cL.E.S. Girl\u201d<\/h2>\n
\u201cOne Step Away\u201d<\/h2>\n
\u201cThe Test\u201d ft. Lola Leon<\/h2>\n
\u201cBring Your Love\u201d ft. Sabrina Carpenter<\/h2>\n
\u201cI Feel So Free\u201d<\/h2>\n
\u201cSchool\u201d<\/h2>\n
\u201cLove Sensation\u201d<\/h2>\n
\u201cDanceteria\u201d<\/h2>\n
\u201cEverything\u201d<\/h2>\n
\u201cGood For The Soul\u201d<\/h2>\n