Dis Cover: Madonna - Confessions II

Confessions II, Confessions on a Dance Floor 2, COAD2 — whatever this blasted album is called, it has a cover. Well, it has 3 covers. Each of which are so different in every way, that you’d think they were for different albums. But 2 of the album covers convey something so specific and seem to be aimed at doing 2 very different, but distinct things, which is very cool. So let’s mull ‘em over.

The first of the 3 covers is the main / regular cover. The one which will be widely used for promoting the album online and likely the cover which will be used for the digital release of the album.

Madonna - Confessions II | Warner Records

📷 Photographer: Rafael Pavarotti
🎨 Art direction & design: Special Offer, Inc.

The fishnets. The heels. The pose. The purple. It’s very Confessions on a Dance Floor. Even though Madonna wore pink on the album cover, purple is the colour fans identify with Confessions on a Dance Floor — as it was the colour Madonna predominantly wore for televised appearances and performances, and a colour featured in two of her Confessions Tour outfits. And back in September 2005 when Madonna was spotted with a proof of artwork for the album, it featured more purple than pink. So, despite the album cover featuring a whole lot of pink — purple was always considered a core colour for the album.

I really like this shot. I think it’s great. The only thing I don’t like is the text. Not only does it feel tacked on, but the placement is strange given the colour, because it’s not super clear. The shot is so good that it really should have been left textless. Also, the speaker unit Madonna is sitting on looks like a kitchen stove. But still, I like this cover. It has visual ties and references to the original Confessions on a Dance Floor, without feeling super obvious. Whilst the veil evokes a sense of Catholicism and makes Madonna look like a statue you’d find in church — sans fishnets and heels of course. I really like it. Madonna also seems to be slightly [turns and looks into the camera] ✨hung up✨ on her face, which is really unfortunate. But I think the veil is a really cool and creative way to obscure it, similar to how the fluted glass did for the MDNA album cover.

Now, the second cover.

Madonna - Confessions II | Warner Records

📷 Photographer: Rafael Pavarotti
🎨 Art direction & design: Special Offer, Inc.

I wasn’t a huge fan of this cover at first. But it’s really grown on me. Whilst the regular cover is all about referencing the original Confessions on a Dance Floor. This cover is more about the culture around dance music. It’s very reminiscent of UK rave flyers from the 90s, which I like. It’s a very ‘If you know, you know’ type of thing. If you’re an old bitch Madonna fan (I use the term endearingly), then there is a high likelihood that you have some awareness of rave culture and will get the reference. But if you’re a younger fan who has no awareness of it and your only point of reference on dance / rave culture is Charli XCX’s Brat, then the origins of the design are educational, which is really cool.

The design of this cover also features stronger use of layout, typography and colour — which make it easy to template and use across lots of different things. It gives Confessions II a clear visual identity in ways that the first album cover doesn’t.

This cover also seems to allude strongly to what to expect from the sound of the album. Disco was a central theme of the original Confessions on a Dance Floor, which was conveyed on its album cover. But based on the couple of songs we’ve heard from Confessions II so far (“I Feel So Free” and “Bring Your Love”) it seems that house and club music will be where the sound is focused.

Rave flyer and club culture is the main theme of this design, but the Confessions of it all is still present with Madonna’s attire and her pose. At first I was like ‘Why does she look like she’s struggling to get up’. But Madonna’s pose on the OG Confessions on a Dance Floor cover also looked like she was struggling to get up. So, the connection definitely tracks. And then there is the pink too, referencing the OG Confessions on a Dance Floor album cover. I dig it.

And there is also a third cover, which is exclusive to Grindr. Yep. Madonna and Warner Bros. said ‘We’re making an exclusive version of this album for those horny homosexual on that hookup app’. Some people are calling the move tacky. I think it’s kinda genius. There are only so many music acts who I feel could get away with doing this and it feeling right, and Madonna is one of them.

Madonna - Confessions II | Warner Records

📷 Photographer: Rafael Pavarotti
🎨 Art direction & design: Special Offer, Inc.

This shot is gorgeous. Maybe too gorgeous to be for a version of the album which is Grindr exclusive. Some fans online have said that they feel this should have been the main album cover, but let me tell you I don’t think it should have been. It is a tad too similar to the album cover for the original Confessions on a Dance Floor. I think the main album cover does a great job of giving enough nods to the original Confessions on a Dance Floor, without feeling like it’s trying to recreate it — which I think this cover would be accused of. But this is a really amazing shot though.

It’s nice to get a Madonna album with some decent album covers after the messes which were the Madame X covers.

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💿 Madonna album reviews: Hard Candy | Madame X | Confessions On a Dance Floor