Album Review: Madonna - Confessions II

When Madonna started teasing that she was doing a sequel to her 2005 album Confessions on a Dance Floor, I rolled my eyes and I sighed. For three reasons. One. It felt like such a shameless and desperate nostalgia play for a hit album. Two. It felt like Madonna had a complete inability to move forward. And three. I wasn’t a huge fan of Confessions on a Dance Floor — blasphemous, I know. But that’s a whole other post. So when the announcement came that the album was officially going to be titled Confessions II, I rolled my eyes, scoffed, huffed ‘n’ puffed, sighed — did all the things to visibly show to an audience of nobody that I was not liking any part of this choice. But I was always going to listen to this album, because bitch, it’s Madonna. And upon listening to the album, I was ‘gagged’ as the kids say. Because Confessions II might just be one of Madonna’s best albums.

Okay bitch. You better shut my ass up.Sighing with all my judgement and expectations.

Confessions II is a sequel to Confessions on a Dance Floor in name and in being produced by Stuart Price only. Sonically, the two albums are nothing alike. The closest Confessions II gets to Confessions on a Dance Floor is with the album opener “I Feel So Free” sounding a lot like “Future Lovers”, the guitar bridge in “Everything” sounding similar to the guitar bridge in “Let It Will Be” and the album being a non-stop mix. But that is it. Confessions II is a WHOLE other thing entirely. And I’m torn on it having the title of a sequel album. Because whilst I think it does make complete sense from a creative, branding and marketing perspective, it also sets an expectation on the album that it doesn’t necessarily deliver on — which will either be a good or a bad thing, depending on how you felt about Confessions on a Dance Floor. But the reality is that this album having the title ‘Confessions II’ is a much easier sell than if it had a title which was not connected to one of Madonna’s most popular albums across Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z. I do think it robs Confessions II of being its own thing though, because musically, it truly is. Where I’ve ultimately landed is that I think the title of the album made sense and was the right call. And a big part of why it works is because the music not only delivers, but at no point is it trying to be Confessions on a Dance Floor. Not even a little bit. And this is a pretty bold swing to take for a sequel to an album that so many people love, which is immortalised and remembered largely because of a behemoth of a pop song like “Hung Up”.

When it came to Confessions II, the bar for many fans was undoubtedly Confessions on a Dance Floor. How could it not be!? But as somebody who didn’t think that album was all that good and thought strongly that the strength of the opening hat-trick of “Hung Up”, “Get Together” and “Sorry” is what people actually liked more than the entire album as a whole — it wasn’t really the bar for me. So my expectations were probably lower than most. But even with this said, I was still surprised at just how good Confessions II turned out to be, because Madonna’s had a pretty uneven run of albums for almost 3 decades.

But just how good this album was didn’t even end up being the biggest surprise for me. It was how retrospective it was.

Madonna - Confessions II | Warner Records

Madonna has always had a weird relationship with looking back or going back. And whenever she’s done so, it’s always been reluctantly. So to have an album which is so retrospective is really unexpected. Well… Maybe not THAT unexpected in light of Madonna’s last tour being the Celebration tour (which was one of her first ‘Greatest Hits’ tours) and work Madonna’s had done to ‘retain her youthfulness’. Confessions II is like a partial greatest hits, without using the hits. I say ‘partial’, because there is a cutoff point at Erotica. Well, technically, The Immaculate Collection — but only for “Vogue” and “Justify My Love”. Every album of Madonna’s from Erotica onward is folded into the sound of Confessions II in some way. The only references to anything Madonna released prior is in the retelling of the early days of her career in “Danceteria”, in which her song “Everybody” gets a shout-out.

Going the route of retrospection was such a smart choice, because Madonna is an artist with such a long history, which is constantly referenced and as become part of the tapestry of pop — something she probably loves and is sick of in equal measure. And I’ve always felt that Madonna’s habit of constantly moving on with new producers and trying to start anew with each album was a bit of a shame, because there was always a sense of wondering what would have been had Madonna stuck with a certain producer just for one more album and developed what she’d built with them. So, for Madonna to reunite with Stuart Price and surround herself with clothing pieces and memorabilia from a previous album is a huge bucking of a trend for Madonna and new territory for her. It’s amazing to witness a pop star forty plus years into their career still willing to try new things. It’s interesting, because in a video Madonna did with Vogue about objects of her affection — she did a tour of her home, where she spoke about things which represent specific memories and periods of time in her life and other artists’ lives. Yet when it came to her own music, it often felt like Madonna never wanted to look back and wanted to detach herself from it. So it’s really cool to see Madonna finally have these two parts of her life meet in a way I don’t think they have before, and for it to happen within her music.

So many people fail to realise that sometimes the way to move forward is to look back. Sometimes it is the ONLY way you can move forward.

Madonna - Confessions II | Warner Records

Many fans had long wanted William Orbit and Madonna to work together again. But after how MDNA turned out, that sentiment faded somewhat. But even Orbit at least got to work on two of Madonna’s albums back-to-back (Ray of Light and Music) and two songs for two film soundtracks during this period before she booted him and moved on with other producers. Price never got that, despite producing an album of hers which was a critical and commercial success, became a tentpole album in Madonna’s career and the Madonna album which Gen Z pop stars would reference. So fans of Confession on a Dance Floor getting a second album of Madonna and Price is huge for them. I always figured that some of the dislike for Hard Candy was rooted in racism, and I still think that it was to some degree. But Confessions on a Dance Floor was SO highly regarded, that I imagine many fans simply disliked Hard Candy, because Price wasn’t a part of it and it was too big of a pivot to have made. I prefer Hard Candy to Confessions on a Dance Floor. I think some of the songs Pharrell did with Madonna were genuinely amazing. And I also didn’t think Mirwais’ work on American Life was the piece of shit many thought that it was. But I can still acknowledge that Confessions on a Dance Floor was a monumental album. Not just because Madonna was doing big pop again, because it felt like she had actually found her producer person again in a way she had with Stephen Bray, Patrick Leonard, Shep Pettibone and William Orbit. And she delivered what many consider a classic, as she had done with albums and songs produced by the aforementioned.

Madonna - Confessions II | Warner Records

The MCU (Madonna Confessions II Universe) is littered with Easter eggs and references to Madonna’s long history as a pop star. It’s easy to point to “Danceteria” — a standout song on the album which is a really cool lore dump of the very early years of her career. “Danceteria” is also a reminder of the times Madonna lived through, who she was in circles with (she dated Jean-Michel Basquiat and was friends with Keith Haring) and how many of them are no longer here today. There’s also “L.E.S Girl”, which has Madonna recounting the years where she was trying to make it in the big city. But there are cool throwbacks in the sonics and vibes of the music too. Confessions II generally sounds like it pulls a bunch of Madonna’s albums from 1995. “Bring Your Love” feels akin to “Vogue”. “My Sins Are My Savior” sounds A LOT like “Justify My Love”. “I Feel So Free” sounds like “Future Lovers”. “Danceteria” and “Love Sensation” sound like songs Madonna could’ve done with Martin Solveig for MDNA. “One Step Away” and “Love Without Words” have echoes of “Nothing Really Matters” and sound like songs in the vein of William Orbit. “School” is the darker emo sister to Hard Candy’s “Spanish Lesson”. “Betrayal” sounds like a Madame X offcut. Madonna does a whole lot of spoken word across Confessions II as she did on Erotica. Everybody will probably have different reference points and different songs across Madonna’s career they’re reminded of. But you WILL be reminded of other songs Madonna has done. And nothing about any of this feels derivative or like Madonna is trying to cling to her past. It feels more like she is finally embracing the scope of her discography, or at least part of it. She has come to terms with her albums not just being snapshots or moments in time that happened and should be compartmentalised and put on a shelf. They are all parts of who she is which should be acknowledged and celebrated. Madonna has spent so much of her life as a pop star being a reference and inspiration for other pop acts, without realising that it’s okay to be a reference and inspiration for yourself. But she gets it now and it’s beautiful to witness.

Madonna has always been super savvy. She has always had this knack for adopting a trend at the right time or hopping on something right at the point that it’s about to become a trend, and thereby being a big part of the reason why the thing becomes a trend at all. But in the 2010s Madonna’s savvy-sense was kinda fucked. I think the advent of social media, there being this wave of younger popstars and fewer artists from Madonna’s era who were still active in the pop mainstream skewed Madonna’s judgement of what was hot versus what would actually work for her. And as a result, her music felt like it was trying to chase a trend in a bid to remain ‘current’ and ‘relevant’, which resulted in what many would consider a string of her weakest albums — Hard Candy, MDNA and Rebel Heart. I personally really liked Hard Candy. I much preferred it over Confessions on a Dance Floor. “Heartbeat” is easily in my top 10 favourite Madonna songs. But whilst I don’t agree with those who say that the album is shit, I do agree with the parallel sentiment that Hard Candy is an album where Madonna was too obviously hopping on a trend. And this penchant for hopping on a trend and trying to be ‘hip’ is one of many reasons as to why MDNA, Rebel Heart and Madame X (albeit to a much lesser degree) turned out in the ways in which they did. But thankfully, Confessions II doesn’t feel like a trend hopper at all. Sure, it’s basically Renaissance for RGB (255, 255, 255) people. But the comparison is just that it’s an album of good dance music that the LGBTPOPGWORLS+ will go up for. Madonna doesn’t do anything on this album which feels derivative of Beyoncé’s Renaissance in any way. There is nothing on this album which feels like it is trying to be anything. Madonna is at her best when she isn’t trying to fit into a trend. Bedtime Stories being one exception, because the songs were just THAT good. And Hard Candy being another, because I do think Pharrell did a great job of bringing the fun out of Madonna and giving her songs a sense of vibrancy. And even on those albums, it was more a case of Madonna working with producers who were hot at a given time, versus chasing a specific sound.

I think Madonna having the extended gap between albums, being hospitalised, embarking on the Celebration tour, being at the age that she is and watching her children all become adults had forced Madonna to look inward and look back without any distractions. She actually answered Stuart Price’s call and allowed herself to work with a producer she had worked with before. She decided to point back to an album and say ‘I miss how I felt then and want to feel that again’, but without trying to recreate the sound, and instead leading with the feelings. And as a result, we got what I think is one of Madonna’s best and most earnest albums.

Madonna - Confessions II | Warner Records

The production on Confessions II is amazing. But I expected no less from Stuart Price, whose production on Confessions on a Dance Floor was also amazing. But I always felt that all of the work Price did after Confessions on a Dance Floor (Kylie Minogue’s Aphrodite and The Pet Shop Boys’ Super) sounded better — which is to be expected. Because working with Madonna was Price’s first foray into producing a big pop / dance album for a pop megastar. And anybody who is serious about their craft should get better the more they work at it. Twenty years on and there is a clear evolution in Stuart’s production and mixing on Confessions II. It's a great sounding album. There are far more layers of texture and density in the sound of Confessions II, which not only makes it ear candy, but gives it a fuller sound which hits better in a club setting. Confessions on a Dance Floor sounded a bit tinny and had a mix which sat too much the high-end, which is one of the reasons why I preferred the sound of American Life and Hard Candy — because the mixes were punchier. Mirwais likes his mid-ranges and his bass, as do The Neptunes and Timbaland — as all Hip-Hop and R&B producers do. There was just a level of warmth in the mixes which wasn’t there in Confessions on a Dance Floor, which made the songs feel cold. So it’s nice to hear warmth in Price’s mixes now. It adds a richness to this sound which matches his elevated production style. And we do get other producers in the mix, such as Parisi, Cirkut, Watt, Tainy and Arca — but Price is still a producer on these songs. This is a great setup, because you get Price remaining a throughline as a producer, but with all the bells, whistles, experiences and sounds from other producers. I think where MDNA, Rebel Heart and Madame X went wrong is that there were just too many producers, with no main producer who was the backbone of each album, in conjunction with Madonna being in that phase of wanting to chase something and not being able to tell the wood from the trees.

Stuart Pu$$¥ Price really came through and delivered. It’s no wonder Madonna dragged him everywhere with her for the promo of this album, because she knew exactly what he did.

A pretty big part of Confessions on a Dance Floor was it being a non-stop mix, where each song mixed into the next. Confessions II is also a non-stop mix. However it doesn’t define this album as much as it did Confessions on a Dance Floor, because so few of the song transitions really stick out as being particularly memorable. On Confessions on a Dance Floor, we all remember the alarm clock transition from “Hung Up” into “Get Together”. And we remember the blippy synth which transitions “Forbidden Love” into “Jump”. Confessions II has no such comparable moments. The closest is the transition from “Bring Your Love” into “Danceteria”. But it only really stands out because it’s one of the very, very few instances on the album where there is an actual mix and transition happening between the songs. The non-stop mix element becomes less of a factor as the album goes on, to such a point it becomes almost non-existent in the back end of the album, because we pretty much just get gapless playback instead of actual transitions and mixing between songs. You’d think in light of how everybody raved about Confessions on a Dance Floor being a non-stop mix, how much the vinyls for Confessions II were pushed, how much Madonna has been making of this being a dance album for the clubs and how much everybody loved the transitions on Beyoncé’s Renaissance, that it would have been more of a focus on Confessions II.

Madonna - Confessions II | Warner Records

Madonna’s lyrics are usually a mixed bag and here they’re no different. Some are good. Some are bad. Some are a bit sloppy. But that’s always been Madonna. What you always get regardless is a catchy hook and an instantly hummable melody. One of the cool aspects of Madonna’s songwriting on Confessions II is that you get a different sense of how Madonna writes songs and structures them. Songs like “One Step Away” have this almost stream of consciousness vibe to them, where the focus isn’t about having a standard pop structure. Then you have “Danceteria” where it sounds like Madonna wrote a chapter of a book and then pieced it into a standard pop structure. And some songs feel like poems, which were then adapted into songs. Whilst others feel like poems which are not adapted at all. Then there’s songs such as “Fragile” and “Betrayal”, which feel like journal entries which were then reworked into songs. It’s just really cool to have a pop artist put out a dance album where they’re not hell bent on songs having THIS amount of verses or having THAT structure. If the song works and the lyrics say everything Madonna wants to say, how she wants to say it — that’s the song.

In terms of song subject matter, it sure is nice to have reprieve from Madonna preaching about how she knows about life with that ol’ ‘Take it from me’ stance. Because listening to a rich, smart, well-read white woman sing about how money isn’t everything, success isn’t all it’s cracked up be and ‘Trust me girl, I know best’ gets tiring — even if it is coming from a good place and somebody who has life experience. It wore thin by Hard Candy, regardless of how good the beats hit and how bussin’ the basslines were. And this is one of the reasons I wasn’t a big fan of Confessions on a Dance Floor, because the album hit a point when this is ALL the songs became. Thankfully Confessions II doesn’t fall into the same trap. The stance that Madonna takes a lot on this album is wanting to connect, reflect and lead with love. Well, except on “Betrayal”, where Madonna’s basically like ‘Fuck you, bitch’. But with that exception, Madonna’s stance on connecting bleeds into her viewpoint on her life, her late brother, her step-mother, her daughter and her past self in some cool ways. Madonna’s done this before to varying degrees. She did it on Ray of Light. She did it on American Life (I fucking adore “Intervention”). She did it on Rebel Heart and Madame X too. But it somehow hits differently on Confessions II, because of where Madonna is at in her life and also because Confessions II doesn’t feel like an album with an agenda, the way American Life and Madame X did.

Standing up for something is great. It’s righteous. But how the message is delivered also matters. And I think Confessions II being an album where all of the songs are rooted in connection, love and reflection makes a huge difference. It softens the message without diluting it. And it feels more like Madonna having a conversation with herself, versus feeling like she’s preaching. The resulting songs on Confessions II aren’t always great. “Danceteria” is amazing. But “Fragile”, “Betrayal”, “The Test” and “L.E.S. Girl” are not. I appreciate the sentiment of these songs and how personal they are to Madonna, in that they are all about her and members of her family — I just wish the songs were better. It also doesn’t help that these songs are at the end of the album, which means that Confessions II becomes somewhat of a different album in its final 10 minutes, which is one of the not so great things that Confessions II inherited from Confessions On a Dance Floor. But “L.E.S. Girl” is a better closer for Confessions II than “Like It Or Not” was for Confessions on a Dance Floor — I will give it that. And whilst I’m not a huge fan of “L.E.S. Girl”, I still find it really touching. The damn thing moved me to near tears. The only thing that stopped me from full-on crying was that I was out in public as I was listening to the song for the first time. I’m a complete softy for anything which looks back on a really early period of life with tenderness and gratitude. And there is also this weird ominous finality to the song, which also made me a bit emotional. Because the song felt almost like a eulogy in a sense. Like Madonna was looking back at her life having already lived the entirety of it. And there is something really poignant and moving about Madonna ending her fifteenth studio album, forty years into her career at the age of 67, with a song about herself at a stage in her life where she was just beginning to chase her dream and become the queen of pop we know her to be.

Madonna - Confessions II | Warner Records

Madonna’s vocals are…what they are. She’s never been that great of a singer, but she worked with what she had, and it’s the same deal here. Fans won’t be surprised by how Madonna sounds on Confessions II, because Madonna has been singing with her vocals drowned in autotune and giving us monotone delivery since Music in 2000. But we got a break from all this for Hard Candy, which is one of the biggest reasons why I like that album, which unfortunately got completely overlooked. Stuart Price’s production does a lot to really surround Madonna’s vocals and make them sit well in the songs. And he does all sorts of cool things with her vocals in the mix to keep them interesting and dynamic — pitching her up, pitching her down, adding layers, cranking up the reverb. There are definitely instances on songs where you will be thinking ‘I wish these vocals were a bit better’. Madonna’s vocals do let “Love Sensation” down and Price wasn’t able to work as much of his magic here as he was able to on other songs, which is unfortunately highlighted even further by the remix with Kylie, where she brings everything to the song Madonna doesn’t. But the vocals do not impact this album negatively, largely because both the production across the songs and the way in which Madonna has written them lean into how she sings now. And I also appreciated that the autotune on Madonna’s vocals isn’t whacked up to 11 as they were on American Life and Madame X. And her vocals do shine on a couple of songs. “One Step Away” is a standout and “Danceteria” is another, where Madonna’s delivery feels far more forward and really jumps out of the production in a cool way. Madonna also recites about as much as she sings on this album, which also helps not just with the sound, but it adds to the whole theme of a confession — as though Madonna is confessing across songs. So, it works. And it’s another instance of Madonna looking back, because Madonna recited a whole lot on the Erotica album.

Madonna - Confessions II | Warner Records

Madonna has had a rough ol’ time creatively over the past twenty years. With each album you could see the vision that Madonna had for an album, but the execution never quite landed. But with Confessions II, Madonna’s vision is clear, and the succinctness of this vision is present in what is presented to us. Sure, the album falls off a little at the end. But the last few songs on the album still sit within the album theme of love, life, reflection and thankfulness — even if tonally (and sonically, in the case of “Betrayal”) they feel a bit out of place. To say Madonna should have cut the song about her late brother, the song with her daughter, the song about the irreplaceable presence of her mother and the song about her teenage self feels kinda wrong. But the truth is that Confessions II would have been a tighter package without them. At sixteen tracks, Confessions II is one of Madonna’s longer albums and you definitely feel it by the time it hits “Betrayal”, which is such a slog of a song. I was shocked to see the runtime was four minutes, because it felt more like six. Madonna’s albums work best when they are lean. Cutting “Fragile”, “Betrayal”, “The Test” and “L.E.S. Girl” definitely would’ve helped make it tighter. And we for sure could have dropped “Bizzare”, which is the only song on the album I flat out do not like.

Madonna - Confessions II | Warner Records

For Madonna to hit a creative peak forty years into her career and in her mid sixties is absolutely bonkers. I’ll admit it. I counted her out, despite liking the bold swing that was Madame X. And here she is, shaking her pussy with her middle finger up. It’s so inspiring that Madonna was able to drop one of her best albums at this point in her life and career. It feels necessary. We’re at a time when so many of us are living online and comparing our lives, achievements and creative endeavours to a bunch of strangers’ who seem to be in a rhythm of success. We’re questioning if we can still do X, Y and Z at our ages. If our time has passed. If anybody will care. Is it too late? And here comes Madonna with her BBL, her purple leotard and knee high YSL boots to tell us ‘Bitch, it’s never too late’. And then there is the Stuart Pu$$¥ Price of it all. That he shot his shot. That Madonna decided ‘Fuck it. Let’s reconnect and try to make something special again.’ And for them to STILL have chemistry is something special. None of this is normal. But maybe it should be.

Confessions II is so good and feels like it stays so much about Madonna’s past and present — that if she were never to make another album, this would be a solid and very fitting final album. Especially with the sense of finality there is to “L.E.S. Girl”.

A big question for many will be ‘Is Confessions II better than Confessions on a Dance Floor?’. And for me, it’s an easy ‘Yes’. Granted, my bar was not that high. But Confessions II didn’t just clear the bar. It vaulted clean over that bitch and set a new standard for Madonna, Stuart Price and a lot of the pop girlies in the game who aren’t even half Madonna’s age.

Highlights:
■ I Feel So Free
■ Good for the Soul
■ One Step Away
■ Bring Your Love
■ Danceteria
■ Read My Lips
■ Everything
■ Love Sensation
■ Love Without Words 🏅 J’s Favourite
■ School
■ My Sins Are My Savior

---

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

🎛️ ?J Mix: Confessions II: Super Mix