Madonna Louise Ciccone is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known as the "Queen of Pop", Madonna has been widely recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting and visual presentation. She has pushed the boundaries of artistic expression in mainstream music while maintaining control over every aspect of her career. Her works, which incorporate social, political, sexual, and religious themes, have generated both controversy and critical acclaim. A prominent cultural figure spanning both the 20th and 21st centuries, Madonna remains one of the most "well-documented figures of the modern age", with a broad array of scholarly reviews, literature, and art works about her, as well as an academic mini subdiscipline devoted to her called Madonna studies.
"American Life" is a song by American singer-songwriter Madonna. It is the title track from her ninth studio album American Life (2003), and was released digitally as the lead single from the album on March 24, 2003, by Maverick Records. It is a pop, techno and folk song written and produced by Madonna and Mirwais Ahmadzaï; the lyrics to "American Life" feature violent transitions and a political and religious view from Madonna. She questions the shallowness of modern life and the American Dream during the presidency of George W. Bush. Towards the end of the song, Madonna raps, naming the people who were working for her.
Confessions on a Dance Floor is the tenth studio album by American singer and songwriter Madonna. It was released on November 9, 2005, by Warner Bros. Records. A complete departure from her previous studio album American Life (2003), the album includes influences of 1970s disco and 1980s electropop, as well as 2000s club music. Initially, she began working with Mirwais Ahmadzaï for the album but later felt that their collaboration was not going in the direction she desired. Madonna took her collaboration with Stuart Price who was overseeing her documentary I'm Going to Tell You a Secret. The album was mainly recorded at Price's home-studio where Madonna spent most of her time during the recordings.
"Live to Tell" is a song by American singer Madonna from her third studio album, True Blue (1986). The song was originally composed by Patrick Leonard as an instrumental for the score of Paramount's film Fire with Fire, but Paramount rejected it. Leonard then presented the track to Madonna, who decided to use it for At Close Range, a film starring her then-husband Sean Penn. Madonna wrote the lyrics, co-composed the melodies and co-produced it with Leonard. "Live to Tell" was released as True Blue's lead single in 1986, by Sire Records; afterwards, it was included on Madonna's compilation albums The Immaculate Collection (1990), Something to Remember (1995), and Celebration (2009). A pop ballad, the song includes instrumentation from guitars, keyboards, drums and a synthesizer, while the lyrics deal with deceit, mistrust and childhood scars; Madonna also recalled in an interview that she thought about her relationship with her parents while writing the lyrics.
"La Isla Bonita" is a song by American singer Madonna from her third studio album True Blue (1986). Patrick Leonard and Bruce Gaitsch created it as an instrumental demo and offered it to singer Michael Jackson, who turned it down. When Leonard met Madonna to start working on True Blue, he played the demo for her. Madonna came up with the title, wrote the lyrics and produced the song with Leonard. It's her first song with Latin influences. Its instrumentation features flamenco guitar, Latin percussion, maracas, and includes four lines sung in Spanish. The lyrics talk about an island named San Pedro, whose location has been debated. Madonna said the song was her tribute to Latin Americans.
"Like a Prayer" is a song by American singer Madonna from her 1989 fourth studio album of the same name. It was released as the album's lead single on March 3, 1989, by Sire Records. Written and produced by both Madonna and Patrick Leonard, the song heralded an artistic and personal approach to songwriting for Madonna, who believed that she needed to cater more to her adult audience. Thematically, the song speaks about a passionate young girl in love with God, who becomes the only male figure in her life.
American singer Madonna has released 14 studio albums, three soundtrack albums, six live albums, seven compilation albums, and 39 other limited releases. Recognized as the world's best-selling female recording artist of all time by the Guinness World Records, Madonna has accumulated a total record sales of more than 300 million units worldwide. In their 2006 press release, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) confirmed that Madonna's albums alone had sold over 200 million copies worldwide. She is ranked by the RIAA as the best-selling female rock artist of the 20th century and third highest-certified female artist in the United States, with 65.5 million album units. She holds the all-time record for the most number-one albums by a female artist in major music markets such as Australia, Germany, and the United Kingdom.
American singer Madonna has released 94 singles and 24 promotional singles and charted with 23 other songs. Among those releases, a total of 44 Madonna singles have topped the official chart in at least one of the world's top 10 music markets, from "Like a Virgin" (1984) to "Give Me All Your Luvin'" (2012). Globally, she has sold more than 100 million singles, which were predominantly in physical formats. According to Billboard, Madonna is the most successful solo artist in Hot 100 chart history, second overall behind the Beatles. In the United Kingdom, Madonna has scored a total of 63 top-ten hits and 12 number-two peaks. In 2012, she was ranked as the best-selling singles female artist in the UK with 17.6 million singles sold. At the 40th anniversary of the GfK Media Control Charts, Madonna was ranked as the most successful singles artist in German chart history. Her long-standing success with the single format was remarked upon in The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), where editors wrote that she is a "deserving candidate for the title of greatest singles artist since the 1960s heyday of the single"; the staff of Slant commented in 2020 that "by every objective measure, she's the most successful singles artist of all time".
"Sodade" is a Cape Verdean song written in the 1950s by Armando Zeferino Soares, and best popularized by Cesária Évora on her 1992 album Miss Perfumado. The name is the Cape Verdean Creole variant of the Portuguese term saudade.
Rebel Heart Tour is the fifth live album by American singer and songwriter Madonna, chronicling her tenth worldwide concert tour of the same name, recorded at Sydney's Allphones Arena. It was released on September 15, 2017 by Eagle Vision on DVD and Blu-ray formats and by Eagle Records for audio versions. Rebel Heart Tour also contains bonus content like excerpts from the Tears of a Clown show (2016) at Melbourne's Forum Theatre, as well as a 22-song double CD. Danny Tull and Nathan Rissman, who had worked on Madonna's previous concert films, directed Rebel Heart Tour.
"Crave" is a song by American singers Madonna and Swae Lee, from the former's fourteenth studio Madame X (2019). The song was written by the two artists and Starrah, while production was handled by Madonna, Mike Deanm and Billboard. It was released by Interscope Records for digital download and streaming as the album's second single on May 10, 2019. The song has been noted as a pop, trap, and hip hop ballad inspired by Fado music, with the lyrics talking about desire and craving for someone who's running away. It was one of the first songs Madonna wrote for Madame X, but she put the work on hold when she began working with other musicians in Lisbon. When she revisited the song, Madonna came to the conclusion that a male voice was needed for inclusion and approached Swae Lee to sing with her, as she was a fan of his voice.
Madame X is the fourteenth studio album by American singer and songwriter Madonna. It was released on June 14, 2019, by Interscope Records. The album became her final studio album under the three-album contract with the record company. The record was creatively influenced by her expatriate life in Lisbon, Portugal, after relocating there in summer 2017 when seeking a top football academy for her son David Banda. Madonna co-wrote and co-produced the album with a number of musicians, including Mirwais, Mike Dean, Diplo, The Picard Brothers and Jason Evigan, during a process that lasted for 18 months. Madame X also features guest appearances by artists Maluma, Quavo, Swae Lee, and Anitta.
"Medellín" is a song by American singer Madonna and Colombian singer Maluma from Madonna's fourteenth studio album Madame X (2019). The song was produced by Madonna, Mirwais, who wrote it alongside Maluma and Edgar Barrera. It was released as the lead single from the album on April 17, 2019, by Interscope Records. The song is named after the city in Colombia, in which Maluma was born, and is a Latin pop track with elements of reggaeton and dance-pop. Lyrically, it finds Madonna and Maluma reflecting on past struggles while dreaming about a trip to Medellín.
"Dark Ballet" is a song by American singer-songwriter Madonna from her fourteenth studio album Madame X (2019). It was released on June 7, 2019 as the album's third promotional single. Written and produced by Madonna and longtime collaborator Mirwais, the song contains a sample from The Nutcracker (1892) by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, and was inspired by the historical figure Joan of Arc. It is an experimental pop and electro-gospel piano ballad, with the use of vocoder on her vocals and lyrics about rebelling against the patriarchy.
"Future" is a song by American singer-songwriter Madonna and American rapper Quavo, from her fourteenth studio album Madame X (2019). The track was written by Madonna, Diplo, Quavo and Starrah, and was produced by the former two. "Future" was released as the second promotional single from the album on May 17, 2019, by Interscope Records. Musically it was described as a roots reggae and hip hop song, while lyrically it deals about looking to what is ahead, celebrating the present and also contemplating the past.
"I Don't Search I Find" is a song by American singer Madonna from her fourteenth studio album, Madame X (2019). The track was written and produced by Madonna, alongside Mirwais Ahmadzaï. It was released to Italian contemporary hit radio by Interscope Records as the fourth single from the album on May 22, 2020. Two EPs containing several remixes had previously been released to accompany the song. It is an EDM and house influenced track that takes inspiration from Madonna's previous works, including "Vogue" (1990), Erotica (1992) and Confessions on a Dance Floor (2005).
"I Rise" is a song by American singer-songwriter Madonna from her fourteenth studio album Madame X (2019). The song was written by the singer herself, alongside Starrah and Jason Evigan, while produced by Madonna and Evigan. It was released on May 3, 2019, by Interscope Records, as the first promotional single from the album, and later sent to Italian radio on October 4, 2019, as the album's third single, by the aforementioned label. The song is a mid tempo pop track which lyrically deals about self-empowerment and draws attention to gun violence in the United States, and contains a sample from a speech by American activist X González.
The Madame X Tour was the eleventh concert tour by American singer Madonna, in support of her fourteenth studio album, Madame X (2019). It began on September 17, 2019, at New York City's BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, and ended on March 8, 2020, at Paris' Grand Rex. An all-theater tour, it was the singer's first time playing small venues since The Virgin Tour (1985); she had previously shown interest in doing a smaller-scale show during a 2017 interview. The tour consisted exclusively of dates in the United States, England, France and Portugal; mobile phones and smart watches were banned from the concerts, which was met with mixed reactions from fans.
Madame X is a 2021 documentary concert film starring American singer-songwriter Madonna, chronicling her Madame X Tour. Written and produced by Madonna herself, the film was shot in January 2020 when she held her concerts in Lisbon, Portugal at the Coliseu dos Recreios. The film was directed by Ricardo Gomes and SKNX.
Finally Enough Love: 50 Number Ones is a remix album by American singer Madonna, released through Warner Records. Its abridged 16-track edition, simply titled Finally Enough Love, had a pre-release on streaming services on June 24, 2022, while the full 50-track edition and all physical formats were released on August 19, 2022. The album marks Madonna achieving a record 50 number ones on the US Billboard Dance Club Songs chart, the most number ones of any artist on any single Billboard chart. The title derives from the lyrics of her 50th number one, "I Don't Search I Find". It is also the first release in a multi-year reissue campaign with Warner, commemorating the 40th anniversary of Madonna's recording career.
