Today brought with it the release of ‘Rebel Heart’ – Queen of Pop Madonna‘s 13th full length studio LP. Though, on one hand, greeted with overall positive reviews from the industry’s top critics, the delivery of their thumbs up come as a sigh of relief, so to speak, for an era that to date has seen no dearth of dilemmas for the daring diva (see: multiple leaks, on-stage fall, overall messiness).
Yet, in what is no unexpected response, the Material Girl is pressing forward with her new material as one thing remains certain: the challenges have only helped reaffirm the fighter in the 56-year-old…
Championing an agenda against ageism and sexism in the industry, ‘Rebel Heart’ sees Madge do exactly what she’s done for over 30 years – rebel against a system that tells her who she can’t or shouldn’t be. She hasn’t listened thus far and shows no intention on starting now.
Yes, the expense of her “rebellion” has yet to be seen in full, but what can be seen is that this project is in line to be Madonna’s most important album of the century as it – much like ‘Confessions On A Dancefloor’ after the failure of 2003’s ‘American Life’ – stands to not only test her commercial relevance, but also her commercial resiliency (see: ‘MDNA’s historic plunge).
Interestingly, the most glaring similarity to ‘American Life’ is it being her only other album this century to boast release with no Hot 100 top 10 single preceding it. Unlike ‘Life’ and ‘Heart’s predecessor ‘MDNA,’ it’s evident her Madgesty has learned the err of her ways via the embarkation on a traditional promo campaign that stands to see her do talk show, promotional performances, ticket/album sale bundling, and more this week and next.
Will it be too little too late? We’ll find out tomorrow when the first week sales forecast are released. Until then, are you living for the ‘Living For Love’ singer’s newest release? Tell us: