Those who thought turning 64-years-old (August 16) would slow Madonna down have another thing coming.
Controversial as ever, the Queen of Pop popped, locked, and dropped inside the pages ‘Paper’ magazine in a racy shoot – lensed by famed photographer Ricardo Gomes – that saw her tongue kissing models, licking their nipples, and so much more.
Interviewed by fellow music royal Nile Rodgers (Chic leader and mastermind behind Madge’s Diamond-selling, 1984 studio album ‘Like a Virgin’), the diva dished on her new greatest hits compilation project ‘Finally Enough Love’ and strolled down memory lane with Nile to discuss their musical history and more.
When not reminscing over yesteryear, the two broached the topic of having a musical reunion – nearly 40 years after launching ‘Virgin’ to the top of the charts.
Look inside to see highlights from their inspiring chat.
Beyond having over 40 years of musical history, Madonna and Nile have forged an enduring friendship – a feature that shined through as the two exchanged pleasantries in their recent ‘PAPER’ magazine chat.
“It’s really true. I mean this with all sincerity because if you’ve ever seen any interview that I’ve ever done where they’ve mentioned your name, I always say I’ve never met anyone in my life that had the focus and the intensity that you had. I’ve said that forever,” he started before she replied, “What I saw in Nile was, first of all, I was a huge fan of his music before I started working with him, but he’s an incredible musician also. And he’s a force. And so am I, so it was a perfect union. And we did meet in the middle.”
Maintaining that ‘Virgin’ is the biggest album he’s ever worked on, Rodgers says many don’t know label heads at the time were really pushing for the project to emulate sounds found aboard Michael Jackson‘s ‘Thriller.’
“Like a Virgin” does have a little bit of a “Billie Jean” bassline to it, in my opinion. It’s similar sounding, not that we ever aimed for that. But I’ve done “Like a Virgin” live where I’ve segued from that song to “Billie Jean” just for 16 or 18 bars or whatever, and then gone back to my song, which is always fun to do,” Madge revealed.
When not talking about the past, the two weighed in on the current state of music.
“I think what’s changed the most is just the songs. Songs have changed. The concept of songwriting. I’m just, give me a song. I need a beginning, a middle and an end. You know what I mean? I get confused by people’s music. And also there are just too many artists on songs. I feel chaotic when I listen to them,” Madonna said.
In an effort to bring quality back to music, Madonna and Rodgers toyed around with the idea of a musical reunion in the future – be it on stage or on a record.
“I will say first, I would love to work with Nile again,” she said before chimed in with, “But I want to say too, working with you, it was amazing to see your ambition, your professionalism. I would love to work together again. I think we’d have a blast. We both have had amazing careers. We still love to communicate with great songs and that’s never changed. I love having a pop hit. I love it!”
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