There are a lot of iconic artists I don’t know enough about due to my upbringing and age...so I’m going to use this time in quarantine to take a deep dive on some of them! Today I’m enrolling in Madonna 101, considering I had never heard Burning Up until that Drag Race lip sync!

My breadth of Madonna knowledge currently includes her classic hits. But the first time I really ever paid attention to her was in middle school when she dropped Hung Up... kinda the first time I cared for her so let’s see if I can reintroduce myself

Okay...this had no skips.

(And I recognized almost every song)

Again...no skips and recognized most of these

Bitch is 3 for 3

Okay I’m starting to hear sumn...

Her first four albums have been perfection. But I was waiting to hear Vogue on this one...did not realize that song is from a movie soundtrack!

Also... I am hearing sooooo much Gaga in the Madonna of the 80s... Like wowwww lol. I heard something from each of these first four albums that Gaga borrowed or was inspired by in her music.

Ok I’m listening to Vogue from this soundtrack but then I’m skipping the rest and going straight to her fifth studio album Erotica...I’m assuming it’s okay for me to skip these soundtrack albums she’s done but let me know if I’m making a grave mistake!

K this was also really good so idk wtf is going awnnnnn

This feels like her flop era but I enjoyed the R&B switch-up and liked about half the songs.

This was fun! Very turn of the millennium... but only Ray of Light stood out. Onto the 2000s!

It was alright! Once again, the title track is really the only one that stands out for me. Noticing a trend...

K taking a break this was a lot for one day. Will return eventually

Due to being dragged for saying the last two albums weren’t that memorable, I have given both another listen. You are right...they are pretty good! I was wrong saying just the title tracks stood out. Glad I went back to those before continuing this lil journey

Final thought on those two: I think as a cohesive experience I enjoyed Music more than Ray of Light.

And, both of those title tracks are the first two Madonna songs I recall hearing on the radio as a child (not counting classic hits radio where her original music gets played)

There are two things that keep me from declaring this an absolute mess of an album: 1) Hollywood gave us the iconic Madonna/Britney/Xtina makeout moment, and 2) Die Another Day is a mf bop.

Otherwise...yeah moving on

This was EVERYTHING and I’m a full-blown f*g. This is also like, the Madonna era I grew up with. I was in the eighth grade when Hung Up and this album came out. This album is iconic.

Also please don’t get offended if I say I didn’t like a particular album. I’m coming at this objectively. If I was a hardcore Madonna stan like some of y’all I’m sure I’d also claim every album is perfect! But let’s be real here...

Why did I think I would hate this. It lowkey ate. Pharrell said period

I really just diverted from the mission for two hours just to consume Celebration because I wanted to recap all the wonderful songs I’ve heard so far

omfg... this had other songs I otherwise woulda missed. Like Beautiful Stranger, Justify My Love, Who’s That Girl. I am living.

I’ve also NEVER heard the song Celebration before and??? I’m??? Levitating,????

K took a day off, I’m back but these last three albums are daunting

You’d think with two Nicki features I’d be gagging. But I’m not.

Just did not have much fun at all with MDNA folks. I was in college during this era... I feel like she was trying too hard to mimic what the other girls were doing at the time. Gaga, Katy, Rihanna, Ke$ha. Now that I have her full discography for context, that feels unlike her.

I should clarify there is NO such thing as a bad Nicki verse btw

Well...I enjoyed it more than it’s predecessor! Still not sure how much I liked it... maybe I’m just burnt out. but I just don’t really love her attempts at dubstep and EDM... feels forced. Bitch I’m Madonna will always be a serve tho

What is DIS hunny???? A hot damn mess! Probably at the very bottom of my ranking. Yikes. The features..Maluma, Quavo? The relevancy grab. Bad album. Not a fan. ROAST ME

Finally done! I did NOT expect this experiment to take a whole goddamn week. But her catalogue is robust! And I definitely have a lot more respect for her. I love how she defines reinvention even if I hated some of her reinventions...lol. She’s the GOAT not gonna lie

Listening to each album chronologically and reading the Wikipedia summaries of each helped me not only learn her discography, but put it into context. Before I did this I could not have told you what songs belonged to what albums, aside from a few.

Finally...

1. Like a Virgin
2. Madonna
3. True Blue
4. Like a Prayer
5. Confessions on a Dance Floor
6. Erotica
7. Music
8. Ray of Light
9. Hard Candy
10. Bedtime Stories
11. Rebel Heart
12. MDNA
13. American Life
14. Madame X