Dark Ballet Preview

Madonna took to social media Thursday (June 6) to drop a haunting teaser for her music video for 'Dark Ballet,' due Friday (June 7).

The short clip flashes through a series of dark, religious visuals, showing a group of people dressed in black ropes, a person's hands bound by rope and several close-ups of crucifixes. The Queen of Pop herself is shown with a black veil covering her face; as her eyes glance up to the camera, the teaser cuts to black showing only the title of the highly anticipated track.

'Dark Ballet' is the last of five songs to be released by Madonna from her upcoming album Madame X, slated to drop June 14. The track follows previously released songs 'Medellín,' 'Future,' 'Crave' and 'I Rise.'

From Billboard.com

Dark Ballet.................. Madame ❌.............tune in tomorrow 🔥🔥🔥🔥 @MykkiBlanco #darkballet #madamex #joanofarc pic.twitter.com/zerKgdsAv9

— Madonna (@Madonna) 6 June 2019

Madonna answers back to the NYT 'Madonna at Sixty' article

Madonna has shared her thoughts on her Instagram page about the New York Times Magazine article by Vanessa Grigoriadis that was published yesterday under the headline of 'Madonna at Sixty'.

Madame ❌ on the cover of N.Y.T. Magazine photographed by my dear friend @jr..........Also sharing my fav photo that never made it in, along with pre-shoot chat and a celebratory glass of wine 🍷 after many hours of work! To say that I was disappointed in the article would be an understatement- It seems. You cant fix society And its endless need to diminish, Disparage or degrade that which they know is good. Especially string independent women. The journalist who wrote this article spent days and hours and months with me and was invited into a world which many people dont get to see, but chose to focus on trivial and superficial matters such as the ethnicity of my stand in or the fabric of my curtains and never ending comments on. my age which would never have been mentioned had I been a MAN! Women have a really hard time being the champions of other women even if. they are posing as intellectual feminists. Im sorry i spent 5 minutes with her. It makes me feel raped. And yes I’m allowed to use that analogy having been raped at the age of 19. Further proof that the N.Y.T. Is one of the founding fathers of the Patriarchy. And I say—-DEATH TO THE PATRIARCHY woven deep into the fabric of Society. I will never stop fighting to eradicate it. 💔

Madonna Earns Best Career Adult Contemporary Chart Debut With Swae Lee Duet 'Crave'

Madonna achieves her highest debut on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart, as "Crave," with Swae Lee, launches at No. 19 on the June 8-dated tally. The song arrives as Madonna's 37th AC entry, dating to her first, "Borderline," in 1984.

The Queen of Pop logged her prior best AC start in her most recent visit before "Crave," when "Ghosttown" opened at No. 21 in April 2015. As the latter song peaked at No. 18, Madonna boasts back-to-back top 20 AC hits for the first time in 20 years, since "Frozen" (No. 8 peak) and "The Power of Good-Bye" (No. 14) charted consecutively in 1998-99.

The AC chart ranks titles by weekly plays on a panel of 85 adult contemporary stations monitored by Nielsen Music. (The survey has contracted from 50 positions in the '80s to its current 30-rung depth.)

"Crave" is from Madonna's album Madame X, due June 14. The first taste of the set, "Medellín," with Maluma, reached No. 18 on the Hot Latin Songs chart, Madonna's best career rank on the survey, and became her record-extending 61st top 10 on Dance Club Songs.

"If you didn't know it was Madonna, you might think it was Ariana Grande or Alessia Cara," says WWLI Providence, Rhode Island, program director Emily Boldon of "Crave."

Notably, Interscope Records has serviced a Madonna-only edit of the song to adult radio. "About half [of Cumulus] stations playing it are playing the duet version with Swae Lee, which, even for AC, is a hooky rap," Boldon muses.

"'Crave' took me a few listens, but now it's stuck in my head," says Brian Demay, pd of Cumulus-owned WRRM Cincinnati, who notes that the station is playing the Madonna-solo version "only because our listeners don't know who Swae Lee is.

"This song is legit. It's not campy or nostalgic. It sounds like 2019. Madonna has reinvented her sound yet again."

"'Crave' sounds great on the air," Boldon echoes. "You don't have to sell it as 'new Madonna.' It stands on its own as simply 'cool new music.' "

From Billboard.com - thanks to Micheal

New York Times Magazine: Madonna at Sixty

The New York Times Magazine has a special feature on Madonna, the original queen of pop on aging, inspiration and why she refuses to cede control - and with three new fabuluous pictures.

The night before the Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas in May, Madonna was sitting in the arena attached to the MGM Grand hotel, staring at a double of herself. The double, who was standing on the stage many yards away, was younger and looked Asian but wore a similar lace minidress and a wig in Madonna’s current hairstyle, a ’30s movie star’s crimped blond waves. 'It’s always the second person with the wig - she wants to see it,' a stage designer said, adding that when she makes a decision, she is definitive. 'Madonna wants 10 options, but when she says it’s the one, it’s the one.'

Madonna was observing Madonna to make sure Madonna was doing everything perfectly. Up on the stage set of a funky urban street with lampposts and a tiled bar, the double hit her marks and held a fist up to her mouth like a faux microphone for a rendition of 'Medellín,' the on-trend, Latin-inflected song that Madonna would be singing. Madonna looked at a TV and assessed the augmented-reality part of the show, in which four additional virtual Madonnas, one playing an accordion and another dressed like a bride, would materialize in the televised awards performance out of thin air. Nearby, guys bowed heads and said cryptic things like 'Where’s the digital key?' and 'I need the alpha channel' to one another, tensely.

All the fake Madonnas ran through the song a few times before Madonna skipped enthusiastically to the stage. The sex bomb at 60 was slightly less than bionic and wore a Swarovski-crystal-encrusted patch over her left eye ('It’s fashion, darling,' an onlooker explained when I asked why she chose to wear it). Afterward, Madonna mused about something being off, and the next time she messed up the part where she stood on a table and gyrated her legs in and out in a move called “the butterfly” while popping her head in each direction. But by the third run-through she seemed ecstatic. 'It’s so nice to see her smile,' Megan Lawson, a choreographer, said from under a black bolero hat, 'and have it be a genuine smile.'

To read the full article visit: www.nytimes.com/magazine/madonna-madame-x

Graham Norton gets ready for Madame X

UK! Madonna.com are happy to confirm that Madonna will appear on the June 14 episode of The Graham Norton Show.

Madame X will join Graham to celebrate the release of her new album and to discuss her upcoming tour, which will stop at the London Palladium next January for 15 exclusive shows.

Make sure to tune into BBC on June 14 for what promises to be a very special TV moment.

From Madonna.com

NME ‘Madame X’ review

Score 4 out of 5 stars

Bold, bizarre, self-referential and unlike anything Madonna has ever done before, 'Madame X' finds the star with a glint in her eye (the one without an eyepatch, that is).

Madonna’s latest persona ‘Madame X’ borrows her name from the historical figure Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau: a socialite and occasional muse who scandalised genteel French society when she bared naked flesh - her entire shoulder, would you believe it - in a portrait. And while Madge’s own eye-patch wearing interpretation prefers taking a more enterprising approach to the current job market (Madame X is a mother, a child, a teacher, a nun, a singer, and a saint many among other things) it’s a fitting moniker for a record that restlessly explores all sides of contemporary pop at full divisive pelt: visiting Latin pop, all-out Eurotrash, gloomily percussive trap, NYC disco, house, and reggaeton.

During its most reckless moments, ‘Madame X’ is bold, bizarre, and unlike anything Madonna has ever done before. The frantic ‘Dark Ballet’ harnesses gloomily spun strings and robotic overlord vocals; it’s as villainous and foreboding as ‘Ray of Light’s darkest moments, or her ‘Die Another Day’ Bond theme. Then, quite out of nowhere, an extended piano interlude morphs into a mangled, glitching excerpt of ‘Dance of the Reed Pipes’ from Tchaikovsky’s ballet ‘The Nutcracker’ - it’s brilliant, overblown ridiculousness. 'I want to tell you about love…. and loneliness,' Madonna husks dramatically.

To read the rest of the review visit: www.nme.com/reviews/album/madonna

Madame X Tour: Paris Collector Tickets

The Paris collector tickets for the Madame X Tour have started to arrive for those fans that chose that option. It is great to get a collector ticket again - even if it cost an extra 5 Euros!

Madonna to headline Pride event at Hudson River Park’s Pier 97

It’s official: Madonna will get into the groove at World Pride NYC.

After months of speculation by rabid fans, NYC Pride confirmed Monday that the Material Girl will appear at the two-day Pride Island dance party on June 30 at Hudson River Park’s Pier 97.

The event will officially close out the month-long World Pride and Stonewall 50th anniversary celebration. (Grace Jones headlines opening day, June 29.)

Madonna promoted her appearance in a video released via NBC’s 'Today' show, in which she draped herself in a rainbow flag emblazoned with the logo for her 14th studio album, 'Madame X,' to be released June 14.

'I hear you!' she said in the video shot at an unspecified beach location. 'I will be on Pride Island, where I was born.'

From New York Post

For once the rumours are true............ Madame ❌ is coming to Pride Island........... June 30th 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈 @NYCPride #WorldPrideNYC #Stonewall50 #WorldPride2019 #prideisland pic.twitter.com/VD5BhPkQYJ

— Madonna (@Madonna) 3 June 2019

Madame X goes underground!

Madame X goes underground in London. These posters have been spotted all over the London Underground, this one was spotted at Embankment tube station. Thanks to @gemdolla for the picture.