Madonna releases 'Confessions II' to best reviews in decades
Madonna released her 15th studio album 'Confessions II' on Friday to widespread critical acclaim, with the sequel to 2005's 'Confessions on a Dance Floor' hailed as her best work in decades.
Return to the dance floor
Madonna released her 15th studio album, "Confessions II," on July 3, marking a return to the disco euphoria that defined her 2005 triumph "Confessions on a Dance Floor." The 16-track album, produced by Stuart Price (who helmed the original), blends dance pop, post-disco, trip hop, and reggae influences, featuring guest spots from Sabrina Carpenter, Feid, Martin Garrix, and Stromae. The cover art nods to its predecessor: Madonna, draped in a long veil, perches on a wall of speakers, evoking religious imagery.
People think that dance music is superficial, but they've got it all wrong. The dance floor is not just a place, it's a threshold: A ritualistic space where movement replaces language.
Mother and daughter bare "The Test"
The album's most personal moment is "The Test," a collaboration with Madonna's eldest daughter, Lola Leon. In a TikTok Live interview with Bob the Drag Queen, Leon revealed she initiated the song as a way to address "unspoken" tensions and love in their relationship.
Madonna described the songwriting as "a very magical moment," adding that both had to "be vulnerable." The lyrics address how global fame impacted Leon: "You didn't ask for all the flashing lights / I didn't think of how it could disturb." Leon also shared that before the studio session, she dreamed of her maternal grandmother, which she saw as "a really beautiful way to honor her."There's a lot of love that's unspoken, but also a lot of tension and emotions that kind of are difficult to put into words... A way that I thought would be easier for us to speak about these things would be maybe through art.
A relentless rollout
Madonna paired the album with an ambitious marketing campaign. She kicked off the era with a surprise appearance during Sabrina Carpenter's Coachella set in April, performing the lead single "Bring Your Love" in the same outfit she wore at the festival 20 years ago. The song later topped Italian radio airplay. A Grindr campaign, pop-up shows in West Hollywood and Times Square, and a short film premiere at Tribeca kept momentum. On July 2, she hosted an iHeartRadio TikTok Live listening event.
- Album announced; surprise Coachella duet with Sabrina Carpenter; pop-up show at The Abbey.
- Times Square spectacle and short film premiere at Tribeca Film Festival.
- iHeartRadio and TikTok Live listening event with Madonna and Lola Leon.
- Confessions II released on streaming, CD, vinyl, and cassette.
Critics call it her best in decades
Early reviews are overwhelmingly positive. The album currently holds an 83 on Metacritic, the highest score for Madonna since the original "Confessions." Rolling Stone called it "earning the 67-year-old music icon some of her best reviews in years," while The Irish Times praised its "disco euphoria" and "denture-rattlingly ferocious beats," noting a melancholy that feels "almost beyond the artist's conscious control." Le Monde described it as "celebrating the pleasures of partying, blending glittering hedonism and hypnotic power." The album is the follow-up to three commercially and critically disappointing records (MDNA, Rebel Heart, and Madame X), each selling half as much as the previous one. "Confessions II" reverses that trend, reasserting Madonna's belief in the dance floor as a site of transformation.
