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Why Madonna’s Madame X Tour Is the Gloriously Insane Mess of Your Dreams

By Rob Sheffield

Rob Sheffield

Madonna has never shied away from taking chances. Thirty years after she set fire to the Eighties with the disco basilica Like a Prayer , she’s as gloriously weird as ever. Hence her excellent new Madame X tour, a testament to the genius in her madness. Instead of a full-blown tour, she’s doing these shows as residencies in intimate venues, starting with 17 nights at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Howard Gilman Opera House. The tiny rooms are the perfect place for Our Lady to strut her stuff. Like her Madame X album, the show is messy, but anyone who’s scared of a mess should avoid Ms. Ciccone entirely, because as any fan knows, her weirdness is where she finds her greatness.

The show follows Madonna’s adventures around the globe. “Everybody knows I moved to Lisbon to become a soccer mom,” she said on Thursday night. “I found myself alone, without friends, a little bit bored.” So after too many Sundays at her son’s soccer games, she started going out to Lisbon clubs and flipped for Portugal’s fado rhythms, which got her creative juices flowing again. As she announced, “From now on, I’m Madame X and Madame X loves to dance!”

The show started extremely late — she didn’t go on until nearly 11 p.m., which she kept joking about all night. “Forgive me if I kept you waiting too long this evening,” Madonna purred seductively, stretched out on top of a piano. “I don’t like to keep you waiting. But I have an injury. I have six kids. I have a LOT of wigs.” Then she had a couple of her dancers help her off the piano and improvised a pop melody: “I bet you had more sleep than meeee!” No rest for the wicked, indeed.

It was a cellphone-free show, with the audience’s phones locked into Yondr pouches that got unsealed at the end of the night. (Honestly, all shows should be this way.) Madonna kept mentioning how much she enjoyed looking into the audience and seeing our eyes as opposed to screens. “The eyes are the window of the soul. But there’s one window you’re forgetting.” She opened her legs, to a blast of orchestral music. “Ladies and gentlemen, this is what it’s like to have Mozart coming out of your pussy! I am one classy broad!”

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The Madame X songs work much better in a theater setting — the album has always felt more like a soundtrack to a stage spectacle, an Original Cast Recording, than an actual listening experience. She had a small army of dancers, plus scene-stealing musicians like trumpeter Jessica Pina and cellist Mariko Muranaka. One of the highlights came early on: “Human Nature,” one of her most enduringly great Nineties hits. She turned it into a stripped-down confession, writhing athletically before doing a bongo solo. It ended with Madonna surrounded by 11 black women — including three of her daughters, Stella, Estere and Mercy James — chanting, “I’m not your bitch!” Madonna yelled at the end, “Have we made ourselves cleeeear ?” Just in case, she handed the mic to the very young Stella, who said, “Hashtag #TimesUp!” For good measure, the ladies sang an a cappella chorus of “Express Yourself.”

The show opens with a motto from James Baldwin: “Art is here to prove that all safety is an illusion…Artists are here to disturb the peace.” Fighting words, but Madonna lived up to them in “God Control,” an elaborate production number with cops attacking the dancers under a video montage of news footage. Points were made, including gun control, police brutality and why Madonna doesn’t approve of smoking dope.

Her comic banter was as stellar as the music — she was loose, salty, spontaneous, thriving on her closeness with the crowd. At one point, she crashed in a vacant seat next to a London fan named Dan, flirted, drank his beer, apologized for going on so late, drank more of his beer (“I come from a long line of alcoholics”) and then said, “Dan, you’ve been a great crowd, but I need to get on with my journey.” As she explained, “Freedom is the theme of this show. And the theme of my life, for that matter.”

The night’s two big emotional powerhouses came near the end. She sang “Frozen” all alone, visible behind a video screen of her eldest daughter Lourdes doing an interpretive dance, with her “MOM” knuckle tattoo. It was a beautifully simple moment — just the singer, the daughter and that song, a show-stopper from the album ( Ray of Light ) where she fully embraced her hippie-mama spirituality. It also demonstrated that for all her love of theatrical excess, she’s a singer before she’s anything else. The night climaxed with a full-choir “Like a Prayer,” a moment that felt sacred yet also sleazy — the ultimate Madonna combination.

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Madame X has the global sprawl of her 2001 Drowned World Tour, which this fan would definitely have to pick as her best live show ever. She included a a fantastic fado interlude, starring the Portuguese guitarra of 16-year-old Gaspar Varela. Madonna sang a fado chestnut made famous by his great-grandmother, the late Celeste Rodrigues. There was also a showcase of Batuque musicians from Cape Verde, the all-female Orquestra Batukadeiras, working a centuries-old percussive tradition. She picked up her guitar to cover the Cesária Évora classic “Sodade” — a fangirl moment very much in the Madonna tradition, because what makes her a pop genius is the way she moves so fluidly between fangirling and creating her own art. It echoed her last tour, when she covered Edith Piaf’s “La Vie en Rose,” which somehow wound up as Lady Gaga’s big drag-show performance in A Star Is Born . (Don’t be surprised if “Sodade” shows up in Gaga’s next Oscar-winning film?)

As always, she focused on new material, doing almost all of the erratic Madame X . (Alas, not “Bitch I’m Loca.”) But the most powerful moments came when she revamped her classics. “Vogue” became a B-movie fantasia with a troop of femme fatales in a black-and-white film noir cityscape, wearing blonde wigs, shades and trench coats. She strummed “La Isla Bonita” as a guitar cha-cha. “This is my striptease right here,” she announced. “This is as X-rated as it’s gonna get tonight.” Then she peeled off one glove, in homage to Rita Hayworth in Gilda and Natalie Wood in Gypsy . One of the night’s big musical surprises: “American Life,” which holds up remarkably well, as she vented her eccentric political rage with Mirwais Ahmadzaï’s vintage Francodisco frisson.

The stronger songs from Madame X came alive in this setting — especially “Extreme Occident,” “Crave” and “Crazy,” where she dropped to her knees before one of her dancers and sang, “I bend my knees for you like a prayer,” a foretaste of the “Like a Prayer” climax to come. She did “Medellin” with a video boost from Maluma. She did just one verse of “Papa Don’t Preach,” as an excuse to change the key line to “I’ve made up my mind / I’m not keeping my baby.” (The song could have used that tweak back in 1986, but better late.)

The crowd was camp as Christmas and twice as loud, gathering Madonna worshippers from all over the world, dressed to the nines. Shout out to the silver fox rocking his vintage “Frankie Say Relax” T-shirt. (Bet he’s the same guy wearing that shirt in the new Beastie Boys Book , in the photo of fans outside their 1985 NYC show as Madonna’s opening act.)

In some ways, this show is Madonna’s version of Springsteen on Broadway , scaling down to an intimate theatrical setting to tell one account of her life story. It’s yet another bond for these two oddly linked legends, who’ve been topping charts together since the days when Like a Virgin went up against Born in the U.S.A. In June, Madonna’s latest concept album debuted the same week as Bruce’s Western Stars cowboy trip , giving them the Number One and Two albums. How gratifying that these two Eighties icons are not only still topping the charts, they’re doing it with their wildest, most experimental work. We chose well when we picked these two as our heroes, right? As Madame X proves, Madonna will never be the kind of superstar who repeats her successes, sticks to her strengths, or plays it safe. Instead, she’s getting weirder with age. Thank all the angels and saints for that.

“God Control” “Dark Ballet” “Human Nature” “Vogue” “I Don’t Search I Find” “Papa Don’t Preach” “American Life” “Batuka” “Fado Pechincha” “Killers Who Are Partying” “Crazy” “La Isla Bonita” “Sodade” “Medellin” “Extreme Occident” “Frozen” “Come Alive” “Future” “Crave” “Like a Prayer” “I Rise”

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Filmed in Lisbon, Portugal, the film captures the pop icon's rare and rapturous tour performance, hailed by sold out theatrical audiences worldwide. The unprecedented intimate streaming expe... Read all Filmed in Lisbon, Portugal, the film captures the pop icon's rare and rapturous tour performance, hailed by sold out theatrical audiences worldwide. The unprecedented intimate streaming experience will take viewers on a journey as compelling and audacious as Madonna's fearless pe... Read all Filmed in Lisbon, Portugal, the film captures the pop icon's rare and rapturous tour performance, hailed by sold out theatrical audiences worldwide. The unprecedented intimate streaming experience will take viewers on a journey as compelling and audacious as Madonna's fearless persona, Madame X, a secret agent traveling around the world, changing identities, fighting ... Read all

Ricardo Gomes
Sasha Kasiuha
James Baldwin
Dave Chappelle
55 User reviews
6 Critic reviews
62 Metascore
1 nomination

(archive footage)

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Trivia Madonna made major rule for her shows for the audience not to have cameras or cellphones.

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Benjamin_Lumb
Jul 27, 2023
How long is Madame X? Powered by Alexa
October 8, 2021 (United States)
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Madonna: Madame X
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Runtime 1 hour 53 minutes
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As Madame X, Madonna Is Her Most Authentic Onstage Self In Years

"Freedom is the theme of this show," Madonna told an enthralled, intimate crowd at the Thursday (Sept 19) night show of her Madame X Tour at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

By Joe Lynch

Madonna photographed on the Madame X Tour.

The joy of being a Madonna fan is that she’s a true artist, an incisive creative eye who embeds meaning and shades of emotional grey into her work; the other great thing about being a Madonna fan is that she’s an artist who also happens to be a pop star. So when she has something to say, it’s in the details, yes — but wait long enough and it’ll also be bludgeoned over your head.

“Freedom is the theme of this show,” Madonna told an enthralled, intimate crowd at the Thursday (Sept. 19) night show of her Madame X Tour at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. “And the theme of my life, for that matter.”

She might have explicitly spelled out her mission statement during the show, but when it kicked off just before 11pm ET, she eased into the theme with a characteristically unabashed mixture of high art and high camp. As a silhouetted typist hammered out a James Baldwin quote at a desk, a lithe dancer mimed dodging bullets, eventually succumbing to the barrage. After that, Madonna hit the stage, staring out from beneath a Revolutionary War-style tricorn hat as a battered American flag fluttered via video projection. There probably isn’t a more deliciously kitschy way to introduce a show speaking to what personal freedom — and danger — means to the America-born pop artist.

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The first song, Madame X ’s lush disco standout “God Control,” turned the focus from national mythology to personal history, demonstrating exactly where Madonna found her freedom — on the sweaty floors of New York City discotheques in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s — and how she sees it, quite literally, under fire (the gunshot-punctuated musical odyssey explicitly nods to the 2016 Pulse massacre).

From there, the Madame X Tour moves on to other freedoms she sees under duress: The freedom to act and the freedom to speak. With regards to the former, “Dark Ballet” found her playing out the persecution of Joan of Arc surrounded by a visually compelling mixture of Christian iconography and pagan pageantry, while a cool jazz take on “Human Nature” fulfilled the latter, allowing her the opportunity to tell off critics projecting their hang-ups on a woman who dares speak of sex without a coquettish blush (while treating the crowd to a spread eagle that would put Veronica and Charlie to shame).

In the midst of an a cappella “Express Yourself,” Madonna brought out three of her children — Stella, Estere and Mercy James — to shimmy with the dancers and read a few quotes of empowerment she’d provided for them. Later in the show, eldest daughter Lourdes arrived for the highlight of the evening, dwarfing even her mother. Well, only literally speaking. While stark, three-story-high footage of Lourdes dancing played on a translucent screen in front of her, Madonna delivered a soul-scraping rendition of her 1998 classic “Frozen.” Seeing the Queen of Pop, illuminated by a pinprick of light, engulfed in her daughter’s dancing was a visually stunning moment in an evening full of them.

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Another unexpected setlist choice (well, at least for those who didn’t catch her incendiary Pride Island performance) arrived via “American Life,” the unjustly maligned title track from her 2003 album (which was more a victim of the politically paranoid era than any creative deficiency on her part). Her arms snaking above her head as she ran down the list of capitalist concessions that fail to satisfy, Madonna looked exceptionally invested during this glitchpop gem — probably because this is one throwback song she hasn’t delivered ad infinitum.

That fresh, loose (okay, loose for a notorious control freak like Madge) attitude permeated most of her Madame X songs — which were the lion’s share of the setlist. Naturally, that was bad for anyone expecting a greatest-hits parade, but excellent for those open-minded enough to turn off their phones, their expectations and allow an artist they trust and adore the freedom to indulge in what’s getting her off at the moment.

After moving to Lisbon for her son’s soccer aspirations, she’s currently inspired by the music she heard there: Fado, morna, salsa and more. Aside from playing the Madame X tracks that dabble in those genres, her non-album original song “Welcome to My Fado Club” (mashed-up with “La Isla Bonita”) gave her a chance to moonlight as the beguiling hostess of a hole-in-the-wall Latin club, which — considering her affection for Golden Era Hollywood — is certainly within her wheelhouse. But unlike most ‘40s productions on a Beverly Hills lot, Madonna bothered to include the authentic talents she was paying homage to, bringing out Gaspar Varela, the grandson of fado singer Celeste Rodrigues (whom she sang with prior to the legend’s 2018 passing), for several numbers, in addition to an all-female orchestra from Cape Verde for her rousing, thunderous Madame X highlight “Batuka.”

“I’m not worried about being popular,” Madonna told the crowd (which, to be fair, was hanging on her every word) near the end of the show. For the Madame X Tour, she means it. At BAM Thursday night, the would-be soccer mom was free of setlist demands, time constraints (she took the stage late and skillfully bantered with the audience as long as she felt like it) and the impersonal glow of an arena-full of cell phones desperate to capture a 30-second snippet for a social account.

The Madame X persona might be a spy, a teacher, a saint, a whore, a cha cha instructor and a mother, but she’s also something not listed in the album lines notes — she’s a more authentic version of Madonna Veronica Louise Ciccone than we’ve seen on stage in some time.

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Go Inside Madonna's Madame X Tour In Heart-Pounding Documentary First Look

Grammy winner madonna stars in the highly-anticipated paramount+ concert documentary madame x , premiering on oct. 8..

Madonna is here to disturb the peace.

The consummate disruptor and pop music icon is at the center of the new Paramount+ documentary Madame X, premiering on Friday, Oct. 8, centered on the Grammy winner 's fourteenth studio album and Madame X tour in 2019.

"Artists are here to disturb the peace," the teaser trailer opens as Madonna is revealed on-stage in Lisbon, Portugal.

According to a press statement, the documentary will "take viewers on a journey as compelling and audacious as Madonna's fearless persona Madame X, a secret agent traveling around the world, changing identities, fighting for freedom, and bringing light to dark places."

Madame X features 48 on-stage performers including Madonna's children , international musicians and dancers and the all-female orchestra, Orquestra Batukadeiras . Madonna embarks on an equally epic adventure in a cinematic stage play that pairs her power ballads with scenes of democratic unrest , police brutality and other political issues. As the release states, the concert remains a "love letter to multiculturalism" inspired by Lisbon.

"Sharing my vision with global audiences has been profoundly meaningful to me," Madonna stated. "The opportunity to bring its message and the incandescent artistry of all involved to an even wider audience comes at a time when music is so deeply needed to remind us of the sacred bond of our shared humanity."

The Madame X Tour was created and directed by a team led by Madonna, including Jamie King as creative producer and Megan Lawson as co-director and lead choreographer. Additional creative contribution and choreography by Damien Jalet , costumes designed by Eyob Yohannes , musical direction by Kevin Antunes and set design by Ric Lipson for Stufish Entertainment Architects.

Bruce Gillmer , Chief Content Officer of Music at Paramount+ and President of Music at ViacomCBS, explained, "Madonna is undoubtedly the world's biggest superstar, never ceasing to push boundaries and shape the pop culture landscape. She and MTV together have an incredibly storied history and we are thrilled to continue to amplify our partnership."

Madame X is directed by Ricardo Gomes and SKNX , in partnership with MTV Entertainment Studios.

Watch the eye-popping trailer above!

Madame X premieres Friday, Oct. 8 on Paramount+.

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Photos: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for dcp

Madonna Announces Madame X Tour

"The chance for fans to see Madonna at these venues is incredibly special," President of Global Touring and Chairman - Global Music, Live Nation Arthur Fogel said in a statement

GRAMMY-winning pop icon Madonna has announced a limited number of tour dates in support of her Latin music-inspired album Madame X , out everywhere on June 14. The Madame X Tour will be intimate performances to take place only in theatres in select cities.

The tour will launch Sept. 12 at the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House in New York and will include stops in Los Angeles' The Wiltern, the Chicago Theatre, The Met in Philadelphia and more. The tour will begin in 2020 again for a European leg.

Maverick Management and promoter Live Nation said the tour will give "fans an opportunity to see Madonna in an environment like they never have before."

"The chance for fans to see Madonna at these venues is incredibly special," President of Global Touring and Chairman - Global Music, Live Nation Arthur Fogel said in a statement. "We are proud and excited to be able to deliver this ultimate opportunity for her fans."

Fans will have to request tickets in order to have a chance at purchasing them. Fans who request tickets now through Friday (May 10, 11:59 p.m. EST) will be notified by May 17 if their requests have been confirmed.

For more information on how to request tickets, visit the Live Nation website .

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X's Mark The Spot: How Cigarettes After Sex Turn Difficult Memories Into Dreamy Nostalgia

"We’re all in the same boat," Greg Gonzalez says of the band’s new album, ‘X’s.' The frontman speaks with GRAMMY.com about how channeling Madonna and Marvin Gaye helped him turn his memories of a relationship into sublime dream pop.

When Greg Gonzalez sat down to start writing the next Cigarettes After Sex album, the dream pop frontman relied equally on memories of heartbreak and the ballads of the Material Girl. "‘90s Madonna was a big influence on this record," he tells GRAMMY.com with a soft smile.

Though the end result won’t be mistaken for anything off of Ray of Light , that timeless, almost mystic cloud of emotionally resonant pop carries a distinct familiarity on Cigarettes After Sex's new album, X’s .

Cigarettes After Sex has championed that sweet and sour dreaminess since their 2017 debut. Two years after that self-titled record earned rave reviews and was certified gold, the El Paso, Texas-based outfit reached even deeper for Cry . And while those records cataloged Gonzalez's heartbreaks and intimacies in sensual detail, Gonzalez knew he could reach deeper on the band’s third LP: "These songs are just exactly as memory happened."

Arriving July 12, X’s fuses Cigarettes After Sex's dream pop strengths with ‘90s pop warmth and ‘70s dance floor glow. Always one to bring listeners into the moment, Gonzalez imbues the record with a lyrical specificity that gives the taste of pink lemonade and the tension of a deteriorating relationship equal weight. On X’s , the listener can feel the immediate joy and lingering pain in equal measure.

"This is specific to me and what I'm going through, but then I go out and talk to people on tour, and they’re like, 'Oh, yeah, I went through the exact same thing,'" Gonzalez says.

Leading up to the release of X’s , Gonzalez spoke with GRAMMY.com about the appeal of ‘90s Madonna, finding a way to dance through tears, and his potential future in film scoring.

Tell me about the production process for this record. You've always been able to build nostalgic landscapes, but this record feels smoother than before. Were there any new touchpoints you were working with?

That was the thing: trying to make the grooves tighter. It was coming from more of a ‘70s Marvin Gaye kind of place, trying to make it groove like a ‘70s dance floor.

Which is an especially interesting place to be writing from when dealing with that line between love and lust.

Yeah. The stuff we've done before was really based on the late ‘50s, early ‘60s slow dance music. But it was always supposed to be dance music; I always wanted Cigarettes to be music you could dance to, even if it was a slow dance.

When I think of pop music and I think of songs that really feel powerful, they usually make you want to groove in some way. I love a lot of music that doesn't do that: ambient music or classical or some jazz. But there's so much power to music that makes you want to move. And I found throughout the years that I could just never get enough of the music that makes you want to dance. So I thought, Okay, the music that I make should be really emotional. It should feel like music you could actually cry to, but in the end it should make you want to also move in that way .

It’s the physical necessity of the music, some forward motion to match the emotional journey. I’d imagine that is related in some sense to the fact that you’re writing in a somewhat autobiographical way. Is that a way of not getting stuck in the stories, in the feelings?

I'm writing it for myself. Of course, I can't help but picture the audience in some way. But it's never like I'm writing it for them.

There is an audience that I can visualize that would like the music. [ Laughs ]. There have been times where we’re recording and I close my eyes to visualize an arena or a stadium to picture the music in that setting. It’s a nice feeling. And that's just based on the music that I love that I thought had similarities.

Is there any particular music that you love that fills that feeling?

There's so much music that I was obsessed with, but with Cigarettes I narrowed it down. Since I was a kid, I did every kind of style I could do. I was in power pop bands, new wave, electro, metal, really experimental bands.

But when I finally sat down and said, "Let me make an identity for Cigarettes and make it special," I had to think about what my favorite music was and what music affected me the deepest. And it was stuff like "Blue Light" by Mazzy Star or "Harvest Moon" by Neil Young or "I Love How You Love Me" by the Paris Sisters. And I kind of put all that together and that became the sound of Cigarettes. And now I do that every time I make a record: I'll make a playlist of what I want it to feel like. I mentioned Marvin Gaye. I feel like ‘90s Madonna was a big influence on this record .

Madonna in the ‘90s? No one could touch that era. I don't know when the last time you listened to that music was, but…

No, I grew up with Madonna and I used to watch the "Like A Prayer" video on repeat. It blew me away. But then I came back and I got into the ‘90s stuff, like "Take A Bow" and that record Something To Remember . It's all of the slower tunes. And that was a big influence, especially songs like "Rain."

You clearly have a diverse musical appetite, but you’ve also highlighted people with such identifiable voices — something that I think is true for Cigarettes as well. Your vocals are so front and center in the identity of the project.

That's great. The singer pretty much makes the song for me, whatever I’m listening to. The entire spirit comes down to the vocals. I'll hear a song like "Take A Bow" and be like, This feels so special. What if I made something that felt like this? If I told someone this [record] was based on Marvin Gaye and ‘90s Madonna, I don’t know if they would think it really sounded like that. It's more just trying to capture the spirit of what those records feel like.

That's what's cool about it too: You can remember those songs that were filling the air back in the ‘90s and what those feelings were, what you were up to, and draw a line between that and whatever's happening now that I wrote about.

You don’t seem like the type of person to avoid negative feelings when you come up against them in that process either. The songs feel like you just embrace it, even if it's really painful.

I've always felt that's the best way for me to go through things, to face it head on. It's supposed to be painful. You have all these really great moments with somebody and all these great memories, and then when it ends, honestly, that's the way it goes, right? That's the trade off .

Yeah, but not everybody goes through a breakup and then makes an album about it. Isn’t that like returning to the scene of the crime? How does it feel to deal with it in that way?

That's funny. The thing was, I was writing a lot of this stuff while I was still in a relationship. It took so long to finish it.

Finish the album or finish the relationship? [ Laughs. ]

Actually both . But yeah, the record is mostly about that one relationship, but there are little diversions with some of the songs. A lot of the key images and songs are based on that romance and little memories that I took from it.

I like that I have all those moments kind of set in stone. It’s hard to listen to this record too because I'll just really see these moments, all these memories, and it can be a bit much to flash back to all that stuff and see it so vividly. But I love that I have it. Those memories meant so much and I’m glad that they're collected and displayed in this way.

And you were able to collect them when it was happening as opposed to having some time between, which could warp those memories. Writing and recording when you’re as raw as possible makes sense, so what you capture is really honest.

That's why I like to write these songs that are as honest as possible or as autobiographical as possible, with a lot of details. If I'm writing a song and someone heard it, they would know it was about them just based on all the imagery that's in that song. It's like a little letter to them. It could be like a secret little letter to someone.

That makes me think of "Holding You, Holding Me," which is so lovely and feels as immediate as anything you’ve done.

It was the pandemic, and then the other girlfriend I had at that time, we were living in downtown L.A. and just wanted to get out of the house and stay somewhere nicer for a while. And we went to this AirBnb that was in Beverly Hills with this beautiful backyard. The song was meant to be kind of Fleetwood Mac- ish , like "Gypsy" or "Sara", that nice ‘70s country pop feel.

Over the years I’ve noticed you frequently use taste as a sensory link in your songs, which really creates an evocative moment — I’m thinking about references to candy bars and lemonade on this album. What is it about that sense that sticks out to you?

If I'm going back to memory, then that's just what really happened. We went to the store to go buy wine and candy because that was the vibe that night. "Let’s watch movies and get red wine and some candy bars." And it was just a big memory that we walked outside and it started raining. I think too, what's nice about using objects is that it gives you so much mood in a song. You can tell what the feeling is of that moment when you put those things together.

And it can have an almost universal understanding. People will understand what it means to have a "candy bar night."

That's the craziest thing. It's almost like you're trained to write universally, meaning generically. Like, "Oh, this is a song that everyone can like and the lyrics can be really simple." But I’ve found that the songs that are really detailed and were more personal stories, a song like "K." from Cigarettes After Sex , those are the songs that everyone really loves, the ones that take up being really specific .

I suppose that's pop's way of being a doorway. When you're talking about your personal experiences, somebody is going to enter into it and feel like you're singing about theirs.

You realize that we're all in the same boat. This is specific to me and what I'm going through, but then I go out and talk to people on tour, and they’re like, "Oh, yeah, I went through the exact same thing." I feel very lucky that most people I talk to that love [our] music are always saying that. It’s so special.

It makes me trust my instincts. That's the hard thing when you're writing. You're wondering, Is this too much to disclose? Is this too much information? [ Laughs .] That instinct is really important to know, to trust it. That's the tough one. That's what's also therapeutic about it too. You want to share things that feel really personal because then you can process them. You can really start to unpack what those moments meant and what they can mean going forward. It gives me more confidence when I hear that kind of stuff from people.

What then is it like when you sing it for a crowd? You’re performing, but you can’t fully separate the emotion that inspired that song.

That's tough because, ideally, if I did my job well enough writing the song, then it should be hard to sing live — especially if I really see those moments when I'm singing it. It could bring me to tears, honestly, because it should feel that intense. And it's even worse if I look in the crowd and someone's crying. I can't even look at them. And that happens very often. If I started crying, my voice will stop.

That brings a real cinematic feeling to your music too, which makes me think you’d be good at scoring a film. Is that something you’d tackle?

I'm definitely obsessed with film and have been since I was a kid. The idea that I keep saying — and I almost feel like I'm going to jinx it because I keep saying it too much — is that I really want to direct and write something. And I've written some ideas down for screenplays and things. It seems like it's hard to transition from musician to filmmaker and really make it stick. But that would be something I want to do in the next 10 years. I'm giving myself 10 years. [ Laughs .]

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10 Ways Cher's "Believe" Changed Pop Music

As Cher's GRAMMY-winning hit celebrates its 25th anniversary, blast "Believe" and dig into the many ways it became one of pop's all-time classics.

The incomparable Cher had already achieved iconic status long before she dropped the title track from her 22nd studio effort, Believe , at the tail end of 1998. After all, this was an artist who'd forged one of the most successful pop duos of the '60s, scored a record-breaking trio of number ones in the '70s, and reinvented herself as an MTV goddess in the '80s. Not to mention her contributions outside of music: the hit variety shows, Broadway runs, and Hollywood moonlighting — the latter of which saw her win an Oscar.

But the success of "Believe" was still unlike anything else Cher had achieved during her illustrious 35 years in the business. It reached No. 1 in 21 different countries across the globe (including a four-week stint at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S.), sold 11 million copies, and cleaned up at everything from the International Dance Music Awards to the Ivor Novellos. For a good 12 months, it was practically impossible to avoid hearing its dance-pop beats, lovelorn lyrics and, of course, that famous robotic vocal effect.

But "Believe" didn't just significantly impact Cher's already glittering career — it also changed the face of pop music as we know it. From inspiring other divas to get their groove on to pioneering a piece of now-ubiquitous studio technique, take a look at 10 ways "Believe" impacted pop.

It Smashed Multiple Chart Records

It would almost be quicker to list which chart records "Believe" didn't completely obliterate. The song spent 21 weeks atop Billboard's Hot Dance Singles Sales, and was still in the Top 10 a full year later. It was also crowned the year-end No. 1 on both the Dance Club Songs and Hot 100 charts. And it produced the longest-ever gap between chart-toppers on the latter — 33 years and seven months, to be exact — as Cher's first No. 1 on the chart came in 1965 with her Sonny Bono duet "I Got You Babe."

"Believe" was just as successful across the pond, beating George Michael , U2 , Culture Club , and Alanis Morisette in a famous five-way battle for No. 1. And with 1.8 million copies sold, it's still the U.K.'s highest-selling single by a female performer.

It Inspired Several Divas To Dance

Cher had initially resisted Warner UK label boss Rob Dickins' idea to pursue a dance direction, reportedly arguing that the genre wasn't conducive to " real songs ." It's unlikely many of her peers took much persuading, however, after witnessing the monumental success of "Believe."

In fact, pretty much every pop diva on the other side of 50 seemed to take to the dance floor over the following 12 months: see Diana Ross ' "Not Over You Yet," Tina Turner 's "When the Heartache Is Over," and Donna Summer 's "I Will Go With You (Con Te Partiro)." Madonna ( Confessions on a Dancefloor ), Kylie Minogue ( Tension ), and Cyndi Lauper ( Bring Ya to the Brink ) have all since proved middle age and dance music needn't be mutually exclusive terms with entire albums tailor-made for the clubs.

It Finally Gave Cher A Grammy

It seems hard to believe that Cher had to wait until the turn of the millennium to pick up her first GRAMMY. The pop veteran had previously been nominated alongside then-husband Sonny Bono in the Best New Artist category in 1966. The pair also received a nod in the Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group in 1972 for "All I Ever Need Is You," the same year Cher was recognized as a solo artist with a Best Female Pop Vocal Performance nomination for "Gypsys, Tramps and Thieves." But on all three occasions, Cher went home empty-handed.

The star finally emerged victorious in 2000, however, when "Believe" won Best Dance Recording. (The song and same-named parent LP had picked up nods for Record of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album, respectively, too). Peter Rauhofer was also crowned Best Remixer of the Year for his work on the track under the guise of Club 69 .

It Paved The Way For An Exciting '00s Hit Factory

Nine different people, including Cher herself, are given songwriting/production credits on "Believe." But the most interesting behind-the-scenes name is Brian Higgins, the man who penned an early version of the track a full eight years before it was released. A virtual unknown when the finished product finally arrived, Higgins would go on to shape the following decade of British pop music thanks to his pioneering work as part of the production powerhouse known as Xenomania.

Best-known for guiding the career of their ultimate muses, Girls Aloud, the team also carved out weird and wonderful singles for Sugababes, The Saturdays, and Alesha Dixon. Pet Shop Boys , Kylie Minogue, and Saint Etienne were just a few of the more established names who turned to Xenomania for hit-making assistance, too.

It Made Cher Relevant Again

Cher looked to have been consigned to heritage act status before "Believe" came to the rescue. She'd only scored one U.S. Top 10 hit in the 1990s ("Just Like Jesse James") and that was at the very start of the decade; her last studio effort, covers album It's A Man's World , had peaked at a lowly No. 64 on the Billboard 200. But Cher isn't known as a comeback queen for nothing. The Believe campaign not only saved her from the musical wilderness, but it also kickstarted the most consistent, if undoubtedly sporadic, chapter of her career.

Indeed, although "Strong Enough" and "Song for the Lonely" are her only Hot 100 entries since (No. 57 and 85, respectively), 2001's Living Proof , 2013's Closer to the Truth, and 2018's ABBA tribute Dancing Queen have all reached the top 10 of the Billboard 200. And while Cher was always a powerful live draw, the Believe era took things to new heights: 2002's long-running (and misleadingly-named) The Farewell Tour , grossed $200 million across a whopping 325 dates to become the highest-grossing concert series by a female artist at the time.

It Proved Age Ain't Nothin' But A Number

Bette Midler , Aretha Franklin , and Tina Turner had all previously reached the top of the Hot 100 in their forties. But no female artist had ever achieved such a feat until "Believe" came along. Cher was aged 52 years and nine months when the dance-pop anthem took her number one tally to four in March 1999. And while the annual return of "All I Want for Christmas Is You" saw a 53-year-old Mariah Carey surpass this milestone in 2022, Cher can still lay claim to being the oldest chart-topping woman with a newly released song.

The star will have to score a fifth, however, if she's to break the all-time record : Louis Armstrong was three months shy of his 63rd birthday when he knocked The Beatles off pole position with 1963's "Hello Dolly."

It Introduced The World To Auto-Tune

According to Pitchfork , a remarkable 99 percent of all contemporary pop music utilizes the pitch-altering recording technique known as Auto-Tune. And that's pretty much all down to The Cher Effect. Although designed to subtly correct a wayward vocal, the producers of "Believe" decided to make it blatantly obvious that studio trickery had been at play, transforming one of pop's most easily identifiable voices into that of a wobbly android.

Cher had to fight to keep the song's unique selling point, telling unconvinced label bosses they'd have to remove it "over my dead body." And her instinct proved to be right. The pioneering use of Auto-Tune was undoubtedly the catalyst for the song's phenomenal success, ultimately paving the way for everyone from Lil Wayne and T-Pain to Daft Punk and Black Eyed Peas .

It Became A Pop Culture Fixture

You know a song has entered the nation's consciousness when it's been parodied by Matt Stone and Trey Parker. But South Park 's incomprehensible version of "Believe," which appeared in season 3 episode "Two Guys Naked in a Hot Tub," isn't the only way in which the chart-topper has permeated pop culture over the past 25 years.

It was also given the spoof treatment by MADtv , has become a lip-sync battle regular, and featured in the star-studded medley in Eurovision: The Story of Fire Saga . More recently, it was mashed up with "The Muffin Man" by Adam Lambert for a That's My Jam performance that went viral.

It Brought Back Crying At The Disco

Cher had asked many questions through the medium of pop during her illustrious career: "Am I Blue?" "Does Anybody Really Fall in Love Anymore?" "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?" But it was undoubtedly "Believe" on which she posed her most pressing. "Do you believe in life after love?," she sings in the famously Auto-Tuned chorus, a clever turn of phrase which set the song up as the '90s answer to "I Will Survive"; follow-up single "Strong Enough" would go even further by essentially borrowing its string section.

The "crying at the disco" anthem had largely fallen out of favor since Gloria Gaynor 's heyday. But "Believe" proved once again it was possible to pour your heart out and throw some shapes at the same time. Robyn ("Dancing On My Own"), Pussycat Dolls ("Hush, Hush"), and Madonna ("Sorry") are just a few of the artists who appeared to be taking note.

It's Become A Part Of The Modern American Songbook

What do tween collective Kidz Bop , punk rock supergroup Me First and the Gimme Gimmes , and Swedish synth-pop songstress Anna of the North all have in common? They've all put their own spin on the dance-pop masterpiece that is Cher's "Believe." And they're not the only ones, either.

In 2023, DMA's rendition was crowned the all-time best cover to emerge from Aussie radio station Triple J's feature Like a Version . Manchester Orchestra , Lucy Dacus , and Jessie Ware have all interpreted the smash hit in their own distinctive ways over the past 18 months, too. And it's become a talent show staple thanks to ballad versions by the likes of Adam Lambert , Jeffery Austin , and Sheldon Riley . Should the Great American Songbook ever get modernized, then "Believe" is a shoo-in.

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The Talking Heads and David Bryne at Stop Making Sense

Photo: Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images for BAM

11 Iconic Concert Films To Watch After 'Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour'

The concert film seems to be having a moment. From the Talking Heads to Queen, read on for 11 concert film experiences that will help keep the party going.

A lavender haze has descended upon movie theaters across America.

Taylor Swift ’s filmed version of her historic Eras tour is the movie-music event of the year, dominating the box office becoming highest grossing dometic concert film in Hollywood history after a single weekend. Byt the time the Eras credits roll, you know all too well that you’re going to want to keep the party going.

Luckily, there are a breadth of artists whose musical singularity is reflected on the silver screen. Swift's major influence notwithstanding, the concert film seems to be having a moment in recent years: Pop stars such as Lizzo ( Live in Concert ), Selena Gomez ( My Mind and Me ) and Lewis Capaldi have released popular concert films.

From Beyoncé ’s stunning Homecoming , to acclaimed concert films from Queen to Talking Heads and new entries like from the boys in BTS , read on for 11 excellent concert film experiences.

Homecoming: A Film by Beyonce (2019)

When Beyoncé headlined the Coachella Music and Arts Festival — the first Black woman to do so — in 2018, she didn’t just perform; she delivered a tour de force extravaganza that spurred a whole new moniker: Beychella.

Shot over two nights, the Netflix film Homecoming includes a discography-spanning retrospective and memorable performances of "Run the World," "Single Ladies" and "Formation." Layered in ware nods to the Historically Black College and University experience, legends like Nina Simone and dazzling array of choreography, wardrobe and vocal chops .

The New Yorker later hailed it a "triumphant self portrait" and " a spectacle of soul." Directed by Queen Bey herself, Homecoming took home the golden gramophone for Best Music Film at hte 62nd GRAMMYs.

Stop Making Sense (1984)

The filmmaker Jonathan Demme is known for classics like Silence of the Lambs and Philadelphia , but he was also a major force in concert films. Among his achievements in this field is Stop Making Sense , his 1984 portrait of David Byrne and his Talking Heads.

Filmed at the peak of the band's popularity and following the release of Speaking in Tongues (which featured "This Must Be The Place" and "Burning Down the House,"), Stop Making Sense is a cult classic, from its array of hits to the band’s massive suits which became their calling card.

The film was re-released in theaters last month. "I'm kind of looking at it and thinking, who is that guy?," said David Byrne in a recent interview with NPR about watching his younger self. "I'm impressed with the film and impressed with our performance. But I'm also having this really jarring experience of thinking, ‘He's so serious .’"

BTS: Yet to Come in Cinemas (2023)

While the GRAMMY-nominated South Korean superstars BTS may be on a break — Jung Kook recently announced that he will release his debut solo full-length - bask in the glow of the K-pop and their rollicking concert film earlier this year. In the film, Jung Kook alongside Jin, RM, Jimin, V, J-Hope as they smoothly perform their calvadace of hits, including "Butter" and"Dynamite" in a 2022 performance for Busan, South Korea’s rally to host the 2030 World Expo.

The boys are actually no stranger to the genre, with Yet To Come marking their fifth concert film in addition to BTS Permission to Dance on Stage — Seoul: Live Viewing and 2020’s Break the Silence: The Movie among others.

Madonna: Truth or Dare (1991)

With off-stage footage shot in black and white and performances in vivid color, this early '90s classic depicts Queen Madge at the height of her power. Taken from an actual game Madonna and friends play towards the end of the film (to scandalous results), Truth or Dare showcases the breadth of Madonna’s superstardom up until that point with performances of classics like "Holiday" and "Like a Virgin" with its artfully-shot juxtaposition of performance and documentary footage a trailblazer in the concert film genre.

" The surprise of Truth or Dare is just what a blast Madonna is," wrote the Guardian on the occasion of the film’s 30th anniversary. "Nastily funny, openly horny, undisguised in her contempt for anyone she deems less fabulous than herself and her blessed collaborators."

Justin Bieber: Never Say Never (2011)

Way before Swiftmania, there was Bieber Fever. In the wake of Justin Bieber ’s explosive rise, Never Say Never interspersed performances with snapshots of his journey from humble Canadian roots to global pop force to be reckoned with.

Helmed by Jon M. Chu (who’d go onto direct blockbusters like Crazy Rich Asians and In the Heights ), Never Say Never is a time capsule of a younger, more innocent Bieber and his early earworm bubblegum hits. Until Swift's Eras is tallied it’s the top-grossing concert movie ever released in the USA.

Prince: Sign o’ the Times (1987)

This iconic concert film was once hard to come by; after its theatrical run, Sign o’ the Times was only issued on VHS and eventually went out of print. But thanks to the magic of streaming, one can now easily transport oneself back to the '80s and enjoy the magic that is Prince .

Directed by the artist and using his acclaimed 1987 album Sign o’ the Times as a jumping off point (the album itself was a 2017 inductee into the GRAMMY Hall of Fame), the film reminds viewers of the Purple One's magnetism. Under an array of colorful lights and performing to a raucous crowd, the icon may have died in 2016, but S ign o’ the Times serves as a deft time capsule of his royal talent.

Katy Perry: Part of Me (2012)

As Katy Perry was in the midst of releasing her acclaimed album Teenage Dream , the pop singer had the foresight to chronicle the ensuing pandemonium.

" I feel like it was, like, a big wave coming," she told ABC upon the release of Katy Perry: Part of Me , the 2012 concert film that documented her blockbuster California Dreams tour. "I thought to myself, 'Well, I think this is going to be a moment. Maybe I should catch it on tape. I'm either going to go completely mental, completely bankrupt, or have the best success of my life."

Fortunately the later wound up occurring, with the subsequent film a celebrity-packed (featuring everyone from Lady Gaga to Adele ) hit-filled ("Teenage Dream" and "California Girls") look into the life, times and music of the star.

Queen: Live at Wembley ‘86 (1986)

Freddie Mercury and Queen were staples of London's Wembley Stadium, performing many memorable shows, including an iconic turn at Live Aid in the early '80s and a Mercury tribute show in the '90s.

Songs like "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions" fit right in on Wembley's massive stage, with the concert film depicting the thundering live versions of those classics. Relive those heady days with this film which showcases just what made Mercury and his band rock icons, and huge ones at that.

"Mercury was indeed a born ringmaster," wrote CNN in a piece about their status as stadium savants. "There was no alienating affectation, no wallowing in sentiment... Queen consciously wrote their songs as vehicles for theatrics."

Summer of Soul (2021)

Back in 1969, Stevie Wonder , Gladys Knight , Nina Simone and B.B. King joined forces for the Harlem Cultural Festival, a mostly forgotten multi-week legendary summit. That all changed when Roots frontman Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson obtained a treasure trove worth of footage and directed this stunning film, aptly dubbed Summer of Soul , which brought the event back to vivid life and subsequent acclaim including a GRAMMY Award for Best Music Film.

"It was gold," Thompson told Pitchfork of his process of sifting through the footage to create what would become a passion project. "If anything, it was an embarrassment of riches. It was too much. I kept this on a 24-hour loop for about six months straight. Slept to it. Traveled to it. It was the only thing I consumed."

Justin Timberlake + The Tennessee Kids (2016)

Also directed by Jonathan Demme and released before his 2017 death, J ustin Timberlake + The Tennessee Kids showcases Timberlake 's popular 20/20 Experience World Tour and litany of solo hits including "Sexyback" and "Suit & Tie."

"I don’t think anything can compete with live performance," admitted Demme to Rolling Stone before his death in 2017. "You can’t beat it. But we strive to provide the most exciting interpretation of that feeling, as filmmakers. We can provide a roving best seat in the house. We can linger on closeups. We can follow the dynamics of the music. I love shooting music."

The Last Waltz (1978)

One of the earliest projects of director Martin Scorsese ’s career was helping edit the monumental film version of Woodstock in 1970. But as that decade progressed and the auteur became known for narrative features including Mean Streets, he revisited his roots by directing The Last Waltz. A trailblazer in the genre, the film captures the last performance of The Band featuring frontman Robbie Robertson alongside a range of guests including Bob Dylan , Ringo Starr and Eric Clapton . Filmed on Thanksgiving Day in 1976, it’s a time capsule of the day’s biggest acts at the height of their artistry.

"It's a picture that kind of saved my life at the time," Scorsese told an audience at the Toronto International Film Festival during a 2019 screening. "It's very special to me. Forty years on, it's very special to a great number of us."

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Photo: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

GRAMMY Rewind: Kendrick Lamar Honors Hip-Hop's Greats While Accepting Best Rap Album GRAMMY For 'To Pimp a Butterfly' In 2016

Upon winning the GRAMMY for Best Rap Album for 'To Pimp a Butterfly,' Kendrick Lamar thanked those that helped him get to the stage, and the artists that blazed the trail for him.

Updated Friday Oct. 13, 2023 to include info about Kendrick Lamar's most recent GRAMMY wins, as of the 2023 GRAMMYs.

A GRAMMY veteran these days, Kendrick Lamar has won 17 GRAMMYs and has received 47 GRAMMY nominations overall. A sizable chunk of his trophies came from the 58th annual GRAMMY Awards in 2016, when he walked away with five — including his first-ever win in the Best Rap Album category.

This installment of GRAMMY Rewind turns back the clock to 2016, revisiting Lamar's acceptance speech upon winning Best Rap Album for To Pimp A Butterfly . Though Lamar was alone on stage, he made it clear that he wouldn't be at the top of his game without the help of a broad support system.

"First off, all glory to God, that's for sure," he said, kicking off a speech that went on to thank his parents, who he described as his "those who gave me the responsibility of knowing, of accepting the good with the bad."

Looking for more GRAMMYs news? The 2024 GRAMMY nominations are here!

He also extended his love and gratitude to his fiancée, Whitney Alford, and shouted out his Top Dawg Entertainment labelmates. Lamar specifically praised Top Dawg's CEO, Anthony Tiffith, for finding and developing raw talent that might not otherwise get the chance to pursue their musical dreams.

"We'd never forget that: Taking these kids out of the projects, out of Compton, and putting them right here on this stage, to be the best that they can be," Lamar — a Compton native himself — continued, leading into an impassioned conclusion spotlighting some of the cornerstone rap albums that came before To Pimp a Butterfly .

"Hip-hop. Ice Cube . This is for hip-hop," he said. "This is for Snoop Dogg , Doggystyle . This is for Illmatic , this is for Nas . We will live forever. Believe that."

To Pimp a Butterfly singles "Alright" and "These Walls" earned Lamar three more GRAMMYs that night, the former winning Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song and the latter taking Best Rap/Sung Collaboration (the song features Bilal , Anna Wise and Thundercat ). He also won Best Music Video for the remix of Taylor Swift 's "Bad Blood."

Lamar has since won Best Rap Album two more times, taking home the golden gramophone in 2018 for his blockbuster LP DAMN ., and in 2023 for his bold fifth album, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers .

Watch Lamar's full acceptance speech above, and check back at GRAMMY.com every Friday for more GRAMMY Rewind episodes.

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1 Madonna Announces Madame X Tour
2 X's Mark The Spot: How Cigarettes After Sex Turn Difficult Memories Into Dreamy Nostalgia
3 10 Ways Cher's "Believe" Changed Pop Music
4 11 Iconic Concert Films To Watch After 'Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour'
5 GRAMMY Rewind: Kendrick Lamar Honors Hip-Hop's Greats While Accepting Best Rap Album GRAMMY For 'To Pimp a Butterfly' In 2016

Category: Madame X Tour

Madame X Tour

16 Aug, 2023

‘Madame X: Music From The Theater Experience’ Vinyl Release

Available on September 22nd, MADAME X: MUSIC FROM THE THEATER XPERIENCE showcases on 3LP 22 powerful live performances of songs that span the remarkably different eras of Madonna’s iconic career, including her ninth #1 album, Madame X . The upcoming collection introduces exclusive live performances of Crave (featuring Swae Lee) and Sodade , two songs that did not appear on the digital soundtrack. Read More

9 Nov, 2021

Madame X Presents: Madame Xtra Q&A

Paramount+ announces Madonna’s Madame X Presents: Madame Xtra Q&A featuring questions from very special guests Ariana Grande, Amy Schumer, Billie Eilish, Doja Cat, Drew Barrymore, David Letterman, FKA Twigs, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Jimmy Fallon, Katy Perry, Kim Kardashian, Lil Nas X, Naomi Campbell, Snoop Dogg, Sarah Paulson and more. Read More

8 Oct, 2021

Madonna concert movie proves the Queen of Pop is still in her prime

Throughout Madame X , Madonna is in total command of the stage as she follows her own mantra: “Don’t go for second best, baby,” NME reports. Read More

Madame X Concept Film and Album Out Today

The concept film to Madonna’ s acclaimed Madame X Tour debuts today in the U.S., Latin America, Australia, the Nordics, and Canada, exclusively on Paramount+ , the streaming service from ViacomCBS. Fans outside these markets can watch the documentary on MTV . Read More

Madonna’s Madame X concert film is compelling and confounding

The advantages of the intimate environment Madonna cultivated throughout the tour – her first small-venue dates since 1985 – are showcased in her frequent interactions with the crowd. “I love to irritate people,” she tells fans with a wicked grin, USA Today reports. Read More

Madonna in Paramount+’s ‘Madame X’

An impressively designed production from a star hoping to convey the deep empathy she feels for pretty much every group suffering during these troubled times, Madonna’s Madame X showcases the eponymous album, in which she draws on new influences ranging from Colombian rap to Portuguese fado, writes The Hollywood Reporter . Read More

A Madonna Concert Film That’s Heavy on Message, Light on Euphoria

In Madame X , we see Madonna toggling between two poles, Variety reports. Read More

7 Oct, 2021

Madame X – Music From The Theater Xperience (Live)

Check out the details, the cover and the tracklisting of Madame X – Music From The Theater Xperience (Live) , now available on the digital platforms. Read More

6 Oct, 2021

Madame X – Music from the Theater Xperience

Madame X – Music from the Theater Xperience will available on all digital platforms this Friday. Read More

5 Oct, 2021

Madame X: This Friday!

Madonna’s Madame X movie, directed by Ricardo Gomes and SKNX , will exclusively stream on Paramount Plus and MTV from Friday, October 8.

Here is a recap of the broadcast times. Read More

22 Sep, 2021

Mission: World Premiere

The Madame X film premieres tonight in New York City. Read More

15 Jul, 2021

Madame X is also coming to MTV!

The concert documentary filmed last year during the European leg of Madonna’s Madame X Tour is coming to ParamountPlus and MTV in October, it was announced today. Read More

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Madame X Tour - Setlist

The setlist of the Madame X Tour promotes her Madame X album.

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“Madame X – Music from the Theater Xperience” Live Album Out Now!

Madonna has released the Madame X Tour live album titled “Madame X – Music From the Theater Xperience (Live).”

The full tracklist…

Intro God Control Dark Ballet Human Nature Vogue I Don’t Search, I Find American Life Batuka Fado Pechincha (feat. Gaspar Varela) Killers Who Are Partying Crazy Welcome To My Fado Club Extreme Occident Breathwork Medellin Frozen Come Alive Future Like A Prayer I Rise Note: Live at the Coliseu dos Recreios, Lisbon, Portugal, 1/12-23/2020

Check it out…

Madame X is available in Box Set, CD, Vinyl and Cassette! Get your copy HERE !

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Madonna ‘Madame X’ Tour Documentary: Paramount+ Unveils Trailer (VIDEO)

Madonna performs onstage during the 2019 Billboard Music Awards

Madonna is coming to Paramount+ as her latest concert documentary, Madame X , is set to premiere on the streamer on Friday, October 8.

Directed by Ricardo Gomes and SKNX, the upcoming film documents the European leg of Madonna’s Madame X Tour. Filmed in January 2020 during the pop star’s six-night residency in Lisbon, Portugal, the concert features 48 on-stage performers, including Madonna’s children, musicians and dancers from across the world, and the all-female Orquestra Batukadeiras.

The doc will launch on Paramount+ in the U.S., Latin America, Australia, the Nordics and Canada. Fans outside of those territories will be able to watch on MTV.

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“Sharing my vision with global audiences has been profoundly meaningful to me,” the “Material Girl” hitmaker said. “The opportunity to bring its message and the incandescent artistry of all involved to an even wider audience comes at a time when music is so deeply needed to remind us of the sacred bond of our shared humanity.”

The Madame X tour started in September 2019 in support of Madonna’s 14th studio album (also titled Madame X ). The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, marking her ninth leader in the U.S. However, the tour suffered several setbacks due to Madonna’s recurring knee injury and eventually ended abruptly on March 8, 2020, three days before its planned final date due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In the show, Madonna plays the titular Madame X, “a secret agent traveling around the world, changing identities, fighting for freedom, and bringing light to dark places.” The multi-time Grammy Award-winner first shared news of the concert film last week when she posted a teaser on her Instagram page.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Madonna (@madonna)

“Madonna is undoubtedly the world’s biggest superstar, never ceasing to push boundaries and shape the pop culture landscape,” said Bruce Gillmer, Chief Content Officer, Music, Paramount+ and President of Music, Music Talent, Programming & Events, ViacomCBS. “She and MTV together have an incredibly storied history and we are thrilled to continue to amplify our partnership globally with the exclusive world premiere of Madame X streaming on Paramount+ this October.”

Madame X , Premiere, Friday, October 8, Paramount+

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Madame X Tour

The Madame X Tour is the eleventh concert tour by American recording artist Madonna , launched in support of her fourteenth studio album Madame X . An all-theatre, show it began with 16 shows in the Howard Gilman Opera House in New York City on September 17, and will conclude on March 8 2020 at Le Grand Rex in Paris.

Set list [ ]

Review: Madonna's 'Madame X' concert film is compelling and confounding

Madonna’s experimental record “Madame X,” creatively inspired by her life in Portugal, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard album chart but didn’t produce any hits.

Nor did her creation of the eyepatch-wearing secret agent Madame X gain much pop-culture traction outside of her devoted fan base.

But at this stage in her extraordinary career, Madonna is – and should be – doing whatever she damn well wants.

Her film “Madame X,” which debuts Friday on Paramount+ , is artistically impressive but often confounding – an apt reflection of the music titan these days.

Directed by Ricardo Gomes and SKNX as the visual companion to her 14th studio album released in 2019, the film – and Madonna herself – are determined to make not just social statements but cinematic ones as well.

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Madonna biopic is in the works: Madonna plans to direct. co-write

Living in Lisbon since 2017 to support son David’s soccer interests, Madonna chose the city as the site of the concert recording in January 2020.

Her guests in the film are sweet and surprising – daughter Estere is part of a group singalong of “Express Yourself,” son David escorts her offstage to a chair in the crowd next to … Dave Chappelle – and the presence of all illuminate Madonna at her most unguarded.

Bookended by the spirit of James Baldwin and his quote that artists exist to disturb the peace, the show also presents Madonna telling the audience more than once during the production, “Don’t forget, none of this is real.”

Maybe so, but it is compelling. A few highlights:

Madonna's impressive handstand

Though only a moderate chart hit in 1994, the gently thumping “Human Nature” is the first immediately recognizable song in the set. Fans respond rapturously, but their biggest cheers are saved for Madonna’s acrobatic move – a handstand inside a circular cutout that would be impressive at any age, never mind at 61, her age when the show filmed.

Getting cozy with Madonna

Her Polaroid selfies taken onstage (and air-dried in a most Madonna method), which she auctioned off to fans to benefit her charity Raising Malawi, were an exceptional keepsake, since smartphones were prohibited at her shows.

New 'Life' for an old song

The much-maligned “American Life,” the title track of Madonna’s 2003 album, plays much better live. The midsong rap, which critics eviscerated when the album arrived, is delivered with fiery urgency as it seesaws with her high-voiced questioning: “Do I have to change my name? Am I gonna be a star?”

Madonna gives a Latin touch

The ornate staging is ideally used during “Crazy” (Madonna stands atop a baby grand piano, warding off handsy dancers) and the double punch of “La Isla Bonita” and “Medellín.” Her “True Blue” gem from 1986 ( originally written for, and rejected by, Michael Jackson ) coupled with the “Madame X” track – which features Colombian duet partner Maluma , shown on video during the show – are a sensuous melding of Latin sensibilities. Even Madonna’s theatrical tapping at a typewriter morphs into the backbeat of “Medellín,” which employs a significant chunk of the nearly 50-person cast to conga across the stage.

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Lourdes and Madonna are mirror images

In a visually stunning creation, Madonna sings “Frozen,” in all its haunted beauty, while inserted in a video of her oldest daughter, Lourdes “Lola” Leon, whose lithe dance moves prove her strong genes. The song is brushed with an additional percussive thrust, which only augments its exquisiteness.

Madonna's 'Prayer' still inspires

Toward the end of the show, Madonna is joined by a choir, perfectly aligned on the steps in the shape of an “X” behind her, to perform “Like a Prayer.” It’s the closest to the original of any non-“Madame X” songs buffed and tweaked for this new era, and Madonna continues to revel in the anthem’s religious overtones as she stands garbed in a black cassock adorned with crosses. The uplift provided by the song has not diminished with age.

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Madonna Reveals ‘Madame X’ Tour Dates

Following the June 14 release of her “Madame X” album, Madonna , Live Nation and Maverick have announced a series of “rare and intimate performances” to take place exclusively in theaters.

The “Madame X” tour will kick off September 12th at the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House in New York and will feature multiple nights of shows in each city including performances at the Chicago Theatre, The Wiltern in Los Angeles, the Colosseum at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, the Boch Center Wang Theatre in Boston, The Met in Philadelphia and at the Fillmore Miami Beach at the Jackie Gleason Theatre in 2019.

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MADAME X TOUR WILL NOW START SEPT 17TH AT BAM HOWARD GILMAN OPERA HOUSE

August 27, 2019 – For Immediate Release. As a result of the highly specialized production elements being delayed, Live Nation has confirmed that the first 3 concerts of Madonna’s Madame X Tour – a series of rare and intimate performances – have been delayed and that the tour will now start on Tuesday, September 17th at the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House. The shows previously scheduled for September 12th and 14th at the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House have been rescheduled to October 10th and 12th respectively. Tickets for the September 12th performance will be honored at the October 10th event. Tickets for the previously scheduled September 14th concert will be honored at the October 12th show. Refunds for either date if required will available via the original ticket purchase link accessed either via desktop or mobile. Unfortunately, due to scheduling limitations and venue availability, the show previously scheduled for September 15th is cancelled and refunds will be automatically issued to fans with tickets to this show. Statement from Madonna: "Madame ❌ Is a perfectionist and wants to give you the most unique, magical, and musical experience. She underestimated the amount of time it would take to bring this kind of intimate theatrical experience to you and wants it to be perfect!!! Thank you so much for your understanding." Fans requiring additional information may contact Ticketmaster as follows: - Customer Support Info: help.ticketmaster.com - Email: https://www.ticketmaster.com/h/contact-form.html - Phone: 800-653-8000 Ticketmaster Fan Support Hours (local time) Mon - Fri: 9 AM - 9 PM / Sat: 9 AM - 8 PM / Sun: 9 AM - 6 PM

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Madonna Announces Madame X Concert Documentary: Watch the Trailer

The film — which documents Madonna's Madame X tour — will be available for streaming Oct. 8 on Paramount+

Madonna will soon share her adventures as her alter-ego Madame X.

On Thursday, the queen of pop, 62, announced that her concert documentary Madame X will begin streaming on Paramount+ on Oct. 8.

The film will document her last world tour , an intimate, theatrical outing on which she performed her hits, in addition to tracks off her genre-spanning 14th album Madame X , released in 2019.

In a statement, the artist said: "Sharing my vision with global audiences has been profoundly meaningful to me. The opportunity to bring its message and the incandescent artistry of all involved to an even wider audience comes at a time when music is so deeply needed to remind us of the sacred bond of our shared humanity."

Madonna filmed the documentary in Lisbon, Portugal. Madonna and her children — David Banda, 15, Mercy James, 15, and 8-year-old twins Estere and Stella — relocated to the coastal city in 2017 so David could play soccer there. The Grammy winner has said the local culture inspired Madame X .

During the tour, the pop icon's eldest daughter Lourdes Leon, 24, appeared dancing in a video projection while Madonna performed her hit "Frozen," and her younger daughters would join her onstage for a singalong to "Express Yourself."

"Madame ❌ is finally ready to disturb the Peace," Madonna teased in an Instagram post Wednesday, sharing the trailer (watch above).

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Madonna Confirms Biopic Is Still in the Works, Unveils Title ‘Who’s That Girl’

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Madonna is back at work on her biopic, as the iconic singer confirmed on social media.

Madonna shared on Instagram that she is back writing the film ‘s screenplay, with the feature now titled “Who’s That Girl,” a classic reference in the annals of Madonna lore. “Who’s That Girl” is also the title of James Foley’s 1987 comedy feature (which marked one of Madonna’s first movie roles and co-starred Griffin Dunne), a soundtrack single for the film, and Madonna’s world tour that same year.

It literally is: The songwriter has been in development on her biopic for years, with Diablo Cody first co-writing the screenplay, then titled “Little Sparrow.” In 2021, Madonna collaborated with Erin Cressida Wilson, who is now credited on the rewritten version. Armed with a fresh script and a new title, Madonna also announced she will direct the feature. Related Stories Criterion Channel’s August 2024 Lineup Includes Paul Thomas Anderson and Philip Seymour Hoffman Retrospectives ‘Crumb Catcher’ Review: Debut Feature Director Chris Skotchdopole Serves a Painful, Promising Mess

Julia Garner was announced to portray the Grammy winner before the original incarnation of the project was shelved. Julia Fox also confirmed to IndieWire that she was cast as Debi Mazar. However, Madonna opted instead to go on tour to promote her new album rather than shoot the film, which was said to culminate with Madonna’s 1990 Blonde Ambition tour. The feature was officially shelved by Universal in January 2023.

“I know it was gonna be either tour or movie and then she went on tour,” Fox told IndieWire. “So I don’t know when the movie will be picking back up again or when they’re going to start working on it again. But I didn’t hear anything. I actually don’t know.”

She added, “I mean, I’d still love to but I genuinely don’t know. They are going back, you know, when, when they’re like 19 and they first meet. I feel like I might have already aged out of that casting, but we’ll see.”

“I didn’t give a fuck,” Lee said. “She’s who I had in mind, and she wanted to do it, so that was it. She’s a pro.”

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Who's That Girl

3 SONGS • 15 MINUTES • JUN 29 1987

TRACKS TRACKS
DETAILS DETAILS

Madonna changed the trajectory of popular music not long after "Borderline" became her first Top Ten hit in 1984. Fusing post-disco dance with effervescent pop, the song was unexpected and fresh, a trick that soon became her signature. Over a career that lasted for decades, Madonna ushered underground sounds into the mainstream, specializing in trends percolating in dance clubs. As she arrived at the dawn of the MTV era, she seized the possibilities of music videos, creating a series of sexy, stylish clips that earned her the reputation of a provocateur while also establishing the network as the bastion for hip culture in the 1980s. Madonna recorded many of the pop anthems that defined that decade -- "Like a Virgin," "Material Girl," "Live to Tell," "Papa Don't Preach," "Open Your Heart," "Like a Prayer," "Express Yourself" -- and in the process she created the archetype of a modern pop star: one whose music was inextricably tied with its visual representation, and one who was loathe to trade upon past glories. As Madonna entered her second decade of stardom, she continued to take artistic risks; she delved into modern R&B for 1994's Bedtime Stories and electronica for 1998's Ray of Light. During the 2000s and 2010s, Madonna continued to be driven by that restless artistic spirit, a move helped put the entirety of her body of work into perspective, emphasizing the common threads and consistency that run throughout her music -- connections that were as evident on albums such as 2019's Madame X as they were on retrospectives like Finally Enough Love, a 2022 chronicle of her dance club hits.

She moved from her native Michigan to New York in 1977 with dreams of becoming a ballet dancer. She studied with choreographer Alvin Ailey and modeled. In 1979, she became part of the Patrick Hernandez Revue, a disco outfit that had the hit "Born to Be Alive." She traveled to Paris with Hernandez, and it was there that she met Dan Gilroy, who would soon become her boyfriend. Upon returning to New York, the pair formed the Breakfast Club, a pop/dance group. Madonna originally played drums for the band, but she soon became the lead singer. In 1980, she left the band and formed Emmy with her former boyfriend, drummer Stephen Bray. Soon, Bray and Madonna broke off from the group and began working on some dance/disco-oriented tracks. A demo tape of these worked its way to Mark Kamins, a New York-based DJ/producer. Kamins directed the tape to Sire Records, which signed the singer in 1982.

Kamins produced Madonna's first single, "Everybody," which became a club and dance hit at the end of 1982; her second single, 1983's "Physical Attraction," was another club hit. In June of 1983, she had her third club hit with the bubbly "Holiday," which was produced by Jellybean Benitez. Madonna's self-titled debut album was released in September of 1983; "Holiday" became her first Top 40 hit the following month. "Borderline" became her first Top Ten hit in March of 1984, beginning a remarkable string of 17 consecutive Top Ten hits. While "Lucky Star" was climbing to number four, she began working on her first starring role in a feature film, Susan Seidelman's Desperately Seeking Susan.

Madonna's second album, the Nile Rodgers-produced Like a Virgin, was released at the end of 1984. The title track hit number one in December, staying at the top of the charts for six weeks; it was the start of a whirlwind year for the singer. During 1985, Madonna became an international celebrity, selling millions of records on the strength of her stylish, sexy videos and forceful personality. After "Material Girl" became a number two hit in March, Madonna began her first tour, supported by the Beastie Boys. "Crazy for You" became her second number one single in May. Desperately Seeking Susan was released in July, becoming a box office hit; it also prompted a planned video release of A Certain Sacrifice, a low-budget erotic drama she filmed in 1979. A Certain Sacrifice wasn't the only embarrassing skeleton in the closet dragged into the light during the summer of 1985 -- both Playboy and Penthouse published nude photos of Madonna that she'd posed for in 1977. Nevertheless, her popularity continued unabated, with thousands of teenage girls adopting her sexy appearance, being dubbed "Madonna wannabes." In August, she married actor Sean Penn.

Madonna began collaborating with Patrick Leonard at the beginning of 1986; Leonard would co-write most of her biggest hits in the '80s, including "Live to Tell," which hit number one in June of 1986. A more ambitious and accomplished record than her two previous albums, True Blue was released the following month, to both more massive commercial success (it was a number one in both the U.S. and the U.K., selling over five million copies in America alone) and critical acclaim. "Papa Don't Preach" became her fourth number one hit in the U.S. While her musical career was thriving, her film career took a savage hit with the November release of Shanghai Surprise. Starring Madonna and Penn, the comedy received terrible reviews, which translated into disastrous box office returns.

At the beginning of 1987, she had her fifth number one single with "Open Your Heart," the third number one from True Blue alone. The title cut from the soundtrack of her third feature film, Who's That Girl?, was another chart-topping hit, although the film itself was another box office bomb. The year 1988 was relatively quiet for Madonna as she spent the first half of the year acting in David Mamet's Speed the Plow on Broadway. In the meantime, she released the remix album You Can Dance. After withdrawing the divorce papers she filed at the beginning of 1988, she divorced Penn at the beginning of 1989.

Like a Prayer, released in the spring of 1989, was her most ambitious and far-reaching album, incorporating elements of pop, rock, and dance. It was another number one hit and launched the number one title track as well as "Express Yourself," "Cherish," and "Keep It Together," three more Top Ten hits. In April 1990, she began her massive Blonde Ambition tour, which ran throughout the entire year. "Vogue" became a number one hit in May, setting the stage for her co-starring role in Warren Beatty's Dick Tracy; it was her most successful film appearance since Desperately Seeking Susan. Madonna released a greatest-hits album, The Immaculate Collection, at the end of the year. It featured two new songs, including the number one single "Justify My Love," which sparked another controversy with its sexy video; the second new song, "Rescue Me," became the highest-debuting single by a female artist in U.S. chart history, entering the charts at number 15. Truth or Dare, a documentary of the Blonde Ambition tour, was released to positive reviews and strong ticket sales in the spring of 1991.

Madonna returned to the charts in the summer of 1992 with the number one "This Used to Be My Playground," a single featured in the film A League of Their Own, which featured the singer in a small part. Later that year, Madonna released Sex, an expensive, steel-bound soft-core pornographic book that featured hundreds of erotic photographs of herself, several models, and other celebrities -- including Isabella Rossellini, Big Daddy Kane, Naomi Campbell, and Vanilla Ice -- as well as selected prose. Sex received scathing reviews and enormous negative publicity, but that didn't stop the accompanying album, Erotica, from selling over two million copies. Bedtime Stories, released two years later, was a more subdued affair than Erotica. Initially, it didn't chart as impressively, prompting some critics to label her a has-been, yet the album spawned her biggest hit, "Take a Bow," which spent seven weeks at number one. It also featured the Björk-penned "Bedtime Stories," which became her first single not to make the Top 40; its follow-up, "Human Nature," also failed to crack the Top 40. Nevertheless, Bedtime Stories marked her seventh album to go multi-platinum.

Beginning in 1995, Madonna began one of her most subtle image makeovers as she lobbied for the title role in the film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita. Backing away from the overt sexuality of Erotica and Bedtime Stories, Madonna recast herself as an upscale sophisticate, and the compilation Something to Remember fit into the plan nicely. Released in the fall of 1995, around the same time she won the coveted role of Evita Peron, the album was comprised entirely of ballads, designed to appeal to the mature audience that would also be the target of Evita. As the filming was completed, Madonna announced she was pregnant and her daughter, Lourdes, was born late in 1996, just as Evita was scheduled for release. The movie was greeted with generally positive reviews and Madonna began a campaign for an Oscar nomination that resulted in her winning the Golden Globe for Best Actress (Musical or Comedy), but not the coveted Academy Award nomination. The soundtrack for Evita, however, was a modest hit, with a dance remix of "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" and the newly written "You Must Love Me" both becoming hits.

In 1997, she worked with producer William Orbit on her first album of new material since 1994's Bedtime Stories. The resulting release, Ray of Light, was heavily influenced by electronica, techno, and trip-hop, thereby updating her classic dance-pop sound for the late '90s. Ray of Light received uniformly excellent reviews upon its March 1998 release and debuted at number two on the charts. Within a month, the record was shaping up to be her biggest album since Like a Prayer. Two years later she returned with Music, which reunited her with Orbit and also featured production work from Mark "Spike" Stent and Mirwais, a French electropop producer/musician in the vein of Daft Punk and Air.

The year 2000 also saw the birth of Madonna's second child, Rocco, whom she had with filmmaker Guy Ritchie; the two married at the very end of the year. With Ritchie as director and Madonna as star, the pair released a remake of the film Swept Away in 2002; the movie didn't fare well with critics or at the box office. Her sober 2003 album, American Life, debuted at number one on the Billboard charts but it didn't generate any hit singles in America, but it did produce two hit singles in the U.K., "Nothing Fails" and "Love Profusion." That same year also saw the release of Madonna's successful children's book, The English Roses, which was followed by several more novels in future years.

Confessions on a Dance Floor marked her return to music, specifically to the dance-oriented material that had made her a star. Released in late 2005, the album topped the Billboard 200 chart and was accompanied by a worldwide tour in 2006, the same year that I'm Going to Tell You a Secret, a CD/DVD made during her Re-Invention Tour, came out. In 2007, Madonna released another CD/DVD set, The Confessions Tour, this time chronicling her tour of the same name.

She inched closer to the completion of her Warner Bros. contract with 2008's Hard Candy, featuring collaborations with the Neptunes and Timbaland. As poorly received as it was, the bold album boasted a Top Five hit in "4 Minutes," and it was supported with the Sticky & Sweet Tour, which concluded in September 2009 (a month prior to her filing for divorce from Ritchie) and produced yet another CD/DVD package, released in 2010. It was her final Warner Bros. release and set the stage for her long-term recording deal with Live Nation.

Madonna began work on her 12th album midway through 2011, with the goal of releasing it early in 2012. The subsequent full-length, MDNA, featured production from French electronic musician and DJ Martin Solveig, as well as longtime collaborator Orbit. The album's title, an abbreviation of Madonna's name, appeared on the heels of her performance at the 2012 Super Bowl. Preceded by the Top Ten single "Give Me All Your Luvin'" (featuring Nicki Minaj and M.I.A.), MDNA debuted at number one across the world, including the U.S. and U.K. Her MDNA Tour took up the rest of the year, as she performed in Europe, the Middle East, North America, and South America. She filmed a concert special, and also released the live album MDNA World Tour in September 2013. At the beginning of 2014, Madonna announced that she was starting work on her 13th studio album. Taking to social media to capture the process, she revealed that recording sessions with the likes of Avicii, Diplo, and Kanye West had taken place. Excerpts from the sessions leaked toward the end of 2014, forcing Madonna to release a digital teaser EP by the end of the year. The full release of Rebel Heart came in March 2015; the album peaked at number two in the U.S. and U.K. She toured from the fall of 2015 to the spring of 2016, playing more than 75 dates in North America, Europe, and Asia.

In April 2019, Madonna began to issue singles leading up to the June release of her 14th album, Madame X, starting with "Medellín," a collaboration with Colombian reggaeton singer Maluma. The album featured co-production by Mirwais, Mike Dean, Diplo, and Jason Evigan, as well as collaborations with guest artists including Brazilian singer Anitta and rappers Swae Lee and Quavo.

Upon its June 14, 2019 release, Madame X debuted at number one in the U.S. and number two in the U.K., generating four number one Billboard Dance Club hits: "Medellin," "Crave," "I Rise," and "I Don't Search I Find." Madonna's remarkable four-decade run at the top of the Dance Club charts was chronicled on Finally Enough Love: 50 Number Ones, a 2022 compilation that featured nearly all of her chart-topping dance singles. Finally Enough Love was the first release in a prospective reissue program by Warner, launched in 2022 to celebrate her 40th anniversary as a recording artist. This catalog series coincided with Madonna developing a biopic chronicling her own career, a film she planned to direct herself. In June 2023, she joined the Weeknd and Playboi Carti for the song "Popular" as part of the soundtrack to the Netflix drama The Idol. A month later, she embarked on The Celebration Tour, her first greatest-hits-themed live show. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

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Carven's Louise Trotter is Finding her Groove: “I Like Things To Be Practical and Useful and Beautiful at the Same Time.”

Image may contain Adult Person Desk Furniture Table Pen Chair Accessories Glasses Text Boat and Transportation

Early on weekday mornings, Louise Trotter begins the 20-minute cycle from her home on Paris’s Left Bank to Carven’s headquarters just off the Champs-Élysées. By now, she knows the commute by heart: In February of last year, Trotter took up the role of creative director at the 79-year-old maison, reawakening it from a five-year slumber, and a chauffeur—customary for an artistic director at the helm of a Parisian fashion house—simply doesn’t fly with her bluff Sunderland upbringing.

“As a designer, you have to remain part of society,” she explains. “How do you feel the world if you’re not in the middle of it?”

Cycling through the streets of the French capital lets her observe at close range the “busy women” who inspire her work—she’ll often count how many are wearing sneakers, or make a mental note of the bags they carry. It’s also an opportunity to road test her designs in the wild: On the day we meet, Trotter is wearing a long black dress from her fall 2024 collection, cut from a high-twist wool tailoring fabric imbued with a delicate sheen; on its B-side, you catch a glimpse of a bare back. Unlike her predecessors at Carven, Trotter isn’t interested in dressing an ingenue—she wants us to marvel at the beauty of clothes seemingly undone, as though their wearer is gradually undressing—even while on a bike, or riding the subway.

“We also make this dress in a slightly padded nylon, which is like [wearing] a duvet,” she says. “I’m going to keep that one for winter.” Behind her, the window of her office studio frames a view of the Eiffel Tower, backlit by spring sunshine, the gold tint of the lenses of her prescription Ray-Ban aviators matching the city’s afternoon glow. On her feet: the chisel-toe Vendôme mules, which double as house slippers.

Image may contain Clothing Glove Adult Person Accessories Bag Handbag Conversation Bracelet Jewelry and Belt

RADICAL CHIC From Louise Trotter’s fall 2024 Carven collection. Photograph by Rochelle Marie Adam, courtesy of Carven.

It’s hard not to fangirl over Trotter. Now in her mid-50s, she inhabits the youthfulness of a Love Story –era Ali MacGraw in the way she rests her chestnut brown hair behind her shoulders, and she’s wearing barely any makeup, if at all. Trotter jokes that, according to the tenets of Parisian style, it’s incredibly gauche to look like you’ve tried too hard, but her nonchalance feels punk, not prescriptive, especially when she hugs you with the reassurance of an older sister.

Now in her second season at Carven, she seems very much at home. During frequent visits to the maison’s archive, Trotter discovered a kindred spirit in the late Marie-Louise Carven, who launched her namesake label in 1945, lived to 105, flew planes in her downtime, and was still designing clothes in her 80s. “Madame Carven wanted women to live their best lives,” Trotter says. “She had a utopian view of life, and was really quite radical.”

Both Louise and Marie-Louise cut a petite figure, both of them practical women who have focused their work around a kind of deceptively simple construction. “The most fascinating part for me is often inside [the garment],” Trotter says of her own forensic gaze. “I like to look at how [Marie-Louise] built clothes, and the consideration of the interior more than the exterior, actually.”

An early adopter of the plastic zip, Marie-Louise used her talents to help women get dressed—and undressed—with ease. Her designs celebrated women’s curves—most notably with the push-up bra, which she patented in 1950—and while she was among the designers who pioneered ready-to-wear, her atelier was a place for playfulness too. Likewise, when you spend time with Trotter, you quickly realize she’s perennially teetering on the edge of rapturous laughter—and she loves that Marie-Louise referred to one of her designs as “the lucky dress.”

“She was a woman creating clothes for women,” Trotter says. “She wanted to inspire confidence in them. There was an amen for me in that.”

After stints at Gap and Calvin Klein in New York during the 2000s, Trotter spent nine years at the helm of Joseph, establishing a fuss-free uniform for working women informed by menswear. (The trousers she designed at Joseph still enjoy cult status. Modeled on workout pants, they preempted the rise of the clean-girl aesthetic.) In 2018 she moved to Paris to become the first female creative director at Lacoste, departing in 2023.

When preparing her first Carven collection, for spring 2024, Trotter gave herself a mantra. “It’s just a first chapter. Let’s not say too much. Let’s not try to overimpress.”

Her debut did impress, though: Trotter ushered in sheer calico pencil skirts, pressed silk shirts with padded collars, slouchy bustiers that conceal smart corsetry, and a relaxed- fit black hourglass minidress—an homage to the padded-waist Esperanto suit that Marie-Louise showed in 1951—which Trotter repeated on the fall 2024 runway in terra-cotta. There was also a black tabard, which isn’t a million miles away from the first piece Trotter ever made: a tank top to wear to a Madonna concert with a rah-rah skirt. (Her grandmother donated her tablecloth for the occasion and showed a teenage Louise how to pin in the shoulder slope. “My imagination exploded,” she says.)

Image may contain Dressing Room Indoors Room Person Accessories Bag Handbag Adult Face Head and Purse

SETTING UP HOUSE Marie-Louise Carven fitting a model in 1950, five years after founding the label.

Trotter didn’t read her glowing show reviews—phone calls and messages from friends asking if they could wear the clothes was all the feedback she needed, with her 14-year-old daughter Coco, the eldest of her three children with husband Yuske Tanaka, first in line. “She’s my size, so we share everything. I brought one of our bags home the other day, and that was quickly on her arm,” Trotter says proudly.

Day to day, Trotter likens her job to a home renovation. “You start with the foundations, what you want to say: What’s the feeling? Most importantly: Who is the woman? What’s her silhouette? And then you slowly build.”

Her decision to shift the creative center of the brand back to Madame Carven’s original building has brought the analogy to life. Upon her arrival last February, Trotter oversaw a light restoration of the vaulted rooms that make up her creative studio. The ground floor boutique occupies the site of Marie-Louise Carven’s first store, and a neighboring apartment—untouched in decades—has become an atmospheric showroom, complete with trompe l’oeil marble paint effects. It’s here that her runway looks will be styled and fitted on to models.

The Last Dinner Party Has a Baroque Sound With the Style to Match

We embark on a kind of sensory-laden house tour. “[The idea for] my padding comes from here,” she says, pressing her fingertips into the faded velour wall coverings. Sometimes, she’ll drape the stainless-steel kitchen table in a large tablecloth so that she and her team can dine together, and there are other trappings of domesticity that role-play the intimacy of family life: Trotter’s toiles hang in the closet, and the jewelry vitrines in the butter yellow bathroom look like vanities.

“I like clothes that feel like you are staying in bed,” she says, handing me a black cotton-satin coat off a rack, which I slip on with the ease of my morning dressing gown. As I hug myself, the curved shoulders take on the grandeur of an opera coat. “When I came here, I wanted the house to be a home, not just a maison,” she says. “I like things to be practical and useful and beautiful at the same time.”

In the ground floor boutique at Carven HQ, I pull on a pillowy silk T-shirt. The sales assistant suggests I team it with a pencil skirt, but I’m thinking about accessorizing with bare skin to give the impression that I’m swaddled in a marshmallow white comforter—and nothing else. It is, after all, just about long enough to pass as a dress. What would the Louises do? I tie a peplum belt around my hips, fastening the ribbons in a loose bow at my waist, my silhouette forming a cushioned hourglass. It is now evening in Paris. I snap a mirror selfie and begin drafting an email.

To: Louise Trotter.

Re: Lucky dress?

COMMENTS

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