Madonna: Revisit our 2008 cover story with the pop revolutionary

Welcome to the Archive Pull, a brand new sequence delving into the 30-year historical past of our print journal. This text was initially revealed in our April 2008 concern.

Contained in the non-public workplace of Madonna’s London residence the partitions are full of highly effective, private pictures she has collected over time. Splice all of them collectively and so they would possibly present a unusual visible collage of her psychology. Madonna chooses to sit down on the sofa, sporting blue denims, a easy shirt over a black bra and pure, understated make-up. Her hair is relaxed and he or she has an air of studied calm about her. There is no such thing as a fuss nor pomp nor ceremony. For those who had been anticipating a diva in erotic using gear and crop, you’ll have to attend till the subsequent tour. For those who thought she’d be in kimono and white slippers, you then’ve bought the flawed pop star. In these intimate environment and along with her pure dancer’s grace, she comes throughout as younger and delightful than when she seems on tour or on the world stage, misshaped and exaggerated by the media’s distorting lens. For her newest album, Madonna has collaborated with chart-busting producers and writing companions Pharrell Williams, Timbaland and Justin Timberlake.

Are they the sexiest producers on the earth?

Madonna: By way of the best way they appear or the music they make?

Each?

Madonna: (Laughs) Yeah… they’re sizzling!

Music from the brand new album performs by way of crystal-clear Bose audio system wired to Madonna’s laptop computer. A self-portrait by feminine artwork icon Frida Kahlo hangs immediately in entrance – Kahlo appears again, defiant, powerful, warrior-like, with a wild, playful monkey round her neck. 

“Sticky and candy,” sings Madonna, the vocals repeating over the swirling beats on the Pharrell-produced opener “Sweet Store”. . . 

“I believe Pharrell is a pure musician,” continues Madonna. “I like his inventiveness – he would seize my acoustic guitar, which he couldn’t play, however begin taking part in percussion on it. He would discover bottles and begin taking part in them with spoons. He’s very creative within the studio, he’s not treasured and I like his lo-fi strategy to creating music.” 

“That suga is raaawww,” raps Madonna

“He’s additionally slightly child and foolish… he would come to work, take these Mickey Mouse slippers out of his large Hermès bag and put them on… (laughing) I don’t really feel like he took himself too severely.” 

In {a photograph} by Helmut Newton, a lady who appears like a Intercourse-era clone of Madonna sits on the fringe of a mattress with a gun in her mouth, as if she’s about to blow her head off. “4 Minutes to Save the World”, is an pressing, clarion name of a music. Timbaland’s horns and pulsating, thrumpy funk beats underscore Madonna’s attractive, breathy vocals and the Michael Jackson-like melody sung by Justin. Think about Superwoman, Batman and Robin entwined in an apocalyptic threesome – this may be the soundtrack. “Save the world”, exclaims Justin on the finish of a music loaded with irony and double that means. 

“I can completely relate to Justin as a songwriter,” says Madonna. “We’d sit down collectively and say okay, let’s provide you with an idea. What story can we wish to inform? We’d riff off of one another and play with phrases. He likes to play with phrases and the rhythm of phrases and so do I.” 

“See my booty get down,” raps Madonna 

And what about Timbaland?

Madonna: He would appear like he was disappearing from the room, then he would take his headphones off and all of a sudden blast one thing on the audio system and provides the thumbs up. So he was type of a silent godfather to the entire challenge.

There’s something each deeply facile and in addition genuinely creative concerning the album. Taking its cue from the uptempo future-disco sound of Confessions, it’s nonetheless primarily a membership album, however this time it’s laced with sizzling and attractive R&B dancefloor firecrackers. The album comes purposefully loaded with mainstream US chart intercourse attraction, but it surely additionally has a extra modern hip hop edge… if Dangermouse’s Gray Album was the literal template for layering white pop with hip hop, then Madonna’s new album is the subsequent style flux, a sonic collage that might but come to be the synthesis of what Timbaland and Pharrell have been working in direction of for one of the best a part of this decade – the sound of a self-satisfied America teetering on the sting of nihilism; or to place it extra graphically – the sound of intercourse with out consequence. 

“Intercourse with you is unbelievable,” breathes Madonna

So, how would you describe the temper of this file?

Madonna: I felt extra introspective as a result of I used to be writing with Pharrell and Justin. On Confessions, which I wrote all of the lyrics to, I wished to keep away from something severe, though the phrase ‘confession’ implies seriousness. I simply wished to make a frivolous dance file, and with this one I needed to dig deeper and go to a distinct place… For me, it’s a real collaboration, intellectually and artistically.

The celebs have lined up with Madonna for good trigger. It’s New York Vogue Week and Gucci have erected an enormous tent on the grounds of the United Nations for an evening hosted by Madonna in assist of her basis Elevating Malawi. In attendance are Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, a closely pregnant J-Lo, a much less pregnant Gwyneth, Drew Barrymore, and lots of extra. However probably the most surprising star to emerge is Madonna’s daughter Lourdes, who handles questions from the press with allure and pure ease. As Madonna takes to the rostrum within the subdued glamour of a easy however elegant grey-crepe Gucci gown, she seems approachable, ambassadorial even. In a heartfelt and convincing speech, she talks about altering individuals’s lives and altering her personal within the course of: “I’ve spent the final 25 years within the leisure enterprise. I’ve earned a popularity for being many issues. For pushing the envelope. For being a provocateur, for by no means taking no for a solution, for endlessly reinventing myself, for being a cult member, a kidnapper, for being bold, outrageous, irreverent, and for by no means settling for second finest. And that’s simply the good things. Then sooner or later I wakened and I requested myself – what’s being one of the best? And the way can I be one of the best once I know that thousands and thousands of individuals world wide by no means have a shot at being ‘finest’? If I’m as a result of we’re, then what am I doing concerning the ‘we’? ’Trigger God is aware of I’ve taken care of the ‘I’.”

What shocked you most about that night time?

Madonna: I used to be shocked how nervous I used to be. Once I bought up, I felt accountable, I had a whole lot of strain on me, however I didn’t think about how nervous I used to be going to really feel. It additionally ended up being much more intimate than I assumed. There was one thing each actually grand and intimate about it.

What was the excessive level of the night time?

Madonna: When Rihanna began taking part in and I knew I may chill out. I may dance and never fear. Earlier than that, I felt like I used to be accountable for completely every part.

The phrase ‘I’m as a result of we’re’ was clearly the slogan of the night time – would you say that you’ve at all times been compassionate about different individuals, or was it one thing you found afterward in life?

Madonna: I believe I used to be at all times compassionate about individuals in my speedy circle… I’ve at all times been a caretaker to my household, to my brothers and sisters, to individuals round me, individuals I work with, just like the musicians and dancers. I’ve at all times taken individuals in, wished to rehabilitate individuals. However I by no means thought of my duty to the world at giant. 

A trailer from I Am As a result of We Are, the documentary movie Madonna produced, introduces us to the prophetic Zulu phrase that explains how our lives are inextricably sure to the poverty lure and the HIV/Aids epidemic in Africa. The trailer is inventively edited and reveals harrowing black and white images of the victims of Aids alongside touching cinematography of Malawian life. Candid interviews with leaders and residents alike are spliced by way of the imagery. There may be clearly an emergency in Africa, however why did Madonna select Malawi? As Madonna says, “I didn’t. Malawi selected me.” “The extra you recognize, the extra you realise you don’t know and the extra you can’t flip your again on issues,” says Madonna. “I suppose that’s why individuals typically don’t wish to know extra, as a result of at a soul degree they perceive that the extra they know, the extra they must do. We stay in a world filled with distractions, so we will just about maintain ourselves so busy that we don’t have to have interaction… yeah… so, I suppose the problem is to stay on the earth and revel in all the issues the world has to supply, together with the distractions, however not be so distracted that you just don’t discover that there’s a world occurring round you.”

“Save the world,” says Justin Timberlake on the finish of the brand new single

How did you handle balancing engaged on this file, when you had been producing the movie on Malawi and placing the fundraising occasion collectively?

Madonna: I discover that I now use making music as a form of antidote to issues which might be extra anxiousness scary. Confessions On a Dance Ground was a launch for me and in a manner that’s how engaged on this file was. I had arrange an enhancing suite within the basement for the documentary, and would go from sitting there watching hours and hours of footage of individuals dying, to going to the studio. I minimize out a whole lot of stuff that folks simply couldn’t deal with – a whole lot of actually painful issues. And to see this imagery over and over, of kids dying and moms weeping, burying their kids and vice-versa… I wanted a launch from that. Going into the studio was that launch. I’m not going to say it was straightforward, but it surely was the alternative.

“The street to hell is paved with good intentions,” sings Madonna 

“I believe all fears lead from the concern of demise itself,” she’s going to say later 

Do you may have an unrealised dream for a efficiency?

Madonna: I’ve at all times wished to do intimate performances. My dream is to go round doing reveals in opera homes however you recognize, who makes cash in opera homes?

If that’s your dream although, you need to do it as soon as.

Madonna: Sure, however once I create my reveals they’re often fairly intricate. They don’t increase and collapse to various stage sizes. So, I form of put myself in a nook and solely decide venues that may accommodate my kind of monstrous manufacturing. I’ve at all times wished to do grand reveals however in actually intimate venues, which by no means appears to be potential.

However isn’t that the problem – to make the grand appear intimate?

Madonna: I simply love theatre and the magic of theatre. I like going to reveals like Cirque du Soleil since you are so shut. You’ll be able to hear individuals respiration and you’ll see their sweat, you may see the work. And but you may nonetheless be pulled into the magic of every part, and be tricked by the phantasm of 1 highlight and in addition the hazard of it being stay. You already know, you may’t take it again. It’s within the second. For those who make a mistake, then you need to personal that mistake, each night time is totally different and each second is totally different. Every viewers that you’ve adjustments your efficiency. I like that greater than something.

Do you assume that you’ll at all times push your self to carry out at such a bodily demanding degree? With a lot emphasis on dance and a lot emphasis in your physique as properly?

Madonna: Yeah, in all probability, as a result of I’m a masochist. (Laughs)

Madonna is holding a gorgeous black and white portrait of Edith Piaf. It reveals Piaf as a tiny spotlit determine on the Olympia stage. Shot from excessive within the stalls, it concurrently captures all of her energy and vulnerability. “I like this image,” says Madonna. It reveals a performer liked however on their own – without delay current and but remoted, an island of solace in an environment of tender admiration.

“I am not fearful about fucking up – I actually have a panic assault, that everybody else is respiration my air. It is onerous to explain” – Madonna

Do you are feeling susceptible or invincible on stage?

Madonna: Each.

Are you able to describe a number of the feelings that run by way of your thoughts throughout your reveals?

Madonna: I’ve moments the place I really feel extremely invincible and know that I’ve the viewers in my hand – I do know that every part is completely excellent… after which I’ve panic assaults, the place I really feel like everyone seems to be respiration my air and I can’t stay as much as all people’s expectations, and I would simply die on stage.

What do you do to tug your self by way of?

Madonna: I usually attempt to flip my again to the viewers, take a deep breath and remind myself that it’s all momentary. So, it doesn’t matter should you fuck up? I’m not fearful about fucking up – I actually have a panic assault that everybody else is respiration my air. It’s onerous to explain. When you may have panic assaults you can’t rationalise them, clearly there’s sufficient oxygen for me but it surely by no means occurs outside, it’s usually in indoor sports activities arenas that really feel very shut… all of a sudden, I really feel claustrophobic. It’s not a concern of performing. 

A sequence of feminine Olympic divers photographed by the legendary Leni Riefenstahl are framed and propped alongside the wall. It was Riefenstahl that created heroically stylised movies for the 1936 Berlin Olympics and who – regardless of her creative credibility and unbiased eye – was without end labelled as a Nazi propagandist due to her documentary Triumph of The Will. She was snubbed by Hollywood however saved working, making unbelievable photographic sequence such because the Nubas of Sudan. Filth and Knowledge, Madonna’s narrative characteristic movie has simply premiered on the Berlin Movie Competition to very combined essential evaluations. But Madonna is resolutely pleased with it and star Eugene Hutz’s efficiency. Both as an actress or on this case, co-screenwriter and director, Madonna has discovered little love from the film business. But there have been some convincing performances (Desperately Looking for Susan, Dick Tracy), some occasional excessive factors (Evita), however actually it’s within the realm of brief movies like Steven Klein’s X-STaTIC PRO=CeSS, which might be seen on Jonas Akerlund’s I’m Going to Inform You a Secret, the place Madonna comes into her personal as a multi-dimensional artist and performer. Madonna is no doubt the short-form video star of the century, and one who has elevated it to a positive artwork. 

It says within the blurb for Filth and Knowledge, ‘Whether or not we take the trail of knowledge or the trail of filth, we find yourself in the identical enlightened place.’ Do you consider that?

Madonna: I believe one should select – even should you select the flawed path, you’re going to get to the tip faster. I don’t assume the universe conspires to assist a fence-sitter. I believe you’ve bought to select and go down both street. I believe should you select the trail of knowledge, eventually you’re going to be wanting filth. For those who select the trail of filth, eventually you’re going to be wanting enlightenment. So you find yourself in the identical spot. 

You’ll be able to’t steadiness the 2?

I didn’t say you couldn’t, however I believe it’s flawed to guage individuals on both aspect. I believe there’s as a lot to study within the gutter as there’s up in some enlightened place… completely. And in reality, I discover individuals who have been to the darkish aspect and are available out of it are finally far more fascinating individuals.

As a result of they’ve survived and have a narrative to inform. . .

Madonna: Probably the most gentle comes from transformed darkness… 

On Madonna’s desk are portraits of Man Ritchie and her kids, seven-year-old Rocco, 11-year-old Lourdes, and their most up-to-date addition David. She has at all times introduced a menace to conformism and even now, established because the best-selling feminine artist of all time, even on the cusp of turning 50, she is greater than ever in a position to radicalise public opinion on nearly any concern, from her beauty nips and tucks, to not letting her kids watch tv. By using the globalisation of MTV and changing into the primary feminine main video star, Madonna’s symbiotic relationship with the media, her followers and the general public was sealed. She at all times drew the road in interviews between what was private and non-private data. Nevertheless, the lengths she was ready to go to grow to be public property had been by no means in query. Now with household and spirituality within the combine, she tries to redraw the strains however some would say it’s too late. The much less she provides of herself now, the extra they nonetheless attempt to take.

“If it’s in opposition to the legislation, arrest me. For those who can deal with it, undress me,” sings Madonna

I wish to ask you about concern and what you’re most afraid of? I believe that every one fears result in the concern of demise. So, being completely trustworthy – demise.

Does that embody a dwelling demise – acceptance?

Madonna: The top of something is an implied demise. The top of a relationship, the tip of a profession, the tip of life, the bodily life as we all know it. Am I sitting round being consciously afraid of it? No. However I believe it’s extra of an unconscious factor. If we ever have fearful moments, should you hint it, you actually dig deep – it would all result in that one factor.

Do you discover age a bonus, or do you see getting older as a difficulty?

Madonna: Properly, it’s a bonus in phrases that you just’ve bought much more expertise and also you are likely to not make the identical errors. And you are feeling a bit wiser and fewer impulsive. It’s nice to really feel skilled. However I additionally work with people who find themselves half my age, so I really feel like I’ve to work even tougher to maintain up with all people… however the reality of the matter is I can kick all of their asses! I suppose I’m okay for now (laughs). It does maintain the flame below my foot, although.

Do you continue to really feel emotionally related to the pictures out of your previous, or do you are feeling disassociated from them?

Madonna: Generally, I see an image of me and I actually keep in mind that second – and it brings again reminiscences, very particular reminiscences. And different pictures that I see, I simply assume – who’s that? I don’t know that lady! (Laughs) I don’t remorse any of it, however I do generally assume, ‘Oh god, what was I considering… Why did I put on that, why did I do this?’… all types of issues. 

“I’ll be your one cease (one cease) Sweet Store,” sings Madonna.

The music continues…

Director of images Sharif Hamza; Photographic Assistants; Sebastian Mader and Matt Hawke; Lighting technician David Devlin; Retouching Allan Finamore at Epilogue Imaging