Sunday, May 20, 2012

5 Reasons why Madonna's MDNA Flopped

pic from Haus of David tumblr

Madonna fans, here's the thing... MDNA flopped. According to her record company and William Orbit, the CD is a fail.

So how did this happened? William Orbit has his reasons, but I also have mine.
  1. The first single, Give Me All Your Lovin was a bad choice. It was not a radio friendly song or club friendly. And she depended too much on her guest stars. It wasn't a good song to start with.
  2. The songs were all over the place. Nothing gelled together or had anything to say. It was a dance album, but weak. Right now, we are flooded with dance CDs (Skrillex, David Guetta) and MDNA just didn't measure up.
  3. The writing.... Madonna should not write any songs (Girls Gone Wild is Horrid). It was tough to listen to the lyrics without laughing. I felt like I was listening to Pizazz from The Misfits.
  4. She offered nothing new in this CD. Again there are tons of new music popping out. Madonna should have pushed for a new sound and challenged the public. All she did was put out stereotypical gay dance CD that quickly got lost in the mix.
  5. She limited her appeal. What made Madonna powerful was her universal appeal. Yes, we are a loyal fanbase (the gays), but we are fickle. Catering just to us is very risky, especially when the younger generation are searching for something innovative. She should have return to her roots and be an overall pop artist.

9 comments:

SteveA said...

Your comments are true - haven't listened to it, but I did like the opening song!

Mimi said...

I did listen to the whole thing, and you are right on each point.
It is sad that someone in her position should feel the need to chase trends for the sake of renewed popularity. She is in a position to work with just about anyone and create just about anything she wants, but she wants to copy LFMAO? Why?
Not a note on MDNA to equal 'Bedtime Stories' or the best bits of 'Music'.
No matter how hot you still are, there is an age limit on singing about sexy times on the dancefloor. Madonna, Jennifer Lopez and Janet Jackson need to cut it the hell out and find some grown up woman songs to sing. Leave the teenager dance party fluff to girls like that Call Me Maybe chick.

shle896 said...

MDNA is doing quite well on the GLOBAL chart, so I don't see how selling 1.5 million copies (and counting) is a fail. If it was ANY other artist, by any measure, this album would be considered a huge success.

I don't hear anybody declaring Paul McCartney or Bruce Springsteen's new albums failures, or Jack White's album that has gone from #1 to #8 in it's first two weeks. Why is Madonna held to a different standard than everybody else? It is, after all, her 12th studio album. She can't get "Like A Virgin" sales every time she releases a record.

MDNA is outselling Hard Candy, which, btw, was the 11th best selling album GLOBALLY of 2008.

And since when does an album's sales have anything whatsoever to do with it's artistic merit? I think MDNA is a great album, especially the William Orbit tracks.

Besides, who the hell buys albums anymore, anyway?

WilsonW said...

Is that Gaga dressed up as Madonna??

I haven't heard the CD so I can't comment on that. But I can say that I agree that artists old enough to be grandparents, should maybe consider evolving their public persona to something other than club kid. In truth, her base of fans have grown up just like she has, so continue creating work relevant to your fan base not the little kids coming up who could care less about you, your legacy or your music. In My Opinion.

Darolome said...

Couldn't agree more! You have totally expressed my thoughts. Thx. Let's wait for the tour and see what happens! On Saturday Selfridges London were playing the album, and yesterday GGW was being played during changeovers at the Women's tennis final in Italy. Only point I do agree on is GMAYL was maybe not the best choice for first single. However , it was inevitable cos of Superbowl. I'm also confused as to why GGW has only just been released in UK! The album is hardly a flop but themarketing is very dodgy.

Darolome said...

I am older than Madonna and have been a fan since 1982! This album is very 'relevant' to me and I love it. My twitter family of hundreds of Madonna fans includes people of all ages, the youngest being 16 and the oldest to my knowledge is 61. They all love the album so your comment about relevance doesnt hold up. At my age am I supposed to listen to Barry Manelow or Barbra Streisand, or what? I also love Nicky Minaj and Lil Wayne. Am I barred on age grounds? Madonna writes great music for whoever wants to listen to it, she appeals to all age groups - fact!!!

K. Clark said...

Personally, I like MDNA. Is it her best? No, but there are some good tracks on there and I've replayed it a lot more than Hard Candy.

I read William Orbit's article and agree with him that the reason why the album isn't Ray of Light/Erotica/Like A Prayer caliber is probably because her attention was scattered on so many different projects (the clothing line, the movie, the perfume etc.) that she couldn't be the perfectionist that she usually is in the studio.

Obviously radio play (she ain't gettin' any stateside) affects her sales, even though the album does seem to be selling well outside the U.S. But all of her marketing energy seems to be going into the show and the tour, which I guess makes sense, since albums aren't going diamond anymore. But I do think she could have/could be pushing harder to promote it (TV, magazines, videos).

Anonymous said...

Ah, who?

Anonymous said...

Despite having the Hype of the superbowl and going #1 in 50 countries on iTunes + a successfulbtour the album sold 1.7 million .... its because she is older now and the music industry is vain . Also in that 30 year career you need to remember that fans died off literally and figuratively

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Viktor is a small town southern boy living in Los Angeles. You can find him on Twitter, writing about pop culture, politics, and comics. He’s the creator of the graphic novel StrangeLore and currently getting back into screenwriting.