Confessions on Confessions II

The new album is a real return to form and it’s genuinely exciting to have Madonna back as a leading conversation in culture. I needed to unpick it.

Willkommen! Bienvenue! Welcome!

It’s been a minute since I wrote. I’m having a somewhat extended break from writing. The head continues to whirl with ideas, thoughts and plans – but explaining it all to the world and allowing people ‘in’ remains something I’m just not interested in right now.

But here we are having a brain dump on Madonna, Confessions II and the future of the Queen of Pop. I feel like there’s so much to say. I’m not doing this for likes and reads. I’m doing this for my own mind. A cathartic process, if you will.

You see, Madonna’s been a part of my life for so long. I’m 46. My first album was Who’s That Girl. The adrenaline of this popstar filled my veins and, to be frank, I’ve not been able to shake her off. We are officially ‘lifers’. I’m sure it has bored friends to tears over the years. But I couldn’t give a shit.

When I met Madonna in my role as a showbiz columnist (thank you Claudia Winkleman for orchestrating this life moment with a casual ‘what, you’ve not met M? Let me sort’) we had a brief conversation at Claridge’s and at the end of the five or so minutes we convened, she leant in and whispered in a faux British accent “would you like a picture?”. Of course I did. After the snap (which M’s publicist tried to block me from having as she only favoured The Sun and wouldn’t go near the Mirror) I leant into her and said: “I’m just going to say this as I doubt I’ll have this moment again with you in real life. I often say to my own mother there were two women who brought me up. One was my actual mother. The other was you.” She smiled cheekily, squeezed my hand and the adrenaline hit and I had to literally run up Conduit Street at high speed to burn off the buzz. Classic.

Anyway, the love runs deep. When her albums came out, I was there to buy them at Woolies mostly back in the day. When she did a concert, I was there. I studied the lyrics. I studied her life. I wanted to know all I could about her as an artist. When she spoke about Kabbalah, I learnt what that was all about. So many parts of my own life have been influenced by Madonna.

Sadly, since the first Confessions album I found it hard to connect with the albums that followed. Sure, there were some vibes there. But they weren’t hitting the spot where a body of work took over my soul. I’m not sure whether it was the political sentiments. Or the songs just not sitting right. But there was a feeling in the gut that I wasn’t that bothered. I got tickets for Madame X at the Palladium. I sold them. I didn’t want it to spoil or muddy the crystal-clear Madonna waters in my brain. It’s like I’ve had a Madonna library in my head, and somebody was threatening to mess up the colour coding or the way the music and performances stick in my soul. I simply couldn’t risk it.

And then Confessions II was announced and excitement built. This could be major, I thought. It turned out to be everything a true Madonna fan wanted and more. I prefer Confessions II to the first album. It feels like there’s more depth, lyrically it’s revealing and it’s full of the perfect mix of new sounds as well as reflection into her previous efforts and her career as a whole.

I can feel the Bedtime Stories and Erotica vibes on Confessions II. That fills me with joy. Arguably, two of the most underrated albums of her career and still two of my all-time favourites.

So here I am discussing all sorts of topics that have been floating around in my mind. I’ve wanted to get this all out but aside from my friend Marisa (who has been my Madonna lifeline for endless voice notes deep diving into this Confessions II era) I’ve not gotten all of this out. So here goes. This is me laying my cards out on the table on everything Madonna – including the future and what I want to see played out with regard to touring and the plans for these rumoured huge summer 2027 shows.

I’m keen to hear your thoughts too – so where my Madonna fans at? COME ON!

THE MARKETING CAMPAIGN

It’s been a class act from start to finish. The graphics, the posters, the colours, the wording – it’s been iconic. It feels very Brat but make it Confessions II. And that’s a good thing. As far as the gays are concerned it’s very much a Confessions II Summer. A Madonna Summer, if you will.

The Grindr partnership was excellent. So many different options for fans on limited edition bundles. So many highlights – including the Times Square activation (more on that later). It speaks to her Queer army and it was exactly the right partnership.

On the Absolut front, I wasn’t so sure. But I guess it was a good case of taking some cash and ensuring the live club event appearances were sponsored and ‘free’ for her to hold. Again, a pretty inspired move.

Everything she’s done on this marketing trail has been effortless and epic.

THE CLUB CONFESSIONS APPEARANCES

Right, bear with me. They’ve been fine. But it’s clear from the lady herself saying she’d love a bit of eye contact instead of phone contact that she wasn’t exactly enamoured with the crowds placing phones in her face for the entirety of her appearances.

I guess this was a different approach to the first Confession album’s promo trail when we had full five-song performances with a troop of dancers. But then again, that would be grueling when you haven’t got a cartilage in your knee. Again, more on that later.

There’s no doubt these promo club nights have been exciting for the fans. The reality though – she’s just tootling around on the microphone about being Mutha and waits for the audience adulation. That’s totally fine, of course, but was it really achieving the effect of bringing the dancefloor back alive? Maybe not.

Still, to be within a sweaty club with free drinks and watching an icon like Madonna be genuinely excited about her new album – a proper body of work in the mix – gave the whole launch activation some life.

I didn’t go. NFI’d. At first, I was miffed. But hey, it’s not what I do anymore. So, it wasn’t for me. It was for folks in the music game, journos, editors and influencers. I wasn’t miffed by the end of the run. TBH I think I would have felt odd watching her rattle around in the DJ booth in a sea of iPhones.

THE SABRINA CARPENTER COLLAB

I just wasn’t that into it. Sure, it was fun at Coachella. A little bit fun. The crowd looked dreadful in their static stance making no noise holding up their phones…

I mean, Stuart Price even released a Madonna solo remix and that sat far more perfectly with me. I just didn’t like the obviousness of the partnership. I never saw Sabrina as a great advocate and fan of Madonna. It felt like a tactic to get a younger audience.

I’m still very hopeful for Madonna to pull a Charli XCX and have a Confessions II deluxe edition/remix album that features a plethora of artists on duets and remixes of the album. That would be fun – and breathe some longevity into the campaign.

THE WORLD CUP

She opened for the Muppets. It wasn’t live for most of the part. She hobbled (that bloody knee) to deliver a link or two before a quick bow. Hardly the big Madonna live moment we hoped for.

Look, the pre-record was exciting. But it was a real sign of where she is with her live performance right now. That knee isn’t allowing for the choreography anymore. She’s still slaying. But it’s been much more of a static performance on anything she’s done on this launch phase.

More than anything, I really believe this was the biggest mistake of the campaign. Did it add much to the Confessions II campaign? Not really. In fact, dare I say it, but it kinda damaged all the hard work. She was ruling the world already – just leave it to Shakira. So, delivering a pre-record and a small appearance IRL felt like a bum deal to the fans who were (probably) forced to pretend they loved soccer and paid through the roof to get in the Stadium in NYC.

It wasn’t needed.

THE FILM TO LAUNCH IT ALL

In my opinion, this was the main turning point for the whole campaign. I loved the drip feeding of the singles to begin with. I Feel So Free kicked off the tone in the best possible way. But there was a LULL when Coachella hit, Bring Your Love was released, and Love Sensation appeared.

The 12-minute film that premiered brought the entire campaign together in such a perfect way. I was speaking to another female popstar about the general campaign just before the film hit and we both said we felt there had to be something coming to lift the whole project and BOOM it appeared as if by magic.

Each section gave a strong impression of what was about to come. She finally had the shades off, looked great and it was exactly what we expect from her. A visionary look at the future of the music industry. She felt individual music videos were unoriginal and decided to flip the switch. Also, hey it gave us our first glimpse of the Danceteria vibe. This song feels like it’s cutting through as the biggest ‘classic’ of her career sing probably Sorry. I’m very much here for it and the star-studded video dancing in the toilets.

Take a look at said film below…BRAVO MADONNA.

TOURING CONFESSIONS II RUMOURS

Dear God, I’m miffed that Glastonbury has fallen through again. I heard in 2025 they were very close to getting her, but the contract fell down last minute. Then I’d heard it was a goer for 2027 but again this week have heard it’s fallen through once again.

This makes me very sad. She should probably be the Saturday headliner. She won’t want the Legends slot during the day. Understandably.

Anyway, now there are TERRIBLE rumours about her doing BST in Hyde Park for three nights. Was it not terrible enough the first time? It was awful. The sound was so unbelievably shite. I could hear people talking over the sound. Also, it doesn’t allow for the graphics, videos and artistic elements to be enjoyed.

Dear God, Madonna if you’re going to tour then please just do Wembley Stadium. You need the depth of the stadium to make this work.

But more than anything – and some of you aren’t going to like this – I’m scared about her touring huge. Let’s be honest, on the global Celebration tour that knee didn’t hold out well. The moves weren’t the, the pain looked real and it wasn’t what we’d been used to.

Now, I don’t want to get into some fucking ridiculous age debate. That’s been so boring to watch during this campaign. She’s probably fitter than most 40-year-olds. But the reality of her knee injury means she’s not going to be getting around a huge stage with ease and there’s no way I want some sort of Liza-in-a-wheelchair moment.

So, what should she be doing? Well, she’s always been a pioneer. So, work on something that requires less dates, a lot higher a spec regarding technology and ensure she can make a two-hour show work. She’s always had incredible production – but whereas she’s needed to lead the production maybe it’s time to have a new way of working to give the fans the incredible visuals and give her a break with the knee of doom. Maybe it needs to be streamed globally too with Netflix etc.

I don’t care what age she is. She’s still producing an album that is easily up there with any of the young pop-pickers. Age doesn’t even come into it for me regarding her studio albums and I’m THRILLED this album has shown us she still has it in her to release albums that cut through to a “moment”. How lucky are we?

I don’t want a show where she’s in pain and not able to do her thing. I’d prefer not to have one. We have the music. Thank you for the music, eh. Maybe we don’t need a tour to go with it. What would that look like? Fine, really.

What do you think she needs to do for a full-scale global tour to work – considering all of the above! Let me know.

And check out what she did live with the first Confessions tour, below.

THE KYLIE MOMENT FOR LOVE SENSATION

Joining forces with the Princess of Pop always felt on the cards to me. You could literally hear Kylie on Love Sensation from the get-go. And hey, Stuart Price had already worked with Kyles before - so why not, the relationship was there.

It’s been released as an after-hours remix - I’d probably have preferred a ramped up version of the original version. Hell, to be frank I’d have preferred Kylie to have been there from the start. But alas, we got there in the end and the song is flying. As I type the girls are at Number One on iTunes all around the globe and it’s becoming a real second moment following the release of the album.

Seeing them performing alongside each other at Worldpride in Amsterdam gave me all the tingles. The backstage images. The behind the scenes videos. It’s essentially given fans of both the stars everything they’ve ever dreamt of.

This whole activation has been a big fat YES from me.

Not sure when I’ll be back but thanks for reading, gang. It feels great to have gotten all of this off my chest.