March 6, 2015: Rebel Heart is the thirteenth studio album released by Madonna...!!

Rebel Heart is the thirteenth studio album by Madonna. It was released on March 6, 2015, by Interscope Records. Following the completion of the MDNA era, Madonna worked on the album throughout 2014, co-writing and co-producing it with various musicians, including Diplo, Avicii, and Kanye West. She teased by uploading pictures of her recording sessions on her Instagram account. Working with a number of collaborators posed problem for Madonna in keeping a cohesive sound and direction for Rebel Heart, unlike her previous efforts where only a few people were involved.

 The matically Rebel Heart represents the two different sides of the singer, her romantic and her rebellious side. The themes grew organically during the writing and recording sessions. Musically, it is a pop record which merges an array of genres such as 1990shouse, trap and reggae, as well as the usage of acoustic guitars and gospel choir. Some of the songs are autobiographical in nature while others talk about love and introspection of Madonna's career. Rebel Heart features guest appearances from boxerMike Tyson and rappers Nicki Minaj, Nas, and Chance the Rapper.

   Madonna's 13th studio album Rebel Heart was released on March 6, 2015.

   On December 20, 2014 the first 6 tracks were made available on iTunes with 

   a pre-order of the full album. The pre-order came days after 13 demo 

   tracks were leaked on the Internet. In an official statement, 

   Madonna commented:

   "I was hoping to release my new single Living For Love on Valentine's Day with the 

   rest of the album coming in the Spring. I would prefer my fans to hear completed 

   versions of some of the songs instead of the incomplete tracks that are circulating. 

   Please consider these six songs as an early Christmas gift," commented Madonna on

   the December release. 

Three more tracks, Hold Tight, Joan Of Arc, and Iconic were released on 

February 9th, a day after Madonna's Grammy performance. The rest became available

 on March 9th. The 6 first tracks dominated the iTunes charts in more than 40 

countries immediately after their release. The 3 tracks released in February pulled

 a similar stunt.

The album was released in several different formats:
The Standard Album contains tracks 1 to 14. Available as digital download and CD

 (1 disc).
The Deluxe Album contains tracks 1 to 19. Available as digital download, CD (1 disc)

 and Vinyl (double LP).
The Super Deluxe Album contains tracks 1 to 19 and bonus tracks 20 to 25. Available 

as digital download and CD (2 discs).

  

There were also several limited editions for specific markets:
France/Belgium: Limited edition of 15,000 copies, only distributed by FNAC,

containing the Deluxe version with 19 tracks and a bonus CD with the Thrill Remix 

and the Offer Nissim Dub Mix of Living For Love.
Germany: Saturn and MediaMarkt sold exclusive editions of both the Standard and 

the Deluxe album, containing Auto-Tune Baby as bonus track.
Japan: The Deluxe album and the first disc of the Super Deluxe album came with the 

usual 19 tracks and the Dirty Pop Remix of Living For Love as bonus track.

While a leaked version of the Super Deluxe Album contained the tracks Queen and 

Auto-Tune Baby, the final tracklist lists two Living For Love remixes to close the album.

 Auto-Tune Baby only features as bonus on the German edition; Queen disappeared from 

the official releases.

No less than 6 tracks have received an "explicit" label, which caused for a "parental 

advisory - explicit content" sticker on all versions of the album. However, there is also 

a "clean" version of the Standard Album, distributed by iTunes and Walmart.

This is the longest tracklist ever released on a Madonna studio album. Over the course

 of several months in 2014, Madonna recorded more than 40 tracks in NY, LA and London 

with numerous collaborators. The album was produced by Madonna, Diplo, Kanye West,

 Billboard, Avicii, DJ Dahi and Blood Diamonds, Ryan Tedder, Toby Gad, and Ariel 

Rechtshaid. 

Alicia Keys is playing piano on Living For Love, while Nicki Minaj is featured on Bitch I'm 

Madonna. 

The London Community Gospel Choir can be heard on Messiah. Chance The Rapper & Mike

Tyson feature on Iconic, and Nas makes an appearance in Veni Vidi Vici. Strangely, the 

album booklet doesn't mention any song credits, not any lyrics.

Madonna documented many of the recording sessions with a series of pictures and teasers 

on her Instagram and Facebook accounts. Her hashtags often referred to the song titles and

lyrics, such as #rebelheart, #livingforlove and #unapologeticbitch. She made selfies with 

her producers Diplo and Avicii, posted parts of lyric pages and sheet music, and even 

a short video teasing of the London Community Gospel Choir recording for Messiah.

For the first time in a decade, Madonna went on a full-on album promo tour, including 

performances at the Grammy and Brit Awards, appearances and performances on French, 

Italian and American TV shows, and dozens of interviews and Q&A sessions. She also 

incorporated new social media, such as Snapchat, Instagram and even Grindr. into her 

promo campaign. During the promo tour, the Rebel Heart Tour was announced and 

Madonna launched Ghosttown as second single. With a June release, third single Bitch 

I'm Madonna targets to become a summer hit.

The album debuted at #1 in several countries, including Australia, Austria, Belgium, 

Canada, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and The Netherlands. In the UK, the 

album became #2, with 12,000 copies short to beat Sam Smith. In the US Billboard Album 

Chart, it also landed at #2 after a tough battle with the soundtrack of the Empire tv show, 

shifting 121,000 units in its first week (only counting the traditional physical sales, it 

would've been #1). This debut made the album Madonna's 21st top 10 album in the Billboard

Album chart but her first to miss the top spot since Ray Of Light. In its second week, the 

album tumbled to #21 in the US, #7 in the UK and #2 in Canada.

Ghosttown became Madonna's 45th number 1 single in the Billboard Hot Dance/Club Play, 

which gave her the distinction of having more number one songs on a single chart than 

any other artist in history.

Singles

Living For Love (Dec. 2014/Feb. 2015)

Ghosttown (April 2015)

Bitch I'm Madonna (June 2015)

Outtakes & Demo tracks

Among the leaked demo tracks are several songs that didn't make the final tracklist.

Alone With You Back That Up (Do It) Freedom God Is Love Heaven

Never Let You Go Nothing Lasts Forever Queen Revolution Score

Take A Day Take It Back Tragic Girl Trust No Bitch Two Steps Behind Me

credit: madeyes