The album received generally positive reviews from music critics. Upon its release, it debuted at number one in many countries worldwide, including Australia, Canada, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. Madonna set a new record for the most number-one albums by a solo artist in Australia and the United Kingdom, but also achieved the largest second-week percentage sales drop for a number-one debuting album of the Nielsen SoundScan era in the United States. MDNA is the lowest-selling studio album of Madonna's career with sales of two million copies worldwide.[4][5] The album's underperformance was attributed to its lack of promotion and poor singles choice.[6]
The album's lead single, "Give Me All Your Luvin'", was released on February 3, 2012. The single became her 38th top-ten hit on the Billboard Hot 100, extending her record as the artist with the most top-ten singles in that chart's history. The second single "Girl Gone Wild" was released digitally on March 2, 2012 while "Turn Up the Radio" was the third and final, released on August 5, 2012. All three singles have peaked at number one on Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs chart, extending her record as the artist with the most number-one songs on that chart. Prior to the album's release, Madonna performed at the Super Bowl XLVI halftime show on February 5, 2012. The album was further promoted by The MDNA Tour, which ended as the tenth-highest grossing tour of all time. Madonna went on to win three trophies at the 2013 Billboard Music Awards for the tour and the album
Background
"It's amazing to be back in music. I like the intimacy of a recording
studio and songwriting. I'm using a different part of my brain when I
work on music versus when I'm directing a film. There are a billion more
people on a film and I don't have that visceral outlet of being able to
sing, scream... jump around. It's very different. I love doing both but
it was nice to have the simplicity of songwriting after three years of
writing a script and directing and editing and talking about my film, to
sit down and play my guitar and sing a song. I almost cried."
On December 15, 2011, Madonna announced that the album will be released in the spring of 2012 and it will be her debut release from her 360 deal with Live Nation Entertainment which was signed in 2007. Through this contract, Madonna and Live Nation signed a three-album deal with Interscope Records, who will market and distribute the album.[14][15] In the 2011 year-end readers poll by Billboard, it was voted as the most anticipated album of 2012.[16]
Recording
Solveig and Madonna "got along very well" and found common interests in music, cinema, food and wine.[11] Common interests in the French film Le Samouraï about a solitary killer became a discussion which led to Solveig drafting the song "Beautiful Killer" in reference to the film.[11] When discussing Solveig, Madonna found their common interests were what drove them to have successful collaborations, she liked his way of working saying "He’s very organised and methodical in his thinking" and she found she was able to say "‘No, I don’t like that,’ and you’re not going to hurt [his] feelings".[13] Madonna also talked about producer William Orbit, she felt her European qualities were well suited to his production style, and with conversation during sessions being "essential" she felt "With William, we always get into discussions about philosophy or quantum physics".[13] When it came to working with Benny and Alle Benassi she found it difficult to communicate with Benny as he is not fluent in English, during their recording sessions she used his cousin Allessandro as an interpreter and whilst this originally proved frustrating they eventually found a way to communicate.[13] She had not worked with Benny Benassi before and found that the first-time meeting a producer was difficult as she would feel shy, but after they had solved the communication troubles Madonna found "I felt like I knew him very well".[13]
Titling and artwork
The album's title was announced by Madonna during an interview on The Graham Norton Show on January 11, 2012.[19] Martin Solveig revealed that it was M.I.A. who suggested the album title to Madonna, noting "We were having a lot of fun with the initials. M.I.A. said, 'You should call your album MDNA because it would be a good abbreviation and spelling of your name.' Then we realized that there were actually many different possibilities of understanding for those initials—the most important being the DNA of Madonna."[20] When discussing the album on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Madonna explained that the album's title is a triple entendre, representing both her name and "Madonna DNA". She also implied that the title is a reference to the drug MDMA, or ecstasy, which provides "euphoric feelings of love".[21] It was condemned by Lucy Dawe, a spokesperson for the anti-drugs campaign group Cannabis Skunk Sense. She told The Sun newspaper that Madonna's choice of album title was "an ill advised decision."[22]The album's artwork was shot by Mert and Marcus and directed by Giovanni Bianco.[23] The deluxe edition cover was unveiled through the Madonna's official Facebook page on January 31, 2012.[24] Madonna wore a red dress by Antonio Berardi, with futuristic padded shoulders, along with fingerless gloves and red lipstick. Arianne Phillips, who worked with Madonna for her previous tours, styled the singer.[25] According to Jocelyn Vena of MTV News, in the artwork, the singer "cocks her head up, her curly hair pulled back... The photo has some kind of broken mirror filter over it, giving it a funky, dance-queen vibe."[26] Vena also commented that Madonna is "truly expressing herself in the glamorous, deconstructed photograph full of bouncing colors."[26] Jeff Giles of PopCrush commented: "Consisting of a colorful split shot of Madonna in a classic blond 'n' glamorous pose, the MDNA cover promises a bold step forward while remaining strongly reminiscent of her chart-topping '80s work."[27] Robbie Daw of Idolator compared the artwork to the one of True Blue (1986).[28] The standard edition cover was later revealed on February 6, 2012.[29] Emily Hewett from Metro wrote that "although the latest cover shares similar colours and the same blurred style with the deluxe edition, the standard version features a close-up body shot of the American singer wearing a tight-fitting scarlet dress and fingerless gloves to match, rather than a head shot."[30] Dale Eisinger from Vibe magazine listed the cover as the eleventh best album artwork of the past five years, explaining: "Vaguely hallucinatory in color and presentation, the cover of [MDNA] is as vibrant as it was bold. Featuring the performer wearing a scarlet dress behind ribbed glass, she looks fragmented, deconstructed by the various lenses she's been put under throughout the years. In this case, it is through the lens of photographers Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott... Though they've done album covers for countless pop stars, Mert and Marcus achieve something truly eye-popping on this cover, even if that was through digital manipulation."[31]
Promotion
Super Bowl
Main article: Super Bowl XLVI halftime show
Madonna performed at the Super Bowl XLVI during the Bridgestone Halftime Show which was broadcast on NBC on February 5, 2012, from Lucas Oil Stadium. The performance included twenty dancing dolls, seventeen main dancers, a two hundred membered church choir, and a drumline consisting of a hundred percussionists.[33] Thirty-six image projectors were utilized to create a spectacle of lights, while Madonna wore 120 individual prosthetic eyelashes.[33] The show began with Madonna being carried into the stadium by 150 bearers, who wore pairs of black underwear designed by Calvin Klein.[33] She arrived atop of a golden throne, which weighed over 1,200 pounds,[33] and sported a long golden cape designed by Givenchy; completion of the cape happened over an approximate period of 750 hours.[33] Madonna performed "Give Me All Your Luvin'" (joined by Nicki Minaj and M.I.A. dressed as cheerleaders), during a medley of her past hits "Vogue" and "Music" (performed with LMFAO along with excerpts from "Party Rock Anthem" and "Sexy and I Know It"), then an "Open Your Heart"/"Express Yourself" interlude followed by "Like a Prayer" (performed with Cee Lo Green).[36][37] Once the show concluded, a group of 250 volunteers dismantled the stage in six minutes.[33]
The performance gained widespread attention from the media, after M.I.A. extended the middle finger to the camera near the end of her verse of the song instead of singing the word "shit".[38][39] The incident prompted broadcaster NBC and the National Football League to issue apologies.[40][41] Madonna's performance broke a record as the most-watched Super Bowl halftime show in history, garnering 114 million viewers.[42] She also set a new record as the most tweeted about subject on the social network Twitter with 10,245 posts per second and was the most-searched term on Google during the event.[43][44] Madonna was not paid for the performance, as previous performers at the event have not been paid. However, a Forbes analysis said before the event that, with 30-second commercial spots commanding over $3 million apiece, the 12 minutes of free television exposure had a considerable promotional value to Madonna's multiple enterprises coming to market at the time of the event.[45]
Media
Following her performance at the Super Bowl, the album received limited promotion and Madonna was basically off the radar.[46][47] She avoided major television appearances and live performances, instead focusing on rehearsals for her world tour.[47] On April 11, 2012, her manager Guy Oseary explained on his Twitter: "I wish we could have done TV last week but we were in rehearsals morning and night."[46] Madonna used social media to promote the album instead. Through her official Facebook, she published minute-long snippets of several album tracks, posted behind-the-scenes pictures of tour rehearsals and polled her fans about which back-catalog songs they'd like to hear when she hits the road.[48] On March 24, 2012, Madonna took a livestream chat on Facebook with Jimmy Fallon.[49] She later made a brief appearance on Ultra Music Festival 14 in Miami on March 2012, where she introduced Swedish DJ Avicii and his remix of her single, "Girl Gone Wild".[50] Upon the album's sales drop in its second week, critics and fans criticized the lack of promotion and poor singles choices for the album. Through his Facebook, producer William Orbit expressed his displeasure of the album's poor promotion, and said that they had little time to record the album because Madonna's schedule was packed full of other commitments, such as "perfume ranges and teen fashion contests."[51][52] Orbit later apologized for the statement.[6]Tour
Main article: MDNA Tour
Madonna announced her ninth concert tour on February 7, 2012.[53] The tour was launched on May 31 in Tel Aviv, Israel and ended in South America
in December 2012. It marked her biggest tour ever with 88 shows and
included many markets she had never played before. This tour played 32
dates in 28 European markets, including London, Rome, Milan, Paris, Copenhagen, Barcelona, Warsaw, Istanbul, Moscow and Berlin, before hitting North America with 45 shows. The tour was promoted by Live Nation Entertainment as part of a 360 deal.[54] On March 26, Madonna had confirmed the tour title, MDNA Tour via Twitter.[55] It became the highest-grossing tour of 2012 and 10th highest-grossing tour of all time, grossing $305.1 million in ticket sales for 88 sold-out shows.[56]Singles
"Give Me All Your Luvin'" was released as the first single from the album on February 3, 2012.[12] It received mixed reception from critics, who complimented its "catchy" melodies, but felt that the musical composition is inferior to Madonna's previous singles.[57] Many reviewers noted the song as a weak lead single and not a proper representation of the album.[58][59] The song reached the top of the charts in Canada, Finland, Hungary, Israel and Venezuela, and the top five in several European countries, Japan and South Korea.[60] It became Madonna's 38th top-ten hit on the Billboard Hot 100, extending her record as the artist with most top-ten singles in the chart history.[61] Its accompanying music video was directed by Megaforce and features football and cheerleader theme inspired by the Super Bowl.[62]The album's second single, "Girl Gone Wild" was released digitally on March 2, 2012. It also was met with mixed critical reception, with critics praising the dance nature of the song, while some noting its similarities to songs from other mainstream artists.[63][64] The black-and-white music video for the song was directed by fashion photographers Mert and Marcus.[65]
"Turn Up the Radio" was released as the third and final single from the album,[66][67] on August 5, 2012 in the United Kingdom.[68]
Promotional singles
In the United Kingdom, "Masterpiece" was officially sent to radio stations on April 2, 2012 as a radio-only promotional single from the album.[69][70] The song also reached the top of the Russian Top 100 Airplay chart on December 2, 2012.[71]In Brazil, "Superstar" was released on December 3, 2012 only as a special edition free CD with Brazilian newspaper Folha de S. Paulo. The accompanying artwork for the single was created by Brazilian graffitist Simone Sapienza who won a contest sponsored by Johnnie Walker's Keep Walking Project in Brazil, she was chosen by Madonna after being among ten finalists.[72][73]
Critical reception
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |    [1] |
| Robert Christgau | A–[74] |
| Entertainment Weekly | B–[75] |
| The Guardian | [58] |
| Los Angeles Times | [76] |
| Pitchfork Media | 4.5/10[77] |
| Q | [78] |
| Rolling Stone | [79] |
| Slant Magazine | [80] |
| Spin | 7/10[81] |
However, Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine found the album "flinty" and "excessively lean" as a result of "cool calculations" aimed to reassert Madonna's preeminence in dance and pop.[1] Helen Brown of The Daily Telegraph panned its lyrics as "horribly cliched" and criticized Madonna's direction, stating "a woman who’s putting so much visibly desperate energy into looking and sounding like a teenager is missing the point of pop, of parties … of life."[88] Pitchfork Media's Matthew Perpetua found most of it "shockingly banal" and "particularly hollow, the dead-eyed result of obligations, deadlines, and hedged bets."[77] Maura Johnston of The Village Voice found Madonna's "move toward EDM [...] hamfisted" and found her voice to be a "nonpresence".[2] Los Angeles Times writer Randall Roberts viewed that its music suffers from "familiarity" and that the album "offers evidence that the singer has fallen behind, that she is no longer setting the conversation" in pop music.[76] Genevieve Koski of The A.V. Club criticized its "electronically manipulated" vocals and "big, generic Euro-dance beats", while calling MDNA "competent, but equally perfunctory."[89] Alexis Petridis of The Guardian viewed the album as "neither triumph nor disaster", writing that it "turns out to be just another Madonna album".[58]
Commercial performance
The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with 359,000 copies sold in the United States, making it her biggest opening week sales since Music (2000). It became Madonna's eighth chart-topper and her fifth consecutive studio album to debut at number one.[90] The album's sales were aided by Madonna's tour audience, who had an option to get the album as part of their ticket purchase. Around 185,000 copies of first week sales reportedly came from that album-ticket bundling.[91] In its second week, the album descended to number eight with 48,000 copies or about 86.7% sales decrease, surpassing Lady Gaga's Born This Way (2011) for the biggest second-week percentage drop for a number-one debuting album in the Nielsen SoundScan era.[46] On October 9, 2012, MDNA was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipment of 500,000 copies.[92] As of December 2012, it has sold 521,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.[93] In Canada, MDNA debuted at number one in Canadian Albums Chart, selling 32,000 copies in its first week.[94]In Australia, the album debuted at number one and was certified gold by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for shipments of 35,000 copies during its first week.[95] It became Madonna's tenth chart-topping album in Australia, which made her the solo artist with the most number-one albums of all time, surpassing Jimmy Barnes, and pushed her behind only The Beatles with fourteen and U2 with eleven.[96] In Japan, MDNA debuted at number four on the Oricon weekly albums chart with first week sales of 31,000 physical units.[97] In the same week, her Warner Bros.-released box set The Complete Studio Albums (1983 – 2008) also debuted at number nine, making Madonna the first international female artist in Japanese chart history to have two albums in the top ten simultaneously and the first international artist in 20 years to achieve such feat, since Bruce Springsteen in 1992. With those two releases, Madonna has accumulated 22 top-ten albums in Japan, more than any other international artist.[97] The album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan for shipments of 100,000 units.[98] In India, the album shipped gold in its first week of release and became the country's fastest-selling international album of the year.[99] Madonna also set record for a foreign album in Turkey as MDNA sold over 30,000 copies within four days, outselling all Turkish domestic albums.[100]
In the United Kingdom, the album debuted at the top of the UK Albums Chart with first week sales of 56,335 copies.[101] It became Madonna's twelfth album to top the chart, breaking the record previously held by Elvis Presley as the solo artist with the most number-one albums.[101] Only The Beatles have more number-one albums in British chart history with fifteen.[101] The album slipped to number seven in its second week and number 13 in its third week, making it the first Madonna studio album not to be in the top ten on its third week on the chart since 1984.[102] The album was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for shipment of 100,000 copies.[103] As of June 2012, the album had sold 112,765 copies in the United Kingdom.[104] In Germany, the album was certified gold in its first week by the Bundesverband Musikindustrie (BVMI) for shipments of 100,000 copies and debuted at number three on the Media Control albums chart.[105][106] In Russia, album debuted atop the chart with 26,000 sold and was certified double platinum.[107] MDNA eventually became the best-selling album of 2012 in Russia with seven times platinum certification.[108] As of December 2012, MDNA had sold 1.8 million copies worldwide, making it the seventh best-selling studio album released by Universal Music Group during 2012.[109]
Track listing
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Girl Gone Wild" |
|
|
3:43 | |
| 2. | "Gang Bang" |
|
|
5:26 | |
| 3. | "I'm Addicted" |
|
|
4:33 | |
| 4. | "Turn Up the Radio" |
|
|
3:46 | |
| 5. | "Give Me All Your Luvin'" (featuring Nicki Minaj and M.I.A.) |
|
|
3:22 | |
| 6. | "Some Girls" |
|
|
3:53 | |
| 7. | "Superstar" |
|
|
3:55 | |
| 8. | "I Don't Give A" (featuring Nicki Minaj) |
|
|
4:19 | |
| 9. | "I'm a Sinner" |
|
|
4:52 | |
| 10. | "Love Spent" |
|
|
3:46 | |
| 11. | "Masterpiece" |
|
|
3:59 | |
| 12. | "Falling Free" |
|
|
5:13 | |
|
Total length:
|
50:52 | ||||
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