Kat's Korner: Madonna's homage to survival

Kat: CONFESSIONS II, aka CONFESSIONS ON A DANCE FLOOR PART II, dropped Friday. Madonna's latest. She greets the listener on the first track "I Feel So Free," "Thanks for coming. Sometimes I just like to hide in the shadows, create a new persona, a different identity."  Oh, Madonna.  You're an established norm at this point.  We all know what we're getting.

And what we're getting with this album is a fully present Madonna 

Madonna's noted that the world is in a dark place and she wants to get us dancing.  And with 16 tracks, Madonna attempts to take you out of the world of the gloom and staid and into a world where the beat is thumping and the joint is pumping.  

"My Sins Are My Savior" reminds me musically a little of her classic "Rain."

"They tried to take me down, they tried to take my crown, they whispered lies, they tried to break me, but I would not give in, my sins are my savior," she declares as the song winds down.  Madonna's inviting you on a journey and she's telling you that you are you and that's okay.  

She observes at the start of "Fragile," "People really think there's a beginning and an ending to this thing called life but energy never dies. This is just a portal we're going through." 

Late last night I was fast asleep
You came to me in a dream
You said, "Don't forget about me"
"Don't forget to be happy"
(So I hope you found a higher ground, a higher ground)
(So I hope you found a higher ground, a higher ground)

I know you're fragile
'Cause you've been hurt, been let down
You couldn't be yourself now
You had a nervous breakdown
I know you're fragile
'Cause you've been hurt, been let down
You couldn't be yourself now
You've been hurt before
You've been hurt 

She and Stuart Price wrote that song and they co-wrote -- sometimes with additional writers -- all sixteen tracks.  "Betrayal" is one of the best.

But every track on the album is strong and worthy of inclusion ("Hot Sauce" is a bonus track on the deluxe edition and supposedly eight other tracks that didn't make the album may be released at a later date).  Madonna's not had an album this strong in years.  But she has had them.  MADONNA (her self-titled debut), LIKE A VIRGIN, LIKE A PRAYER, EROTICA, BEDTIME STORIES, RAY OF LIGHT, MUSIC, CONFESSIONS ON A DANCE FLOOR and HARD CANDY.  

This is another one of them, another Madonna classic.  The care that's gone into each track and the joy and life found in them announce that Madonna's still with us and that we're still here and we are going to make it.  

Not because the world is perfection or filled with only great people.

But because we are wiser and we know some people are "not my friend" and they are "broken, broken up inside."  

We will survive.  That's the point Madonna's making with this album.  That there are bullies out there but there is joy and reason to be hopeful.  We can refuse to be pulled down.  It's a surprisingly powerful message as the sixteen tracks play out and Madonna turns it into a poignant one.