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The windows of the Dolce & Gabbana flagship store in Via della Spiga have been tuned up for the new Spring/Summer 2010 campaign featuring Madonna, and four of her Steven Klein portraits are now capturing everyone's eyes in the Italian capital of fashion. To make this even more exciting, two of the images featured in the windows displays are beautiful never before seen shots from the campaign. Thanks by M-Tribe friend and contributor Alberto -A

Madonna is set to take a new rap/rock direction on her next album. The ‘Celebration’ singer is working with both rap producer A-Trak and rock producer Brendan O’Brien – who has previously worked with Pearl Jam – and attempting to merge the two genres on the follow up to her hip-hop influenced 2008 LP, ‘Hard Candy’. A-Trak, real name Alain Macklovitch, told the Daily Star newspaper: “It’s my production, turned into song structure – halfway between rap and electronic and whatever else I listen to.” Madonna, 51, is said to be set on making a track to match the success of Run DMC’s groundbreaking 80s hit ‘Walk This Way’, which defined the rap/rock genre – and went on to spawn acts such as Korn, Limp Bizkit and Kid Rock in the 90s. source: iol.ie -A

New campaign mini site at Dolce and Gabbana's Check out the online website of Dolce & Gabbana for their new mini-site showcasing the preview of the Spring/Summer 2010 campaign featuring Madonna photographed by Steven Klein. Already available on the site are the three campaign images released so far presented in their complete advertisement layout and downloadable as desktop wallpapers. -A

SIX DIRECTIONS FOR MADONNA’S NEXT ALBUM Madonna is currently at work on a new album, which is expected to be unleashed some time in 2010. She has stayed relevant in the music business by constantly reinventing herself, taking in new genres and musical experiments and making them her own. She is meticulous about how she selects collaborators, because they inform the sound of the albums as much at Madge herself. One of the confirmed producers working on the still-unnamed work is Brendan O’Brien, who made a name for himself sitting behind the boards for Pearl Jam and has also helmed productions for Bruce Springsteen, Rage Against the Machine, Stone Temple Pilots, AC/DC and Aerosmith. Does that mean that the singer behind “Like a Prayer,” “Ray of Light” and “Hung Up” is going to dive deep into the rock world and make a guitar-based album? It’s a possibility, though reports also have A-Trak (a Kanye West collaborator) and David Guetta (of “Sexy Chick” fame) working on the album as well, which suggests that it’s a combination of roots rock, futuristic hip-hop and whatever Akon makes. With that in mind, here are six directions Madonna could go in. Rock Opera Madonna has theater experience (she famously lobbied hard to play Eva Peron in the film version of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical “Evita”) but has never really constructed an album based on a narrative (and the disastrous American Life shouldn’t count). She could bring in Green Day producer Rob Cavallo to beef up her rock chops and flesh out her own version of American Idiot. Electro-Rap Posse Album If A-Trak is on board, she should expand her horizons and invite a cavalcade of MCs to throw down with her on a full-on rap album. We’re certain that Lupe Fiasco, Dizzee Rascal, Mos Def, Rhymefest and Kanye would all probably be game to trade verses with Madonna, who is not necessarily a stranger to spitting. Remember her verse on “American Life”? Metal Though she’s lorded over some tough dance beats in the past, truly hard music has never been her forte and remains an uncharted territory for the star. O’Brien has produced music for metallers like Mastodon and Incubus, so he’s ready, willing and able to crank Madonna’s sound up to 11 and really let her rip. Country Rock Madonna isn’t above aping a current star, and with Taylor Swift cranking out huge hits in big numbers, why wouldn’t she attempt to add country to her repertoire? O’Brien has produced twangy records for Springsteen and Pete Droge, and Madonna herself has toyed with country and dance sounds for “Don’t Tell Me.” Straight Disco Maybe all these producers are just there to throw us off the scent, and her plan is to actually crank out an even deeper-diving disco record. After all, her recent single “Celebration” was well-received, and the throwback sounds on 2008’s Hard Candy wowed both the dance and pop worlds. Perhaps she just wants to make ABBA tunes for the rest of her career (which wouldn’t be such a bad thing, really). No Limit Revival She could fire everybody, recruit Master P’s Beats by the Pound crew and shout along to some late-’90s New Orleans bounce. That probably won’t happen, but Silkk the Shocker could use the work. Source: MTV.com -A

WWD reports on the new Dolce & Gabbana campaign revealing that the designers' 18-year friendship with Madonna wasn't enough to ease the fears that Stefano Gabbana and Domenico Dolce had about doing something "more business-y" with the pop icon explaining that they "were always afraid it would ruin our relationship". WWD mentions the format of the entire printed campaign, made by eight black-and-white, horizontal pictures shot by Steven Klein in a former lay convent in uptown Manhattan, adding that they will appear in groups of two or three to better display the reportage effect. For the campaign, Madonna chose a number of looks, including crocheted tops and dresses, floral skirts and leopard spots, which she mismatched to her taste. A budget for the campaign, which breaks in February fashion titles, wasn't available, though Gabbana described the investment as a "serious one." "The collection is very Italian, very Sicilian. It's a return to our roots with a modern angle, so we asked Madonna to interpret it in a different and human way. We believe that people are ready for a new message." During a brainstorming session before the shoot they all agreed on Luchino Visconti’s film "Bellissima" as an inspiration, WWD also reports. Released in 1951, the neorealist film stars Anna Magnani and Walter Chiari. In one shot, Madonna even appears as a latter-day Magnani, gazing off-camera with tear-smoldered cheeks. "She really cried, she really dipped into the part and took it very seriously," Gabbana told WWD. Photo by Steven Klein for Dolce & Gabbana. From an article by WWD.com. -A

BILLBOARD BOXSCORE TOP FEMALE TOURING ACTS OF THE DECADE Billboard Boxscore Top Female Touring Acts of the Decade #1 Madonna Total Gross: $801,299,671 Number of Shows: 248 #2 Celine Dion Total Gross: $536,593,262 Number of Shows: 792 #3 Cher Total Gross: $257,319,809 Number of Shows: 383 BILLBOARD DANCE SINGLES SALES OF THE DECADE 1. MUSIC Madonna Maverick/Warner Bros. 2. DESERT ROSE (VICTOR CALDERONE REMIX) Sting Featuring Cheb Mami A&M/Interscope 3. INDEPENDENT WOMEN PART I Destiny’s Child Columbia/Sony Music 4. SAY MY NAME Destiny’s Child Columbia/Sony Music 5. DIE ANOTHER DAY (REMIXES) Madonna Warner Bros. .. 12. WHAT IT FEELS LIKE FOR A GIRL Madonna Maverick/Warner Bros. 26. DON’T TELL ME Madonna Maverick/Warner Bros. 45. ME AGAINST THE MUSIC Britney Spears Featuring Madonna Jive/Zomba Billboard BILLBOARD TOP SELLING SINGLES OF THE DECADE Billboard Top Selling Singles of the Decade: 1. MARIA MARIA Santana Featuring The Product G&B Arista 2. MUSIC Madonna Maverick/Warner Bros. 3. HOT BOYZ Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott Featuring NAS, EVE & Q-Tip The Gold Mind/East West/EEG 4. INCOMPLETE Sisqo Dragon/Def Soul/IDJMG 5. THIS IS THE NIGHT/BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER Clay Aiken RCA/RMG 6. BREATHE Faith Hill Warner Bros. (Nashville)/WRN 7. GET IT ON TONITE Montell Jordan Def Soul/IDJMG 8. FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY BROKEN HEART Britney Spears Jive 9. FLYING WITHOUT WINGS/SUPERSTAR Ruben Studdard J/RMG 10. I LIKE IT Sammie Freeworld/Capitol BILLBOARD SINGLES SALES ARTISTS OF THE DECADE: MADONNA #1 Billboard Singles Sales Artists of the Decade: 1. MADONNA 2. CHRISTINA AGUILERA 3. DESTINY’S CHILD 4. JANET JACKSON 5. MARIAH CAREY 6. SANTANA 7. CLAY AIKEN 8. WHITNEY HOUSTON 9. LEANN RIMES 10. BRITNEY SPEARS BILLBOARD BOXSCORE TOP TOURING ACTS- 2000S 1. THE ROLLING STONES Total Gross: $869,471,325 Total Attendance: 8,236,586 Number of Shows: 264 Number of Sell-Outs: 190 2. U2 Total Gross: $844,157,925 Total Attendance: 9,869,953 Number of Shows: 288 Number of Sell-Outs: 288 3. MADONNA Total Gross: $801,299,671 Total Attendance: 6,387,124 Number of Shows: 248 Number of Sell-Outs: 244 4. BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN Total Gross: $688,136,476 Total Attendance: 8,605,238 Number of Shows: 403 Number of Sell-Outs: 248 5. ELTON JOHN Total Gross: $603,804,670 Total Attendance: 5,789,833 Number of Shows: 541 Number of Sell-Outs: 470 BILLBOARD’S DANCE ARTIST AND SONG OF THE DECADE Billboard has named Madonna as the # 1 Dance/Club Play Artist of the Decade. She also is listed as having the # 1 Dance/Club Play Song of the Decade (Hung Up) as well as # 2 Dance Club/Play Song of the Decade (Music). The top five Dance/Club Play Artists of the Decade are: 1) Madonna 2) Beyonce 3) Kristine W 4) Rihanna 5) Mariah Carey The top five Dance/Club Play Songs of the Decade are: 1) Hung Up – Madonna 2) Music – Madonna 3) Keep Control – Sono 4) No, No, No – Ono 5) Dark Beat (Addicted 2 Drums) – Oscar G & Ralph Falcon .. Jump #13, Die Another Day #18, Sorry #19!!! Madonna was also named the # 2 Dance/Electronic Albums Artist of the Decade and “Confessions On A Dance Floor” was named the # 2 Dance/Electronic Album of the Decade. Gorillaz came in at # 1 on both surveys. Source: Billboard.com -A

Revolver physical release details! Digital Single: Release Date: 29 december 2009 Exclusiveat iTunes Madonna: 01 Revolver (Madonna vs. David Guetta One Love Remix) 03:10 02 Revolver (Madonna vs. David Guetta One Love Remix) (Feat. Lil Wayne) 03:25 03 Revolver (Madonna vs. David Guetta One Love Club Remix) 05:23 04 Revolver (Paul van Dyk Remix) 08:36 05 Revolver (Paul van Dyk Dub) 08:36 06 Revolver (Tracy Young's Shoot To Kill Remix) 09:30 07 Celebration (Featuring Akon) 03:54 08 Celebration (Felguk Love Remix) 06:38 CD Single: Release Date: 22 january 2010 Madonna 01 Revolver (Madonna vs. David Guetta One Love Remix (Feat. Lil Wayne) 03:25 02 Revolver (Madonna vs. David Guetta One Love Remix) 03:10 03 Revolver (Madonna vs. David Guetta One Love Club Remix) 05:23 04 Revolver (Paul van Dyk Remix) 08:36 05 Revolver (Paul van Dyk Dub) 08:36 06 Revolver (Tracy Young's Shoot To Kill Remix) 09:30 07 Celebration (Feat. Akon) 03:54 08 Celebration (Felguk Love Remix) 06:38 12" Vinyl Single Release Date: 5 february 2010 Madonna A1 Revolver (Madonna vs. David Guetta One Love Club Remix) 05:23 A2 Revolver (Paul van Dyk Remix) 08:36 B1 Revolver (Tracy Young's Shoot To Kill Remix) 09:30 C1 Revolver (Paul van Dyk Dub) 08:36 C2 Revolver (Madonna vs. David Guetta One Love Remix) (Feat. Lil Wayne) 03:25 D1 Celebration (Feat. Akon) 03:54 D2 Celebration (Felguk Love Remix) 06:38 Thanks to: Warner Music NL -A

Tracy Young's Shoot To Kill Mix of “Revolver” Remixer Tracy Young writes about her new mixing project, also involving Madonna’s Revolver. Here’s what she wrote in the newsletter:“Happy Holidays! I will keep it short and sweet this time. I'm busy with Genesis VII and in the studio. I'm working on several exciting remix projects, some available now, some on the way. Some tunes to look out for are "Pretty Mess" by Erica Jayne, "I Want It All" by Dangerous Muse, "On The Floor" & "Everybody" by Kaylah Marin. One project I'm really so into and thankful for is my mix of Madonna's "Revolver featuring Lil Wayne". It's one of my favorites and hope it will be one of yours.” 1. Revolver Madonna (Tracy Young's Shoot To Kill Mix) 2. Pretty Mess Erika Jayne (Tracy Young Club Mix) 3. I Want It All Dangerous Muse (Tracy Young Club Mix) 4. Bad Romance Lady Gaga 5. Meet Me Halfway BEP 6. One Love David Guetta 7. On The Floor Kaylah Marin (Tracy Young Club Mix) 8. Yeah Ha Saeed Yohan 9. Put Your Hands Up Mark Knight 10. Freak On Chris Moody -A

Maripol comments on her photo of Madonna Madonna photographed inside New York City’s Danceteria in 1983.“The picture is talking in a way. It’s saying ‘Look who I am. I’m not famous but I’m going to be.’ She didn’t drink much but she liked her Martini. I don’t think she smoked. Maybe I gave her the cigarette for attitude. I never saw Madonna smoking cigarettes as much as other people. She never did coke. That’s why she was Madonna, why she became as big as she did: because she was always in control.” – Maripol Photograph by Maripol courtesy of Who Shot Rock and Roll source: rolling stone -A

Madonna in MUP Magazine December 2009 In the new issue of magazine MUP (Make-Up Professional Magazine), to be published on 1 December, a section is devoted to makeup at Madonna's Sticky & Sweet Tour and previous events in the artistic career of Madonna since 2002, when Gina Brooke has become a makeup artist to Madonna. We learn how the look of Madonna is now so exciting, but also the price of her false eyelashes diamond which has a known success, met the market ... "Looking" eye-conic "to MADONNA Always ahead of trend, the pop icon sparkled more than ever this summer on her Sticky & Sweet Tour with a shadow diamond created customized by Gina Brooke, Artistic Director for Shu Uemura. Inspired by one of the greatest hits of the singer, "Ray of Light", Gina Brooke, who worked with Madonna since 2002, has turned his eye every night using its eyes on a mixture of dark and white powder pure diamond. "The brilliance and light that projects the look of Madonna captivate audiences and confirm that there are always new opportunities for makeup and no rules," said she. On the beautiful eyes of Madonna, Gina applies 906 E. White Shadow from Shu Uemura to create a subtle effect diamond that reflects light beautifully. "As Madonna occurs in giant stadiums, I decided to focus on this effect, punctuating his eyelids real diamonds," says she. Gina believes that all women at all ages can wear your iridescent and ethereal like a shadow White ME 906. "Subtle reflections contribute to sublimate the eye and are immediately appear younger. Madonna is always ready to dare new things and I think all women should not fear to do the same to enhance their beauty - the evening as in life everyday, "says Brooke. Gina Brooke has worked with Madonna on three international tours (Reinvention 2003 Confessions 2006 Sticky & Sweet 2008-2009), and numerous videos, photo sessions and galas. In 2004 she created with Shu Uemura false eyelashes mink tailored to the singer. In 2006, she pushed the idea further by creating a model for it encrusted with diamonds and mink. Given the enthusiasm of clients, Shu Uemura has recreated and sold exclusively at Neiman Marcus at a price of $ 10,000 a pair. " -A

Here’s an excerpt of the interview: It's been quite a year for French DJ David Guetta. He's notched up two No.1 singles ('When Love Takes Over', 'Sexy ***CENSORED***'), seen his One Love album go gold, and produced a transatlantic chart-topper for Black Eyed Peas in the form of 'I Gotta Feeling'. Now he's taking on the role of ambassador for DJ Hero, a new game which allows us mere mortals to become superstar knob-twiddlers in our own right. Keen to find out more about his ace 2009, we called David for a chat. Who would be your ideal collaborator? "I would love to work with Madonna. It will probably happen very soon actually. It's all in theearly stages and I'm not allowed to speak about it yet!" Full interview: DigitalSpy

Steven Klein posted the unseen version of Get Stupid video, featuring only Madonna on his website. It has a slightly different instrumentation that the other two versions that appeared in Sticky & Sweet Tour 2008 and 2009. Steven Klein Studio -A

Enjoy Madonna's DANCE 2NIGHT brand new remix by Peter Rauhofer!!! -A

Madonna’s Sticky & Sweet tour was the big winner at the sixth annual Billboard Touring Awards, taking home honors for Top Tour and Top Draw, which acknowledge the highest-grossing and highest-attended tours of the year, respectively. Madonna’s manager Guy Oseary won the Top Manager award. The Billboard Touring Awards are based on worldwide data reported to Billboard Boxscore for the period Oct. 1, 2008, through Sept. 30, 2009. Other winners include Kenny Chesney’s Sun City Carnival tour for Chesney’s sixth straight Top Package award; Ill Divo for the Breakthrough award, U2 for the Top Boxscore award for the band’s shows at Croke Park in Dublin last July, and Dane Cook for the Top Comedy Tour award. Additionally, Keith Urban received the Concert Marketing & Promotion Award for his Escape Together tour sponsored by Kingsford and KC Masterpiece, and Jonas Brothers received the Eventful Fans’ Choice Award, both determined by online voting. Warped tour founder Kevin Lyman received the Humanitarian Award, and Ozzy Osbourne was named Legend Of Live. source: billboard

The Sticky & Sweet Tour comes to theatres in Japan. The Live in Buenos Aires concert special premiered on Japanese TV channel "WOWOW" on October 24 with a repeat this coming Wednesday, November 4 at 5 AM. But the exciting news is that the concert video will have a special preview in Tokyo on Wednesday, November 11. -A

Here you can listen to the first new official remix of “Celebration”. It was remixed by David Guetta and features american rapper Akon. I Think I LOVE IT!!!! -A

Madonna rocks the worldwide chart with Celebration, beating all of her contenders in the second week of the album’s release. 1 (4) Madonna – Celebration – Warner Bros. – 323.000 (last week: 189k) 2 (-) Paramore – Brand New Eyes – Fueled By Ramen – 273.000 3 (-) Barbra Streisand – Love Is The Answer – Columbia – 244.000 4 (-) Mariah Carey – Memoirs Of An Imperfect Angel – Island – 202.000 5 (-) Alice In Chains – Black Gives Way To Blue – Parlophone / Virgin – 160.000 6 (1) Ayaka – Ayaka’s History 2006-2009 – Warner Music Japan – 142.000 7 (-) Breaking Benjamin – Dear Agony – Hollywood – 138.000 8 (3) Jay-Z – Blueprint 3 – Roc Nation / Live Nation – 135.000 9 (2) Pearl Jam – Backspacer – Monkey Wrench / Island – 119.000 10 (5) Muse – The Resistance – Helium 3 / Warner Bros. – 118.000 Sources: MediaTraffic

Madonna rocks the worldwide chart with Celebration, beating all of her contenders in the second week of the album’s release. 1 (4) Madonna – Celebration – Warner Bros. – 323.000 (last week: 189k) 2 (-) Paramore – Brand New Eyes – Fueled By Ramen – 273.000 3 (-) Barbra Streisand – Love Is The Answer – Columbia – 244.000 4 (-) Mariah Carey – Memoirs Of An Imperfect Angel – Island – 202.000 5 (-) Alice In Chains – Black Gives Way To Blue – Parlophone / Virgin – 160.000 6 (1) Ayaka – Ayaka’s History 2006-2009 – Warner Music Japan – 142.000 7 (-) Breaking Benjamin – Dear Agony – Hollywood – 138.000 8 (3) Jay-Z – Blueprint 3 – Roc Nation / Live Nation – 135.000 9 (2) Pearl Jam – Backspacer – Monkey Wrench / Island – 119.000 10 (5) Muse – The Resistance – Helium 3 / Warner Bros. – 118.000 Sources: MediaTraffic

And here's the first look at the US EP-Maxi Single CD for "Celebration" which comes with a stunning original artwork and will surprise you with Madonna's wink popping out from the tray below the picture disc. The Maxi includes six remixes and no album version making its tracklisting different from the European 6-track CD. 1) Oakenfold Remix 6:32 2) Benny Benassi Remix 5:303) Oakenfold Remix Dub 6:324) Benny Benassi Remix Edit 3:585) Benny Benassi Dub 6:016) Johnny Vicious Club Remix 7:58 Scans by MadonnaTribe.

Guy Oseary comments on his Twitter site: Signing off.. Thanks again to all of you for helping Greatest Hits sell 2 million albums in just 2 weeks.. goodnight Source: Twitter.com http://twitter.com/guyoseary -A

Madonna's "Celebration" overtakes Muse's "The Resistance" to debut at the top ofBillboard European Top 100 Albums survey. The "Celebration" retrospective is new at #1 in the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Ireland and Denmark, #2 in Spain, Portugal and Finland, #3 in Switzerland, #4 in Austria and #5 in Norway. The compilation's 77,000 first-week U.K. sales give Madonna her 11th #1 album there (including 1996's "Evita" soundtrack). That draws her level with Elvis Presley with the most U.K. chart-toppers of any solo artist, only behind the Beatles' best total for any artist of 15. The European Top 100 Albums - the European adaptation of the Billboard 200 albums chart - was created by Billboard in 1987. Their first number one album was Madonna's "True Blue". From Billboard.

Madonna’s “Celebration” enters straight to #1 in the Italian album chart. After Madonna’s new compilation Celebration leaps straight to number one in the Official Album Chart and brings her level with Elvis Presley’s record of eleven UK number one albums she enters straight to #1 in the Italian album chart too. It’s the 11th times Madonna tops the italian album charts. She also did it with Like a Virgin (1984), True Blue (1986), Who’s that Girl (1987), Like a Prayer (1989), I’m Breathless (1990), Something to Remember (1995), Ray of Light (1998), Music (2000), American Life (2003), Confessions on a Dance Floor (2005), Hard Candy (2008) and now Celebration! WOW WOW!!!! We surely are celebrating The Queen, and you??? 'Let's get it started' -A

Madonna shows Dan Cairns all too clearly who is in control - of her life, her astonishing 27-year career, and their meeting The British nerve centre for Madonna Inc is to be found in two adjoining townhouses in central London. The buildings are a home for the singer and her four children when they are in this country, plus offices and a personal gym. From the outside, the six-storey edifices are standard-issue London mansions — that is, way beyond the standards most of us are accustomed to. There is something impregnable about such streets: an air of discreet luxury pervades them. Litter seems not to blow or rattle down their immaculate expanses; no chewing gum or urgently expelled kebab encrusts their gleaming paving stones. You might glance up at Madonna’s perfect residential pair and admire their symmetry, the cleanness of their architectural lines. But you would be more likely, unless you were a lurking paparazzo, not even to notice them; they are merely two houses in a long, wide street of the things. Anonymous, ordered, well maintained and with a touch of class. Madonna wouldn’t have it any other way. “Where do you live?” she asks when we meet later. Dalston, I say. The name doesn’t register. Stoke Newington, I add as a pointer. “That’s not even in London,” she scoffs. And it isn’t, to be fair. Or not in this London, at any rate. The evening before I walk down her street and ring the doorbell, I visit another imposing building near the singer’s home. A few days earlier, a leaflet had been thrust into my hand. “It’s a Sign,” it read, and considering that it went on to invite the bearer to an introductory talk on kabbalah at the centre Madonna bought for the organisation six years ago, it seemed just that. The lecture offered an hour-long precis of what cynics would dismiss as woolly mumbo jumbo. One per cent of each of us is concerned with our corporal beings; concentrate on the remaining 99%, the speaker suggests, and we locate the key to a spiritually nourishing life. There is, however, an impression of calm, wellbeing, even complacency. And Madonna, as even a cursory knowledge of her questing, controversy-courting 27-year career will attest, needs calm. Because the opposite of calm, of control, is? “Chaos,” she says later. “Pain, suffering.” We are meeting to discuss Celebration, the two-disc, 36-track greatest-hits collection that marks Madonna’s final contractual obligation to her record label before she skips off into the $120m embrace of Live Nation, the American concert promoters. Conditions have been imposed: no questions about adoption, about her divorce, about her love life, her faith; discussion is to be confined to her music. Refereeing the joust is the singer’s longtime American publicist, a formidable, don’t-mess-with-me powerhouse named Liz Rosenberg, whose manner, if not appearance, puts one instantly and inescapably in mind of the character of Roz, the giant snail in the film Monsters Inc, with her catch phrase: “I’m watching you, Wazowski. Always watching.” She has worked for the singer pretty much from the moment, in 1982, when Madonna was first handed the keys to the candy store of stardom. “By the way,” Madonna says at one point, “my dream was always to work in a candy store. It was because of my obsession with candy; I don’t have it any more, now that my teeth are all rotten. I did go to a university for a year, as shocking as that might sound to people, and there was a candy shop that I used to go to all the time, an old-fashioned one where all the candy was in these big glass jars. I used to go in there and look at all the candy and think, ‘God, it would be really cool to work in here; I could have candy whenever I wanted.’ So I did want the keys to the candy store, but I had different keys.” Confectionery’s loss, pop’s gain. In Life with My Sister Madonna, Christopher Ciccone’s bitchy and embittered memoir, the singer’s brother recounts how every single minute of his sister’s day is planned and accounted for. Today, however, that schedule has gone awry. Seconds before I am due at her front door, a call comes through advising me to delay by 15 minutes. Which I duly do, only to be parked in the reception hall for a further quarter of an hour. It gives me a chance to take a look around. As I wait, Madonna appears briefly before descending to the basement, from which various sounds drift up: a peal of throaty laughter; a burst of her new single; and the noise of a vacuum cleaner. Is she catching up on housework, geed up by one of her own songs on the stereo and skipping round, Dyson in hand? Unlikely, but it’s an appealing image. In the hall where I wait, a painting by the 17th-century Dutch baroque artist Gerrit Dou hangs on one of the walls, which are covered with blue brushed velvet. On another wall, a pair of circular canvases show a troupe of pierrots, rope-dancing. Scented Christian Dior candles fill the air in a space so dimly lit, it seems both slightly theatrical and quasi-religious. A huge telephone with multiple extensions bears labels such as M study, M dressing room, M bathroom, Laundry, Music Room, Kitchen, Mews. The picture is one of great wealth combined with logistical and organisational rigour. Discipline, control, precision. “And that’s the definition of me?” Madonna says later, finishing my out-loud train of thought. “Yeah, but I don’t even think, when people write that, that they really believe it. I just think people are tapping into a zeitgeist and repeating things they’ve heard other people say; and it makes good copy.” Our encounter finally gets under way in Madonna’s study, an all-grey room with a Frida Kahlo painting above the huge art-deco desk, glass shelves bearing art books and family photographs, and two semi-facing armchairs, on which we sit. In the flesh, in black trousers and a sleeveless shirt, the 51-year-old is tiny, even in heels, and pretty, her face somehow more animated and readable than you expect, her features forming into butter-wouldn’t-melt or knowingly ironic expressions as she talks. Her accent is noticeably clipped, with a Queen’s English clarity, a result of the amount of time she began to spend in this country following her marriage to Guy Ritchie. For a good 10 minutes, her discomfort is visible, a hand covering her face as she answers. And when, during this initial awkwardness, I lean into the space between us to emphasise a point, I sense without any room for doubt that I have crossed an invisible line. You begin to understand why people are so in awe of her: you wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of one of her frosty glares. Does that mean, I ask at one point, that we have stopped treating her as a mere mortal? “A lot of people are just really confused by me,” she says. “They don’t know what to think of me, so they try to compartmentalise me or diminish me. Maybe they just feel unsafe. But any time you have an overtly emotional or irrational, negative reaction to something, you’re fearing something that it’s bringing up in you.” She pauses and looks over at Rosenberg. “Let’s all call our shrinks right now and have that discussion. Liz?” When, last year, an American magazine writer profiled Madonna and wrote “Think back on her career. It’s not songs you remember, or not primarily”, you knew what he meant. Videos, film roles, marriages, haircuts, children, charity work: all carry visual freight that has often seemed to overshadow Madonna’s original claim to fame. But doesn’t Celebration, I suggest, indicate that the songs figured in there somewhere, too? That writer, Rosenberg barks suddenly from behind the desk, “is an arsehole”. “Those are harsh words,” Madonna chides, unable to suppress a laugh. “I don’t know, I guess it depends on what side of the fence you’re on. Some people don’t appreciate my music, so they’re not going to think of me as a musician or songwriter. They like to think of me as a sort of cultural phenomenon.” So people listen to her songs and react visually, more than emotionally or musically? “Right — ‘That’s when she had the cone bra on’, ‘That’s the burning-crosses song’. That kind of stuff. I suppose that’s partly my fault.” And when we sift through the milestones of her career, we look for, what? Motivation, irony? “Manipulation, provocation,” she says. Another commentator wrote that Madonna’s “ability to absorb and incorporate knowledge keeps her one step ahead”. Certainly, her instincts about music, fashion and future cultural trends have proved uncanny. But doesn’t this concentration on her skill for assimilation overlook what she herself does with that knowledge? “Well, yeah,” she replies. “We can all take in information. It’s how we regurgitate it that makes us different. Right?” And might concentrating on the absorption remove her own subsequent input from the equation? “Well, it’s an undermining thing to do, isn’t it?” She laughs. “Isn’t that the point of the exercise?” I ask her about her early days in New York in the late 1970s, where she arrived, penniless and a university dropout, to pursue a career as a dancer. And where she earned a reputation as a stop-at-nothing, man ipulative, sexually promiscuous wannabe, discarding managers, bandmates and boyfriends on a whim. Five years of hard graft, thrift, ruthlessness and opportunism paid off when she signed a record contract in 1982. But they also marked her, indelibly, as an artist; indeed, from the way she talks about the period, you get the sense that, no matter the rumoured £300m fortune, the art collection, the toy boy, the record-breaking tours (her most recent, Sticky & Sweet, grossed a staggering $408m), there is a part of Madonna that is still motivated by the cross-fertilisation and experimentalism of early-1980s New York. Physically, she left it long ago. Artistically, she’s still there, in her own imagination at least: zooming around taking on influences and collaborators, draining them dry, moving on, a cultural magpie. The budgets, and the headlines, have got bigger; the spirit, she argues, remains. “The city will never be the same,” she says. “It was an amazing time, an amazing convergence of pop culture and art. To think I used to have dinner on a regular basis with Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring. That was like an everyday thing. It was a much more informative part of my life than most of the parts people choose to focus on. I got to do gigs at places like CBGB before I got put underneath the microscope, and that was helpful to me, as an artist, and also to give me a sense of confidence about myself — regardless of the subsequent beatings I would take.” Madonna contra mundum? It’s a condition you find in many artists, a willed psychological state that pumps them up before they rescale the heights with each successive album or tour. The affirmation of album sales — Madonna is the most successful female recording artist of all time — cannot shake such people from a sense of victimhood, of being misunderstood or under­appreciated. Possibly, this is rooted in the belief that what they create is ineffably trivial. That might explain why some, especially the intellectually curious (or insecure), dabble in a multitude of other arts disciplines or gather around them the appurtenances of cultural refinement and significance. (How revealing, after all, is that “I did go to a university for a year, as shocking as that might sound to people”?). Madonna is surely better placed than most to resist such doubts. Her recent releases may have been patchy — you’d need to go back to 1998, and Ray of Light, to find her last bona-fide classic — but Celebration offers indisputable affirmation of her pop genius. Vogue, Cherish, Into the Groove, Borderline, Like a Prayer, Material Girl, Frozen: the hits rattle by, potent reminders of what we — and Madonna, too — have lost by drowning in the froth of celebrity, rather than being swept along by the music. “The song comes first,” Madonna agrees. “And all of those other things that people remember, the imagistic things, are secondary, or certainly not as important.” She wants us, she implies, to get back to the music. But surely she doesn’t care, by now, what people think? “I do too,” she zaps back. “But I think I’ve become pretty good at sussing out when people’s opinions of my work are coming from what they think of me personally. You just have to do your thing and then let it go out into the world. The rest, you’re not in control. So there goes that theory that I’m a control freak. I can make all the music, do all the shows that I want, make all the films I want, but I can’t control people’s reactions — at all. They’re going to think what they want to think, and feel what they want to feel. I can only control myself — and sometimes I can’t do that very well.” Her reputation for ruthlessness is, she argues, confused with simple self-discipline, although she concedes: “Sometimes I will stop at nothing.” Again, it was New York that finetooled that drive into the unstoppable force it still is today. “That was when I knew,” she says, “that that’s what I was going to do — be a singer and a songwriter and an entertainer, and I don’t care if I have to starve, and live in a room with five guys, and wash in a sink; this is what I’m going to do. And because I lived a pretty dismal life and I didn’t care, well, if you’re living a dismal life and you don’t care and you’re enjoying it, then that must be proof that you’ve committed to something.” The 36 songs on Celebration document the succession of skilfully selected producers and writers — John “Jellybean” Benitez, Steve Bray, Pat Leonard, William Orbit, Mirwais, Stuart Price — Madonna has worked with during her career. Other collaborations — with Prince, with Michael Jackson — either went off like a damp squib or failed entirely. Of the Jackson collaboration, she says: “We spent a chunk of time together, and became friends, but it never happened. I wrote a bunch of words and presented them to him, and he didn’t want to go there. He didn’t want to be provocative. And I said, ‘Well, why come to me?’ I mean, that’s like asking Quentin Tarantino to not put any violence in his films. I felt like he was too inhibited, too shy. Well, I’m shy too. When you’re writing with somebody, you immediately become shy, because, unless you’re already good friends, you can’t be honest and say, ‘That’s the shittest thing I’ve ever heard.’ You’re afraid to say that you don’t like something because you don’t want to hurt their feelings, or you’re afraid your ideas are shit; and if you reveal those cards, they’re not going to want to work with you.” Surely any musician in the world, I think, would kill to work with her. But of course that’s not the point. Madonna needs to want to work with them. It’s never the other way around. “The first thing that came into my head,” she continues, referring now to Jackson’s death, “was the word ‘abandoned’. I feel like we all abandoned him and put him in a box and labelled him as a strange person. And it used to pain me to see people go write such horrible things about him, accuse him of being a child molester, and all these things that nobody had any proof of — because, you know, I’ve had plenty of things I’ve been accused of. When I adopted David, I was accused of kidnapping him, for God’s sakes; and it’s very hurtful, and people love to jump on bandwagons. The lynch-mob mentality is pretty scary.” As Madonna said in her tribute to Jackson at last week’s MTV awards, she lost her mother at six, and he lost his childhood. Both engaged in a long search for something to fill those gaps. Madonna is still looking, but alive. Something armoured her on that journey that was missing in Jackson. What advice would she give to her 24-year-old self, about to release her first single and blast into the limelight? “Don’t take it personally,” she answers without a pause. Listening back to the tape later, I’m struck by how un-uptight she sounds, but also how tired. Perhaps that’s because she still had a few shows left before her world tour finally wound up. But there is, in her voice, the beginning of a sense of weariness, even as she recites self-motivating mantras such as: “I’m still curious and still hungry. I want more knowledge, I want more information, I want more experience.” Her enthusiasm for London, for music, for success, is both audible and visible, especially when she laughs, which she does often. But there are moments when you can’t help but wonder if she doesn’t dream of jumping off the carousel. And, however circumscribed the line of questioning, it is nothing like as controlled as Madonna’s candour, which seems nonetheless designed to brook neither argument nor deeper inquiry. She is open to an extent, but determinedly crease-free. A growl from Rosenberg indicates that my time is up. And with that, Madonna looks at the watch hanging from a chain around her neck, rises from her chair and says, “Ooh, bathtime.” And is gone. Off to a room that doubtless has its own telephone extension. In a pristine household where everything runs (almost) like clockwork. You look back at the career Celebration marks, at how much could have gone so horribly wrong, and suddenly that craving for order, for security, for predictability, begins to make a lot of sense. Perhaps that’s what it’s all been about, at heart. “Pain, suffering,” she called it. At a young age, Madonna resolved not to experience that again. How much of her has succeeded in that avoidance strategy, only she can know. But that’s probably the only percentage that counts.

"Celebration", the ultimate compilation of Madonna songs is released in Europe and Madonna took some quality time to sit down with Larry Flick and talk about her new album, the new single and video, have a look back at her career, and much more. Here's an excerpt from her interview when Larry asks her about her daughter Lola appearing in the "Celebration" videoclip directed by Jonas Akerlund. LF: The video features your daughter, Lourdes. How did that happen? M: She hangs out with the dancers a lot. She's a dancer herself. The video is about the celebration of music and dance. There's an improvisational moment when we're all in a circle and each dancer does their specialty or a special move that they do well. She wanted to do hers, so she did. LF: Were you comfortable with her doing the video? M: Yeah. She really wanted to do it. It's just a little moment. LF: Are you getting an inkling that she wants to follow in your footsteps? M: No. I don't she wants to be a singer. I think she wants to be an actress. LF: How do you feel about that? M: I'm fine with it, as long as she finishes school, and takes it seriously. She also plays piano, and she's really into clothes and fashion and style. She can go in any direction. She's got a lot of diverse interests right now. We'll see. I'm not pushing anything. We'll see what she wants to do. LF: She always seems so poised. M: Yeah. She's grown up in the limelight, for sure. She's been protected, but she's been chased by the paparazzi since she was a tiny baby. LF: How is she dealing with being the big sister? Is she protective? M: She's super-sister. She's amazing with the little ones. She has the typical relationship with her brother, Rocco. They're like “I love you”/”I hate you” every five minutes. But with the two little ones,she's great. She's amazing. Very protective. LF: Are you going to be a Mom to any more kids? M: Who knows? (laughs) LF: Is that something you’d like? M: (More laughter) You know, I have my hands full right now! I have no idea! That's all I'm going to say. But we never say never. LF: Celebration is about to come out. This is your third greatest hits album, but you're not the look-back girl, are you? M: No. LF: So, does it feel weird that everyone's so excited about revisiting your old songs? M: No, I'm not thinking that way. I'm happy that people want to hear my old songs. I've written some good songs! LF: Do you ever listen to them, yourself? M: I try not to (laughs). Actually, sometimes, I do. But the thing is that I'm on tour right now, and I'm doing some of those old songs. Inevitably, I'm going to be sicker of the songs that I'm singing every night. It's nice to revisit songs that I haven't heard for a while, and I think, “Yeah that was a good song. I like that.” LF: What song are you feeling really good about right now? M: That is old? LF: Yeah. M: I like “Beautiful Stranger.” That's a good one. LF: Are there are any song that you don't want to celebrate? M: No. They are all a part of me, and an aspect of me, or a pivotal moment for me, even if they're not necessarily pivotal in a big, public way for me. I can certainly pinpoint what was going on in my life at that time. They are sign-posts. LF: Is there one song of yours that you think is perfect? M: I certainly have songs that I feel resonate more and speak truthfully more about me than others. Like “Don't Tell Me.” Or “Like It Or Not.” Also, “Live To Tell” would be one too. LF: Do you ever stop and think, “I sure got a lot done”? M: (Laughing) Sometimes. That would require free time! LF: Being on the road sounds like a military operation. How long does it take to get ready for you to go on tour? For you physically? M: First, I start to train for several months, just to get my cardiovascular endurance up so that I can sing and dance at the same time. Then putting the show together and figuring out the choreography and experimenting. Then I spend hours and hours with my band and my dancers and my choreographer and my director. It just becomes an endurance test. So by the time the show is put together, I'm physically ready, just from doing it over and over for months. LF: At what point do you say "stop, get me outta here, this is too hard"? M: Right about now. (Laughs) We did the tour for 4 months, and then we took a break. And now we've been on the road for a couple of months. It feels like a good time to end it. I'm ready to haveanother creative experience. I don't know how people go on the road for 18 months and do the same show. I couldn't do it. LF: You're not the sit-around girl, either, are you? M: No, not much. Not with kids and a job. Every once in a while, I have a moment of reflection. It's usually because I'm forced to look back at it from somebody else's point of you… or if someone does a retrospective of my career. Then I go, "I did all that?" It's usually someone else reminding me. LF: You have a knack of writing songs that are pointed and political, but also for writing songs that are carefree and fun. Which do you think hit people stronger? M: People who are more politically aware and want to be inspired like songs like "American Life,"and people who just want to have a good time will like my more let's-have-fun kind of music. I think people are in different moods at different times. I'm in different moods at different times. LF: What kind of music are you listening to a lot these days? M: I'm listening to a lot of electronic music. LF: Do you still like going clubbing? M: Yes, but I certainly don't go clubbing when I'm on tour, because it's not really good for me. You can't talk loud after shows and stuff in smokey nightclubs. LF: Tell me about the working on the track "Celebration" with Paul Oakenfold. What was it about working with him that was interesting to you? M: Paul has done so many remixes for me. We've collaborated on a lot of music, just because of that. Plus, he's been opening for me on most of this tour, and we've hung out together a lot. He has played at parties I've thrown. I like his energy. I like his ability to make people get up and dance. He knows how to work a crowd. He's a very positive person, himself. I heard some of the production that he has done with other artists, and I decided to experiment with him. LF: What do you imagine your next record is going to sound like? Have you thought about it yet? M: Not really. I love electronic music, so I'm sure that I'll keep doing something in that area. But I don't know who I'm going to work with yet. LF: What next on your life check-list? What are you hoping to get done? M: I have several projects going. I have another script that I've written, and I want to direct another film. Hopefully, I'll be doing that next year. I also have many, many projects going on in Africa right now that I want to bring to fruition, like building a girls school and working on two new documentaries that I want to make. So, I've got lots of projects going. LF: Could you ever imagine that your life would turn out this way? M: No way! LF: It's pretty awesome, isn't it? M: It's insane. I'm very lucky. I feel truly blessed. Good Girl! ...Electronic Music.... I LOVE YOU M!!! ...Give me electronic music and I'll be yours!!! -A

Madonna surprised MTV’s VMAs tonight by opening the show with a long speech about Michael Jackson. Read her entire tribute here: “Michael Jackson. [Cheers] I have a little bit more to say than that. OK, here we go again. Michael Jackson was born in August 1958. So was I. Michael Jackson grew up in the suburbs of the midwest. So did I. When Michael Jackson was six, he became a superstar, and was perhaps the world’s most beloved child. When I was six, my mother died. I think he got the shorter end of the stick. I never had a mother, but he never had a childhood. And when you never get to have something, you become obsessed by it. I spent my childhood searching for my mother figures. Sometimes I was successful, but how do you recreate your childhood when you are under the magnifying glass of the world. There is no question that Michael Jackson is one of the greatest talents the world has ever known. That when he sang a song at the ripe old age of 8 he could make you feel like an experienced adult was squeezing your heart with his word. That when he moved he had the elegance of Fred Astaire and packed the punch of Muhammed Ali. That his music had an extra layer of inexplicable magic that didn’t just make you want to dance but actually made you believe you could fly, dare to dream, be anything that you wanted to be. Because that is what heroes do and Michael Jackson was a hero. He performed in soccer stadiums around the world, and sold hundreds of millions of records and dined with prime ministers and presidents. Girls fell in love with him, boys fell in love with him, everyone wanted to dance like him. He seemed otherworldly - but he was a human being. Like most performers he was shy and plagued with insecurities. I can’t say we were great friends, but in 1991 I decided I wanted to try to get to know him better. I asked him out to dinner, I said “My treat, I’ll drive - just you and me.” He agreed and showed up to my house without any bodyguards. We drove to the restaurant in my car. It was dark out, but he was still wearing sunglasses. I said, “Michael, I feel like I’m talking to a limosine. Do you think you can take off your glasses so I can see your eyes?” Then he tossed the glasses out the window, looked at me with a wink and a smile and said, “Can you see me now? Is that better?” in that moment, I could see both his vulnerability and his charm. The rest of the dinner, I was hellbent on getting him to eat French Fries, drink wine, have dessert and say bad words. Things he never seemed to allow himself to do. Later we went back to my house to watch a movie and sat on the couch like two kids, and somewhere in the middle of the movie, his hand snuck over and held mine. It felt like he was looking for more of a friend than a romance, and I was happy to oblige. In that moment, he didn’t feel like a superstar. He felt like a human being. We went out a few more times together, and then for one reason or another we fell out of touch. Then the witchhunt began, and it seemed like one negative story after another was coming out about Michael. I felt his pain, I know what it’s like to walk down the street and feel like the whole world is turned against you. I know what it’s like to feel helpless and unable to defend yourself because the roar of the lynchmob is so loud you feel like your voice can never be heard. But I had a childhood, and I was allowed to make mistakes and find my own way in the world without the glare of the spotlight. When I first heard that Michael had died, I was in London, days away from the start of my tour. Michael was going to perform in the same venue as me a week later. All I could think about in this moment was, “I had abandoned him.” That we had abandoned him. That we had allowed this magnificent creature who had once set the world on fire to somehow slip through the cracks. While he was trying to build a family and rebuild his career, we were all passing judgement. Most of us had turned our backs on him. In a desperate attempt to hold onto his memory, I went on the internet to watch old clips of him dancing and singing on TV and on stage and I thought, “my god, he was so unique, so original, so rare, and there will never be anyone like him again. He was a king.” But he was also a human being, and alas we are all human beings and sometimes we have to lose things before we can appreciate them. I want to end this on a positive note and say that my sons, age 9 and 4, are obsessed with Michael Jackson. There’s a whole lot of crotch grabbing and moonwalking going on in my house. And, it seems like a whole new generation of kids have discovered his genius and are bringing him to life again. I hope that wherever Michael is right now he is smiling about this. Yes, Michael Jackson was a human being but he was a king. Long live the king. Source: Rolling Stone, MTV