Madonna's 'Erotica' Album - Celebrating the 25th Year of its Inception

Sometimes I listen bemused to some of my millennial female friends who were 'shocked' to see Fifty Shades of Grey and Fifty Shades Darker.

I wanted to tell them, have you browsed through Madonna's 'Sex' book, or the video to 'Justify My Love' or even listened to her album 'Erotica' - everything in that movie, she already showed to the world, 25 years ago.

You might learn a thing or two about spicing up your married sex life!

The woman, as the dominatrix, is a subject Madonna has explored and the tour that went with this album was raunchy as ever - I don't even think they'd allow it here in present-day Manila, because in the first song alone - a topless woman slowly gyrates downward along a very very long long pole - how's that for erotic imagery for you.  

However, we sometimes forget that some of her beautiful and fun songs like 'Rain', 'Deeper and Deeper', 'In This Life, and 'Bye Bye Baby' come from this album.

So underneath that imagery of leather whips and gold teeth were some really solid songs that can stand the test of time.

Remembering the Love Song Madonna and Prince Sang Together

As a tribute to Prince, I am sharing to you his collaboration with the Queen of Pop, Madonna, and from the first note, you can immediately tell that THIS was a Prince song.

I just love this Love Song. I wonder why Madonna never released it as a single.

Prince's imprint is just unmistakably here. The falsetto voice, the coy guitar licks and Madonna plays along with him. Truly a hidden gem.

6th MyFABEMusic Awards: Record of the Year

Album of the Year

Ariana Grande – My Everything

Imagine Dragons – Smoke + Mirrors

Madonna – Rebel Heart

Tori Amos – Unrepentant Geraldines

Zedd – True Colors

6th MyFABE Music Awards: Artist of the Year

Artist of the Year

Ariana Grande

Imagine Dragons

Madonna

Tori Amos

Zedd

My Weekly Top 10 (Nov. 27, 2015) #7 Madonna - Ghost Town

Madonna's Ghost Town moves back up to #7 this week in my weekly top 10 countdown.  It's the song's new peak position.

Madonna

Madonna has a staggering 100 top 10 hits in my personal countdown.  Seventy-one of them went all the way to #1.

1983 - Lucky Star (#1)

1983 - Holiday (#1)

1984 - Borderline (#1)

1984 - Burning Up (#3)

1984 - Think of Me (#1)

1984 - Physical Attraction (#1)

1984 - Everybody (#7)

1984 - Like A Virgin (#1)

1985 - Material Girl (#1)

1985 - Crazy For You (#1)

1985 - Angel (#1)

1985 - Into the Groove (#1)

1986 - Live To Tell (#1)

1986 - Papa Don't Preach (#1)

1986 - True Blue (#1)

1987 - Open Your Heart (#1)

1987 - Where's The Party (#1)

1987 - La Isla Bonita (#7)

1987 - Who's That Girl (#1)

1987 - Causing A Commotion (#1)

1987 - Can't Stop (#1)

1989 - Like A Prayer (#1)

1989 - Express Yourself (#1)

1989 – Cherish (#1)

1990 – Love Song (with Prince) (#1)

1990 – Oh Father (#1)

1990 – Dear Jessie (#1)

1990 - Til Death Do Us Part (#7)

1990 - Promise to Try (#8)

1990 - Spanish Eyes (#8)

1990 - Keep it Together (#7)

1990 – Vogue (#1)

1990 - Hanky Panky (#5)

1990 - I'm Goin' Bananas (#7)

1990 - Now I'm Following You I and II (with Warren Beatty) (#1)

1990 - Rescue Me (#5)

1991 – Justify My Love (#1)

1992 - This Used to be My Playground (#1)

1993 – Bad Girl (#1)

1993 – Rain (#1)

1993 - Erotica (#1)

1993 - Secret (#5)

1993 - Fever (#2)

1993 - Bye Bye Baby (#1)

1993 - Deeper and Deeper (#1)

1993 - In This Life (#1)

1993 - Where Life Begins (#7)

1993 - Thief of Hearts (#7)

1993 - Words (#7)

1994 – I’ll Remember (#1)

1994 – Take A Bow (#1)

1994 - Survival (#1)

1994 - I'd Rather Be Your Lover (with Meshell N'Degeocello) (#1)

1994 - Don't Stop (#1)

1994 - Forbidden Love (#7)

1994 - Love Tried to Welcome Me (#1)

1994 - Sanctuary (#3)

1995 – Human Nature (#1)

1995 – Bedtime Story (#1)

1995 – You’ll See (#1)

1995 - Something to Remember (#7)

1995 - One More Chance (#2)

1996 – You Must Love Me (#1)

1996 - Another Suitcase in Another Hall (#1)

1998 – Ray of Light (#1)

1998 – Drowned World (Substitute For Love) (#1)

1998 – The Power of Goodbye (#1)

1998 - Swim (#1)

1998 - Candy Perfume Girl (#1)

1998 - Skin (#1)

1999 - Little Star (#1)

1999 - Mer Girl (#5)

1999 – Beautiful Stranger (#1)

2000 – Music (#1)

2000 – Don’t Tell Me (#1)

2001 – What It Feels Like (For A Girl) (#1)

2001 - Impressive Instant (#1)

2001 - Runaway Lover (#1)

2001 - I Deserve It (#4)

2001 - Nobody's Perfect (#5)

2004 – Love Profusion (#1)

2004 - I'm So Stupid (#5)

2004 - Nobody Knows Me (#1)

2006 – Get Together (#1)

2006 – Jump (#1)

2006 - Future Lovers (#1)

2008 – The Beat Goes On (with Kanye West) (#1)

2008 - Candy Shop (#1)

2008 - 4 Minutes (with Justin Timberlake and Timbaland)) (#3)

2008 - Give It 2 Me (#1)

2009 - Celebration (#5)

2012 – I’m A Sinner (#1)

2012 - I Fucked Up (#1)

2012 - Gang Bang (#4)

2012 - Turn Up the Radio (#2)

2012 - Girl Gone Wild (#2)

2015 - Rebel Heart (#1)

2015 - Bitch I'm Madonna (#1)

2015 - Beautiful Scars (#1)

2015 - Ghosttown (#7)

My Weekly Top 10: For the Week Ending October 16, 2015

Jamaican singer OMI tops my personal countdown this week for the very first time. This worldwide hit is also cool for me.  I just love how the trumpet sounds!  I miss that actually from a regular top 10 radio hit.

Here are my ten favorite songs for the week ending October 16, 2015:

#1 OMI - Cheerleader (NEW)

#2 Tori Amos - Selkie (#2)

#3 Toni Braxton /Babyface - Take It Back (#3)

#4 Ricky Martin - Adios (#10)

#5 Deorro / Chris Brown - Five More Hours (NEW)

#6 Hunter Hayes - Invisible (#8)

#7 Vanessa Carlton - I Don't Want to be a Bride (#9)

#8 Madonna - Ghosttown (NEW)

#9 Flosstradamus / GTA  / Lil Jon - Prison Riot (NEW)

#10 Adam Lambert - Ghost Town (NEW)

My Weekly Top 10 (October 16, 2015): #8 Madonna - Ghosttown

Madonna gets her 100th top 10 hit in my personal countdown this week as Ghosttown debuts at #8.  It's the fourth top 10 song from her Rebel Heart album.

Ariana Pays Tribute To Whitney Houston and Madonna on Her Honeymoon Concert Tour

Just like in Katy Perry's concert earlier this year, Ariana also paid tribute to the Queen of Pop by singing Vogue, mashing it up with Whitney Houston's I'm Every Woman.

Even though Madonna is not known for her vocal prowess, it's nice to know that she was able to influence these current group of female performers.

Anyhow, tonight was the night for the teenage girls. Our version to relive our teenage moments will come soon enough.

I haven't decided yet to buy the stupendously expensive tickets to her show since I'm waiting for the setlist.

Rebel Heart is a fantastic album showcasing so many musical styles so I was thinking, if Madonna will sing Rebel Heart (the title track), Beautiful Scar, Bitch I'm Madonna (this one is a shoo-in because it's the only song that charted in the Hot 100), Ghost Town and Joan of Arc, maybe, just maybe, I'd have to get some money from our baul, just to see her in Manila.

Sana di pa ubos ang tickets by Christmas time.

My Weekly Top 10: May 29, 2015 #1 Madonna - Rebel Heart

This is one of my favorite songs from Madonna's latest album.  Interestingly, it is the title track from that album!  Rebel Heart becomes Madonna's 97th top 10 hit in my personal countdown as well as her 69th #1!  This is the first number one song from her latest album, Rebel Heart

My Five Most Favorite Tracks from Madonna's Rebel Heart Album

I admit I wasn't too excited when Madonna told all of us that she was releasing a new album.  This happened when six of her demo tracks were stolen and released to the public late last year.  I wasn't too excited as well with her new single Living for Love - even if she had to fall at the Brit awards and generate a lot of buzz because of it.  But anyway, she IS my most favorite artist of all, so like any loyal fan, off I went to Astrovision on March 13 to buy her latest album, Rebel Heart.

I was surprised that it had 19 songs and it cost so much at 950 pesos!  Anyway, I popped it into my Sony mp3 player and slowly, after playing it again and again, I came across several songs which I liked and hope she would perform in her Rebel Heart tour.

Also, she did experiment in this album, but she didn't go all the way.  I think you can hear that in the first 5-6 songs in the album.  They're all ok for me, they sound ok, but I still have to like them.

I only like one song in that segment of the album.  I guess, being an 80s fan of Madonna, I am still on the lookout for that vintage Madonna sound.

In her last MDNA album, I think only two songs went to #1 in my personal countdown, I'm A Sinner and I Fucked Up.  Let's see how her new songs would fare against the current musical sounds as I release my five most favorite songs from her latest album.

#1 Rebel Heart - Surprise, surprise!  My most favorite song from this album is the title track!  Doesn't she sound so refreshing here!  I can actually picture her doing this live! And I'm quite excited to see her perform this live!  It's such a cool track that you can snap your fingers along with it and sway side to side with all your friends and sing along as she says "Hell, yeah, this is where I want to be".

#2 Beautiful Scars - I only learned now that this wonderful song is not even in the 'original' album!! It's in the deluxe edition of the album, which is the one I bought!  Buti na lang!  This is the last song in the album, and it's my second most favorite track from this album.  "Take me, with all my beautiful scars, I love you the way that you are, I come to you with all my flaws, with all my beautiful scars"  I really hope she includes this song in her Rebel Heart tour!  I would love to sing this along with her!

#3 Ghosttown - This is probably the most "saleable" of all the songs in her latest album.  I haven't heard a good Madonna album in years, and this one should hopefully chart - and reintroduce Madonna to this new generation of 1D and Taylor Swift fans.

#4 Joan of Arc - Another song that seems like a ballad and then speeds up and becomes an upbeat song.  I love it when she sings "I'm not Joan of Arc, not yet. I'm only human."

#5 Bitch I'm Madonna - I don't think she'd ever release this song, but I like the way she slams the words and says, "Bitch, I'm Madonna!"  And that horny sound in the middle - is that a trumpet?  Sounds like it came from a Jason Derulo song! But it works nevertheless!

Macklemore and Gay Love

When I bought Macklemore's album more than a year ago, I was expecting the same s**t I've heard from rappers - loose women, women's body parts, casual sex, blow jobs, bilmoko women, etc, etc - so I was pretty shocked to suddenly hear 'Same Love' amidst all the other songs. I remember the moment I heard it - I had to open my Itunes window to verify that it was indeed Macklemore's album that I was playing!! And I replayed the song 3 or 4 times just to make sure I was hearing his message right! It's very rare for rappers to support gay people - they often make fun of us, make us the butt of their jokes in their songs - so I was really really surprised that Macklemore wrote and sang this song. And he says matter of factly. No beating around the bush. Which is particularly refreshing! Definitely watching his concert here in March!

A Cautionary Tale on Miley Cyrus

Weeks ago, I read with amusement as many people pilloried Miley Cyrus for her risque performance at the VMA Awards. It reminded me of the crazy things Madonna did when she was younger, just to get attention! Well, Miley got what she wanted, her first #1 song in the US Billboard charts, which I think was really her goal. Sometimes all that overt sexuality shown in their videos are just to sell records and not really who they are as people. Cautionary tale. Two decades ago, people thought Madonna was the dirty slut for doing risque videos while Whitney Houston was the nightingale who could no wrong. See what happened two decades later. Who was found dead in a bathtub of a drug overdose and who became a billionairess? Sometimes, the 'malandi' image an artist projects is just that, an image they want to project but they really live 'clean' lives. Sometimes, kung sino pa yung 'di makabasag pinggan' ang image, yun pa ang totoong durugista.

Psy Tops the 3rd MyFABEMusic Awards

 
Ten new categories were added to this year's MyFABEMusic Awards.  This was to accommodate the enlarged top 40 weekly countdown and the expanded top 100 songs of the year.  Right now, there are 22 awards already and more should be added next year as the jazz and Christian/gospel categories are starting to assert themselves.

Breakout Korean rapper Psy tops this year's awards with four wins including International Song, Hip Hop/Rap Act, Hip Hop/Rap Song and Dance Song of 2012.

Madonna romped off with three awards including the coveted Artist of the Year award.  She also won Pop Act and Dance Act of 2012.

Carly Rae Jepsen also won three awards including the coveted Record of the Year and New Artist of the Year awards.  She also won Pop Song of 2012.

Several artists took two awards including Taylor Swift who got the country category awards, Gotye, for Alternative Song and Collaboration of 2012, the Japanese band Sakanaction, for International Artist and Alternative Act, and Beyonce, who swept the R&B category awards.

Natasha Bedingfield got the coveted Album of the Year award for her Strip Me album.

3rd MyFABEMusic Awards: Artist of 2012

Here are the nominees for the Artist of the Year award for 2012.  This is based on their overall performance in my personal countdown for 2012.

Beyonce

 

Carly Rae Jepsen 

Madonna

Natasha Bedingfield

Vertical Horizon

 And the award for the 2012 Artist of the Year goes to Madonna.

3rd MyFABEMusic Awards: Album of 2012

Here are the nominees for the 3rd MyFABEMusic Album of the Year award -

Kelly Clarkson - Stronger

Madonna - MDNA

 Melissa Etheridge - Fearless Love

 

Natasha Bedingfield - Strip Me

Pink - The Truth About Love

And the Album of 2012 is Natasha Bedingfield's Strip Me.

3rd MyFABEMusic Awards: Pop Act of 2012

Here are the nominees for the 3rd MyFABEMusic's Pop Act of the Year -

Carly Rae Jepsen

Kelly Clarkson

Madonna

Natasha Bedingfield

Pink

And the Pop Act of 2012 is Madonna.

 

3rd MyFABEMusic Awards: Dance Act of 2012

The Dance Act of the Year is another new category we have introduced this year.  Again, my definition of a 'dance act' may vary a bit from what the industry says and there will be years where pop or hip hop artists may be in this category.

Here are the nominees for Dance Act of the Year.

Big Bang

David Guetta

Loreen

Florence + the Machine

Madonna

And the Dance Act of 2012 is Madonna.

 

3rd MyFABEMusic Awards: Dance Song of 2012

The Dance Song of the Year is a new category we are introducing in 2012.  However, my definition of 'dance' may vary a bit from how the Grammy views it so there may be some pop or even rap songs here.  The important consideration is that they were huge hits on the local dance floors here in Manila.  

Here are the nominees for Dance Song of the Year.

Cheryl Cole - Call My Name
Florence + the Machine - Spectrum
Loreen - Euphoria
Madonna - I'm A Sinner
Psy - Gangnam Style

and the Dance Song of 2012 is Psy's Gangnam Style. 

3rd MyFABEMusic Awards: Artist of the Year

Here are the nominees for the Artist of the Year award for 2012.  The winner will be announced on December 30, 2012 - 

Beyonce

 

Carly Rae Jepsen 

 

Madonna

Natasha Bedingfield

 

Vertical Horizon