Rebel Heart was never supposed to arrive the way it did.
In December 2014, unfinished demos from the sessions began leaking online. Rather than wait, Madonna answered on 20 December by releasing six finished songs early, led by “Living for Love”. So the record began its life in the open: half-heard, argued over, and already out in the world before it was complete.
Two hearts
The title tells you how to listen. There is the rebel — loud, defiant, swaggering — and the romantic, more tender than she had let herself sound in years. Diplo, Avicii and Kanye West are among the many hands on the record, and you can feel her moving between their worlds rather than settling in one.
“Bitch I’m Madonna”, with Nicki Minaj, is as maximal as pop gets. “Ghosttown” is its opposite: a slow, piano-led love song for the end of the world, and one of the finest vocals of her later career. Between them sit songs about fame, faith and the cost of being looked at for thirty years.
The rebel and the romantic, sharing one record and never quite agreeing.
The cape
For many people, the image of this era is the Brit Awards in February 2015. Partway into “Living for Love”, a cape tied too tightly pulled her backwards down the stage steps. She got up and finished the song. It is hard to think of a better summary of the record’s message.
Rebel Heart was released on 6 March 2015 and later carried her around the world on the Rebel Heart Tour. It remains one of her most underrated records: messy in places, generous everywhere, and full of a woman fighting for her own songs.
Explore the record: Rebel Heart · Every song on The Tracks
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