MADONNA: 'Confessions II' with Patrik Sandberg

[upbeat music] What's with this band anyway? I don't get it, can you please explain? Wait, like, bandsplain? Never heard this band in my life.

Oh, you haven't? I love them.

Really? Why? Yeah, I love this song.

Oh, I don't know that one.

Bandsplain, bandsplain, bandsplain.

I really hate this band.

Whatever, I'm their biggest fan.

Bandsplain, bandsplain, bandsplain, bandsplain.

Bandsplain.

Yasi SalekHost0:45

Hello, and welcome to Bandsplain.

Yasi SalekHost0:47

I am your host, Yosi Salak.

Yasi SalekHost0:49

This is usually a show where I invite an expert guest to come on and help me explain an iconic artist or a cult band.

Yasi SalekHost0:55

Today's episode is an emergency episode to cap off our seemingly never-ending Madonna series.

Yasi SalekHost1:02

We have gathered here today to talk about the 15th Madonna studio album that came out last week, Confessions on a Dance Floor 2.

Yasi SalekHost1:10

Patrick, I've got something I wanna talk about.

Patrick SandbergGuest1:14

It's a shemergency episode.

Yasi SalekHost1:15

[laughs] It's a...

Yasi SalekHost1:16

Sorry, it's a hermergency.

Yasi SalekHost1:17

[laughs]

Patrick SandbergGuest1:18

[laughs]

Yasi SalekHost1:18

Um, we are-

Patrick SandbergGuest1:19

It's a she-hermergency

Yasi SalekHost1:20

... we are joined, of course, by Patrick Sandberg of Madonna Bandsplain Part 2 fame, uh, our resident gay, Madonna expert extraordinaire.

Yasi SalekHost1:31

We- welcome to the show.

Patrick SandbergGuest1:33

If I wasn't a Madonna expert before-

Yasi SalekHost1:35

[laughs] You, I-

Patrick SandbergGuest1:36

... you've made me one

Yasi SalekHost1:37

[laughs] by sheer force of Google Doc.

Patrick SandbergGuest1:39

By sheer force of y- force of your hundreds of hours-

Yasi SalekHost1:41

[laughs]

Patrick SandbergGuest1:41

... of research, we're all Madonna experts now.

Yasi SalekHost1:44

I hope so.

Yasi SalekHost1:45

As, as we said before, open the schools, you know?

Patrick SandbergGuest1:51

Correct.

Yasi SalekHost1:52

Um, thank God, is all I wanted to say.

Yasi SalekHost1:56

[laughs]

Patrick SandbergGuest1:57

[laughs] The relief.

Yasi SalekHost1:58

The re- yeah, because, okay, we were joking around before we started recording, um, with our beautiful producers and engineers, and they were like, "Another Madonna episode?" And I was like, "Honestly, if the album hadn't have been good, we probably would've, like, [exhales sharply] like moved-"

Patrick SandbergGuest2:13

Yeah

Yasi SalekHost2:13

... on with our lives," you know? But the album is so good.

Patrick SandbergGuest2:18

It's, it's like a seminal album.

Yasi SalekHost2:20

Yeah.

Patrick SandbergGuest2:21

Which, and I do wanna firstly apologize to that one guy, the one commenter-

Yasi SalekHost2:27

Mm-hmm

Patrick SandbergGuest2:27

... who's like, "When are you gonna get back to talking about guitar bands?" [laughs]

Yasi SalekHost2:31

[laughs] I know.

Yasi SalekHost2:32

So, I know.

Yasi SalekHost2:33

He's like, "What happened to the guitar bands?"

Patrick SandbergGuest2:35

Um-

Yasi SalekHost2:35

And it's like-

Patrick SandbergGuest2:35

And to him I say, "Skip all the way to the last track on the album."

Yasi SalekHost2:38

There you go.

Yasi SalekHost2:39

We have a little guitar-

Patrick SandbergGuest2:40

The Rory Side Girl

Yasi SalekHost2:40

... for you.

Patrick SandbergGuest2:41

Um, it w- it, it's like there were rumors for a long time that the album was good.

Yasi SalekHost2:47

Yeah.

Patrick SandbergGuest2:48

You know?

Yasi SalekHost2:48

I heard a few of those.

Patrick SandbergGuest2:48

In elite gay circles-

Yasi SalekHost2:50

[laughs]

Patrick SandbergGuest2:50

...

Patrick SandbergGuest2:50

there were whispers, "The album's really good." And then some of us, you know, by virtue of proximity or whatnot, were able to hear some of it-

Yasi SalekHost3:03

Yeah

Patrick SandbergGuest3:03

... a while ago, and kind of verify that it was good.

Patrick SandbergGuest3:05

So when you actually [laughs] were first doing Madonna month, I remember I told you the album was coming out in June.

Yasi SalekHost3:12

Yeah

Patrick SandbergGuest3:12

Around Pride sometime, which you didn't even know.

Yasi SalekHost3:16

I had no idea.

Patrick SandbergGuest3:16

You were just doing Madonna.

Patrick SandbergGuest3:18

And I was like, "Don't worry.

Patrick SandbergGuest3:19

The album's good."

Yasi SalekHost3:20

Yes.

Patrick SandbergGuest3:20

And that was me saying, "That's what everybody's saying."

Yasi SalekHost3:23

Right.

Patrick SandbergGuest3:23

And from, like, the little snippets that I've heard, it's gonna be good, and knowing, of course, that Stuart Price was working on it, which speaks volumes.

Yasi SalekHost3:30

Yes.

Yasi SalekHost3:31

Yeah, I think, you know, it, uh, how, what were we betting people, just given-

Patrick SandbergGuest3:36

Mm

Yasi SalekHost3:36

...

Yasi SalekHost3:36

the bit of information we had, I think we could've known at the very least it wasn't gonna be bad.

Patrick SandbergGuest3:42

Yeah.

Patrick SandbergGuest3:43

And then as the singles kind of rolled out, people were starting to actually kind of debate, like, if it was really major or not.

Patrick SandbergGuest3:49

They're like, "I like it, but is it, like, amazing?"

Yasi SalekHost3:52

Yeah.

Patrick SandbergGuest3:52

And it was like...

Patrick SandbergGuest3:54

And we can get into the rollout of these songs and how they play now-

Yasi SalekHost3:57

Yeah

Patrick SandbergGuest3:57

... hearing them in the context of the album, but I think that, like, it was like we all kind of resigned ourselves to, like, okay, it's gonna be tasteful, and it's gonna be good.

Yasi SalekHost4:08

Right.

Patrick SandbergGuest4:09

We don't know if it's gonna be phenomenal, and it's actually phenomenal.

Patrick SandbergGuest4:14

Spoiler alert, it's phenomenal.

Yasi SalekHost4:16

Yeah.

Yasi SalekHost4:16

At the very least, we knew it wasn't gonna be some sort of, like, 19 songwriter in a camp monstrosity-

Patrick SandbergGuest4:23

Yeah

Yasi SalekHost4:23

... that we've perhaps suffered through in the past.

Yasi SalekHost4:26

Um, and yeah, I wanna talk, I do wanna talk about the rollout, and I wanna talk about the song, 'cause, like, I do feel it's so incredible, and I've heard other people say this, like, how much more they pop the singles within the context of the album, within the continuous mix of the album, how much my relationship changed with them since, like, the first listen to then hearing them as God intended [laughs]

Patrick SandbergGuest4:50

Yeah

Yasi SalekHost4:50

... as Stuart Price and Madonna intended.

Yasi SalekHost4:52

Um, but I think us going, brag, to Club Confessions Los Angeles, one of the most insane nights of my life-

Patrick SandbergGuest4:59

[laughs]

Yasi SalekHost4:59

Felt like I was in a Fellini film.

Yasi SalekHost5:02

It was-

Patrick SandbergGuest5:02

It, it will forever-

Yasi SalekHost5:03

At every turn-

Patrick SandbergGuest5:03

... be the night that I met Tori Spelling.

Yasi SalekHost5:05

You met Tori Spelling.

Patrick SandbergGuest5:06

[laughs]

Yasi SalekHost5:06

At every turn, I saw something more insane and, and convoluted to my brain.

Yasi SalekHost5:11

Bruce Vilanch napping in a bench, just, like, everything you want it to be.

Yasi SalekHost5:15

Um, but there, I was like, "Oh," 'cause they were playing the songs, or parts of the songs, right?

Patrick SandbergGuest5:22

Mm-hmm.

Yasi SalekHost5:22

And they were good, and I was like-

Patrick SandbergGuest5:25

Really good

Yasi SalekHost5:25

...

Yasi SalekHost5:25

I, I know that in, I know, like, obviously the context heightened it.

Yasi SalekHost5:28

It's how it's supposed to be heard.

Yasi SalekHost5:30

You're in a club surrounded by people with open hearts for this music and, and gays dancing, you know? But it was, like, really good.

Yasi SalekHost5:38

I went home from that being like, "This shit's gonna fucking bang."

Patrick SandbergGuest5:41

It kind of reminds me of the first time I heard the songs that were in the Confessions film-

Yasi SalekHost5:45

Mm

Patrick SandbergGuest5:45

... which were played to me in an SUV.

Yasi SalekHost5:48

Right.

Patrick SandbergGuest5:48

Um-

Yasi SalekHost5:49

In, in, in, in their entirety, or just the snippets?

Patrick SandbergGuest5:52

It was the mega mix that they were-

Yasi SalekHost5:53

That they used for the-

Patrick SandbergGuest5:55

... editing the video to

Yasi SalekHost5:55

Okay.

Patrick SandbergGuest5:56

And the whole time I was kind of, my mind was being blown, but then it would skip to another song-

Yasi SalekHost6:02

Right

Patrick SandbergGuest6:02

... you know? And I was just like, "What?" And then I was like, "Wait, it's really good." And then I'd be like, "I don't know." And then I was like, "Actually-"[gasps] It was, like, crazy.

Patrick SandbergGuest6:10

Hearing it for the first time in Club Confessions was like that too because you're just, like, in the moment.

Patrick SandbergGuest6:16

You liked it, but then it was like, "What are you left with at the end of the night?"

Yasi SalekHost6:18

Right, you had nothing to grab onto.

Patrick SandbergGuest6:20

Yeah.

Yasi SalekHost6:20

You couldn't-

Patrick SandbergGuest6:20

You couldn't go home and play it

Yasi SalekHost6:21

... we didn't know names.

Yasi SalekHost6:22

We didn't know...

Yasi SalekHost6:23

You know, you couldn't-

Patrick SandbergGuest6:24

Mm

Yasi SalekHost6:24

... you couldn't really make out the lyrics as much.

Yasi SalekHost6:27

Um, well, we're gonna get into all of it.

Yasi SalekHost6:29

We're gonna talk about the making of, we're gonna talk about the cover art, we're gonna talk about the themes, we're gonna talk about the Confessions film, we're gonna talk about the track by track, and we're gonna answer a bunch of listener questions.

Yasi SalekHost6:41

But before we do all of that, I wanted to make sure that we, um, hear from our, uh, fellow compatriots, our fellow Bansplained Madonna month-

Patrick SandbergGuest6:51

Hostages

Yasi SalekHost6:52

[laughs] Hostages.

Yasi SalekHost6:53

Col- uh, I was gonna say collaborators, but you're as hostages.

Patrick SandbergGuest6:57

[laughs]

Yasi SalekHost6:57

Stockholm Syndrome, nobody wanted to do this.

Yasi SalekHost6:59

And the thing is everybody wanted to do it.

Yasi SalekHost7:01

Everyone wants to do Bansplained-

Patrick SandbergGuest7:02

We're all hostages to Madonna

Yasi SalekHost7:02

... until they realize what Bansplained is.

Patrick SandbergGuest7:04

She has us all-

Yasi SalekHost7:05

It's true

Patrick SandbergGuest7:05

... she has us all by the throat-

Yasi SalekHost7:06

It's so true

Patrick SandbergGuest7:06

... which is going to be a theme.

Yasi SalekHost7:08

Okay.

Yasi SalekHost7:09

First up we're gonna hear from Mel Ottenberg, Editor-in-Chief of Interview Magazine and the guest for Madonna Episode 1.

Yassi, it's Mel.

My favorite songs on Confessions 2 are Fragile, Lower East Side Girl, and The Test.

I think that Fragile I really like because I get the story, and I read, you know, his book or, like, I understand, like, the vibes, and it's interesting.

And The Test is just great, and Lower East Side I feel like is so great on it.

And Lower East Side's just got that sort of thing, and it's got, like, the boom, boom pow of a Madonna song.

You know? Like, a lo- like, last song on the album thing that you, like, didn't expect to be the one that you loved, but you love.

You know? And it, and that's how I feel.

And I do wanna say that as the Editor-in-Chief of Interview, I've always thought will I ever have a Madonna moment? I need to have a Madonna moment because I'm a Madonna head, but, like, will that ever come, or will it be a good idea if it does come? And to have been able to do something cool with her, and she was so great, and I just th- I think so highly of her.

And watching her model and be, uh, the diva goddess that she is and also get to sit with her for 90 fucking minutes and talk to her is, like, really a dream.

And I, and, uh...

But, like, to be able to do something cool with someone that is your hero is, is tough and hard, but, but I did it, bitch.

And I am f- I'm so grateful to her.

Um, and I'm so, think it's so great to be living in an actual Madonna moment.

Here we are.

It's 2026.

We're in a Madonna moment.

Bye.

Yasi SalekHost8:52

Thank you, Mel Ottenberg.

Patrick SandbergGuest8:54

That was perfectly said.

Yasi SalekHost8:55

Yeah.

Yasi SalekHost8:55

We really are living in a Madonna moment.

Yasi SalekHost8:58

I think that's, like, such a takeaway.

Yasi SalekHost9:00

Um, I don't know if it's partially because my algorithm is completely fried from my personal interest and research [laughs] for the last couple of months, but it feels like it's broken containment from that.

Patrick SandbergGuest9:13

It has, and it feels different than Madame X and-

Yasi SalekHost9:18

I don't-

Patrick SandbergGuest9:18

...

Patrick SandbergGuest9:18

Rebel Heart felt

Yasi SalekHost9:19

...

Yasi SalekHost9:19

I don't remember Madame X even, like, crossing my desk, if I'm being honest.

Patrick SandbergGuest9:24

Well, they all crossed my desk.

Yasi SalekHost9:26

[laughs] Yeah.

Patrick SandbergGuest9:26

There's no way for them not to.

Patrick SandbergGuest9:28

It's like-

Yasi SalekHost9:28

I mean, I saw the eye patch artwork and stuff, and I remember clocking that, but I don't-

Patrick SandbergGuest9:33

I-

Yasi SalekHost9:33

...

Yasi SalekHost9:33

I don't think I heard one single one of the songs at the time.

Patrick SandbergGuest9:35

I'm always gonna be part of a cabal of, of gays and some lesbians and, uh, some trans girls and some straight girls [laughs] who-

Yasi SalekHost9:45

[laughs]

Patrick SandbergGuest9:47

... everyone except straight men probably-

Yasi SalekHost9:48

Right

Patrick SandbergGuest9:49

... who group text or who text every time Madonna-

Yasi SalekHost9:52

Right

Patrick SandbergGuest9:53

... does something whether we like it or not, and then dissecting it-

Yasi SalekHost9:57

Sure

Patrick SandbergGuest9:58

... talking about it.

Patrick SandbergGuest9:59

So all those albums are very present for me, but this feels like a big Madonna moment.

Yasi SalekHost10:04

I feel like a lot more people are talking about it.

Yasi SalekHost10:05

Again, I'm, can't ever know because I'm biased given my current preoccupations.

Yasi SalekHost10:10

Um-

Patrick SandbergGuest10:11

Your instincts are correct.

Yasi SalekHost10:12

Thank you.

Yasi SalekHost10:13

Um, all right.

Yasi SalekHost10:14

Next we're gonna hear from Madonna Bansplained Episode 4 guest, the one and only Karen Ganz.

Hi, Madonna-splained friends.

It is Karen.

Um, Confessions 2 is legitimately such a treat, it is a feast, uh, that I am still compiling my thoughts, but here are some quick impressions for you.

Um, my expectations were very high because Confessions is such a landmark album for her, and calling this part two it just set the bar.

Did I have some ambient concerns because of the spottiness of Madame X, her last release? Um, I did, but rooting for Madonna is like rooting for the Mets.

You know? You gotta believe.

Hashtag this is my religion.

Um, I think the album is of exceptionally high quality, and there is really only one song that's a skip for me every time.

That is Everything.

As much as I enjoy hearing Madonna say, "I don't fuck with it," um, that song is just not strong enough to me.

I think the album as a whole is perfectly sequenced.

It is gorgeous.

Uh, and for me, the standouts are I Feel So Free, which I thought was a really smart first single, Danceteria, Bizarre, School, and Betrayal.

And, yes, I appreciate her writing a song for me, an LES girl of 25 years.

Um, in the Madonna canon, I think this is a really strong entry that recasts the conversation about her late career work.

And if you listen to my episode, you know I'm a fan of almost everything she has put out since 2005, especially Hard Candy and MDNA, and parts of Rebel Heart really are quite strong.

But the generally negative reaction to Madame X I think was fair, and the Celebration Tour went a very long way to helping her bounce back after that, largely because it was such an effective reminder of the things she has done to invent and reinvent pop music in her image for five decades.

I think this album functions in a similar, though not identical way Um, I love the visuals.

Parts of the rollout did make me cringe, and I think this is because I want to see a Madonna who really does truly feel so free, and she still feels restrained or rehearsed to me in some of these moments.

Uh, part of what I've loved about this album is that, the rollout, is that it's made people dig up old interviews and spontaneous moments and put them on social media, and it's that Madonna, that like truly unhinged and unencumbered Madonna.

That is what I'd like to see right now.

Um, but overall, I think this is a mega win for her, and I am really fucking happy about it.

Yasi SalekHost12:42

Karen Ganz.

Patrick SandbergGuest12:43

Bravo.

Yasi SalekHost12:43

I know.

Yasi SalekHost12:44

[laughs]

Patrick SandbergGuest12:44

Let's go home.

Yasi SalekHost12:45

Karen, I mean-

Patrick SandbergGuest12:46

[laughs]

Yasi SalekHost12:46

Karen's-

Patrick SandbergGuest12:46

She said everything I want to say

Yasi SalekHost12:47

... a brilliant mind.

Yasi SalekHost12:49

Um, yeah, I love that.

Yasi SalekHost12:52

It was a little, kind of a lot to chew on, but I think she made good points.

Yasi SalekHost12:55

I, I like, I don't, I don't fuck with that song.

Yasi SalekHost12:59

[laughs] Um-

Patrick SandbergGuest12:59

Same, and we'll get there

Yasi SalekHost13:00

... and we'll get there.

Patrick SandbergGuest13:01

I, it feels validating hearing this from the Karen Ganz.

Yasi SalekHost13:04

I know, the one and only.

Patrick SandbergGuest13:05

Because I know she has very high standards.

Yasi SalekHost13:08

Yes, although we disagreed on almost every single album in the late period.

Yasi SalekHost13:14

[laughs]

Patrick SandbergGuest13:14

But also like, I, as sort of a Madonna worshiper-

Yasi SalekHost13:17

Yeah

Patrick SandbergGuest13:18

...

Patrick SandbergGuest13:18

I do think that, like, cringe moments or things that don't work can be equally rewarding.

Patrick SandbergGuest13:25

[laughs]

Yasi SalekHost13:25

I think it's-

Patrick SandbergGuest13:26

It's like I have-

Yasi SalekHost13:26

It's like a feature, it's a feature, not a bug.

Yasi SalekHost13:28

It's like part of the whole thing

Patrick SandbergGuest13:28

...

Patrick SandbergGuest13:28

I have low standards and high standards.

Yasi SalekHost13:30

Yeah.

Patrick SandbergGuest13:30

It's like it all brings me happiness, so I don't, I don't really know how to differentiate.

Yasi SalekHost13:36

100%.

Yasi SalekHost13:37

And last, but certainly not least, we're gonna hear from Madonna part three guest, the most lusted after guest of the Bands Playing series.

Yasi SalekHost13:47

[laughs]

Patrick SandbergGuest13:47

Okay, I'm sitting right here.

Patrick SandbergGuest13:49

That was rude.

Yasi SalekHost13:51

I said most, not only.

Patrick SandbergGuest13:52

[laughs]

Yasi SalekHost13:53

I, I sent you multiple comments-

Patrick SandbergGuest13:54

I wanna thank the, the-

Yasi SalekHost13:55

... that were also lusting after you.

Yasi SalekHost13:56

[laughs]

Patrick SandbergGuest13:56

Yeah, I wanna thank the three people who called me attractive.

Patrick SandbergGuest13:59

Thank you.

Yasi SalekHost13:59

Do you know what this, uh, Madonna series didn't do for me? Bring me any straight male attention.

Yasi SalekHost14:05

[laughs]

Patrick SandbergGuest14:06

[laughs]

Yasi SalekHost14:06

But I have a million new gay friends, so-

Patrick SandbergGuest14:08

Totally

Yasi SalekHost14:09

... listen, you win some, you lose some.

Yasi SalekHost14:11

Paul Heyman, let's hear it.

It's an incredible feeling to have this album be so good.

Um, there's the feeling of, wow, she really did it, and, uh, you know, it just really delivers on everything that we want from her.

Um, I think it's really cool how the album is sequenced and, you know, is a continuous mix, and it kind of really rewards listening to it from front to back.

And, uh, I really love that about it.

And even to me, a lot of the singles make a lot more sense, um, when listened to in context.

Even like something like I Feel So Free, I really love a lot more than I did, you know, when I first was listening to it.

I think it s- like it kind of sets the stage for the record in this, like, sonic way, references, uh, Confessions one, but then the rest of the album feels like a really, an evolution rather than a sequel, which I think is really cool.

So a lot of really fresh production, a much more sophisticated ref- palette of references.

You know, all kinds of music genres in there, techno, Detroit techno, Chicago house, like two-step, you know, French house.

It feel, it feels very, you know, like a really cool palette to pick from.

And it feels like she's making things that we've never heard her do before, which is really cool.

Uh, you know, something like School, it's just like we've never heard that before.

The level of, like, vocal production and, you know, the sort of processing of her voice, even things she's doing with her voice overall across the whole record, it, it's just, it's, it's just very cool that she's still sort of pushing the boundary of what she's doing.

A theme that I think is really cool in the whole sort of picture, like, is this kind of meta-narrative of Madonna lore, which I, we haven't really seen her play with that much before.

I mean, she kind of did Bitch I'm Madonna, you know, like some self-referential stuff in the past, but I feel like this is really kind of playing into kind of something that feels very internet and very right now.

And you're seeing, you know, obviously this very specifically sort of the, like, nexus of it is, is Danceeteria, which, you know, sort of tells the literal l- lore of Madonna.

But then I think that kind of reverbs out across the whole record, where it feels like, you know, this kind of ownership of the dance floor as a place of self-expression.

And then that even kind of reverberates out into the rollout, um, in this kind of very cool meta way where, you know, the rollout itself was building this thing organically, and that it was converging with the algorithm in this cool way.

So there's, like, this kind of fan-made art.

Even the things that they've been releasing, you know, on her Instagram, like that, you know, sort of BTS, um, Danceeteria reel, feels like it's just kind of playing into this idea of, like, the internet.

You're piecing together the history and, like, putting it into this, like, larger context.

It's really cool.

It feels very right now.

It feels very satisfying for everything.

So whether that was, like, really intentional or it's just happening organically or sort of like a combination of both, it feels very savvy.

And, you know, I think it's, it's, like, helping to kind of, like, make the album really feel like it's the pinnacle of this promotional cycle.

And, you know, m- miraculously there's kind of like, having a huge budget also helps who can do these kind of great activations like the Times Square thing and the Club Confessions rollout.

But also there's, like, no sense of, uh, fatigue.

Like, even through the whole, like, pre-rollout, you know, promotional cycle, it felt like the excitement just kept building, and the lore kept building around her.

Like, it was like a gathering of steam, like, you know, this kind of, like I said, convergence of this organic push and this a- algorithmic thing happening together.

That was very cool to watch, and I think it's kind of like, it's this ineffable thing that I don't know that you can create, you know, intentionally, and I think every marketer's dream [laughs] is that that happens.

But it really kind of happened, and because she's such a powerful figure in culture, it's just very cool to see.

And at this stage of her career, at the age that she is, everything about it is really e- extremely satisfying.

I think it gives people a lot of Joy to see it.

I mean, certainly as a fan I feel that way, but I think even, you know, I'm just seeing, you know, anecdotally people who aren't necessarily, like, big Madonna fans, like, really kind of getting swept up in it and being excited about it.

And, you know, let's face it, I don't think Bandsplain has no small part in that, because I think, you know, it's an influential circle that, like, pays attention to that, uh, to this, this podcast, and I think, you know, this, that Madonna month coming right where it did in the, like, promotional cycle [laughs] is, you know, helping.

That's part of it, so that's part of what I'm talking about, this kind of sense of, like, there's all this lore on the internet and it's kind of just, like, being gathered together, like this kind of tsunami wave of, um, algorithmic and organic, you know, promotion, and it just kind of built to this level.

And it's r- just v- really satisfying to see, and everybody feels really good about it.

So I think it's just a really great cultural moment that are...

Th- these things are rare, and it feels really great for her to have this now at this stage of her career.

I think it's really reestablishing her legacy, um, not that it really re- needed to be, but it's, like, just reaffirming that for those of us who have known all along.

And then, you know, school is in session for [laughs] the zoomers and everyone else who don't know, 'cause it's kind of this, you know, collecting and bringing together of all the lore on the internet and the current moment that feels like this really, like, kind of pretty magical convergence.

And, uh, it feels really good.

I think everybody feels a lot of excitement about it, and it's, uh, it's an awesome feeling.

We're so back.

Yasi SalekHost20:03

Paul was like, "Hold my beer."

[laughs]

Yasi SalekHost20:07

He really had something he wanted to talk about, but also he made just exquisite-

Yeah

Yasi SalekHost20:10

... and salient points.

Sabrina, Madonna.

Yasi SalekHost20:12

Yeah.

Yasi SalekHost20:12

[laughs]

Yasi, Patrick.

Yasi SalekHost20:14

Um...

I have something I wanna talk about.

Yasi SalekHost20:16

Well, I think Paul's the last one I wanted to play, because I think we're gonna cover, like, almost each and every thing he talked about in there.

Yeah.

Yasi SalekHost20:23

So [laughs] okay, this wouldn't be Bandsplain if I didn't do a little too much backstory.

Okay.

Yasi SalekHost20:30

I will keep it brief.

Yasi SalekHost20:33

This is for the people that for whatever reason either did not listen to Bandsplain Madonna one through four, though I must recommend.

There's still time.

Yasi SalekHost20:42

I must recommend that you do it, or just, like myself, are brain-dead and do not retain [laughs] the information.

Yasi SalekHost20:48

Um, and someone in our, when I solicited questions, did ask, like, "Can you give us an, a Stuart Price primer again?" Um-

Oh, okay.

Yasi SalekHost20:58

[lips smack] And I think we didn't go into, like, super detail, so I'll, I'll try to be a little broad, but also talk a little bit more about him, 'cause obviously he's a hugely important part of this, uh, project.

Yasi SalekHost21:08

So in 2001, Mirwi, who had just worked with Madonna on the album Music, introduced her to a then 23-year-old Stuart Price to be her keyboard player and ultimately music director for the Drowned World Tour.

Yasi SalekHost21:24

Um, he was born in Paris.

Yasi SalekHost21:27

He grew up in Reading, England.

Yasi SalekHost21:29

He had started, uh, working on two acts in his career simultaneously, which were, I think bo- both on Wall of Sound, Zoot Woman, uh, with Adam Blake and Johnny Blake.

Jessie, please don't go.

Yasi SalekHost21:42

[laughs] That's right.

Yasi SalekHost21:43

Um, and then Jacques Lu Cont.

Mm-hmm.

Yasi SalekHost21:49

But then making music under the name Les Rythmes Digitales.

So good.

Yasi SalekHost21:53

Um-

So, so good

Yasi SalekHost21:54

... which I didn't know this, but I really loved it.

Yasi SalekHost21:55

Okay, so they put out that single "Jacques Your Body Make Me Sweat," and h- which charted, and he put an album out called Dark Dancer, and he would go, he would, like, go on interviews and pretend he only spoke French.

So major.

Yasi SalekHost22:08

[laughs] So great.

Yasi SalekHost22:09

Um, anyway, so that was...

Yasi SalekHost22:10

So he had, like, a, a cool musical pedigree, and he was, you know, I don't think he was famous by any stretch, but you know, he was, like, a semi-known quantity in a certain world of dance music.

I mean, this was, like, the time of Electroclash, and it feels like-

Yasi SalekHost22:25

Like late '90s.

Yeah.

Yasi SalekHost22:25

Yeah.

And it was sort of like if you were in the clubs, you heard Les Rythmes Digitales.

Yasi SalekHost22:30

Yeah, yeah.

Like, a lot.

Yasi SalekHost22:32

Yeah, and of course Madonna loves, um, to be up in the clubs and to know what's up in the clubs.

Yasi SalekHost22:38

By the way, you guys, just you should note I'm method because I'm back on the Celsius for this episode, so pray for Yasi.

[laughs]

Yasi SalekHost22:46

Um, anyways, Stuart Price first kind of actually collaborated with Madonna co-writing "Ecstatic Process," actually one of my faves, um, off of 2003's American Life, and then he came back to be musical director for the Re-Invention Tour in 2004.

Yasi SalekHost23:01

And I'm just gonna say this part again, 'cause it's one of my favorite pieces of lore, and I feel like more people need to hear about it, even though I think I, I triangulated the proof pretty well, but obviously there's not, like, cold, hard proof, but there's, there's enough proof to put together a breadcrumb trail, which is that Confessions sprang from an aborted film [laughs] that was meant to be directed by Luc Besson, who she had been working with on music videos.

Yasi SalekHost23:28

They both love parkour.

Yasi SalekHost23:30

Never forget who loves m- parkour more than Madonna: nobody.

Yasi SalekHost23:33

Um, and-

They both love Gaultier.

Yasi SalekHost23:34

[laughs] They both love Gaultier and parkour.

Yasi SalekHost23:37

And it was, I- allegedly, supposedly a musical biopic about Candy Darling-

Mm-hmm

Yasi SalekHost23:44

...

Yasi SalekHost23:44

but a fictional one, because it was about a woman on her deathbed, Peter Hujar photo.

The photo.

Yasi SalekHost23:52

[laughs] That was remembering her life throughout the decades, but these were not real memories, so it was like a science fiction.

Yasi SalekHost24:01

It's Luc Besson.

Yeah.

Yasi SalekHost24:02

Anyways, sounds fucking awesome.

Yasi SalekHost24:03

Wish it had been made.

Yasi SalekHost24:05

[laughs] But Madonna was, while sh- you know, she sent Luc Besson off to write the script, she set about to write music for it, and she tasked Stuart with the '70s portion, the disco portion, and she came to him and was like, "Do you have anything that sounds like ABBA?" And he was like, "That's so funny you should ask that." Because about six months before that he had been DJing in Liverpool, and he was driving home after.

Yasi SalekHost24:26

And at 5:00 AM he heard "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" on the radio, and he was like, "You know what? This fucks This is me editorializing in, like, a lifetime reenactment.

Yasi SalekHost24:36

Um, and he went home, and he cut a sample of that piano bit, and he started playing with it in his DJ sets, and people, like, went nuts for it.

Yasi SalekHost24:43

So he brought that sample to her, and obviously, that song became Hung Up.

Yasi SalekHost24:49

I think this is very interesting [laughs].

Patrick SandbergGuest24:50

It's very interesting indeed.

Yasi SalekHost24:51

Besides the fact, in and of itself it's very interesting, I think it's very interesting as we tie it into Confessions too because I think you could say in a, in a really strong way that Confessions too also comes from an aborted biopic.

Yasi SalekHost25:07

Not directly in the same way, but very much, like, spiritually and, like, where Madonna's head has been at for quite a while was working on this also aborted biopic of her own life.

Yasi SalekHost25:22

And I think it's really cool that Confessions one, 'cause there's other tracks on Confessions one that arose from that, uh, sci-fi musical.

Yasi SalekHost25:29

I think it's really cool that Confessions two also definitely arose [laughs] from a biopic that was never made.

Yasi SalekHost25:36

I think when, when she's doing that, something cool happens, especially here because she's reflecting on her own life.

Yasi SalekHost25:41

Anyways, they didn't talk for 15 years.

Yasi SalekHost25:44

She told that to Mel.

Yasi SalekHost25:45

And, uh, then in 2023 she phoned him up and hired him again as musical director for the Celebration tour.

Yasi SalekHost25:53

Um, and she went to go work on her film, ultimately scrapped-

Patrick SandbergGuest25:59

Mm-hmm

Yasi SalekHost25:59

... by Universal.

Yasi SalekHost26:01

Patrick works in Tinseltown, so he knows about this kind of stuff.

Patrick SandbergGuest26:04

Yes.

Yasi SalekHost26:05

Um-

Patrick SandbergGuest26:05

Since repackaged and set up at Netflix-

Yasi SalekHost26:07

Yeah

Patrick SandbergGuest26:07

... as a miniseries.

Yasi SalekHost26:07

Budget constraints.

Patrick SandbergGuest26:09

TBD.

Patrick SandbergGuest26:09

TBD.

Yasi SalekHost26:10

To be, I'm still waiting for the call to us, Patrick, as consultants.

Patrick SandbergGuest26:15

Um, so am I.

Yasi SalekHost26:16

Yeah.

Yasi SalekHost26:16

[laughs] We're here, Netflix.

Patrick SandbergGuest26:18

[laughs]

Yasi SalekHost26:18

We're ready.

Yasi SalekHost26:19

Um, so yeah, she was supposed to make this movie about her life.

Yasi SalekHost26:22

They'd spent all these, like, she worked on the script for two years.

Yasi SalekHost26:26

There was two years at Universal doing, like, budgeting and casting and all this stuff, and I think she said something great where she was like, "I've had a huge life, so I needed a big budget." [laughs] And-

Patrick SandbergGuest26:38

Correct

Yasi SalekHost26:38

... correct, yeah [laughs].

Yasi SalekHost26:39

Give her everything she wants.

Patrick SandbergGuest26:42

But, and, and maybe I'm wrong, I was under the impression the film does not cover her whole life.

Yasi SalekHost26:46

I don't think so.

Patrick SandbergGuest26:47

That it cuts off-

Yasi SalekHost26:48

Yeah

Patrick SandbergGuest26:48

... it's sort of about the-

Yasi SalekHost26:49

At long ambition

Patrick SandbergGuest26:49

...

Patrick SandbergGuest26:49

the early days.

Yasi SalekHost26:50

Is that right?

Patrick SandbergGuest26:51

Yeah.

Yasi SalekHost26:51

Yeah.

Yasi SalekHost26:51

I mean, you c- think, first of all, again, I'll say one thing that I do feel that I'm pretty expert in, and it's music biopic films, and the biggest kiss of death is doing a cradle to grave.

Patrick SandbergGuest27:02

Of course.

Yasi SalekHost27:03

They're not good.

Patrick SandbergGuest27:03

It's too much.

Patrick SandbergGuest27:04

It doesn't make sense.

Yasi SalekHost27:05

Unless you do it, like I, actually I don't wanna say never because I think there's someone who can subvert any form.

Yasi SalekHost27:10

I'm sure there's a way to do it that's fucking bonkers and bizarre and weird and kind of funny and cool.

Patrick SandbergGuest27:15

Baz Luhrmann's Elvis.

Yasi SalekHost27:16

[laughs] Haven't seen it.

Yasi SalekHost27:18

I'll, I'll-

Patrick SandbergGuest27:18

Has just entered the chat [laughs]

Yasi SalekHost27:19

I'll, I'll believe you.

Yasi SalekHost27:21

Um-

Patrick SandbergGuest27:22

Checks every box of every word you just said.

Yasi SalekHost27:24

Yeah.

Patrick SandbergGuest27:24

Every adjective.

Yasi SalekHost27:24

Also, does, does it ca- Yeah, okay.

Yasi SalekHost27:26

Okay.

Patrick SandbergGuest27:26

It is batshit bonkers, breaks form-

Yasi SalekHost27:29

Breaks form [laughs]

Patrick SandbergGuest27:30

... completely.

Yasi SalekHost27:30

Would you say it's good?

Patrick SandbergGuest27:33

You know what?

Yasi SalekHost27:34

Yeah? I haven't seen it.

Patrick SandbergGuest27:34

Yes.

Patrick SandbergGuest27:35

[laughs]

Yasi SalekHost27:35

Okay.

Yasi SalekHost27:35

I'm gonna, I'm gonna watch it.

Patrick SandbergGuest27:36

It's good because it, in, in the context of itself it's good.

Yasi SalekHost27:40

Okay, right.

Yasi SalekHost27:40

[laughs]

Patrick SandbergGuest27:40

It was, like, n- seeing it in the theater I was confused if I thought it was good or bad because it was so strange, but what I ...

Patrick SandbergGuest27:48

Anyway, we won't get into it.

Patrick SandbergGuest27:49

What I like about Baz Luhrmann is he's an auteur.

Patrick SandbergGuest27:51

He does his own, he does his own thing.

Patrick SandbergGuest27:54

He plays in his own sandbox.

Yasi SalekHost27:56

Um, I don't-

Patrick SandbergGuest27:56

He builds a crazy fucking sandcastle.

Yasi SalekHost27:58

Much like Madonna, honestly.

Patrick SandbergGuest28:00

Correct.

Yasi SalekHost28:00

Um-

Patrick SandbergGuest28:02

Not that they should-

Yasi SalekHost28:03

Not that they should collaborate, no. [laughs]

Patrick SandbergGuest28:04

No.

Yasi SalekHost28:05

Um, so I thought it was really funny that there was, like, that bit in the interview that Mel did with her for Interview where she was like, "I, like, fixed it.

Yasi SalekHost28:13

I was like, 'We'll film in Serbia.

Yasi SalekHost28:14

It'll be cheaper.'" And they were like, "We don't think that you can be in Serbia for more than [laughs] four days." She was like, "Yes, I can.

Yasi SalekHost28:21

I'm a survivor." Um, anyways, yes, like you pointed out, that failed.

Yasi SalekHost28:26

She bought it back from them for some, um, insane amount of money, and then-

Patrick SandbergGuest28:30

She can

Yasi SalekHost28:31

... she can.

Yasi SalekHost28:31

And then Netflix reached out, and I do feel like a, just my personal opinion, I think a short form series is likely to be more effective at capturing something like that, although I haven't seen it done that well.

Yasi SalekHost28:48

Um, at least you have more space to play in and, and more easier t- time to do different kinds of pacing, like-

Patrick SandbergGuest28:56

Mm-hmm

Yasi SalekHost28:56

...

Yasi SalekHost28:56

I don't know.

Yasi SalekHost28:57

I-

Patrick SandbergGuest28:57

It can be a deeper character study.

Yasi SalekHost28:58

Exactly.

Patrick SandbergGuest28:59

You can get more into the relationships.

Yasi SalekHost29:01

Exactly.

Yasi SalekHost29:02

Um, you don't have to, like, what they always do, particularly in biopics about men where they're like, "This woman never existed.

Yasi SalekHost29:09

She is a-"

Patrick SandbergGuest29:10

Hybrid

Yasi SalekHost29:10

... "configuration of-"

Patrick SandbergGuest29:11

Yeah

Yasi SalekHost29:11

... "five of the women that this man dated." Um, okay, anyways.

Yasi SalekHost29:16

So she was like, "Well, I need to, I need to create," apparently, right? That was, like, "I need to do something."

Patrick SandbergGuest29:22

Mm-hmm.

Yasi SalekHost29:22

"This is frustrating." And she said, "I reached out to Stuart Price 'cause I thought the world is in a very dark place and people need to dance." And she said, "What if we tried to make Confessions on a Dance Floor Part 2 and reenter the world of inspirational dance music?" And th- thank God.

Yasi SalekHost29:36

And I think, you know, lot has been made, and I think Karen mentioned it and Paul definitely talked about it, how this is such a reflective album about looking back on her life, and it makes total sense.

Patrick SandbergGuest29:49

Mm-hmm.

Yasi SalekHost29:49

She spent four years-

Patrick SandbergGuest29:50

Exactly

Yasi SalekHost29:51

... immersed [laughs] in her own history.

Patrick SandbergGuest29:53

She did it with the Celebration tour.

Yasi SalekHost29:55

Yeah, exactly.

Patrick SandbergGuest29:55

There was a lot of content within that tour.

Patrick SandbergGuest29:58

It wasn't just that she was singing those old songs again.

Patrick SandbergGuest30:01

It was like there were interludes that surfaced old remixes that had-

Yasi SalekHost30:05

Right

Patrick SandbergGuest30:05

...

Patrick SandbergGuest30:05

some had never been released-

Yasi SalekHost30:07

Yeah

Patrick SandbergGuest30:07

...

Patrick SandbergGuest30:07

but that fans were obsessed with.

Patrick SandbergGuest30:08

And, like, she dug through her own back catalog, but also, like, the extended back catalog, and I think in doing so it ...

Patrick SandbergGuest30:17

And also there was a big reissue project that happened-

Yasi SalekHost30:20

Totally

Patrick SandbergGuest30:20

... with all of her old albums where she was, like, remastering them, so she was just revisiting her whole career, and I think it got her, I don't wanna say nostalgic, but I think that it was, like, a good thing because she was sort of forced to look back.

Yasi SalekHost30:33

Totally.

Patrick SandbergGuest30:33

Because-

Yasi SalekHost30:34

When she's, like, sort of willfully not done so for so long.

Patrick SandbergGuest30:37

Right.

Yasi SalekHost30:37

Yeah.

Patrick SandbergGuest30:38

And so she's just already in that head space, and then plus the movie she's looking back at her origin.

Patrick SandbergGuest30:44

And so it's not a surprise that all of that plays out on this album.

Yasi SalekHost30:47

Not at all, and thank God.

Patrick SandbergGuest30:48

But she does it in, like, kind of nuanced ways too.

Patrick SandbergGuest30:50

It's not like- Um, the album isn't like, "Here's my story looking back." It's like she throws it in in, in, like, very fun, surprising ways.

Yasi SalekHost30:59

Yeah.

Patrick SandbergGuest30:59

And it stays fresh.

Yasi SalekHost31:01

She's a...

Yasi SalekHost31:01

I think she's a master of throwing in, like, cheeky little references.

Patrick SandbergGuest31:05

Mm-hmm.

Yasi SalekHost31:05

So those are all over the place, and there's obviously some more direct ones, like Danceteria.

Patrick SandbergGuest31:11

Uh-huh.

Yasi SalekHost31:11

I always wanna say Danceteria.

Yasi SalekHost31:13

[laughs]

Patrick SandbergGuest31:13

[laughs] Danceteria.

Yasi SalekHost31:15

Y'all mind-

Patrick SandbergGuest31:16

[laughs]

Yasi SalekHost31:16

...

Yasi SalekHost31:16

if a white girl speaks a little Spanish?

Patrick SandbergGuest31:18

Oh.

Yasi SalekHost31:18

Oh, the first one.

Patrick SandbergGuest31:19

We need a sound effect for that.

Yasi SalekHost31:20

And I-

Patrick SandbergGuest31:20

A maraca.

Yasi SalekHost31:21

Oh, yeah.

Yasi SalekHost31:21

[laughs] A ah.

Yasi SalekHost31:23

Um-

Patrick SandbergGuest31:24

Maraca

Yasi SalekHost31:25

...

Yasi SalekHost31:25

so yeah, and she reunited with Warner Brothers, um, to put this out, which I think is also kind of a big deal given that was her, her home and label for, like, the majority of her career until those four albums.

Yasi SalekHost31:39

And that is, that is the backstory.

Patrick SandbergGuest31:42

That is where we are.

Yasi SalekHost31:43

Yeah.

Patrick SandbergGuest31:43

So that gets us to where we are.

Patrick SandbergGuest31:44

I just wanna say about Stuart Price, like, um-

Yasi SalekHost31:47

Hot

Patrick SandbergGuest31:48

... [laughs] it's, it's like-

Yasi SalekHost31:50

[laughs]

Patrick SandbergGuest31:50

... th- 'cause I have seen things online of, like, who is Stuart Price? Why Stuart Price? Why do people care that this is Stuart Price? Like-

Yasi SalekHost31:56

Open the schools.

Patrick SandbergGuest31:56

And it's not-

Yasi SalekHost31:57

[laughs]

Patrick SandbergGuest31:57

But you know what? I, it's...

Patrick SandbergGuest31:59

He's not, like, a household name.

Yasi SalekHost32:00

No, no, that's true.

Patrick SandbergGuest32:00

He's not someone that everybody knows.

Patrick SandbergGuest32:02

And, like, he's not even someone who's, like, a Diplo who everyone is-

Yasi SalekHost32:05

Right

Patrick SandbergGuest32:05

... aware of.

Patrick SandbergGuest32:06

It's like-

Yasi SalekHost32:06

And thank God for fucking that.

Patrick SandbergGuest32:08

Well, exactly.

Yasi SalekHost32:09

[laughs]

Patrick SandbergGuest32:09

But Stuart Price is someone who's...

Patrick SandbergGuest32:12

And he kind of designed his career that way by taking on so many different aliases.

Yasi SalekHost32:16

Right.

Patrick SandbergGuest32:16

Right? Like, he had Zoo Woman was a band, but then Les Rythmes Digital, no one knew who that was-

Yasi SalekHost32:20

Yeah

Patrick SandbergGuest32:20

... really.

Patrick SandbergGuest32:21

Like, and then he, he became Jacques Lu Cont, which was sort of, like, an identity trick that he was doing.

Yasi SalekHost32:27

Right.

Patrick SandbergGuest32:27

And then he-

Yasi SalekHost32:27

He had Thin White Duke

Patrick SandbergGuest32:28

...

Patrick SandbergGuest32:28

Thin White Duke-

Yasi SalekHost32:29

Yeah

Patrick SandbergGuest32:29

... came after that.

Patrick SandbergGuest32:30

And he's v- he's very selective about what he does, and he, he works a lot doing production with people, but he, as, like, with remixes and things like that, like, it's like he's very tasteful.

Yasi SalekHost32:45

You know what fucks? His remix of Mr.

Yasi SalekHost32:47

Brightside by The Killers.

Patrick SandbergGuest32:49

Well, yeah, that's, like, one of the-

Yasi SalekHost32:50

It's legendary.

Yasi SalekHost32:50

[laughs]

Patrick SandbergGuest32:50

That's one of the legendary ones.

Yasi SalekHost32:52

Yeah.

Patrick SandbergGuest32:52

Also, Whatchu Waiting For by Gwen Stefani, Jacques Lu Cont remix.

Patrick SandbergGuest32:56

Get out of here.

Yasi SalekHost32:57

[laughs]

Patrick SandbergGuest32:58

He's also remixed and produced, like, New Order, Pet Shop Boys-

Yasi SalekHost33:01

Yeah

Patrick SandbergGuest33:01

...

Patrick SandbergGuest33:01

Kylie Minogue, um, Dua Lipa, the good Dua Lipa album, Future Nostalgia.

Yasi SalekHost33:07

Yeah, yeah.

Patrick SandbergGuest33:07

Most recently he did Romy's solo album.

Yasi SalekHost33:10

He did the Take That reunion album for my Take That-

Patrick SandbergGuest33:13

Incredible

Yasi SalekHost33:13

... heads, for my Robbie Williams heads.

Yasi SalekHost33:14

[laughs]

Patrick SandbergGuest33:15

Yeah, and there's, like, you know, s- he did incredible work with Seal.

Yasi SalekHost33:21

[laughs]

Patrick SandbergGuest33:22

Go back, go back and look up Clean.

Yasi SalekHost33:25

Who couldn't do Amer- amazing work with Seal, though? It's Seal.

Patrick SandbergGuest33:27

Amazing, I mean to say.

Yasi SalekHost33:28

Yeah.

Patrick SandbergGuest33:28

Amazing, and then the remix of Amazing, really incredible.

Patrick SandbergGuest33:31

Depeche Mode, Scissor Sisters he worked with a bunch.

Patrick SandbergGuest33:36

So it's one of those things where it's like, oh my God, the Thin White Duke remix of The Faint.

Patrick SandbergGuest33:41

Okay, anyway.

Yasi SalekHost33:42

[laughs] Speaking of-

Patrick SandbergGuest33:44

Um-

Yasi SalekHost33:44

Speaking of electric shock.

Patrick SandbergGuest33:45

[laughs] Yeah, this was, like, if, if you were, like, out in the 2000s doing coke at parties-

Yasi SalekHost33:51

Right

Patrick SandbergGuest33:51

... you were hearing Stuart Price's music.

Yasi SalekHost33:53

You've heard, you've heard Stuart Price's.

Yasi SalekHost33:54

I, I wasn't-

Patrick SandbergGuest33:54

It's like, he's like the Jo-

Yasi SalekHost33:55

But I have, I have friends that were-

Patrick SandbergGuest33:55

He's what Giorgio Moroder was, is, like, what Stuart Price was-

Yasi SalekHost33:58

Yeah

Patrick SandbergGuest33:58

... to the aughts, I feel like.

Yasi SalekHost33:59

Yeah, yeah.

Yasi SalekHost33:59

Totally.

Patrick SandbergGuest34:00

So people who know about Stuart Price, when his name pops up, like when they found out Stuart Price is doing the Celebration Tour, that's like bing.

Patrick SandbergGuest34:07

Like, your antenna is like, "I'm going."

Yasi SalekHost34:09

Yeah.

Patrick SandbergGuest34:09

Like, this is gonna be a big deal.

Yasi SalekHost34:12

Well, also, like, again, he's, he's a former collaborator, but I think, like, Madonna's best albums are not done with, like, mega superstar producers of the world.

Yasi SalekHost34:26

They're done with, like, these sort of more nuanced, niche people.

Yasi SalekHost34:32

Niche is, is the wrong word, but you know what I'm saying.

Patrick SandbergGuest34:35

Yeah.

Yasi SalekHost34:35

Like-

Patrick SandbergGuest34:35

Well, she likes to discover them

Yasi SalekHost34:36

... she likes to discover them, but also I think she works, like...

Yasi SalekHost34:41

How do I say this? Like, there's gonna be one boss.

Patrick SandbergGuest34:46

Yeah.

Yasi SalekHost34:46

[laughs]

Patrick SandbergGuest34:46

Exactly.

Yasi SalekHost34:46

And I, and I think these people have, like, a mega superpower in which they're so talented, but they're also able to coalesce and work with her in a way that, like, incredible e- Like, I think some of the biggest failings in her, in her latter stage career for me were like, you're trying to m- you're trying to put, fi- fit Madonna into your productions as if she's a feature.

Patrick SandbergGuest35:09

Right.

Yasi SalekHost35:09

And it's like Madonna is not a feature, you know, on her own albums, and these producers don't do that, you know?

Patrick SandbergGuest35:15

Mm-hmm.

Yasi SalekHost35:15

And Stuart Price is obviously one of those excellent producers, and she does the best when she works with one person-

Patrick SandbergGuest35:21

Absolutely

Yasi SalekHost35:22

... for the bulk of an album.

Patrick SandbergGuest35:23

That's so integral, and I think she's known that and has been aware of that as well.

Yasi SalekHost35:27

Yeah.

Patrick SandbergGuest35:27

And it's been a way that she likes to write and she likes to work, and she's been wanting to go back to it.

Patrick SandbergGuest35:31

Can I just say I have Spotify open in front of me?

Yasi SalekHost35:34

Yeah.

Patrick SandbergGuest35:34

And I can see what Karen Ganz is listening to, and she's listening to Danceteria right now.

Yasi SalekHost35:39

[laughs] Oh my God, Karen.

Patrick SandbergGuest35:40

[laughs]

Yasi SalekHost35:40

What a real, what a real one.

Yasi SalekHost35:42

[laughs]

Patrick SandbergGuest35:42

Um, but what was I gonna say? I saw that and was like, "LOL." [laughs]

Yasi SalekHost35:47

So good.

Yasi SalekHost35:48

Well, why don't we use this opportunity to, to go to the next, um, part of our conversation?

Patrick SandbergGuest35:53

Okay.

Yasi SalekHost35:53

Which I really am gonna lean on you for-

Patrick SandbergGuest35:55

All right

Yasi SalekHost35:55

... 'cause I think you have such good insight here.

Yasi SalekHost35:57

But we should obviously start with the cover art s-

Patrick SandbergGuest36:01

Okay.

Yasi SalekHost36:01

But we'll start with, we have behind us my personal favorite, although I've, I've heard-

Patrick SandbergGuest36:06

Mm.

Patrick SandbergGuest36:07

Mine, too

Yasi SalekHost36:07

...

Yasi SalekHost36:07

I thought it w- I thought it was everyone's favorite, but I've heard, like, people being like they don't like that, and I was like, "That's crazy."

Patrick SandbergGuest36:12

Why, 'cause you can't see her face?

Yasi SalekHost36:14

I don't...

Yasi SalekHost36:14

S- said the pose was awkward.

Yasi SalekHost36:16

I think the pose looks cool.

Patrick SandbergGuest36:17

Um, the pose is hot.

Patrick SandbergGuest36:18

She's about to get railed.

Yasi SalekHost36:20

Mm-hmm.

Patrick SandbergGuest36:21

[laughs] Someone's gonna come up behind her.

Yasi SalekHost36:23

Mm-hmm, or she's, or she's stretching.

Patrick SandbergGuest36:24

Akeem, her boyfriend, is gonna come up behind her.

Yasi SalekHost36:26

Or she's doing a hamstring stretch.

Patrick SandbergGuest36:27

Yeah.

Yasi SalekHost36:27

Um, however you wanna look at it.

Patrick SandbergGuest36:28

Working out.

Yasi SalekHost36:29

Yeah.

Yasi SalekHost36:29

[laughs] Um-