Why “Veronica Electronica”, Madonna’s album Remix, is it a disappointment?

1998: Madonna is at a crossroads. Similarly, After the sulphurous Sex (1992). For example, the album Erotica (1992), the sublime Bedtime Stories (1994), where she takes the R&B wave train, which confuses her fans, and the film Evita For which she specially took singing lessons, Madonna is in full transition. Nevertheless, Convinced that she must move away from pop-dance. Nevertheless, in which she interspersed as a fish in water, to explore more experimental and daring territories. For example, At 39. Furthermore, Madonna is in full midlife crisisshe has just had a child and develops a feeling why “veronica electronica”, madonna’s album of spirituality, nourished by the intensive practice of yoga, meditation and the discovery of kabbalah. Therefore, As she declares: “The creation of Ray of Light was a pivotal moment in my life as an artist. In addition, I was going through a huge metamorphosis. However, I had just given birth to my daughter Lola. Similarly, I had found my spiritual path and I was ready to change skin and take a less frequented path. Meanwhile, I embarked on electronic music with William Orbit and I created an alter ego using one of my second names. However, And Veronica Electronica was born. Furthermore, Discover my half. Consequently, ”

At the start, however, William Orbit is not in the loop. Furthermore, Madonna begins to work with Babyface, who had worked on Bedtime Storiesbut the test runs short. She also tests Rick Nowels (known for her work with Stevie Nicks. Céline Dion), as why “veronica electronica”, madonna’s album well as her old accomplice Patrick Leonard (present on Like a Prayer et True Blue), but the result is too wise, not disruptive or adventurous enough for the diva which seeks risk taking. It is Guy Oseary, the boss of Maverick Records, who blows the name of William Orbit. The English producer. pioneer of the Rave, with his Torch Song and Bassomatic projects, his productions under his name or on his Guerilla label, excellent between Psy-Trannce, Balearic and Trip-Hop-Hop-Hop-Hop-Hop. Orbit sends a demo of thirteen titles to Madonna and the contract is sealed. “I was a big fan of William’s first albums, Strange Cargo 1 and 2, explains Madonna. I also liked the remixes he had made for me. and I was interested in the idea of merging a futuristic sound while using a lot of Indian and Moroccan influences. I wanted it to sound both old and new. ”

why “veronica electronica”, madonna’s album

Why “veronica electronica”. madonna's album – Why “veronica electronica”, madonna's album

Birth of an electro myth

But Orbit is not a producer calibrated at the American school. And working with him is embarking on the most hazardous of DIY. His home-studio plants regularly. pieces are erased inadmissible, its slowness and its lunar side annoy Madonna, which pushes it in its entrenchments, rejecting dozens of demos which it does not find up to it. But Madonna persists: “Sometimes he disappeared for days, I did not know where he was. I was going to have yoga. There were times when I said to myself: why I do that? But something told me to continue. It was me, plunging at the bottom of my soul.” Chaos pays: Ray of Light is a triumph. public and criticism, a risk -taking that is paid with 16 million albums sold and four Grammy Awards. The new Madonna Zen plunges for the first why “veronica electronica”, madonna’s album time in a sophisticated electronic aesthetic. mixing TRANCE, DRUM’N’BASshovering synths and New-Agesinging karma, reincarnation and inner peace, swallowed by the hallucinated vortex of raves which shake England, like a holy under ecstasy.

While the biopic on Madonna has been postponed. that a Netflix series would be underway with the producer of Stranger Thingsand that Madonna is preparing a suite to Confessions on a Dancefloor With Jacques Lu Cont and Mirwais, Veronica Electronica (adjourned in front of the phenomenal success of Ray Of Light) had to be the icing on the cake of this return of hype. A project of remixes club of the main tubes of this now classic. cut for the immense gay dancefloors from New York (like the Sound Factory held master of master by Junior Vasquez or the Twilo) and Miami (the Liquid) of which Madonna is a regular. She recruits the sizes of the time-the DJs. why “veronica electronica”, madonna’s album producers Victor Calderone, Peter Rauhofer (alias Club 69), Brian Transeau, Sasha-to reinterpret her titles in Hard-Houwith and progressive trance. The styles that make the law, at the time, on dancefloors. Result ? Seven remixes. including six already known but shortened, an unprecedented demo (Gone, Gone, Gonedismissed from the album and we understand why), and a Remix Drum’n’Bass and dispensable Frozen.

Why “veronica electronica”. madonna's album – Why “veronica electronica”, madonna's album

An album not up

A surprise widely revealed therefore, but above all a laborious, dated and stifling selection, which resuscitates an era when the DJ Danny Tenaglia and Junior Vasquez impose their hard house and their rhythmic brutality at the clubbers smashed with ketamine, long before America switches to EDM Bourrine. While Ray of Light has become a benchmark. an inspiration for Fka Twigs (his recent title Girl Feels Goodsfor example) or the new album by why “veronica electronica”, madonna’s album Addison Rae, that Caroline Pouchek or Shygirl cite this disc in reference, Veronica Electronica misses the mark, moving away from everything that made the magic of Ray of Light. The project could have proven to be fantastic if he had had the intelligence to draw on the making of From this now classic. or not to forget, quite simply, the best remixes of the album. Like that of Frozen signed by Stereo Mc’s. Nothing Really Matters couple kruder & dorfmeister, they The Power of Goodbye by Luke Slater or the incredible A Reverie Remix of Drowned World By William Orbit, a version never officially released, but which has been hanging on the web for ten years.

A sentence shared by William Orbit. sidelined from this outing, which has dropped on the networks: “It looks like a bad imitation. Given what Ray of Light represented for many of us. Veronica Electronica why “veronica electronica”, madonna’s album Deserved better and could have been a wonderful project, a double album, for example, with my own reinterpretations and the best remixes of the album, plunging more deeply into the magic of this disc. ” There remains the cover, one of the most beautiful in Madonna’s discography, but it is a meager consolation.

Veronica Electronica (Warner Records). Released since July 25.