The Pop Zeal Project (Track 81): Madonna: “Give Me All Your Luvin’”
What’s the Name of the Game?
“Give Me All Your Luvin’” was the lead single from Madonna’s 2012 album, MDNA. Its merge of cheerleader chants and a ‘60s surf-music guitar riff would perhaps lead one to believe Madonna had gone go-go or bubble gum. But as the music video shows, Madonna as covered-up, stroller-pushing suburbanite is short-lived, and with the subsequent colorful bridge of the song featuring Nicki Minaj and M.I.A., any notion of Madonna adopting a “domesticated” persona gets wiped out.
What she does sport, also evident in the video, is an acknowledgement and acceptance of her title as the “Queen of Pop”:
All Hail: The clip features a robotic squad of football-player clones, programmed to cater to every step Madonna takes (quite literally), carrying her, lifting her, catching her, even risking robotic life and limb to protect their quarterback queen. Fittingly, the song appeared in the setlist to Madonna’s impressive 2012 “Halftime Show” on “football’s biggest night,” where the performance’s visual aesthetic involved Madonna as modern-day Cleopatra, carried (once again) into the “coliseum,” surrounded by golden pageantry deserving of a, well… queen.
Say My Name: Also of note, some of Madonna’s lyrical content at this point in her career started to include self-references. In 2008, Pharrell Williams, the producer of and guest vocalist on “Candy Shop” from 2008’s Hard Candy, spells out Madonna’s name; here on “Luvin’,” the opening lyric is shouted, in the style of the aforementioned cheerleader call: “L-U-V Madonna!” And three years later, Madonna upped the ante by including her own name in the title to “B**** I’m Madonna,” from Rebel Heart. All three lyrical examples could be seen as attempts at solidifying relevance in contemporary pop culture, and viability in the pop-music landscape, which is where Minaj and M.I.A. at the time helped garner additional commercial and critical cred.
Check out (or revisit) the video below. Ready? OK!
Photo: Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott
Pop Playlist: Kylie Minogue: “Aphrodite”
The title track to Kylie Minogue’s 2010 album, Aphrodite finds Kylie confidently stating her case to another as a goddess incarnate. The track could be considered the stronger, more-direct sister to the sweeter “The One” from X, for the chorus in “Aphrodite” features a fabulous list of powerful statements: “I’m fierce and I’m feeling mighty/I’m a golden girl/I’m an Aphrodite, alright.” And by the bridge: “You know that I’m magical/I am the original/I am the only one…”
Even musically, the song embraces harder-sounding beats as if pounded out by a marching band. If one listens to her KylieX2008 show, Act Two’s cheerleading theme starts with a drumbeat that sounds remarkably similar to the one in “Aphrodite.” Perhaps at that time a preview of things to come.
The Aphrodite period holds major significance in Kylie’s career, as it created another moniker still associated with her, one that catapulted her from “the Princess of Pop” to “the Goddess of Pop.” Simply put: from royalty to deity.