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
Hi-Fi Sci-Fi: Five Favorite Daft Punk Moments
Formed in 1993, Daft Punk consists of the French duo, Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, who have continued to don dapper futuristic personas, shielding their faces from the public by wearing gleaming robot-inspired helmets. In one sense, this allows a focus toward the sci-fi sound of their music, while, in turn, it works as an inventive marketing strategy that balances professional familiarity with personal anonymity.
“Around the World,” from their 1997 debut album, Homework, celebrates the cyclical, from the song title itself (the track’s only lyrics on a synthesized loop) to its therefore mostly instrumental, intentionally repetitive retro-funk sound. Even its video embraced spherical visuals: dancers, assigned to designated riffs, beats and blips, moving on a concentric circular stage, plus there’s colorful backdrop of porthole lighting. Daft Punk made going around in circles more desirable than dizzying:
Four years later, they released, Discovery, which featured the fitting “One More Time”; “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger,” which would later be heavily sampled by Kanye West on his 2007 track, “Stronger”; and “Digital Love.” Remember this commercial for the GAP, with the actress and singer, Juliette Lewis? (The jeans—and the video quality itself—are shall we say, vintage.)
From Madison Avenue to the movies: In 2010, they created the 24-track score for the film, Tron: Legacy, creating a mood to match the gloom-and-doom world that exists inside a cutthroat video game, with “Recognizer” starting out as intensely ominous, then suddenly becoming one of the most hauntingly beautiful tracks:
On 2013’s electro-disco, Random Access Memories, it was filled with inspired collaborations, most notably with Pharrell Williams and Chic’s Nile Rodgers on “Get Lucky” and “Lose Yourself to Dance.” In 2014, the album won the GRAMMY for Album of the Year:
And finally, their work on the 2016 album, Starboy by The Weeknd, in particular on the synth-R&B title track, and on the sexy, soulful bop of a ballad, “I Feel It Coming.” The bass riff that rolls in before the second verse is something for which to wait:
Will there be more good things from Daft Punk in the future, that sound like the future? I feel that coming too.