Confessions on a Dance Floor
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Confessions on a Dance Floor is the Grammy Award-winning tenth studio album (eighteenth overall) released by singer Madonna. It was released in 2005 and has been one of her most successful albums with international hits such as "Hung Up" and "Sorry", leading to the most successful concert tour of her career, Confessions on a Dance Floor sold 2 million units first week of release in Europe. Confessions on a Dance Floor is considered to be Madonna's comeback album after her previous lowest-selling effort American Life.
As of February 2007, according to Warner Bros, Confessions on a Dance Floor has sold more than 8 million copies worldwide (Billboard). It debuted at number one in 41 countries, a world record for a solo artist.[1] The album won the Grammy Award for Best Electronic/Dance Album in 2007.
Of the album, Madonna said,
"I wanted a record with no ballads. I wanted there to be no breaks, with one song segueing into the next -- just like in a disco. (... ) Whenever I make records, I often like the remixes better than the original versions. So I thought, screw that. I'm going to start from that perspective. I want to hear all these songs in a club. I approached the album from more of a DJ's point of view, but Stuart [Price] is a DJ. That really influenced the vibe -- the dance aspect -- of the record."[2] (...) "We listened to a lot of other people's records when we were making this - obviously ABBA and Giorgio Moroder - so to me it's more of an homage to other people's records than mine. If there are references to earlier records it's probably done unknowingly, part of our molecular structure, it comes out again and again, hopefully not too boringly and repetitive."[3]
Formats
- Continuous Mix CD - A 12 track continuous mix, much like a DJ set list. Each track is selectable.
- Limited Edition Continuous Mix CD - Released in December 2005, includes "Fighting Spirit", a bonus track (non-continuous), a 40 page picture book from the Steven Klein photo session; an 80 page blank journal book, which also includes some journal entries from Madonna; a one month free ICON fanclub membership, and a unique slipcover housing. The CD's tracks are a continuous mix, much like a DJ set list. Each track is selectable.
- iTunes Continuous Mix: A continuous mix digital download which will blend each song into one long track. It also includes a digital artwork booklet and the "Hung Up" video.
- iTunes Unmixed - A regular digital download with 12 tracks in alternate beginnings and endings from those of the Continuous Mix. It also includes a digital artwork booklet and the "Hung Up" video.
- 2-Vinyl-Set Unmixed - Double album promo pack (PRO-A-101706-A). The same unmixed tracks like the iTunes Unmixed digital tracks.
- Limited edition 2-Pink Vinyl-Set Unmixed - Double album. The same unmixed tracks like the iTunes Unmixed digital tracks.
- Confessions Remixed - Triple Vinyl. Full remix set by Stuart Price was released on April 11 2006, with a limited print of only 3,000 copies in the U.S.
- Japanese Exclusive CD+DVD Tour Edition - Released August 23rd 2006 is the Japan only exclusive Tour Edition. Disc 1 contains the continuous mix CD. Disc 2 is a DVD containing the previously commercially unavailable music videos for Hung Up and Sorry plus their "Making of" featurettes that were shown earlier in 2006 on MTV channels around the world.(WPZR30184-5)
Singles
| # | Title | Date |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Hung Up" | October 2005 |
| 2. | "Sorry" | February 2006 |
| 3. | "Get Together" | June 2006 (US) & July 2006 (UK) |
| 4. | "Jump" | November 2006 |
Promotion
In order to promote the album with emerging media, Madonna set up the 1-888-2-CONFESS hotline. Callers were instructed to call in with their confessions, and, as they came in, some were selected to be part of a Podcast released on iTunes for approximately six weeks before the album was released.
Track listing
- "Hung Up" (Madonna, Price, Andersson, Ulvaeus) – 5:36
- "Get Together" (Madonna, Bagge, Åström, Price) – 5:30
- "Sorry" (Madonna, Price) – 4:43
- "Future Lovers" (Madonna, Ahmadzaï) – 4:51
- "I Love New York" (Madonna, Price) – 4:11
- "Let It Will Be" (Madonna, Ahmadzaï, Price) – 4:18
- "Forbidden Love" (Madonna, Price) – 4:22
- "Jump" (Madonna, Henry, Price) – 3:46
- "How High" (Madonna, Karlsson, Winnberg, Jonback) – 4:40
- "Isaac" (Madonna, Price) – 6:03
- "Push" (Madonna, Price) – 3:57
- "Like It or Not" (Madonna, Karlsson, Winnberg, Jonback) – 4:31
Additional tracks
- "Super Pop" (Madonna, Ahmadzaï) - released via download to ICON fanclub members only
- "Fighting Spirit" (Madonna, Ahmadzaï) - released on the Special Edition CD as a bonus track
- "History" (Madonna, Price) - released as B-side to the single Jump
- "Triggering" (Madonna, Ahmadzaï) - Unreleased
Critical and commercial performance
The album has been a worldwide success receiving rave reviews from critics and fans. It went triple platinum in the EU in only a month, debuting the number one spot in 29 countries. On September 13 2006, IFPI credited the album 4x platinum for sales in Europe.[2] In the United States, Confessions on a Dance Floor debuted at number 1, selling over 350,000 copies in its first week. To date, the album has sold over 1.6 million copies in the U.S. alone, a significant improvement over 2003's American Life (667,000 copies sold). It was the #22 best seller of 2006 in that country also (Billboard counted sales from November 2005 to December 2006).
According to the Daily Mail's Adrian Thrills, "Madonna is returning to reclaim her dance-pop crown with a record that pushes her, feet-first, back into club culture. Confessions on a Dance Floor... is not only the former Ms. Ciccone's best album since 1998's Ray Of Light. It's a non-stop, rhythm-driven tour de force that ranks alongside anything she made in her chart-conquering heyday.
According to Rolling Stone, "This is an album designed for maximum volume. It's all motion, action, speed. The tracks are constantly shifting, with dizzying layers of sounds and samples dropping in and out, skittering and whooshing across the speakers. Unlike the crystalline precision of latter-day Madonna discs like Ray of Light and Music, the sonic signature here is a powerhouse density -- on tunes like "Future Lovers" and "Push", with its hypnotic tribal beat mixed with future trance. Not only do the twelve songs all blend together like a ready-made DJ set, it's as if they also come pre-remixed... Coming off her last album, the tepid American Life, the forty-seven-year-old mother of two wants to show that she can still stay up late. Confessions on a Dance Floor won't stand the test of time like her glorious early club hits, but it proves its point. Like Rakim back in the day, Madonna can still move the crowd."
Madonna won the "Best International Female Award" at the Brit Awards 2006 and won "World's Best Selling Pop Artist" & "Best Selling U.S. Artist" at the 2006 World Music Awards for the album. She was nominated for five MTV Video Music Awards for her video Hung Up. She was nominated for "Best Album of the Year", "Best Pop", and "Best Female Artist" at the MTV Europe Music Awards 2006. The Rolling Stone Magazine ranked Confessions on a Dance Floor as the twenty-second top album of 2005, beating other top albums such as Missy Elliot's "Cookbook", and other albums from artists such as Franz Ferdinand and Stevie Wonder.
Confessions on a Dance Floor, and her follow up Confessions Tour, have given Madonna the most number of international music and tour awards she has ever won in a single year. Below is a list of all of the awards she has won in 2006.
Awards
- Rockbjörnen (Sweden)
- Best International Album, Confessions on a Dance Floor
- Pink Paper Awards
- Best Album, Confessions on a Dance Floor"
- Best Single, "Hung Up"
- Best Musical Artist
- Best Live Event, "KoKo Club Mini-Show"
- NRJ Music Awards (France)
- Best International Artist
- Virgin. Net Music Awards
- Best Solo Female Artist
- Best Song, "Hung Up"
- Boyz Awards
- Best Album, Confessions on a Dance Floor
- Best Single, "Hung Up"
- Best Solo Star
- Best Pop Act
- TRL Awards
- Lifetime Achievement Award
- Retired Videos Award for "Hung Up"
- Brit Awards
- Best International Female Artist
- NME Awards
- Sexiest Female Artist
- ECHO Awards (Germany)
- Best Rock/Pop International Female Artist
- Hit of the Year for "Hung Up"
- Space Shower Music Video Awards (Japan)
- Best International Video for "Hung Up"
- Arion (Greece)Music Awards[3]
- Best Selling Single, "Hung Up"
- Best Selling Album, Confessions on a Dance Floor
- 21st Annual International Dance Music Awards
- Best Pop Dance Track for "Hung Up"
- Best Dance Video for "Hung Up"
- Best Dance Artist Solo
- Salut! d'Or Awards (France)
- Best International Female Singer
- Best Song, "Hung Up"
- Best Video, "Hung Up"
- Amadeus Music Awards (Austria)
- Best International Hit Single, "Hung Up"
- Popcorn Awards (Hungary)
- Best International Hit Single, "Hung Up"
- Shangay Awards (Spain)
- Best International Album, Confessions on a Dance Floor
- Best International Artist
- Wembley Arena's Square of Fame[4]
- First star to be honoured in the venue's new Square of Fame.
- Wembley Arena's Female Artist of the Year Award 2006
- for eight sold-out dates of the Confessions Tour
- Billboard Touring Awards
- Top Boxscore Award ($22 million, eight-sellout stand at London's Wembley Arena)
- World Music Awards
- World's Best Pop Artist
- Best Selling U.S. Artist
- Grammy Award
- Best Dance/Electronic Album
The album's third single, "Get Together", was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category Best Dance Recording.
Alleged boycott by American radio stations
A petition set up by fans alleging that U.S. Clear Channel radio stations were boycotting Madonna's singles made headlines when thousands of fans signed it, complaining that U.S. radio refused to play new Madonna singles since the release of her American Life album in 2003 because she publicly spoke of disapproval against U.S. president George W. Bush.
The single "Hung Up" reached #16 on Billboard's Pop Airplay chart, and #7 on the Billboard Hot, also because of strong digital sales. The following singles "Sorry" and "Get Together" recieved little to no airplay on Pop radio stations, with "Sorry" peaking at #58 on the Billboard Hot 100 partialy because of strong single sales.
Despite the lack of radio play, TV support remained strong enabling the album to go onto sell over 1.6 million copies in the U.S alone.
Gallery
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Cover of Box Set Edition -
Box Set Edition layout -
Cover of Limited Edition Pink Vinyl -
Inside of Limited Edition Pink Vinyl Set -
Back Cover of Limited Edition Pink Vinyl -
Madonna promoting Confessions at the Roxy -
Madonna on Letterman -
Cover of Rolling Stone magazine
Chart performance
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Certifications
| Country | Certification | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | 2xPlatinum | 140,000 |
| Austria | Platinum | 30,000 |
| Belgium | Platinum | 30,000 |
| Brazil | Platinum | 125,000 |
| Canada | 5xPlatinum | 500,000 |
| Chile | Platinum | 15,000 |
| Colombia | Platinum | 20,000 |
| Cyprus | Platinum | 10,000 |
| Czech Republic | 2xPlatinum | 20,000 |
| Denmark | 2xPlatinum | 80,000 |
| Europe | 4xPlatinum | 4,800,000 |
| Finland | Platinum | 30,000 |
| France | Diamond | 800,000 |
| Germany | 5xGold | 500,000 |
| Greece | 2xPlatinum | 80,000 |
| Hungary | 2xPlatinum | 20,000 |
| Ireland | 4xPlatinum | 60,000 |
| Israel | Gold | 20,000 |
| Italy | Diamond | 400,000 |
| Japan | 2xPlatinum | 500,000 |
| Mexico | Platinum | 120,000 |
| Netherlands | Platinum | 100,000 |
| New Zealand | Platinum | 15,000 |
| Philippines | Gold | 15,000 |
| Poland | Platinum | 25,000 |
| Portugal | 2xPlatinum | 40,000 |
| Singapore | 2xPlatinum | 30,000 |
| Slovakia | Gold | 2,500 |
| Spain | 2xPlatinum | 160,000 |
| Sweden | 2xPlatinum | 120,000 |
| Switzerland | 3xPlatinum | 120,000 |
| Taiwan | Platinum | 45,000 |
| Thailand | Platinum | 40,000 |
| UK | 4xPlatinum | 1,580,000 |
| USA | Platinum | 1,820,000 |
| Total | 12,555,890 |
Personnel
- Photography: Steven Klein
- Art Direction and Graphic Design: Giovanni Bianco
- Legal: Grubman Indursky
- Management: Guy Oseary and Angela Becker
- Mixing: Mark "Spike" Stent at Olympic Studios and Record Plant Studios, Los Angeles (Except: "Forbidden Love" which was mixed by Stuart Price at Shirland Road)
- Recording: Stuart Price at Shirland Road (Except: "How High" and "Like It Or Not" which were recorded at Murlyn Studios, Stockholm and Shirland Road, "Future Lovers" was recorded at Mayfair Studios.)
- Assistant Engineer: Alex Dromgoole
- Second Assistant Engineer at Olympic: David Emery
- Second Assistant Engineer at Record Plant, Los Angeles: Antony Kilhoffer
- Mastering: Brian "Big Bass" Gardner at Bernie Grundman Mastering
- Roberta Carraro- Keyboard, Bass, Drums, Harmonica
Trivia
- The working title of the album was Project 05.
- Defying Gravity was one of many rumored titles.
- Madonna had joked with Apple Inc.'s CEO Steve Jobs on a video conference, saying the title was "Revenge of the Broken Arm" while her arm was in a sling, considering her accident on her 47th Birthday just a few weeks before.
- Confessions on a Dance Floor is Madonna's first studio album since her eponymous debut to lack a title track, though one could argue that "Bedtime Story" from 1994's Bedtime Stories is not technically a title track.
- "Forbidden Love" should not be confused with the identically-titled song from Madonna's 1994 album Bedtime Stories.
- "I Love New York" was written by Madonna during her 2004 world tour.
- Three non-album tracks from the album's recording sessions were released. "Fighting Spirit" was released as a bonus thirteenth track on a special edition of the album, "Super Pop" was available for free download to all Madonna fan club members, and "History" was released as the B-side for the album's fourth single, "Jump."
- The album is Madonna's third consecutive album without printed lyrics in its accompanying booklet, though a few lines from "Let It Will Be" appear in the album artwork.
- While Madonna has performed the song "Let It Will Be" in numerous promotional performances and during her 2006 world tour, she has yet to perform the song in the album version found here. All live performances of the song have been based on the Stuart Price remix of the song, known as "The Paper Faces Mix."
References
Notes
- ^ [1] United World Chart sales figures
- ^ "Madonna Confesses". Retrieved November 11.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ The Observer. November 20 2005.
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