搬運(yùn)自：微信公眾號【評論搬一堆】

原文鏈接：https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/0AP8RiR89bViaq7WItTcLw

原文翻譯：Simon Joanne

原文審譯：Tyler Smith

原文排版：Ryan-Chopin（在原文基礎(chǔ)上添加了英語原文，評分截圖與排版調(diào)整）

Madonna?albums from this century fall into two categories: the playing-it-safe ones, and the “WTF is she thinking?” ones. You might be tempted to assume the mega-weird ones are better, but nothing is ever that straightforward in the Madonna universe.?Confessions on a Dance Floor?was her totally safe execution of an obvious idea — why doesn’t history’s greatest disco mastermind just make a damn disco record? — but it was also brilliant. Whereas the certifiably flaky?American Life?was certifiably ass. That’s just one of the many reasons Madonna remains the queen of all pop queens.

Madonna新世紀(jì)以來的專輯大致可分為兩類：一種是非常保險(xiǎn)甚至可以說是保守的，另一種是讓人完全摸不著頭腦的。你也許會覺得像后者這種極其奇怪的專輯可能要好一點(diǎn)，但是在Madonna的世界里，事情從不會這么簡單明了。人們常常會想那些優(yōu)秀的迪斯科音樂幕后策劃者為什么不自己制作一張迪斯科專輯呢？《Confessions on a Dance Floor（舞池中的懺悔）》便是Madonna對這種想法一種保守的踐行，結(jié)果是張專輯確實(shí)非常優(yōu)秀。然而，《American Life（美式生活）》則實(shí)在是一團(tuán)糟。當(dāng)然，上面提到的這些只是Madonna成為流行樂壇一眾Diva中唯一女帝的一部分原因。

?Yet?Madame X?is so admirably bizarre, all you can do is stand back and watch the girl go. “It’s a weird kind of energy,” as she sings in “God Control” — a rare moment of Madonna understatement. She dips into a melting pot of?Latin?pop styles, complete with a reggaeton jam called “bitch I’m Loca.” It’s for fans of her loca edge only — the wildest move she’s made since I’m Breathless, where she trapped “Vogue” in a maze of camp show-tunes. Every track on Madame X overflows with experiments no other pop star on earth would have the chutzpah to try.

盡管，《Madame X》是一張奇怪又讓人喜愛的專輯，但你能做的依舊只是在一旁遠(yuǎn)觀她的旅程?！癐t’s a weird kind of energy（這是一種奇怪的能量），”她在《God Control》中唱道，這是Madonna在專輯中難得的含蓄表達(dá)的時(shí)刻。她在專輯中潛入了拉丁流行樂的大熔爐之中，完成了一首雷鬼作品——《bitch I’m Loca》。這首歌是特別獻(xiàn)給她最瘋狂的粉絲的——這也是她在《I’m Breathless（我難以喘息）》之后最為瘋狂的嘗試，正是在《I’m Breathless》中她在錯(cuò)綜復(fù)雜的坎普風(fēng)（是一種將是否使觀者感到荒謬滑稽作為作品迷人與否評判標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的藝術(shù)感受）流行曲調(diào)中埋下了《Vogue》這只經(jīng)典曲目?！禡adame X》中的每一首歌都充滿其他任何流行歌手都不敢嘗試的實(shí)驗(yàn)元素。

?She teamed up with Colombian superstar?Maluma?for the scandal-bait?lead single “Medellin,”?learning to cha-cha-cha in her shaky new accent. As it turns out, there’s a lot more where “Medellin” came from. Like a vocoder singing?The Nutcracker?in “Dark Ballet.” Or the moment where she chants: “People think that I’m insane / The only gun is in my brain / Each new birth, it gives me hope / That’s why I don’t smoke that dope.”

在先行首單《Medellin》中，Madonna邀請到哥倫比亞新天王Maluma進(jìn)行合作，在歌曲中用著她全新的搖擺口音領(lǐng)了一場恰恰舞。事實(shí)證明，《Medellin》還有其他的來源。用經(jīng)過過度處理的聲音在《Dark Ballet》中唱《胡桃夾子》，又或者是喊麥道：“People think that I’m insane / The only gun is in my brain / Each new birth, it gives me hope / That’s why I don’t smoke that dope（人們認(rèn)為我瘋掉了，但我的反擊來自頭腦并非手中的槍，每一次新生都給我以新的希望，這就是我不吸毒的原因）?！?/p>

?“Madame X” is the name she says Martha Graham gave her when she acted up in dance class, and as she’s explained, “Madame X is back to her roots, OK? She doesn’t care. Zero you-know-whats.” She made it with Mike Dean, her collaborator on 2015’s?Rebel Heart, and Mirwais Ahmadzai, who co-produced one of her best ever (2000’s?Music) as well as?American Life. She throws down with Quavo, Diplo and Rae Sremmerd’s Swae Lee.

據(jù)Madonna說，“X夫人”是她在學(xué)習(xí)舞蹈時(shí)，舞蹈老師Martha Graham給她取的名字，她繼續(xù)解釋道：“是X夫人回歸了自我，她并不關(guān)心，而你們什么都不知道。”她和Mike Dean（他曾與Madonna合作制作了在2015年發(fā)行的《Rebel Heart（叛逆之心）》）還有Mirwais Ahmadzai（他幫助Madonna制作了新世紀(jì)以來最棒的一些音樂，包括《American Life》）一起制作了這張專輯，同時(shí)還邀請到Quavo, Diplo、Rae Sremmerd與Swae Lee。

?Weirdest of all, there are truly great Madonna moments all over?Madame X. Especially “Crave,” a love song with florid acoustic guitar where she plays down the accent and gets lost in emotion. “Come Alive” has that “Cherish” girl-group flair, while “Crazy” toys with old-school Massive Attack trip-hop. (“I bend my knees for you like a prayer” — hey, where have we heard that before?) But with her typical nerve, she buries the strongest songs deep in?Madame X. To reach them, you have to endure disasters like “Killers Who Are Partying,” where she ponders political oppression: “I’ll be Islam if Islam is hated / I’ll be Israel if they’re incarcerated.”

最奇怪的是，這張專輯中確實(shí)有不少麥當(dāng)娜式的亮點(diǎn)。特別是《Crave》，在這首情歌中，在絢麗的原聲吉他伴奏下，她放下了嗓音的特色，沉浸到了情緒的海洋之中?！禖ome Alive》有著《Cherish》中那種女孩幫的活力，而《Crazy》則將老派的Massive Attack樂隊(duì)的trip-hop風(fēng)格玩弄于股掌之間?！尽癐 bend my knees for you like a prayer（“我為你跪下，就像在祈禱”）——喂！我們是不是在哪聽過這句歌詞??？】但是按照以往的習(xí)慣，Madonna總是把最有力量的歌曲藏在專輯的深處。為了找到這些歌曲，你必須先把災(zāi)難般的歌曲聽完，比如說《Killers Who Are Partying》，她在這首歌中表達(dá)了自己對于政治迫害的思考——“I’ll be Islam if Islam is hated / I’ll be Israel if they’re incarcerated（如果伊斯蘭教徒受到仇恨，那我就是伊斯蘭教徒；如果以色列人受到監(jiān)禁，那我就是以色列人）”。

?Madonna has a long history with Latin America and its music, going back way before “La Isla Bonita.” Her first hits bubbled out of a Latina context — her debut was a New York freestyle record forged on the floor of the Fun House. On?Madame X, she attempts musical languages beyond what she’s tried before. “Came from the Midwest / Then I went to the Far East,” she confesses amid the piano and tablas of “Extreme Occident,” the most touching and vulnerable ballad here. It’s a revealing moment — she’s always been a musical traveler, a Bowie-style lodger who’s roamed all over the world and left every place. (Or, as another great Detroit rocker once put it: she is the passenger.) No wonder she cops to “a mix of lucidity and craziness.” Her only roots are on the dance floor. But if she had any shame about making people cringe, she never would have made it to the Fun House, let alone where she went from there.

Madonna和拉丁美洲及其音樂有一段不短的淵源，這要追溯到《La Isla Bonita》之前了。Madonna 的第一首熱單就出自拉丁背景——她的處女作是一張?jiān)谝沟辏湲?dāng)娜曾做過夜店舞娘）里制作出來的紐約式的即興專輯。在《Madame X》中她嘗試著用超越她曾經(jīng)使用過的音樂語言?！癈ame from the Midwest / Then I went to the Far East（我來自中西部，然后去了遙遠(yuǎn)的東海岸）”她在《Extreme Occident》鋼琴和塔布拉雙鼓的伴奏下唱著，這首民謠是全專最感人也是最脆弱的一首歌。這是一個(gè)極具啟發(fā)性的時(shí)刻，她一直是個(gè)音樂的旅行者，一位鮑伊式的房客，漫游全世界，又從未在任何一個(gè)的地方駐足（或者用另一個(gè)來自底特律的著名搖滾樂手的話說：她是一名旅客）。這也難怪，她“既清醒又瘋狂”。她唯一擺脫不了的根是舞池。如果她對于讓人望而卻步感到羞恥的話，她就不可能去到夜店，更不會有她從此出發(fā)所到的境界了。

?There’s something gratifying about the way the music on?Madame X?can trigger that familiar “worried about Madonna” feeling. Let’s face it, aren’t we proud of our Eighties mega-pop idols for still being willing to act up like this? Imagine going back in time to the Eighties and saying, “Someday, Madonna will chant ‘bitch I’m loca’ the same week Bruce Springsteen releases his concept album about horses.” These two legends never let us down, in their very different ways. Time will tell if?Madame X?has staying power or not. But if you love Madonna for her shamelessness — bitch, she’s loca.

當(dāng)然，關(guān)于《Madame X》中的音樂讓人產(chǎn)生為Madonna感到擔(dān)心的情緒的也并非全是壞事。承認(rèn)吧，難道我們不會為這位80年代的超級流行偶像這樣的舉動感到高興嗎？想象一下回到80年代，然后宣言：“未來的某一天，Madonna會在發(fā)行的新專輯里唱一首《bitch I’m loca》，Bruce Springsteen會發(fā)行一張關(guān)于馬的概念專輯。”這兩位傳奇巨星從沒有讓我們失望，他們始終在用他們各自不同的方式保持著新鮮感。時(shí)間會證明《Madame X》是否具有持續(xù)的生命力。但如果你因她的大膽無畏而熱愛Madonna——她就是一個(gè)瘋子（bitch, she’s loca）。

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more about Madame X：

【譯】Rolling Stone評價(jià)Madonna的《Madame X》巡演CV5780505?

【譯】Rolling Stone評價(jià)Madonna的《Madame X》CV5780512

【譯】叉婊Pitchfork評 Madonna《Madame X》CV5780533?

《X夫人》的隱藏音軌vocal and sounds BV13g4y187EJ?

《X夫人》豪華場刊開箱視頻BV1B64y1u7B1

《God Control》電臺版BV1sA411b7nT