HITS: It's All About 'Music'
August 2, 2000
With her new album, "Music," slated for release Sept.
19 and its title-song single and video launching this
week, artist/executive Madonna prepares for her latest
assault on the global marketplace, as well as the
imminent birth of her second child. In a conversation
with HITS' own material boy, Marc "Jackson" Pollack,
the pop queen discusses her new album, video clip,
single, the "butt energy in video" and how she
balances recording and running her Maverick Records
label.
HITS: How much input did you have in the concept,
animation and locations of the "Music" video?
The concept was mine in terms of doing a takeoff on
the whole [range of] stereotypes that are portrayed in
R&B and rap videos. We were just having fun with role
reversals, essentially, because you never see girls
doing what guys do in videos. You go out and you ride
with your friends, with your road dawgs, and it's just
a night out on the town—and this song, in particular,
is such a party song. It's a great dance song as well,
but I'm very pregnant, and I was five-and-a-half
months into the pregnancy when we shot it. I was
really limited in what I could do, so I had to think
of a concept that would incorporate me being almost a
voyeur rather than the central force in the video. So
I figured if I played this kind of mack-daddy/pimp
character, where things just came to me, happened to
me and happened around me while I was watching it all
happen, I could kill two birds with one stone. It's
really just a typical night out on the town with my
girlfriends.
HITS: Part of the video takes place in a strip club;
are you trying to bring that experience into the
mainstream?
You cannot get away from the butt energy in video,
whether it be Snoop Dogg, "The Thong Song" or anything
else. If you are spoofing something, you have to go
all the way. Not only that, but girls go to strip
clubs all the time and nobody has ever truly portrayed
that. It's always about the guys partaking in the
strip-club activity.
HITS: The album itself seems like a natural
progression from "Ray Of Light." Was that the
direction that you thought about before going into the
process of writing songs and making a new record?
I always want to move forward, so I hope that I am
doing that [now]. I don't want to repeat myself, ever,
and in the process of when I began working with
William [Orbit], I remember that I started off saying,
"Let's not do the same thing we already did." The "Ray
Of Light" album was a very dense and layered foray
into electronic music, and I wanted the new record to
be stripped-down—something minimal, yet harder and
edgier. I wanted to strip off the effects on my vocals
and make everything have a much rawer sound. While I
wanted those changes, I still wanted to [incorporate
the] electronic pop aspects of "Ray Of Light." As I
started working with William, I really wasn't sure if
I was going to do the whole record with him. I knew I
wanted to experiment and collaborate with other people
so I found Mirwais during the writing process with
William. There were lots of people [involved] in this
record. I was just sort of hopping around
experimenting with people and seeing who was going to
come up with the sensibility of where I was at.
HITS: The new album seems to be a blending of musical
styles—a step away from a strictly defined medium.
I think, more than anything, if I've tapped into a
specific genre, that sound has had an effect on what I
am doing. Over the past year or so, I was into all
this stuff coming out of France—you know, Daft Punk,
Rinocerose and Air. I like finding genres that are
underground and try to make them more popular. I'm not
by any means saying that my music is pure. I'm always
going to be a hodgepodge of lots of different
influences, and I think music today, especially pop
music, is just that.
HITS: It seems to be the kind of thing that today's
fans are very interested in—a homogenized mixture.
You're right. I'm not sure if it's a good thing or not
to call it that, because "homogenized" is a scary
word; it's the last thing you want to describe art as
being. We're just so inundated with [lesser music]
right now. I like different styles; I like being able
to say, "Now I want to hear Latin music… Now I want to
hear some hardcore rap." I like the different
junctions, but [in a way] it's scary that everything
is kind of mushing together.
HITS: I think the MTVs of the world and the younger
fan demographic have a lot to do with that.
It also reeks so much of artists just wanting to be
the most popular. The way to be the most popular is to
sort of cover everything and every interest, which is
great for selling records and great in the small
picture, but I don't think it's good for an artist who
wants to sustain a long career. Not too many people
seem to really give a shit about artists sustaining
long careers anymore. I feel like music has really
become so innocuous.
HITS: There was a time when you looked forward to the
fourth, fifth, sixth release from a career artist.
These days, it's surprising for a newcomer to even
have a third release.
Most artists can't even get their records played
unless [they] are 18 years old. There are so many
fantastic artists out there not getting heard,
especially a lot of bands that I love in Europe.
Everyone is frustrated because it's so hard to get
your record played on radio and to sell records.
HITS: Unless, of course, you fit into the youth
explosion. The whole kiddie-pop thing doesn't seem to
be going away.
No. I watched a documentary on The Sex Pistols the
other day called "The Filth and the Fury," and I just
hope somebody comes along like Johnny Rotten or Sid
Vicious and tears the belly out of [teenpop]—you know
what I mean? Somebody's gotta get punk-rock on their
asses. There is nothing rebellious about today's
sounds, and [music] needs to be rebellious.
HITS: Let's get back to the new album. What's the game
plan for its rollout?
I'm having the baby in a month. About a month after
the album comes out, I'm going to do a couple of club
dates and perform in places like the Roxy in New York.
Then I'll go to England and do a couple of club dates
there and go around Europe and just do small shows.
We'll see how the record does and judge what the
response is. Then I'll start thinking about doing a
proper tour—you know, now that I've done my
procreating thing.
HITS: Who helped you A&R the record? Anyone at
Maverick?
Well, Guy [Oseary], always. He's a huge influence on
me in terms of people that I work with, and he's
always throwing ideas at me and demos that people send
him, saying, "Check this out." He turned me onto
Mirwais, and he turned me onto William [Orbit] when I
worked on "Ray Of Light." He's always championed me
that way and A&R'd me that way. He's always fantastic
to me and goes through the whole project with me,
listens to everything…but we don't always agree. He
and my manager, Caresse [Henry] both really held my
hand through the whole project.
HITS: Compared to the other albums in your body of
work, where do you stack this one?
This is my favorite. I hate to sound predictable, but
I just love the way it sounds, and lyrically it is far
superior to anything I've done. But you be the judge
of it.
HITS: I'm impressed by the depth of the album as well.
I now have something to say. God knows I didn't when I
started out.
HITS: It seems that you're very happy with the way
your career is going and with your manager, Caresse.
You recently renegotiated your contract with Warner
Bros. Records, and there was a chance of that getting
sticky, but all seems well.
As you know, in every area of life you're going to get
the best job from somebody who's got something to
prove, and I'm very happy with the work Caresse has
done and the new deal that we signed. She's doing a
really good job—I'm very proud of her.
HITS: What about the impending deals that your parent
company, Warner Bros., is involved in with AOL? Do you
think that that will have any effect on Maverick or on
you?
Yeah! More money, and hopefully we'll get a larger
cash flow. Hello! I mean, we are operating a record
company with one arm tied behind our back. Hopefully,
it's going to mean something great for us. We've made
an enormous amount of money for Warner Bros. in spite
of the fact that we've lost money on our own. That's
just the way the deal is constructed. They're the
major winners in our situation. But I would hope that
with this whole merging scenario, it's going to mean
that we'll have more of a cash flow to fool around
with, because we need it. I mean, we want to go on to
the next phase. You have to think big, and you have to
be able to have enough money to make mistakes. We
always want to sign artists that we love and think are
really cool, but we have a business too.
HITS: The Deftones have made a huge splash. You have
to be psyched about their sales.
God, yeah! We're so happy. We've been championing them
for quite a long time, and it's great that they're
finally getting the attention they deserve.
HITS: On a day-to-day basis, how much of a role do you
play in the operation of Maverick? Do you take an
interest in running the company, or is it your key
hires like Guy and Ronnie Dashev who do that and
report to you?
It's a combination of everything. A lot of stuff comes
my way, and I bring it to Guy. The business side of it
is really more Ronnie Dashev and Guy. It sort of moves
around. I wouldn't say anybody just does one job. When
I was away in London working on my album and really
engrossed in what I was doing, it was much harder for
me to pay attention to the day-to-day stuff. So it
comes and goes in spurts for me. I'm aware of
everything that's going on, and thank God for the
Internet and Fed Ex—I hear everything that's going on.
But it isn't until I can actually get back to L.A.
that I can get involved in the day-to-day stuff again.
That was the arrangement that Guy and I had when we
started. I'm a recording artist too, and I don't want
to abandon my own career.
