Madonna Confessions II: Best Album Since 2005
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- Madonna released Confessions II, a 21-years-on sequel to Confessions on a Dance Floor, inspired by her 2023 Celebration tour re-staging videos from across her catalogue.
- Confessions II runs nearly 10 minutes longer than the original and draws on house, UK garage, EDM, and trip-hop — borrowing from Lil Louis's French Kiss, Inner City's Good Life, and a Satie interpolation on Betrayal.
- Collaborators include daughter Lourdes on The Test (a sequel to Ray of Light's Little Star), Sabrina Carpenter on Bring Your Love, Belgian rapper Stromae, and producers Stuart Price, Andrew Watt, and Cirkut.
- Standout tracks include Danceteria — namechecking Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, doorman Haoui Montaug, and quoting Lou Reed's Walk on the Wild Side — and Fragile, an acoustic eulogy to her late brother Christopher.
- Sales trajectory: Confessions on a Dance Floor moved 10 million copies, and each subsequent album sold roughly half its predecessor, ending with 2019's Madame X at 500,000.
- The album references Madonna's career across eras, from her 1982 debut single Everybody's club-hopping energy to the trip-hop mood of Bedtime Stories and the spiritual maternalism of Ray of Light.
- The reviewer judges Confessions II Madonna's best album since Confessions on a Dance Floor, though it lacks a Hung Up-sized pop banger and includes weaker house tracks like Love Sensation and School.
Why it matters: After each post-2005 Madonna album sold roughly half its predecessor — down to 500,000 copies for 2019's Madame X — Confessions II returns to the house-dance sound where she was last triumphant. The reviewer frames the album as a direct bid to win back lapsed fans, calling it Madonna's strongest work in two decades by leaning into nostalgia rather than the trap and Latin-pop directions of her recent projects.
