Constant reinvention has been the hallmark trait of her career, adopting alter egos to personify the momentum diffused by a certain album, and to fully represent who she is or was in a certain time.
Her most prominent personas include Dita, during the ‘Erotica’ era, Madame X, as the album was also named, and of course, Veronica Electronica. The latter is arguably her most captivating due to the spiritual, emotional intimacy she radiates over dance-pop palpitations.
‘Ray of Light’ helped make electronica mainstream in the late ‘90s, and was so popular that its accompanying remix album was shelved in favour of further promotional singles.
Now it’s here, ‘Veronica Electronica’ is an adrenaline-charged glimpse into the rave culture of that decade, and more intense than the original album, with more emphasis on soaring synths and trance-beats: Sasha’s mix of ‘Ray of Light’ elevates the track; giving it a heavier, soaring, club-beat.
‘Skin’ is even more theatrical: bursting alive to house rhythms and then slowing down to haunting, airy noise. Victor Calderone’s ‘Sky Fits Heaven’ edit is also more dramatic, as though the original track has been placed in an echo chamber and covered with fleeting , metallic twangs. The beats are never too intense; more like vivacious, electronic pulses around Madonna’s lyrics.
The real treat is ‘Gone Gone Gone’, a previously unreleased demo that floated around the internet for years, where Madonna gently pleads, “no more emotional violence”. It represents the maturity and introspection that came with ‘Ray of Light’. Emotional trauma can hurt us in ways that manifest beyond our realisations, until we retrospectively recognise the pain it inflicted.
On ‘Gone Gone Gone’, Madonna calls for an end to all of that, and moving forward. Embodying Veronica Electronica in the late ‘90’s helped to elevate her mind towards peace and reflected the rise of spirituality in her personal life.
Fabien’s mix of ‘The Power of Good-Bye’ brings the track closer to the sound and mood of ‘Gone Gone Gone’ and is one of the album’s strongest edits. As Madonna sings of heartbreak, but equally of the renewing experience of letting go, the track is positioned over a precipitous drum ‘n’ bass beat, enticing you away from the saddening realisations or the original track and towards sweating your feelings out on the dancefloor.
Although Madonna has released numerous adaptations of ‘Frozen’ in the past few years, the fortified drums on ‘Veronica Electronica’s’ version, paired with meditative drones, transform it into a trip-hop-immersed oasis.
“Future, future future…” echoes on Club 69’s galvanised edit of ‘Nothing Really Matters’, and it’s a reminder that ‘Ray of Light’ was the future of music in 1998, but also draws curiosity towards her next album.
It’s been six years since ‘Madame X’, her last full, original release, making it the longest gap between albums in her whole career. Luckily, she’s recently promised that it won’t be long until her next album: she’s working on it with ‘Confessions on a Dance Floor’ producer, Stuart Price, and has dubbed it “Confessions Part 2”, meaning we could soon be whisked away by disco-numbers similar to ‘Hung Up’ and ‘Sorry’.
‘Veronica Electronica’ and the impending “Confessions Part 2” show that, whilst she will likely reinvent her image again soon, she’s no longer scared to look behind her and dip back into what she does best.