Like A Prayer

I've heard some of these tracks before...who hasn't, but hadn't heard the whole album. I can't say it's exciting, but It's not awful. It gave me the feel of being a Disney soundtrack (not that I'm a Disney soundtrack expert). That's all apart from the final track - Act of Contrition. How did that get there? It's just a bit weird compared to the rest of the album.

The title track is a great pop song, that's for sure. The rest of the album can't live up to that, unfortunately.

Really 80's and not as a compliment. The title track is great but that's about it. A lot of very tiresome cheesy late 80's pop that makes it more of a drag than an enjoyment. Don't really hate it but there isn't much to like here. Even the other hit singles aren't Madonna's best work.

Other than the hits, this album was pretty hard to listen to. I had forgotten about "Cherish" though. That song is a jam.

Tails off hardddd

Pretty mixed but overall not really my thing.

I recently listened to 1989 and wrote that I wondered how they pick which pop stars get to be bigger than god for a bit. I wouldn’t say I really enjoyed this album, but I understood it a bit better than the Swift. Probably just for crotchety reasons though. This sounded more like it had a proper band, a bit more life to it. Pretty silly songs though.

A slog.

I don’t know much about about Madonna’s career, but something about this album feels desperate, like a pop star trying a little too hard to hang on.

2.3

Not as good as True Blue. Some decent songs but kind of average.

This is peak 80 (which means it’s not good). 80s pop is so dated and this album is no different.

Music that was made with the sole purpose of being on the radio

This is the most 80s pop record it could possibly be. Higher production quality than your average 80s pop but it all feels the same to me.

Way too heavy on the overproduced polished synth pop.. Struggled to get through this one.

This is a bit limp. Even the collab with Prince lacked soul, energy, and funk. The title song is the best.

The singles are exactly what i remember them being. Enjoyable 80s pop. Wasn't as interested in the rest of the album.

Title track is solid gold. The rest of it is pretty lackluster for me. I bet at the time it was pretty special, but I think it suffers, now, from 35 years of artists doing this type of music bigger and better.

Seré apedreado por los fans de Madonna, pero el disco me dio muchísima flojera. Fuera de Like a Prayer y aquella de Oh Father, el disco me mató de la aburrición. No entiendo la super fama de este álbum (y sí me gusta Madonna), pero con este nada más no conecté.

A long series of various shades of beige

Dear God, no. Not Madonna! Ok, open mind. Two songs in, and I don't like it, but cannot call it bad or irritating. But the synthetic beat is tiring. A couple more in and I'm bored. Did I just hear the voice of Prince? Still not enough to save this. Vapid lyrics, boring rhythm, and unappreciated music for me.

It feels like it rides on the big hits and that it got big due to mtv

The title track is an obvious classic. Enjoyed a few others throughout the album, but overall wasn't hooked.

It was fine, but didn't really stand out to me much. I like a lot of Madonna songs, but all of them are singles. I don't know if her albums hold up. Or maybe I'm just more into Madonna in the '90s and 2000s, because that's what I heard more growing up. Who knows. But I didn't get much out of this.

Couple of decent tracks but overall very dull with little to recommend it.

Swing and a miss again, Madge

The title track is stil a banger. 'Express Yourself' and 'Cherish are still decent, but that's about the extent of my enjoyment here.

I just couldn’t bring myself to listen to this album. Lots of skipped songs.

I don't like Madonna's music, but I did enjoy the title track here. I know it already, of course. Two stars cos it's just generic pop, but that's a good track.

blerrrghh

Not a Madonna fan, and it felt Like A Prayer had been answered when this one was over.

I like to think that I am normally capable of enjoying the “best” that any genre has to offer but the more that time goes on, the more I think that I might just not really like “Pop” music very much. “Like A Prayer” and “Express Yourself” still feel like obvious standouts but the rest of the album just feels like forgettable 80’s pop slop. Definitely not for me. 🤷🏼‍♂️ (2.5)

Like A Prayer is maybe the most iconic pop album of the 1980s. Side A is extremely bright, very 80s considering its 1989. I’d have thought a lot of this had been done before. Side B is more dark and moody, relatively speaking. Not my style at all but respectable 5.5/10

nah,not my thing

Nothing too special as an album. A couple catchy songs. A lot of songs tend to drag out to long. Overall a decent album, but nothing that really blows me away. The biggest highlight feels like the intro with a awesome song in Like a Prayer. My top 3 songs from this album are probably Like a Prayer, Till Death Do Us Part, and Cherish.

Like a prayer tiene algo especial. La producción, la simbologia en la letra... el resto del disco es "ese disco de los 80". Homogéneo, aburrido.

Meh. Generic 80's pop. I recognize she was influential for the times but it hasn't particularly aged well. 4/10

A few undeniable pop classics surrounded by bland and/or saccharine songs.

Got 3 songs in and I wasn't feeling it. Listened to black Sabbath instead

title track is amazing but rest of the album doesn’t really do it for me. 2.5 stars

Not really my thing. I know the songs from the radio, but way too polished for me.

not as hype as I thought she'd be, couple good songs though

Off the cuff remark: I just cannot get around the Stock, Aitken & Waterman-ish production and I hate it. Standout track: Like A Prayer, I suppose Revisit?: No!

Two fantastic, iconic songs (the first two). One decent one pop ditty (“Cherish”) a Prince song that I didn’t realize was one and a bunch dated sounding boring pop. I fast forwarded during “Love Song” and didn’t think it worked because it sounds so the same. It’s probably 2.75. Maybe 2.5. Going with 2.

The first two songs are the strongest, and it’s not even close. I don’t really care for Madonna-flavored pop when it’s low energy like most of the album is. Even the godawful 'Ace of Contrition' with all its' shredding.

Not really a big fan of Madonna. This album doesn’t change that. The opening title track is obviously great, but it’s followed by a lot of predictable and uninspired classic Madonna-songs. She’s trying to do something interesting on “Dear Jessie” and “Oh Father”, but it’s short lived as it’s followed by one of the worst endings of an album to be featured on this list. I mean, “Act of Contrition” is actually unlistenable, right?!

Pop stuff

There are a couple of decent tunes on this album, but the rest are either super dated or going for a sort of toothless Kate Bush vibe that really didn't do it for me. 2.5/5

Yes, I used a private spotify session for this album. I look at the album cover and wonder exactly she is selling, because it isn't great music. There are lots of radio hits on this thing, but listening to them didn't make me feel nostalgic, it made me feel angry that the local radio station and MTV crammed this crap down our gullets.

Still recovering from the wedding I attended 20 years ago where the bride and groom processional was to an a capella group performing Like A Prayer. This album falls off a cliff after the second song and never recovers. But in fairness, I'm like Mister Blue in Reservoir Dogs: I I like her early stuff. You know, "Lucky Star," "Borderline" - but once she got into her "Papa Don't Preach" phase, I don't know, I tuned out.

Nope

Boring for the most part. Cherish is peppy. Dear Jessie is very Antiques Roadshow. I've always felt Madonna was an artist who starred when releasing a single more than a full album.

It's just not very good

Cutting edge soul - very dated, very sexy. Big gap between the best and worst tracks... Favourite tracks: Like A Prayer, Til Death Do Us Part

Overall: 4/10 Other than the title track, which is an absolute banger of a song, the best tracks here are the slow songs. They seem more vulnerable and real than anything else on here. The straight up dance songs are pretty horrendous though and I can't bring myself to enjoy the album as a whole, which is dissappointing cause I actually wanted to like this one. Fav Song: Like a Prayer Least Fav Song: Act of Contrition

I like her hits and this was a decent pop album but it just wasn’t very memorable.

2 ok songs

I like some of the songs but wasn't vibing so keeping 2.

Madonna's obviously one of the most prolific female pop artists of all time but this doesn't do it for me. It's just not my genre and comes across as mass produced pop. Like A Prayer is good, but maybe because I'm just familiar with it. Act of Contrition is actually awful. 4.25/10 (2.125/5)

the not so famous song are quite boring

2.0 awful

Madonna is undeniably one of the most influent artists of the past decades - and that's not necessarily a good thing, considering the kind of worldview presented in her works. Like a Prayer has some consistency, although some tracks are rather forgettable. What can't be denied, though, is her abillity to communicate through her art, which may be her strongest and most impactful trait as an artist. As I said before, the world view is very problematic, especially for mocking religion and blending it with sensual provocation. This drags down the album's rating considerably from a worldview-based perspective. 5/10 (I analyse arts through a christian worldview, which, as a christian, I believe is the correct way to interpret the world.)

so far the best 2/5

The first half was typical Madonna bubble gum pop, with a little sex thrown in. Then I heard Oh Father, which was actually pretty good. The second half seemed a bit better.

Este estaba en vinilo en casa, era de mi hermana que lo escuchaba a todas horas. Sin embargo no me acuerdo de ninguna canción aparte de la del título. Pues poco más hay. Entiendo que es una artista icónica que hay que escuchar al menos una vez, pero creo que no es su mejor disco.

Like a Prayer is a really good song. Express Yourself is OK. The rest is horribly over-produced.

My initial reaction was to downvote this album, mainly because I dislike Madonna as a public figure. But I do try to separate the artist from their work. So, about this album, much of it has what I don't like about teen pop. Maybe that wasn't her intention, but it really sounds like it foreshadowed artists like Britney Spears. It's got that very produced and manufactured sound. What I did find somewhat interesting was how you can still hear the influence of 80s sophisti-pop and art pop in some of the tracks. Ultimately, the album felt pretty artificial, though a couple of songs toward the end were decent. It definitely captures a moment when music was changing. As for Madonna, she's undeniably evolved a lot over her 45-year pop career, with mixed results. I have to admit I enjoy her early 80s synth-pop and her mid-90s explorations with house and electronic producers, especially her collaborations with William Orbit. So, while I'm generally not a Madonna fan, I will say she's pushed the boundaries of experimentation more than most pop stars at her level.

Would give it a 1 but the last track moves it up

A couple of great songs, and then the rest is just filler

I don't like pop. I never have. My distaste towards pop is what essentially got me into music. When exposed to popular music, I used to think, "No way all of it is this bad, right?" And thankfully, after digging a bit deeper, I found out that there's a huge amount of artist that are driven by the pursuit of artistic expression and not profit incentives. I feel like most pop albums I liked appeal to me despite being pop. If your main motivation for creating is to make a product to be sold to a wide audience, it will only result in good art accidentally. Pop albums are usually professionally produced but completely lack soul. This genre is popular because it's inoffensive and specifically created not to alienate anyone instead of trying to create something interesting. The wider audiences don't want good music—they want accessible music. All of this is completely fine, by the way. I don't think that pop is harmful to music. If anything, exposing more people to the art form brings more potential musicians into the scene, and at least some of them are gonna stay for the love of the game and not money. I'm just a little frustrated by the fact that a lot of people seem to think that popular equals good, which is demonstrably untrue (and anyone who disagrees I challenge to sit through a single Ed Sheeran album). Not all pop is bad, of course (just most is), but enforcing strict boundaries on your artistic expression just to make sure that as much people like your output is certainly not helping make better art (I know this doesn't apply to all sub-genres of pop, but it should be obvious by now that I'm talking about pop of the corporate variety people like Taylor Swift make). I'm also not trying to shame anyone for liking pop. Most people just listen to whatever radio or the algorithm serves them, and nobody should be forced to exert effort to "understand" what "good" music sound like. I'm not gonna think less of you if you're convinced that Imagine Dragons produce straight bangers (well, maybe a little), and to think this is acceptable behavior is ridiculous. Despite what my affinity towards yapping sessions may tell you, I don't actually think it's that deep. This album, however, is a bit more unique, in a sense that despite being a pop record from the beginning to the end, it doesn't stick to a single sub-genre. It's not as monotonous as most of the records in the sea of corporate music. What we have instead is a sort of smorgasbord of slop, each song equally as uncreative and uninteresting but in their unique ways (except Oh Father—this song is actually good). Rock slop, dance-slop, slop soul, baroque slop, and even psychedelic slop—we got them all here! But the uninspired nature of this album doesn't let this fact help. And although half of the songs are fine, the other is very boring, probably because of the extremely generic vocals and dull writing, making the experience of listening through it a little tedious. 5/10

When I first saw the Material Girl video on MTV I thought, man, this is great…the beat, lyrics, the diamond necklace…then Borderline and I was a fan. That’s where it ended. Nothing after that, except Like A Virgin. excited me because I just wasn’t listening to that type of music back then. And I’m still not. 2 stars.

Listening to a lot of 80's recently, but this album didn't do it for me. I liked some oft he funkier stuff, but I kept looking at how many songs left, and that's not a good sign. Highlights: Like A Prayer Love Song

not again

Like a prayer war geil, aber was waren das bitte sonst für Songs? Eher so meh, gebe 2 Sterne

like a prayer - now i can't hear this song without remembering it playing in kelli's karaoke and christine & jenn singing it like they are the last two people on earth who still like Madonna (10/10) alright ill be honest there are the bangers like a prayer, express yourself, and cherish but the rest make me want to pull my teeth out sorry queen

Like a Prayer slaps. Express Yourself - chefs kiss! Cherish is a fav probably because it hit my neural pathways at just the right time as they were forming. There rest of the album is meh.

I found this a bit disappointing. The hits were ok, though I don't get hyped for pop or Madonna, the rest fell flat

Dance pop, mostly on the softer/tender side

No my thing

Expected good things from this because I knew I liked the title track going in. Or at least I thought I did. Did it need really need to be almost 6 minutes long? Bohemian Rhapsody is only 14 seconds longer and that has three distinct sections to it, whereas this was just the same verse and chorus on repeat. Unfortunately that initial disappointment was the album at its peak. This turned into a right slog, not a decent track on here. +1 for pissing off the Catholic Church, but this album was dogshit

Not as many vocal gymnastics as later big poofy pop. Big beats, catchy rhythms.

Like a Prayer is great but this project isnt really for me. It's got a disney disco thing that (to my ear) hasn't aged well. Points for being influential and Madonna is great but I'm not sure it holds up.

Like a Prayer // Till Death Do Us Part //

I liked the guitar on Til Death Do Us Part. The rest of the album was nothing special for me. I recognized a few songs but there’s nothing on here that I would return to. It was fine, definitely of it’s time, it sounds very 80s.

Just not my thing, sorry Madonna

Disappointing

Madonna is really good at being Madonna. It's really boring to me and sounds of the time but I was never the target audience

Standard pop didn't age too well. Unlike me

This is the pop/fun Madonna. From long before the William Orbit collaborations and Evita and all that. Nothing wrong with pop/fun but it doesn't really lead to good, coherent albums. This has at least one banger - Express Yourself - and another couple of enjoyable singles in a dance-y but quite tinny funkpop vein. It also has a quite unexpected (to me) Prince feature that's not more than okay and some dreary ballads and other filler. I 1000x rather listen to the Immaculate Collection.

Other than the two big hits that I knew, this was a chore to get through. I didn't discern anything worthy here, just dated pop music from the late 1980s that mainly fell flat.

what can I even say? It is a pop album. as a Gen Z, I would unironically say this is mid af.

I was looking forward to listening to this, but I ended up pretty disappointed. It's more of a one-hit wonder, as even the other big "hits" aren't particularly good. Like a Prayer stands so much taller than anything else on this album, that I would have enjoyed just listening to Like a Prayer for 50 minutes. Favorite Song(s): Like a Prayer

This album did not age well, and it is not good to begin with.

Gonna call Madonna Kylie MiNOPE. No wonder she had to make the music video for the title track so extreme, the rest of the album is a flop!

Madonna, het symbool van vrijheid en (vrouwelijke) expressie. Waarom is dit album dan zo ontzettend cheesy?

..

Should be an EP With a loaf of pop filler First track magic fades

This was part of youth. But seriously I thought Madonna was over played.

I have better memories of this record than it really deserves.

A pop album with catchy singles and nothing else interesting at all. Rinse / repeat

Some decent Pop songs, but most of the album lacks that something special. Really cool that Prince is on this album a few times. 2.5/5 Probably won’t listen again

Only first song is decent, didn't hate it but would not listen again.

Correcto

🙄

Strangely I seem to know a lot of the songs on this album.... think my brother must have owned it. It's not aged well, sounds like a children's album but like a prayer is a bit of a classic. No more Madonna on this list please.

Not really sure why they didn't make an exception for Mamma Mia and shove the title track on at least a blooper reel. Certified anthem nonetheless, to be in the 90s fucked off my head with all my mates at a gay bar on a greek island... pwah! Synth edging out of the decade strong just like Disintegration. Express yourself failing to... disappoint! Was going to suggest that love song sounds like a shit Prince song and it actually is! Eternal sound but doesn't have enough dirt under the fingernails, especially for something that wasn't too far away from sign of the times (temporally). Actually warming to it but feels like we are getting towards something but not being fully delivered upon, suppose it's in the lyrics. Proper dance tracks like "till death do us part" and "keep it together" (slap that on a function playlist), but not fussed at all about some slower shite. Cherish very much upbeat, of its time. Like Dear Jessie though, feels like its reaching towards the 2000s. Last track sounds like she tried to do another Prince track but he was booked up and she was junked up. Funny one but overall low rating - 2.

Like a prayer is very good, cherish was alright. Otherwise very little else stood out to me

Liked this more than I thought I would. Like a prayer is an all time favorite, other than that falls a little short for me personally though.

Like A Prayer is a solid pop song. I also didn't mind Till Death Do Us Part, but this is a bit of a slog. Just isn't that interesting beyond a certain point. Really simple production doesn't help, nor does her voice. +1 for Like A Prayer.

Like a prayer is a fantastic pop song, I really like it. I challenge anyone to say otherwise. Unfortunately the rest of it is nowhere near the same level and frankly pretty shit. Alright pop album I guess, nothing more. No surprises. 2, would be 1 without like a prayer

duplicate

A few classics. Fun to hear all the non-singles for my first time (like a virgin...). The album feels like a musical, which I'm not a fan of. Glad to have listened to it all but I am unlikely to listen to again.

Can understand why she is famous, but it still feels like watered down pop to me.

- Auch wenns 89' rauskam verkörpert dieses Album sehr viel Schlechtes der 90er. Da war die Frau wohl ihrer zeit etwas voraus - Mal abgesehen davon, dass ich die Alte wirklich absolut mega unsympathisch finde, hat mich dieses Album sehr gelangweilt. - Es überwirft sich mit Kitsch und Klischees, hat aber auch, trotz sehr erfolgreicher Songs, für mich auch keinen richtig coolen ikonischen Pop-Song dabei. 2/5

Nicht meins, aber war okay-ish. Drei Songs waren etwas besser, der Rest eher meh.

Wasn’t particularly engrossed while listening to this one. I do like a few Madonna songs but the ones I know of weren’t on this album. Just felt a little indifferent towards this, not much to say. :)

Decent 80s pop. Not much to say about it positive or negative. Doubt I’ll be coming back to listen again. Distinctly average. 2.5/5, rounding down because it’s a bit preachy.

Other than the obvious big hit, which clearly stand apart, the rest almost seems like filler.

Idc

Overblown production sounds so stilted today - Like a Prayer, Express Yourself etc. were more about the video than the music itself. Extract this music from the hype and scandal of the time and it's just sub-Janet Jackson formulaic tunes with a less than stellar singer

The album feels like it takes from the production of Michael Jackson records. He was probably heavily influenced and participated in a musical movement at the time. Comparing those two artists he has more power and uniqueness in his voice. I don’t feel like missing anything in my life not listening to Madonna. The album didn’t captivate me, her voice bored me at times. On most songs, it’s neither griddy, carrying-you-away-light nor blessed with any other interesting features. Also with a few exceptions I gravitate more towards intimate and less ‘placative’ music (soundwise). I must say that it didn’t pull me in so I would pay attention to the lyrics.

Jaren '80 pop. Niet mijn favoriete decennium qua muziek en Madonna weet de vinger redelijk goed op de zere plek te leggen. Overgeproduceerd. Veel nummers voelen aan als huismerk Prince. (Dit typte ik voordat ik Wikipedia goed had bekeken.) Deze nummers hadden het stuk voor stuk beter gedaan als radio-edit van 2,5 tot 3 minuten. De nummers zoals ze op het album staan slepen over het algemeen veel te lang voort voor wat ze te bieden hebben. 'Promise to Try' is pure cringe. Madonna kan niet zingen, dit soort nummers moet ze laten. Het is niet dat ik popmuziek te min vind voor deze lijst, maar dit scoort qua luistergenot voor mij maximaal 2 sterren. Het was een flinke zit.

The opening song "Like a prayer" is also the highlight of the album. Unfortunately the rest is second class Pop.

If this is supposed to be the more mature version of Madonna with increased artistic merit... well. This kind of album is the whole reason why pop music has it's bad reputation as boring, over-produced, meaningless and unartistic. These albums may produce 1-3 recognizable sing-along tunes that get radio airtime and can be sung along to during a car ride. Other than that, it's just not worth my time or energy.

The slower more heartfelt tracks were nice, but I'm just never going to be that interested in pop music. Especially 80s pop. Top tracks: Promise to Try, Cherish

This was an interesting listen. Way more funky than I expected it to be. The lyrical content was intriguing as well. The thing that draws this album down is the song length. Some of them just meander for about a minute too long.

The title track is the only one worth listening to on this album.

Some classic songs here that were played A LOT. Wasn’t super into the rest of the album and some of it felt dated now. The prince collab song Love Song wasn’t bad and definitely sounded unique on the album.

Like a Prayer is a classic song, but the rest is just safe unimaginative 80's pop.

I don't think this album was really for me. Pop as a genre is the most vulnerable to changing trends and sounding outdated in a bad way. I was hoping to get a glimpse of the pop landscape around this album, and while that did happen, I just didn't find it very enjoyable. I still need to listen to more Madonna, but I think I'll look at some of her other stuff before I revisit this.

One ok song i guess

2 iconic tracks, not much else.

Pop drenched busyness, still full of hooks and enjoyable

I don't really get all the hype behind Madonna tbh. Songs like Like a Prayer are obviously amazing but the other songs on here don't really do anything for me. Also why is every song on here 5 minutes long. I like long songs but fuck me this is crazy. Madonna deserves to be on this list but I'll avoid this album in the future. Fav songs: - Like a Prayer

2.36 per track.

This one is really just a product of the 80s. I don't think it holds up all that well today, but Madonna will always be an icon. Thanks Deadpool

For such a global megastar I found this album really weak. Not much beyond the singles and not much more than a cobbled together collection of songs.

So. Much. Filler. Its a wonder she ever got big

lots of great musicians worked on this. Prince, Jeff Porcaro (co-founder of Toto), Rose Stone (from Sly and Family Stone), and tons of studio artists (Randy Jackson . . .lol).

I sadly can't get full enjoyment out of this, as I'm not a 38-year old mother of seven with a "Coffee is always a good idea" mug on my desk. I don't fully get the hype around Madonna. I don't think she deserves to have a Wikipedia article written about her that sounds like she's a cult leader - like, what the fuck is "Madonna-ology". She's one of the most famous people in human history, but ask a random guy on the street to name you a Madonna song that wasn't released as a single and he'll melt into black goop on the spot (this is true). Meh. The title track is good, but "Ray of Light" wipes the floor with this album.

Like a Prayer, Cherish and Express Yourself still hold up and are classics for a reason. Love Song, Pray for Spanish Eyes, Dear Jessie are some of the weaker songs on this album and I did not care for them. Til Death Do Us Part and Keep It Together have a generic 80s sound. Promise to Try and Oh Father are not to my taste but I appreciate the sentiments behind them. Act of Contrition is bizarre. This is an overall underwhelming album carried by the hit singles.

Pas trop mon style

Like a Prayer ist ein Ausnahmesong; sonst überzeugt mich auf dem Album nichts wirklich.

Well produced but fairly unexceptional 80’s pop. The title track is the standout. On the note of that title track, very bold of Madonna to blacklist Sinead O’Connor the way she did, for being anti Catholic, when “Like a Prayer” is a song comparing sucking dick to praying.

Was hoping for more hidden gems but it's carried by the lead single

Started out as I had expected, Like a Prayer and Express Yourself are both pop classics. From there on out Like a Prayer really loses steam. Cherish is fine and then it drops right off, what the in the Disney fuck is Dear Jessie? That was awful and then just as we are about to escape this fever dream, we have to get thru the mess that is Act of Contrition. This was brutal, album art was awful too, aside from a few tracks this is a train wreck. 2 stars

A very good 80s pop albums, but it’s just not for me. There’s a couple of great tracks on this, and a bunch of tracks I don’t care for.

why do people like madonna

Only one song I really liked (Cherish) and a few I actively wanted to skip make this a 2 for me.

- *Like a Prayer* is great, - Love Song kind of sucks - Till death do us part has a catchy drum, but over repetitive chorus - Disc is overall bland and uninspired. Might have been a hit at the time, but it didn't age that well for me.

why would i ever listen to this?

Slay

I'm so sorry to anyone that likes this album. I think that is totally okay. Madonna is a very talented musician, and I think she has done some great things in her career. I just don't get this. I feel wrong for giving it a low score because it's not bad by any means, but these songs just illicit zero emotional response in my brain. I just don't like most 80's music, I never have liked most 80's music, and I especially don't like 80's pop music. I don't have much to say. Sadly not a huge fan. Cherish is a pretty good song though.

Classic Album (Cover), which I had never listened to although I am of 'that' age. Anyway not a fan, although Dear Jessie took me by surprise, as thought it was a late 90's original from Roller Girl.

Hmmm

This sounds right on the cusp between 80s era and boy-band pop. I was clinging to consciousness through these ballads, so gd boring

Not a lot stood out away from the singles. I had no idea that Prince appears on this album. Love Song is more about him, than it is her. It's all the better for it.

Lost the review that I started yesterday.. oh well. My overall take on this one is that it just wasn't for me. The title track is an all time anthem of the 80s that is laced in overt innuendo, but has a chorus that is undeniably infectious. Only other song that really stood out to me was Love Song, which is more a Prince song than a Madonna song. Vocally its solid and the songs themselves are okay with a few exceptions on either side of that line, but overall I'm pretty meh on the experience. For that I'm landing at a 2 / 5

Hollow and inconsequential, much like an actual prayer.

One could argue that Madonna was The Artist of the '80s. But this particular album is average at best. 2 1/2 stars, and I'm rounding down. If this had the name of another artist on it, it would get little attention.

Understimulating. I'll have to listen again

Aika geneeristä poppia. Like a Prayer nyt on klassikko ja Oh Father oli uusi ihan hyvä yllätys

Never been a fan. But this record was huge

I was pleasantly surprised to find this as underwhelming as it was. Because I'd always wondered if I'd missed out on some genius, which is what so many people tell us she is. I hate the video of Like a Prayer, but it is a strong song, while Cherish is a sweet bit of pop. Is forgotten just how boring Express Yourself was. Truly terrible. The rest was lightweight and really quite boring. Just filler. As for Dear Jessie: people go to jail for less. Madge is the ultimate triumph of style over substance.

There are a few songs I love, and her voice is great, but later efforts are so much better.

There's some catchy bops on here but like most 80s music it just starts to wear down on me until I end up hating it.

Really disliked this, and Madonna lacks vocal ability

Album took a massive nose dive after like a prayer. Such a good song, and the rest if the album is... trash. Nah, not for me.

The first two tracks prevented this from being a single star outing with Madonna.

I really didn't enjoy this album. The album opens with such promise as the title track is an excellent pop song. Then it goes completely downhill. With the only saving grace being Cherish. The slower tracks such as Promise To Fly and Oh Father are just brutal. Keep it Together is a decent track. Pray For Spanish Eyes is a decent slower tracker, with solid instrumentation throughout. The last track is a head scratcher - comes across as some sort of joke track. It is cool that a lot of the guitar on this album is from Prince.

She is a pretty great singer but this album is kinda weird. Some decent stuff in here but a lot of fluff and 80s trash I have a hard time with. And then that last song is just an awful finish. There are some rock elements in here that sometimes get me going for sure, but overall just didn't connect with it.

Boourns

Apart from the brilliant and controversial title track, the rest of the album is uninspiring.

Great singer and very good writing and very forward thinking, especially for the time in 89. Nothing bad on here, especially how omnipresent some of these tracks became over the years. But only one or so that I would keep for myself (which, surprisingly, were the least popular songs on the album based on the listed number of Spotify plays)

2/5. Most of the album is a miss unfortunately. There is the first song, a little of the second, and most nice sounds throughout. Lower than average for sure.

an extra star only for “Cherish”

My mom loves this album

- Never listened to a Madonna album before - Not my thing but I can see why it was popular - First two tracks are way better than the rest of it - Fav songs: Like a Prayer, Express Yourself

Madonna's response to herself. HOLD ON PRICE ON TRACK 3. Gotta give respect to the Prince. okay back to my main point. In the 80's Madonna had built this image of herself, being this ultimate pop star who does dance-pop hits and appeals to teens. Given the provocative Like a Virgin and her growth in maturity at the end of the 80's, it felt appropriate for Madonna to reflect on things and return with a Catholic lens. Hence, Like a Prayer. It's okay. A lot of Like a Prayer is cheesy and leans into adult contemporary, a genre doomed to be uninteresting and bland.

I really did not like this one at all

Not really my vibe but I appreciate the sound

Highlights: "Act of Contrition," "Till Death Do Us Part," "Dear Jessie" This seems like an instance of image and brand superseding music. The deeply personal subjects don't make the lyrics inherently good. It presupposes a fan's parasocial emotional investment. There's a real clumsiness to her lyrics, like the phrases don't have rhythm or carry melody. Some ideas are better than others, but they also contradict in an artless way, like how she immediately goes from moaning about how glad she is to have escaped her father to a blunt insistence on keeping families together. There are interesting hooks, busy keybass -- but also thin mixing and overwrought, hokey backing vocals. The Prince tracks are all standouts that make we wish he'd kept them for himself. The other striking elements in her music are very reminiscent of Kate Bush. In the end, it has good moments musically, and even some striking performances like parts of "Spanish Eyes." But there's nothing she contributes to her influences, and it's no culmination of those influences. Derivative, maudlin, and annoying much of the time.

“Like a prayer” is a good song and then it quickly goes downhill from there. Some of the background singers highlight how weak her vocals are. End of the album is all filler. Not sure how this made the list other than cultural significance. So much processed synth it’s like McDonald’s for the ears. There is probably a candidate for a female Rickroll (Madroll?) in here.

Like a prayer is good the rest is just shit

Not my jam! Didn’t win me over.

Lame

The title track is a pop great, and most of the album comprises quite varied and moderately interesting songs. I don't think I'll play it again though. Rating: 2.5/5 Playlist track: Like a Prayer Date listened: 06/02/23

Not a big fan of Madonna, although I do like a handful of songs. None on this album unfortunately. Big fan of Prince, so I liked his duet with her. I'm rating low because it's not my type of music.

Easy listening pop for teen-age girls in the 80's, not aged well but still something to hum at.

The hits are the hits, the filler was filler, & the Prince duet was a nice surprise. 2/5: I wouldn’t turn it off if it came on, but I wouldn’t put it on voluntarily.

I've never really listened to pop music extensively before. Something about being anti-pop appealed to me in youth, but I do think of it as somewhat of a guilty pleasure genre now. I'm catching up. I know Madonna is a legend, and I suppose I was expecting to feel differently about Like A Prayer. This great expectation that I would fall in love with some poppy goodness. Bath in some sweet sounds. The title track is definitely a highlight. Overall, it was fun and decent to listen to while exercising, but that's all. Nothing really caught me. Maybe there's better Madonna out there, or at least some I'd enjoy more. I guess for another day. Also on the last track, "what do you mean it's not in the computer?". Almost startling. Ratings are getting tricky now because I want to be consistent to a degree. Somewhere between a 2 and a 3, but probably closer to a 2.

Very generic 80s pop, couple of decent tracks, some not so, Love Song is awful, lyrics filled with cliches except were they even cliches in 1989? Probably.

Great first track, really catchy pop song, but descends into mediocre schmaltz very quickly. Lyrics go from cheesy to painful throughout most of the rest of the album, it's like ABBA but without the catchiness or the charm. 2/5. Probably a 1 without the single.

not for me

meh

Couple of belters. Lot of shite.

no me gusta madonna pero tiene canciones guays

Eh.

A couple notable tracks and I was pleasantly surprised by the Prince track but some uninspired music overall

Madonna in the 80s was iconic and era-defining. And then she reinvented herself with 98's "Ray of Light," becoming a techno diva. She's now reinvented herself again in her 60s, but don't look. It's kind of scary. And we should instead focus on "Like a Prayer," which along with "Ray of Light" are the only Madonna albums on the list. "Till Death Do Us Part" is the only non-hit that captures the magic of "Like a Virgin" and "Cherish," which both hold up as delightful pop gems. "Promise To Try" is awful, though now that I read it's about the death of her mother I feel bad. But it's also a big no-thank-you to "Love Song," and "Dear Jessie." "Pray for Spanish Eyes" is the only slower tempo song that works for me. Madonna was a pretty frequent presence in my house when I was kid (I think my parents only owned Madonna and Paula Abdul CDs), and looking back on those albums and songs, I think her self-titled debut and "True Blue" are stronger albums that are more deserving of the list.

Oof, this album has aged about as gracefully as Madonna herself. Super dated sound, weird artistic choices (looking at you Act of Contrition). The title track is still solid.

After Love Song, which was not great nor good, I was fully prepared to rip Madonna for ripping off Prince’s sound. Turns out it was Prince. Even with Prince it’s still a bad song. Act of Contrition is also a very bad song. The hits are nostalgic, but as jkav pointed out, quite repetitive. Like A Prayer, Express Yourself, and Cherish aren’t enough to overcome the mediocre and bad offerings on this album. The, what I consider, cheesy 80s pop music doesn’t do this any favors 30+ years later.

Some backward guitar and a BOOM. Life is a mystery. Everyone must stand alone. I hear you call my name. And, it feels like...home. This isn't Madonna the outrageous or Madonna the classy vogue icon. This is middle Madonna to me. And, while some of the tracks are middling at best there are one or two standout pop songs. Unfortunately, the song with Prince on it is a disappointment and the album closes terribly as well. This wasn't the soundtrack to my youth, but I can get a little hit of nostalgia from some of it. It sounds way more 80s than a record coming out in 1989 should.

Unfortunately, not a fan.

Er zijn wel wat nummers van Madonna die ik tof vind, maar het grootste gedeelte vind ik gewoon saai. En nadat ik een recent interview van haar zag laatst vind ik haar ook nog een het paard getild wijf! Sterretje minder dus ook nog.

Toen vond ik het wel tof, maar nu klinkt het wel erg gedateerd.

Just wasn't really into this. Pop that was catchy at times and had "deeper" lyrics and the cultural impact was probably meaningful, but I doubt I'll re-listen.

Meh. Én definert hit og den liker ikke jeg.

I didn’t finish it, wasn’t a huge fan.

I was actually looking forward to this album as I know of Madonna and her biggest hits but I never heard much of her other songs. Overall, I'm a bit disappointed and feel underwhelmed by her music despite how much of a pop icon she was in the 80s and 90s. Express Yourself shows how much she influenced Lady Gaga, it's crazy how similar the songs sound. I don't regret listening to this just not the type of music I enjoy.

Good album, but for a pop album I feel like the songs are too long and the album drags. I can see it's importance but it doesn't really do it for me.

Interesting thing about popstars - I know all the hits, but I have never heard any of their full albums. The same rule applies to Madonna. Like a Prayer is definitely one of Madonna's best songs, but when I looked into the album, I didn't recognise any other track. What's even worse, I didn't like any of the other songs. They were average at best and probably were used as a platform to tell Madonna's story, which honestly I'm not really interested in. There is not much to say about the album, great titular song and the rest is basically a filler. Pretty dissapointing for for apparently "best album of her career".

Ce n'est pas mauvais, mais malgré la quantité d'influences variées, l'album sonne monotone. C'est du pop respectable, mais à part Like a Prayer et Express Yourself, j'oubliais l'album au fur et à mesure qu'il jouait

I've never had the desire to listen to a Madonna album and I've had to tolerate her songs on radio since she first came on the scene in the 80's. Her "hits" are undeniable catchy and have obvious commercial appeal, so I really wanted to like, Like A Prayer. This is clearly a concept record, family and religion being the obvious themes, as most of the songs are her confessions and recollections of her youth. Apart from the handful of well-known songs on the album, the rest is junk, filler that was tough to sit through. I also made the mistake of listening to some dance-mix versions of some of the songs....does anyone prefer those versions to the originals? Oh right, if you're at club, loaded and drugged up, you want seemingly never-ending loops of the song, Like A Pray throbbing through your body, right? One star each for Like A Prayer and Express Yourself, zero for the rest.

Not what I expected. 2

Ihan solid. Princestä yksi lisätähti.

Taste-pandering schlock has its vices, its uses and it heroes. Here's an example of all three, with the former complexified if not always improved coming from someone who's most definitely the latter. Prince can stay, the ballads can end, the hits will last forever. If you walk away no more sure who she really is: you're not supposed to. If you walk away having been momentarily intensely interested in her performance of who she isn't: job done.

Nicht so meins

Starts off strong and then turns into what you think of when you think of a Madonna album. She shouldn't be singing slow songs that expose her voice for what it is. Best track: Like A Prayer

I like a lot of Madonna. I don't like a lot of Madonna on this album.

I’ve always had trouble understanding how you can communicate tough themes through a pop song. I like dark lyrics against an upbeat background as much as the next guy, but pop to me is for dancing, not really to sit in your room alone and ponder the bigger themes of the music. I’m not saying every song on this album is a pop song, Promise to Try, Oh Father, and Pray for Spanish Eyes are ballads, and I’m not even sure what to call Act of Contrition, but I find the themes of the other songs set against the synthy dancey background come across as cheesy. Madonna is an icon to be sure, a legend in the 80s and still to this day, but I’m not sure any of the songs besides the bigger pop singles do anything for anyone besides make them want to listen to the bigger pop singles instead. Also, why is she talking to little kids in like three of the songs? A fun fact is that my dad went to high school with her. He said she was very popular. My favorites: Like a Prayer, Express Yourself, Cherish

Boring

Singles are decent. Rest of the album is filler and absolute 🗑

Other than the title song, the rest of the album is meh

Quite flat and boring nowadays

Incredible opening song, masterpiece. The rest of it is vapid and tedious. Some light funk and latin from the session guys, and guest spots from Prince, does little to excite the bland pop.

Love song with Prince was a stand out Too many ballads Pray for Spanish Eyes has a hilarious intro Act of Contribution was punk as fuck

she has exactly one really good song and its not on this album 2.5

Indifférent Prefs: Like A Prayer, Till Death Do Us Part Moins pref: Spanish Eyes

I actually liked the whole album way less than I thought so would. Interesting. 🫤

Decent 80s pop, but other than the hits I found it a bit boring

remembered the hits but many i had never heard. Ok but not a classib

Like A Prayer is one of the all time great pop songs. And then… the rest is pretty nothingy.

Ei kovettanut.

Ei parhaimmasta päästä, mut meni

Albums recommended here are supposed to have an artistic value or the origin for something new that other artists can based on. This have neither. All I heard it was some out of dated pop songs that have low value. The first song must be the one that gave this some kind of temporarily value at the time of release

Mainstream 80’s pop. Ok for parties back then. Boring in retrospect

Did not like her back then, nothing has changed

The hits are fun. The rest is not.

Aside from the title track and Express yourself, there is no music of any interest here, just vacuous fillers. Prince didn't do his reputation any favours appearing on this album, I'm surprised he allowed it to be released.

It was fine, with some good hits but will never play it again!

First couple of tracks are made thanks to Guy Pratt's bass. The rest of it really is quite poor though - terrible filler.

Plenty of hits here, and latin rhythms, but it felt like more of the same here from Madge.

My sister used to listen to this album when I was seven. It wasn't for me then and it isn't for me now. Best Tracks: Like a Prayer; Express Yourself; Cherish

It's not for me. I do like some disco, but not feeling this one

She does have a great voice. Rich tone, variable texture, controlled, but borders on too nasal at times. Not generally a fan of the poppy bouncy style of music or the chanting. Love Song didn't sound good. Mostly pretty depressing lyrics for the happiness of the music. Ironic, but not really in a good way. Exception is Cherish--probably the best song.

Thanks for reminding me why I started detesting what passed for pop music as of the eighties' end. On the other hand, I detest contemporary pop music even more.

not so good.. only like a prayer is very good

Nope.

Simply too much pop, but Dear Jessie was nice!

The title song starts the album off nicely but it turns into a more melancholy pop album that doesn’t return to form of the first song. It was ok and as most pop albums are. 4.2/10

The singles are obviously the stand out tracks, but the rest of the album is a little uninspiring.

I genuinely feel like my car goes faster and better when I have filled it up with petrol, and that’s how I felt when I got my hair cut this week: I was immediately more confident, I had a swagger in my step and I was ready to go back out into the world with my levels of sexiness restored to their usual intensity. All of that vigour and excitement had evaporated by the time Madonna had finishing squealing on Express Yourself. The rest of the album was an absolute chore too, like wading through a dogshit-filled Toffee Crisp. I could feel my hair physically growing back and my sexual prowess diminishing with every note. Thanks Madonna, you've reduced me to a ball of shame and split ends. My car has also broken down.

Hmm can I bring myself to listen to Madonna? I guess I have to. Mostly unmemorable pop songs. If it was wall to wall hits, I'd let her off, but it wasn't. I suppose she does offer some artistic merit, it's not all mindless cheese, but it's just not very interesting. If it was a footballer, it'd be someone who's inexplicably popular, like I don't know...Eden Hazard? Nah, he's just overrated and was wildly inconsistent but, probably still too good...Mario Balotelli! Popular and played for good teams despite his startling lack of talent.

Thought I was going to love this as I am a sucker for a well crafted pop album but it is just a bit shit. Even the hits aren't as good as I remember them.

Probably one of the most 80's albums I've listened to. MEH album, Like A Prayer is dope, some pretty whatever songs for the rest.

Not for me, friends. I found this exhausting. 'Oh Father' tipped me over the edge. I'm one of those people who have failed to be charmed by Madonna, and Like A Prayer hasn't done anything to shift my opinion one iota.

I think I’ve always liked the title track to this, even in my early years of disliking anything remotely pop or pop adjacent. But is “Express Yourself” a terrible song or a really terrible song? And is Madonna just not that impressive of a singer? Really, this one’s all about that Prince song. How many good tunes did that dude just give away to lesser talents? It’s insanity.

Love the basslines - songs are hit and miss.

I didn’t like a lot of these songs. Even the hits went on too long.

2 hot garbage, outdated

1 good song

This review is not about whether or not I can understand that someone might like this music. This review is whether or not I like this music. I just don't want to listen to Madonna. I was surprised that only three of the tracks were clearly familiar to me. Either way, I could happily avoid hearing more from Madonna. "Oh, please no" was a common thought throughout my listen.

The title track is a good one & I also like Express Yourself. Still, the overriding feel is that of a pop album and multi-platinum sales usually come with some pretty syrupy production, which makes the ballads quite unbearable. 5 guitarists? I can’t remember hearing any except for on Act of Contrition – I could have used more of that sound.

I tried, but I just couldn’t complete this homework assignment

Overall not bad. Some funkier songs throughout that I found hard to dislike such as the last song. However, at nearly an hour, the album felt a bit too long for me. Overall don’t see this one sticking with me.

Helt okej upplevelse. Den ger mig väldigt Madonniga vibbar, det är det här jag hör när jag tänker på Madonna. Men jag rycktes aldrig riktigt med och det kändes lätt att lägga fokus på andra saker när jag lyssnade. Bäst: "Like a prayer"

80's pop from the Queen of Pop. Mostly album fillers but Like A Prayer still rocks now.

I have no idea why this album is on the list and the earlier Madonna albums, f.e. Like a Virgin, are not. I also do not like the song Like a Prayer that much. Cherish and Express Yourself are catchy tunes though.

Not a huge Madonna fan...this was probably her best work

Kinda thought I would know more songs on this one. Songs are OK.

Hmmm. Not great. Was maybe one of the first albums I owned - don't remember listening to it a lot them either. I probably just got it for 'Like A Prayer', which is an all-star classic.

Meh

Ouf. Album qui a très mal vieillit. C’est nul à chier. J'ai perdu une heure de mon samedi matin pour Madonna.

Pierwszy albumik popowy ciezkiej wagi, bo jeszcze w 2k10 przeciez madonne caly czas bylo slychac na mtv i tym podobnych stacjach, gdzie robila hiciory z mlodymi wscieklymi, pieknymi, a albumik z lat 80, a czemu waga ciezka, bo to juz albumiki z ery gdzie na sukces albumu pracuje caly sztab osob, a artystka jest spiewajaca lalka, czasem jednego przeboju, albo tak jak w przypadku madonny marka ktora przez dekady potrafi tworzyc kontent, a co takiego mozna uslyszec w tym wytworze popowej kultury, cos typowego dla lat 80, wiec synteze funku r&b z kultura disko, tematycznie oczywiscie milosci rownie przyjemne tematy, ale bez ekscesow, chociaz taki tytulowy like a prayer z jednej strony gospelowe chorki i piekna milosc, a z drugiej strony zakamuflowane seksy, tak zeby dalo sie to puszczac w radio, dzieki city hunterowi chyba wyrobilem sobie odpornosc na te klimaty i jakos nie mialem problemu przesluchac od poczatku do konca spotifajowej transmisji, troche uczucie deja vu, bo te kawalki gdzies juz pewnie slyszalem, ale pewnie troche ostow filmowych zaliczyly, kawalek ktory najbardziej mi sie spodobal, to utwor najmniej funkowy z calej kompozycji, bo jest to raczej popowa ballada, ktora odcina sie od funowych influencji reszty albumu, a dodatkowo brzmi bardzo prosto i jednoczesnie szczerze, dlatego laduje na plejce

Ouff ça vielli mal! La pop démodé a l’os! Écoutez express your self et c’est ça l’odeur de moisi.Même like a virgin c’est passé date le Hit de l’album. Quand je pense à Madonna c’est vraiment pas l’album qui me viens en tête. Elle était vierge, laissez lui le temps de se mettre à l’aise ! Par contre, ça d’écoute plus que ABBA! Je l’évite pray for spanish eyes :( , express yourself, love song Je lévite keep it together

Nah

Honnêtement, pas si poche, mais du pop ça vieillit mal je trouve. Ça devient quétaine tellement vite. Ou peut-être que c'était déjà quétaine à l'époque, je sais pas.

3 bops and a bunch of boring nonsense.

zzzzzz

The first two songs are such bangers, and there's just... filler. Unfortunately, this happens with a lot of pop albums that are vehicles for singles. But man, the quality drops so sharply after track 2, it's insane! As singles, 8/10. As an album? 2/5.

Blown away by how little key modulation happens in the span of this album. The vocals and instrumentation for each track are good, but rarely does a song venture outside the 4-chord/Verse-Chorus structure in the starting key. Overall bland

influential, not for me

This one was pretty fun honestly, Like A Prayer was fantastic and then Dear Jessie was an unexpected great but weird track?

You would think a Prince duet and a fusing of baroque pop with the overwhelming shine and sheen of 80s pop would make this album a winner, but you'd be wrong. The title track will forever bang, and I like the closer too, but honestly after listening to this, I sympathized with late 80s adolescents, in that I was desperate to listen to some Nirvana.

Didn't finish :(

skip

Over rated, over hyped twat waffle of the century. 1

Will not listen…I know what I get with Madonna. She will not contribute to her earning even a fraction of a penny.

aside from a banging lead single I failed to have any surprise or enthralment from this listening experience.

spaced out, was kinda expecting good pop but it was js kinda boring sry

You know what? I assumed I'd be ensnared in the searing hot torment of the seventh circle of hell as I was during Madonna's *ahem* "spiritually elevated" works, but this was a slower descent. Much like a frog in a slowly boiling pot of water, I believed that the declining quality was temporary, and certainly couldn't spell my end. The title track was halfway enjoyable! I could fell my inner teenager attempting to stifle a smile, but I'm old now. I'm closer to have a teenager than I am to being one, so lets let this one slide. Fun track! It was from there that the stench of sulphur first gave itself away. By the time "Spanish Eyes" listlessly rolled around, I was nothing but a pile of melted flesh. What was once my mouth held open in a horrified scream. My features unrecognizable while the Satanic Madonna mocks my demise. Open the gates, for we have more souls to claim. 0.5 HIGHLIGHTS: I gotta go shopping, it's Mephistopheles' birthday! But just what do you get the demon who has everything!?!

I guess it's on the list because....blowjobs? It's definitely not good or interesting musically.

Starts strong and turns to non-recyclable plastic waste after 30 seconds in. How are there any Madonna albums on this list??

Wow, Madonna is not very talented.

The only time Madonna's stuff is remotely interesting is when she hooks up with some weirdo producer (like she did on the album *Music*) and cranks out some experimental tracks. That ain't what's happening on this Big Mac of a record, generic pop with simplistic lyrics that's all polished up and ready for mass consumption.

I’m not a big Madonna fan but this is better than Ray of Light. The problem is it very stuck in its time and its time is terrible.

Time hasn’t been kind to this album. Regardless of time this album is full of filler tracks.

Time has not been gentle to this album

One of the most widely overrated artists.