Reviews (page 6 of 8)
I love Madonna but did not enjoy this one. The songs wanted to put me to sleep and there was nothing that caught my attention. The beats were fun, but that’s about it.
I bet this hits way better, over giant nightclub speakers
Wanted to like it but it is pretty Middle of the road
You know, I just didn't get it. Maybe in another few years
The beats were great, but Madonna's vocals don't really do much with them, to me at least. Many songs were also stretched too long imo. Highlight-Ray of Light and Candy Perfume Girl
Didn't move me much
Boring boiled dog shit
"Ray of Light" the song is an absolute jam. Every other song on this album puts me to sleep.
not for me
#2 from Madonna for me, the other was that god awful dance pop album she released right after this one. That one is one of the worst albums I've ever heard. This one? It's better, I guess? It's not great. I would imagine that Like A Virgin or Like a Prayer (or both) have to be on this list, right? I don't know, I feel like once Madonna got out of the 80s or early 90s she kind of just started to blend in with everyone else rather than stand out. She does have a great voice, great presence, but this album is just so mediocre. I feel like her creativity just sort of plateaued after the early 90s and she didn't really know what to do anymore to stay relevant. I remember when this came out the title track was everywhere and I even thought it was pretty trash back then. I would totally feel let down if I had grown up hearing her name but had never heard a Madonna album before and then listened to this. 2.5/5 and rounding down.
I turned it off halfway through. Everything sounded exactly the same.
I LOVE Madonna's early work. I remember being really confused when she pivoted towards this electronic/dance stuff. I get wanting to try something new, but this style definitely isn't for me. 2/5
And i feel like i just got bored
Didn't love it, didn't hate it. But did get tired of it before it was done. One strong song and a bunch of others that just don't separate themselves from each other.
This didn’t really do anything for me. Even the big hit felt lack luster to me.
This has very little appeal for another listen. Like most electronic music it's just a bit longer than it needs to be. It's not bad and Madonna is good on here but it's just a bit repetitive to my ears.
It really didnt resonate with me, i can see that this album was influencial in certain gernes of music but it didnt sound good to me. Very repetative
I never thought I’d see this on the list. I remember when this came out, but never listened past the title track. It’s not bad. It’s not my style at all.
Mediocre pop.
Boring
Comeback? Maybe don’t next time
Not a fan in the way I don’t like some of the bjork songs. The beat and the vocals are fine individually, but feel at odds with each other. I just keep waiting for something to pick up. Would rather listen to like spelling or fka twigs
It got very boring and repetitive after a while. Not the kind of pop I can get into.
this was actually soooooo boring, sorry
I got back to back Madonna albums (lucky me), i found it easier to engage with Music than with Ray of Light, only liking Frozen. Shanti/Ashtangi is awful and a clue that we are in the yoga era of the artist.
Why is this album on this list? Sorry Madonna
Meh. Kinda disappointed
It was ok not a huge fan of her music
boring
Vastly superior to Music, which is to say, mediocre. I’m left wondering who this is for, and what artistic impulse it serves
I really like Madonna, but this isn't it; especially compared to her other works of different genres.
She lost the juice, this is boring
Not great at all. 2 in generous
William Orbit's production was innovative and still sounds pretty fresh today. Like many albums of the time it is too long as a whole and also most songs go on too long. "Frozen" is great and probably one of Madonna's all time greats, but other than that the songs are pretty boring and forgettable.
no bangers. just floaty ethereal instrumentals. not her best work Would I listen again: nah Deserves to be on this list: not enough of her 80s projects. how can this list skip over Like a Virgin bro 2.4
I feel like I just listened to the same bland song on repeat for 67 minutes
80s Madonna is my favorite Madonna so this isn't exactly my scene. It's definitely a different direction from what I expected from Madonna but it does have the annoying foe depth that would pervade Madonna's worst albums (like American life). Lines like "Children Killing Children while the students rape their teachers" feel out of place coming out of "material girl" Madonna. It's coming off the back of her similarly hollow portrayal in Evita. It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth, like the White winemum from the gated suburb telling you about how bad the shit she's watched on the news is. That's my issue with this whole album really, it feels like Madonna is deeply uncomfortable with her identity and style and is desperately looking at a way to shake it up. But she seems so lost. Madonna has a great singing voice but its lost here, and the mixing is definitely going to be hit or miss for people. To me this late 90s sound is just incredibly dated and the writing sucks too. It's not offensively bad but I can't say I enjoyed any of it either.
Not great but I loved the spacey y2k production
I found it a little one note across the run time. A couple of good tunes, but I've never really gotten on with Madonna's music, to be honest.
Sign of the times?
Not her best
A fine album that gets bogged down by trying to be too much of something that becomes quite repetitive after an hour. I often got bored listening to this record, but Madonna has a killer voice. I find it to be musically uninteresting but far from a truly bad album. I do not think this style of electronic music is for me, and that is okay. Favorite track: Drowned World / Substitute for Love
Boring Dancy Rave music that all sound the same. Where's my glow sticks? Is this when everyone was wearing Henna tattoos? Reminds me of when Cher turned into a robot with Believe.
Not the best Madonna album
Pop/electro poussive et assez ennuyante. Sauvé du néant par l'hypnotisant Frozen.
I've been promised electronica, which I love very much, but all I got was a supercut of cheesy 80s/90s rompler sins.
Wasn't for me.
Not her best by far
Doesn't really do it for me. I'm guess it's kinda cool that she's venturing out into EDM but I don't really think she does it justice.
eh. neosporno lijepa pjeva i sve to, a album je čak stislki dosta rasnovrstan. ali sve u svemu bezveze i predugo; vjerujem da madona ima utjecajnijih stvari pa ne razumijem zašto je ovo na popisu
Solid enough. Never been a big Madonna fan.
I often read about this as being Madonna's big return to relevance. I like the singles enough, and Ray of Light itself is a great track, but the overall album dragged for me.
The Power of Forgetting This Album Existed
there were some really good tracks on here but unfortunately there was also some really awful tracks as well. there is actually a decent bit of variation on here but not enough to warrant the runtime.
This was less interesting than I thought it was going to be. Just sounded over-produced and missing any kind of edge. Takes all the fun out of listening to Madonna.
The title track is still great, and the rest of this is...fine. It feels much longer than an hour.
I actually enjoyed this more than I expected to, the first half especially
I’ve always quite liked Substitute for Love and Frozen… Never listened to the whole album before and unlikely to again but was a pleasant listen. 2.5 for me, bang in the middle.
New to me, I enjoyed it, especially the opening songs, tailed off towards the end. Two stars. Tom.
I like Madonna but not a fan of this album. Feels like a stab at blending an electronic sound with pop.
Underwhelming. The production team made a pretty good pop album, although it could be a little shorter. I don't see this as required listening. A high 2.
Ok I’m not gonna lie I didn’t listen to this in its entirety. It’s not terrible which says a lot. But the production is so repetitive that it makes the whole thing rather unremarkable and forgettable. No desire to listen to this again.
Not crazy about it
This feels like she heard sneaker pimps and portishead and wanted to cash in on their popularity. Some nice sounds but nothing here that those other bands haven't done better
Not for me
Also a very unusual one—some were okay, others were … less so.
Bewildering. Sort of really fucking cool, especially when she leans into the trip-hop. But then we move to the Middle East, which is alright, but also...why, Madonna? Are you really Buddhist? Does your yoga inspire you that much? Should you really be making this? Fave tracks: - Swim - Ray of Light - Candy Perfume Girl - Nothing Really Matters - To Have and Not to Hold
So long!
Saul is fine for what it is, but I’m not sure why it is on that list. Not particularly cutting edge or interesting or unique.
2/5
Partly heard before Saved 4/13 Top track: Ray of Light
No
Some new and cool sounds but ultimately kinda boring. I liked hearing this side of Madonna, it is not what I expected.
Was never a fan 30 years ago; time has not changed that opinion.
ehh some fun dance songs but overall not my fav from madonna
ray of shite
low 2
she tried
Pretty standard electronica pop. Not bad for what it is, but I find this genre boring.
Generic pop.
Experimental and interesting, but not enough catchy tunes to listen again.
3/10
Not a fan
Definitely sounds like Madonna in the late 90s. Empowered middle aged white woman music, not for me.
Ikke helt for meg dette. Veldig gloomy og mye likt.
This is a hard rating for me. Most of the album sounded like a 80s icon desperately clawing out to maintain relevance, but then suddenly there would be glimpses of experimental brilliance peeking out from behind the pile of burning garbage and I would forgive a lot. I’m sure I heard a bunch of these tracks when this was released but I guess I blocked it all out.. Hurt by the length and uninspiring production despite her vocal talent, 2/5
I think this is objectively a pretty solid album (although it is EXTREMELY of its time and the songwriting isn’t anything spectacular for the most part) but it turns out I just find Madonna’s overall corniness and self-importance too big of an obstacle to enjoy her music.
Not really into Madonna's music, and this didn't change my mind. It started out okay, but after Ray of Light (3rd song), it got ... IDK ... boring? Repetitive? I had to quit during Shanti.
Madonna trying to be a bit like Bjork….?
inégal, la partie club est incroyable mais la partie pop est très mid
This is still really not that great. I will never understand why people find this remarkable.
Madonna's Wikipedia page is more interesting than her albums. In all actuality, I did enjoy the beat of two songs. This hasn't been a fun early Christmas gift. Favorite Track: "Shanti/Ashtang".
Shite!! 2 ⭐️
I don't like Madonna
I drank a bunch of coffee and tried listening to this album while driving home ended up skipping through 90% of the songs it’s like I get it and cool come back it’s dreamy has techno elements, but if aliens came down to earth, and we had to show them our culture and the best we had to offer art wise this album would not be something that I would put in their CD player. Furthermore, I don’t know why this was included. I would’ve figured that an earlier Madonna album would be better to hear before I die. That being said we probably have like four madonna albums on this list who knows nobody knows except for Zak. Zak cheated and looked.
In the club with Madonna. It would be more fun to dance with her than to have to listen to this again.
Jsuis passé au travers mais pas nul
This album is not one that resonates with me. Madonna just isn't something I listen to or ever go out of my way for. I'm just not a fan personally. That being said, this album sits right at the end of the nineties and doesn't feel like it ever left the nineties. I feel like this album is a major influence for some more modern pop, but the album itself is a time capsule for the year 1998. Overall, this album feels like a mediocre sci-fi / rom-com that takes place in a yoga studio film score from someone who has never seen a sci-fi As the album progresses it just get more and more boring..... there is no need for this to be over an hour long. Stand out tracks: Swim - Feels like I'm watching a straight to VHS rom-com. Ray of Light - It's a little catchy and sounds like an anthem for another straight to VHS coming of age or rom com film Skin - The music feels like playing play station 1...... but then Madonna is just kind of singing over it Sky Fits Heaven - is one of my least favorite songs I have ever heard Shanti / Ashtangi - Feels like it does not belong on this album
No ferris wheel, no heart to steal? Now I find I changed my mind? Alone in a crowded room? Were these lyrics written by the target audience? Think how the Beatles grew up over night from their juvenilia in just a couple years. C'mon, Madonna, you can do it too! But not if you insist only upon the techno beat built for dancing in a club being the driving force. So I guess it doesn't matter what the lyrics are or anything else beyond the beat. I have to give her enormous credit for bucking public definitions of acceptability and morality. And I quite like the music here. But if I start listening to the words it falls apart for me.
The singles are good enough and very danceable but the rest of the material is unremarkable. I’m not inclined to ever listen to this again but I’m happy to bop along if Frozen or Ray of Light come on the radio.
The production is better than the material. I liked the single well enough when it came out, but today it felt a little flat.
Enjoyed this seems like a less known album but sill solid
Not for me. With exception of the title track, the songs all bled together into an hour long trance-y adult contemporary blur.
Probs not Lasted 3 minutes 12 seconds Not me cup of tea
One of those albums you forget is playing.
So like I understand what she was trying to do but I don't think she did it all that well. I wish I didn't listen to this because now I don't know what to think of mid career era Madonna. I only know her as bubblegum 80s pop and washed up old cringey lady trying to remain relevant. 2 stars because Ray of Light continues to be a bop.
There are good technical notes, but nothing about this is actually interesting or makes me want to have listened to it.
Da-Faq! Madonna doing Bjork for a last ditch attempt of feeling relatable and relevant in her seventh studio album in 1998🤢🥴
Few good tracks, repetitive, dated, 90s. backing was uninteresting but madonna is a good singer
2.5
2.5
Trancey dancey, hippie dippie Kabbalah klaptrap. Ray Of Light the title song is ok I guess but the rest of it is more like Ray Of Rubbish!
Sounded nice but was long and made me feel sleepy. High 2z
1.77
It s an out and out pop album. It is no Like a Prayer but it starts off well with the first track up until Ray of Light, which was a was a massive hit at the time, but then rest goes into this like synth pop rubbish. The only real positive I can give it, is that it is well produced. If simple pop is your thing, then I am sure it is a good listen, but even the pop is not great. There are better pop albums from that same time that are far superior to this. 2.5 stars
Madonna went in a completely new direction with this one. Another banger CD my mum would’ve cranked in the family SUV in the mid 2000s.
Ray of Light is decent, the rest of the album less so. 90's Madonna no thanks
I thought I'd like this more than I did
Madge does disco .not very well
No es para mi
The title track is great and the mix of electronica and pop was obviously very influential. But this style of artificial electronic synth and beats sounds cold and sterile to me and is at odds with her emotional singing. I do like the mix of influences across the track list though.
I didn't expect much from late 90s era Madonna and it met my extremely low expectations. Some good beats here and there that are reminiscent of the time period. The title track is a bop and sticks out like a sore thumb in a sea of mediocrity. I know she has her highlights but this ain't it.
Album seems self-indulgent. Most of the instrumentation sounds synthetic. Not a fan.
it's madonna, no surprises here.
Not a Madonna fan
Well done generic pop garbage with Madonna's name on it.
This sounds weirdly glossy and plastic. The pumping synthetic beats and mild electronica makes this sound like background music in a late 90s sci-fi TV series about a group of women hackers or something. It sounds like a product made to fill time as opposed to being actual heartfelt art. Also all these tracks are way too long. If they were the classic 3-minute pop song I could understand, or maybe if they were extended, developed tracks I could understand, but as it is they all pootle around for twice as long as necessary and overstay their welcomes. Shanti / Ashtangi was by far the most interesting track.
Here's Madonna entering middle age and, for the first time, seeming aware of time’s passing. The album’s sub-Debut electronica and spiritual searching marked a turn inward after decades of provocation and reinvention. Earlier incarnations - the streetwise provocateur of Like a Virgin, the art-house sensualist of Erotica, the stylish ironist of Vogue - are still cool now precisely because they were anchored in irony, control, and surface. Ray of Light, by contrast, tries to sincerely make Kabbalah cool and misses. It is the first Madonna persona that feels dated not because it failed necessarily, but because it was genuinely felt: a woman approaching forty seeking transcendence in yoga, motherhood, and ambient soundscapes. Fair play to her. Perhaps it’s the middle-brow of it all, perhaps it’s the late-90s, perhaps it’s the title of the first song, but it feels faintly Ballardian: the ego dissolving into a vast, flooded psyche. Like J.G. Ballard’s The Drowned World, Madonna’s vision is one of submersion — fame and identity melting into dream, light, and liquid. The ecological apocalypse in Ballard’s novel becomes, in Madonna’s hands, a personal one: the collapse of celebrity into humanity, into herself. Yet the mix of not quite contemporary electronics and very of the time mysticism now feels tethered to the self-conscious spirituality of the late 1990s. That’s Ballardian too - the datedness of the future. At the time, Madonna was able to coast on the coolness of uncoolness or to elevate the uncool with the residual cool she had. But the Sex and the City style euphoria of Ray of Light now seems as out of touch as Sex and the City. Of course, the opposite of a Drowned World is a frozen one and Frozen remains the best track here. 2 For me, here is as dull an album as almost any we have listened to so far. Madonna is an unremarkable singer but even a good singer would struggle to hold a listener’s attention with the pedestrian melodies on offer. Aside from the title track and maybe Frozen, both of them a couple of minutes longer than they deserve to be, this was absolutely brain-numbing. 1.5/5
2.3 I'm sorry, but her magnum opus? It was pretty shit. It felt like Madonna staying to relevant by copying Bjork but failing to understand where the magic behind Bjorn lies. 64 minutes is extremely unnecessary. Opener and closer are fine, but the middle is so bloated full of ideas that go out like a damp squib.
Must have been a crazy time in her life.
Way, way too long and just not that good.
Not enough hooks besides the title track to get me interested.
Good.
"Madonna's magnum opus" my ass
I fell asleep listening to this
I know I'm far from the target audience here, but that still doesn't explain why every song is two minutes too long
Not my thing. 2.5 stars
Not awful but also not something I'd willingly listen to again
This album is a real time capsule of the late 90s pop soundscape. That’s DEVASTATING because it sounds terrible. Overproduced, muddy, but worse the songs themselves are just boring disasters.
Remember when Madonna moved to England, faked an accent, and released a Moby knock-off album? I forgot all about it until today. Look, this isn't a bad album. But it certainly isn't good, and I have no idea why I would NEED to listen to it before I die. Influence 1 (album-specific). Hits 2. Quality 3 (surprisingly high). Blending musical genres is typically a great idea. Blending anything with pop is typically a terrible idea. 2
Want my favorite Madonna album, though everything I read was praising this as her best work ever. I prefer the more party pop style over this trancey kinda sweeping beats style.
Not a big Madonna fan
Surprisingly poor. Unimaginative, derivative, bullshit. Makes sense that this was a high bar for a decade that idolized Zach Morris.
Not bad, but not special.
This self-indulgent project sounds like hack karaoke performed to the SSX Tricky soundtrack. 1.5 stars rounded up - It's not completely irredeemable, but it's pretty effing bad.
Standouts Swim
Ray of Light was the tulipmania of the late 90’s. We all desperately tried to convince ourselves it had value when it obviously had none. “Madonna has reinvented herself! She’s like David Bowie!” My brother in Christ, she hired William Orbit to add some bleeps and bloops to completely generic pop songs, tied a red ribbon around her wrist and started speaking in a fake British accent. Everyone acted like Ray of Light was this major cultural happening, but it was just a standard pop album with better marketing. A pretty okay standard pop album, but nothing deserving being compared to Madonna’s golden era. It wasn’t a reinvention; it was just really effective branding with a trance beat. Only the things you love can break your heart, and I love Madonna, Like a Virgin, True Blue and Like a Prayer. This list including two late-period clunkers while only Like a Prayer represents Madonna’s actual artistic peak? That is heartbreaking.
2.5, rounded down
I get it. The reinvention of Madonna for the 00s. Fair play, Madge kept herself relevant and she hasn't turned into the Cronenburgian body horror avatar yet. To me it's just more bland pop with hip-hop/electro lite beats. Aspects of this are like diet-Bjork. Best Tracks: Ray of Light; Frozen; The Power of Goodbye
I guess this is when she started down the electronic path of music. Not great.
Describing Madonna as a singer doesn't really do her justice for several reasons—I see her more as a style icon who is deeply rooted in the 80s. This makes her change in style and image, which she achieved in the late 90s and which is evident in “Ray of Light,” all the more admirable. However, I don't particularly like the rather dark electro style of the songs, and I don't think it suits Madonna's voice, which is unmistakable but not overly distinctive. It's worth a listen, but it's not much better than I remembered.
So this is, in my humble opinion, Madonna's most underappreciated period of time in her musical career. This is a very weird time for her based off this album and the album that follows this one (Music). They both feel so desperate and bold that even though they kinda fall flat on their face as a whole, they both have moments of accidental renaissance. For the album music, it was the song called "Don't Tell Me" which felt like this desperate country pop hit that was never a hit but I found hilarious and super endearing. Well this album is alittle different than that. I don't know the origins of the "early 2000s future sound", but I'd imagine that since this album came out in '98 you could make the argument that she started that movement with this album (I obviously don't remember if the backsteet boys and nsync came out before this but they definitely were all going for the same sound aesthetic). Honestly I don't truly believe this album belongs on this list AT ALL. But i can admit when I find something is entertaining even if it is for the wrong reasons, like this album.
I just could not find myself enjoying this. It's too 90s pop. I understand that Madonna was highly influential to other solo artists and to pop in general, but that doesn't make me like the music any more. 2/5
Not something I would consider special, and the context doesn't really add a depth that makes this album more enjoyable. Sounds like a pop dance album.
This is not that good of an album. I can just listen to Moby instead and actually be fulfilled.
Fine album, but just not my thing. I don’t really have a problem with Madonna’s normal stuff, but I did appreciate the change up in her sound in this album. That’s really all I can say though. Not a huge fan of electronic music, and I thought some of the lyrics were off. Personally didn’t like it much.
This albums is exactly the thing that I began to fear during this time of music. While it was still in the 'physical' era it represents the "CD" first approach clocking in at about 68 minutes that is only available on a CD if this would have come out when Vinyl was the most popular medium it would prolly have had 20 minutes of songs cut, they would have had to figure out a way to get to a great 40ish minutes of music instead of 68 of meh. The album outstays its welcome. I really enjoy Madonna's early work. The only track on here that I will remember is Ray Of Light and I think that is mostly because that was on heavy rotation on the radio.
Dad- 4 Mom- 8 Mike- NA Lori- 3.5 Michael- 4 Miles- NA Cole- NA Avg- 4.88
Ihan kuunneltava lopulta mutta konemusiikkipainotteista Madonnaa, niin on huonoin Madonna sanoisin
Meh.
I listened to this album this morning and was pleasently surprised at first, as the first two songs were somehow calm and matched an early morning mood. But overall, the album is mostly lackluster and has mostly superficial and disappointing lyrics that might have led to 90s wall tattoos (that were regreted after). Madonna was probably never the best singer and her voice feels too pressed, e.g. in the higher notes of the title track. But I am open to give it another try with records from different, less esoteric, phases of her career. Highlight: „Frozen“ is probably the best song and the string arrangements are a nice change of scenery. The same holds true for „The Power of Good-Bye“.
I legitimately thought the opeing track was over 10 ten minutes, I went to check and I was at 4 minutes of the 5 total minutes - this album is off to a great start /s. No one thinks of Madonna as an amazing artist, does she have some iconic songs, absolutely. Can she carry a tune, very much so. I have never heard her name brought up in any conversations about top or favorite artist, and I grew up when Madonna was at her peak. To me, Madonna is one of the biggest look at me posers in the music biz. She tries to capitalize on what is popular at any given moment in her 40+ year career. She yearns for the spotlight and always comes off as disingenuous. She gets good production because she has the money to pay and is willing to shell it out because the payoff for her is to be part of the zeitgeist. Her music is not out right bad, it is just not what I would deem as "real," there is no real soul behind it, it is talented producers and musician helping an aging, albeit talented, vocalist stay relevant and it comes off as just that. There was another comment that said "Hello fellow youths!" That is the perfect meme to Madonna post 1990. 4.8/10 143/1001
The title track is still great, and the rest of this is...fine. It feels much longer than an hour.
This was a little better than I thought it was going to be. Hadn't thought about Frozen and The Power of Good-Bye in decades so those were interesting sense memories. It's a fine album but let's not pretend it compares with her classic 80's output. I have to deduct a star because listening to this I was reminded of how when I was 15 in 1993 my friend and I were thrilled the box office girl sold us tickets to Body of Evidence thinking we were going to get all your 15 year old boy ya-yas out only to be subjected to the most boring movie I have ever seen. #neverforget
Boring 2/5
Madonna’s music is the least interesting part of her. Seven albums is six too far.
Is Madonna's trip-hop record the most "Late '90s" album ever made? Could be worse, wish it were more engaging and shorter.
I really like 80’s/early 90’s Madonna. She lost me by this record.
The point where I lose interest in Madonna
shanti/ashtangi might be the worst thing she's ever done; at least american life embraced the inherent comedy of her billionaire buddhist schtick. the english lyrics here don't fare much better (candy perfume girl would be embarrassing for anyone to sing, let alone a 39-year old). the production still sounds pretty good, but the songs don't hold up well enough to bother unless you're a big madge fan
The Good: We’re not left in the dark! The Bad: Turns out it is midday… The Ugly: This album should have been left in the darkness…. I was never a Madonna fan. However, during her Material Girl period, I, and countless of my fellow teenage morons, all wished our girlfriends would look like her… We can’t deny the fact that Madonna has been able to adjust her image to stay important, or even trendsetting… Jean-Paul G would not have a live were it not for Vogue. Yet, do I need someone like Madonna to tell me about the importance of spirituality? The ray of light, in so far as to this 1001 album list, is that we get to read some wiki on a daily basis to see why an album is on a list, or what might be special about the album… and in this case, it seems that Madonna had been using the training she had received for the Evita musical, and it is apparent as hell… no need to have a little ray of light shine on the fact that the voice is annoying, like listening to a musical that one is forced to listen to. The album did produce several hits, and they are instantly recognizable, as the production on the album is really well… so, just because of that, I will grant Madonna 2*… while crossing my fingers that I don’t have to listen to another album by her… though, I believe that I am missing at least 1...
Ugh, I knew Madonna would turn up at some point. This was better than I expected with a couple of okay tracks, but each song that sounded ok at the start becomes a Nervensäge of electronic beats with strangely thin hollowed out vocals.
Have never actually listened to a Madonna album before, just greatest hits compilations. Sad to say it kind of blows :(
hurt
- hatte ich -100 Bock drauf, dementsprechend konnten meine Erwartungen nur übertroffen werden - war insgesamt moody und ganz entspannt, aber ist einfach nicht mein Ding - gibt aber nichts zu meckern, also ist das schon irgendwo bei 2-3/5
Boring
Ugh
madonna what was this please apologize
I remember this album being a big deal when it was released, and I remember the music video for the title track also being huge. I have not thought about it much since then, and didn't have super high expectations. I had no idea this was going to be so electronica and techno heavy. I didn't realize Madonna ever went that way. It's a vibe for sure, and her voice sounds great. More interesting than I was expecting just because that aspect was so unexpected, but still not for me by any means.
Musically, it all sounds like a club remix of an original I've never heard. It is almost cartoonish how stereotypical this point of her career was. 40 year old wealthy white lady "discovers" Kabbalah and yoga- can't stop telling everyone about it.
Much better than expected. Didn't blow me away but I didn't hate it
Dance/EDM schlock. Not my jam. Ray of Light, the song, is okay. The rest of it is meh.
I did not like this album. There were some songs with production I liked better than others, but overall a drag.
Ray of Light was great, but not my jam for the other tracks.
Airy vocals, instrumentation was a mix of electronic and ephemeral pop
I’ve never gone out of my way to listen to a Madonna song before today and from what I have heard here and there down the years I’ve never understood her appeal. After listening to this I still don’t get it. The title track and Frozen are good enough songs but nothing special and the album as a whole I found kinda dull. Top Track - Frozen
Pretty bland. Usually gays like stuff that's fun and exciting. What do they like about Madonna?
Mid-donna
My hopes were up a bit after the last album I got from Madonna on this like (like a prayer) and how critics generally praised this release. Honestly, I found it pretty mundane, and derivative of other artists in the 90s electronic and trip hop space I'd rather be listening to. Some good moments (especially in the beginning) but all around a pretty drab listen. 2/5
Pretty much all sounds the same and too electronics sounding for my taste.
Mehhhhh, didn't hate it as much as I thought I would. Still not my favorite genre. 5/10.
Some bangers on here, and some awful music too. Ray of light and Frozen are the quickly recognizable tracks and make you want to sing while driving. The upbeat techno was a pleasant surprise and clearly lead the way for a lot of electronic pop today. But songs like Candy Perfume Girl, Ashtangi, and Little Star almost had me turning off the album prematurely. Great singles, not a great album.
No.
This album came out in 1998. And I don't think I've ever heard anything so 1998-core in my entire life. So is it derivative or just part of a trend? Either way it's as bland as Dido eating a bowl of vanilla ice cream in a beige room. Ok the track Ray of Light actually has some bounce but it can't save the album.
A bit better than her other albums on the list, but it's still pretty boring.
1st songs were really good, then it became an annoying dance album
1,6/5
eh just bland
Very long, very self-indulgent, not good
Frozen is a solid song, but nothing else on here is worth a mention.
Came in with high hopes. Did not enjoy this at all.
Never been a huge fan of Madonna and this didn't really change my mind. Super late 90s sound and it kind of sounds like everything else from this era. Lots of electronic production all throughout that is... not good. 4/10
The type of music does not really match with her voice in my opinion. It’s also a tad too long.. Frozen is good, but only because I recognized it
First time really listening to her stuff and this album revealed three things. 1) Madonna doesn't have a vocal range 2) her and the producers heard trio hop for the first time and decided... Yeah let's try that but mix in some big room techno dance feel/ small bits of dnb 3) after half the albun I was hoping every song was the last. I will concede that some of the vocal production/ manipulation was a fun listen.
1.5/5
Nunca fui demasiado fan de Madonna, no le pongo un 1 porque hubo dos temas que me gustaron pero el resto bastante flojo a mi gusto.
Real talk: I was 18 when this came out. Ray of Light was all over the place, and I was not into it. I liked techno at the time, Prodigy, the Chemical Brothers, stuff like that. I loved the soundtrack to the Matrix and Fight Club (all a little after this if I recall without looking it up). Listening to the album now, being older and less judgmental about the "cool" factor (I've since realized just how uncool I am and was), I can see that this album was probably kind of a big deal. Every track isn't knocking my socks off, but after the disappointment of Todd Rundgren in yesterday's album, this is a delightful thing to get, listen to, and appreciate for what it is. Still not really my jam, but less vapid than I expected it to be. That said, it got more annoying the further I got into it 2.5/5
1.5
This electro-pop-whatever version of Madonna is...not good. I remember when this came out, and it wasn't good then either. "Ray of Light" was also played to death. The song "Frozen" is passable, the rest of it I'd be fine never hearing again.
Horribly boring. Madonna washed up in the 90's. Favorite songs: Frozen, Sky Fits Heaven, Swim Least favorite songs: Candy Perfume Girl, Skin, Shanti/Ashtangi, Little Star, Mer Girl 2/5
Dig the title track. And enjoyed the last two. Had my fist bumpin at times
Never heard her before, it was decent but didn’t really love it
what Kent and LB said
I'm not sure what I expected from Madonna but one hour of thumpy club beats wasn't it, lol. This album is holding twice the tracks it needs to and they are all twice as long as they should be.
I only ever heard the title song from this album, it was good but this was never my favorite Madonna albums, although I do see the appeal of it to people!
Aptly titled album
Blinding ray of light
Complete
nooit grote fan geweest... maar vroeger schopte ze nog heilige huisjes omver... nu is ze er zelf een geworden...
Not that bad tbh
Not too bad, not too good either...
She had some catchy, fun songs in the 80s, but otherwise Madonna has just never done anything for me. I was actually bored a lot while listening to this.
first two songs started off really strong… then it kinda went downhill. Shanti is probably top five worst songs i’ve ever heard. That being said, this album still isn’t the worst. pretend this is a 2.5
Some hits and misses!
Nope. Spray of Shite, more like. Not that I hate Madonna, mind you, but... next!
Maso
It's ok. No it's not
This started off promising, then took a turn for the worse, then kind of got back to being good, then got bad again. Wildly inconsistent song-to-song.
I was happy because I was pretty sure that I would rate with 1 star to my loathed Queen of Pop, but to be honest, I enjoyed the trip-hop approach of some of the songs of this album. Some others are crappy, and this have no soul, so rating it with 2 stars anyway.
Started off well but track 3 came out of nowhere and changed the sound. I'm just not a fan of electronic music
Madonna. I'm not sure there is an artist who has traded more on sex appeal and cultural awareness, and less on actual talent. Her singing voice is just OK - nothing here stretches her and I don't think she has the chops to take it higher. Orbit is a good contributor, but given the choice I'd just listen to his work instead.
some absolute belters in here (wrong vibe for 9am Monday morning in the office) but was about 30 minutes too long and a lot of the tracks didn't click with me. Would return to some of the singles
It's a 2 from me, it was edging a 3 but it's never a good sign when I'm hoping the album will end soon. First track was a standout for me, felt weirdly profound somehow
Only like the hits
Nej nej nej. Sämsta sortens pop. Det är dåligt på nästan alla vis. Får en två pga ok hits, frozen/ray of light. Men de är rätt kassa också.
The song "Ray of Light" is ok. The EDM framework is ok, sometimes even danceable. Madonna is not a great singer, though. And if you've heard one semi-naughty boy/girl song you've heard them all. I couldn't finish it, it's an hour-plus, and I know what the rest will be like. Small moments of interest but nothing thoroughly exceptional here.
Very bland. I love The Power of Goodbye, but one good song cannot save this snoozefest.
Not as bad as I feared, but completely forgettable.
huge props for taking a more complex, electronic route than what is expected for the average pop album, it was still slightly forgettable though.. there are some songs i’ll return to sometime x
Terrible
Meh.
Absolutely below average album by Madonna, you have a quite sentimental Frozen and a bunch of weird 90s rough electronic samples that didn't survive the test of time. Like Madonna herself, actually. Pop culture icon, but not because of this album, surely.
Whatever album by Madonna, i don't think she's as revolutionary in 2025 as she was when she was putting this stuff out
2,5
👎🏻
Thought about doing a full relisten on principle then gave up after one track. Don't care!
Yeah she has a great voice but that doesn't stop this album from being a dragging slog
a couple rays of light (get it) but not much could i write poetry to this? n
I'll leave a full review if this album ever ends.
A few tracks I'll return to on here. I liked the atmospheric and electronic style of this project generally as well
Not as bad as I expected
This wasn't bad I guess, but every song had a level of genericness that I really couldn't shake. "Ray of Light" was cool but that's probably just nostalgia talking. "Sky Fits Heaven" had a good chorus but otherwise uninteresting. Not really worth listening to. 2.5 stars
meh
2 - just a bit boring
2 Stars (5/15)
Kind of just that Matrix Reloaded rave scene if it were stretched into most of the movie, with Madonna there.
I might as well be Pluto.
Drowned World/Substitute for Love 3 Swim 3 Ray of Light 2.7 Candy Perfume Girl 2.6 Skin 2.4 Nothing Really Matters 2.5 Sky Fits Heaven 2.5 Shanti/Ashtangi 2.8 Frozen 2.6 The Power of Good-Bye 2.5 To Have and Not to Hold 2.3 Little Star 2.2 Mer Girl 1.3 Score: 2.492307692
Ray of light is such a catchy song, and I love it. The rest of the album fails to deliver though. I liked some aspects of what Madonna was trying to do, but it fell flat for me.
Usual Madonna drivel made slightly more bearable by William Orbits input.
старушка пришла к модным продюсерам электронной музыки, попросила освежить её карьеру и собсна получила профит. очень за неё рад.
DNF Can see it banging at the time but sounds dated compared to where pop is now. Switched over to a second listen of the Wu-Tang album instead. Kid yeeted a chair at the school printer yesterday
Mm did not like at all. A few songs were ok. I don’t understand the hype
Bad, but not as bad as stagger Lee so it gets two stars
It's different from her usual stuff, with a vibe that's kind of reflective. I prefer her earlier work. Not necessarily a factor in my review or rating, but Ray of Light made me nostalgic for Windows XP.
This was a waste of time. It's missing the upbeat pop elements that I usually associate Madonna with and this was more ambient than what I'm used to.
Not a great direction. Good to see artists try new things, but this just sounds a bit...patronising
I didn't realize Madonna liked IDM/Bjork. Not bad though imo. Good blend of pop/90's club aesthetics. Although I'd rather listen to Cher's "Believe" on loop but that's beside the point.
Idk some fun rock techno stuff but not really my stuff
Quelques pièces m'ont vraiment accroché, plus que je ne m'attendais considérant comment l'album commence (Ex : Skin, Sky Fits Heaven, Frozen). Mais globalement je suis tellement perplexe par plusieurs des choix de production : ça sonne tellement comme si Madonna essayait beaucoup trop fort de s'appuyer sur les sons électros qui étaient populaires à l'époque. Ça fait très "fellow kids". Aussi, plusieurs des paroles sont vraiment ininspirées et gênantes. Je ne comprends pas l'acclamation critique de cet album. 4.5/10
Ok, but would not listen again 2/5
I'm good, she had some jams back in the day but most of her output seems so polished and manufactured that I can't get into it
I often think that many of the albums on this list make it because of 1 or 2 popular singles that the album produced. And this is one of them. In this case, it was Frozen and Ray of Light. Outside of that a largely forgettable album, that is for the Madonna fans. I don't think this gave us anything that made it an absolute must hear.
Definitely like 80's or even early 90's Madonna better...the Euro pop M kinda sucks. 2/5
This isn't good. Fairly drab pop strewn with unnecessary EDM and eastern twang.
I remember at the time it was considered a ground breaking album for Madonna. Problem is whilst that may be true it doesn’t really feel ground breaking in the wider music context. Also reinforced my opinion that whilst Madonna may have been making great pop singles during her career the albums didn’t really add much.
I don’t know. Seems Madonna’s for dancing, not for listening. I don’t dance anymore. So, for me, the time of Madonna has passed.
Eh. Frozen somehow was the best song on this album.
The title track and Frozen are solid songs, the rest of the album is filler of varying quality. Maybe pared down to a 40 minute album this would be better.
Well it wasn’t as bad as I feared but most of it is self indulgent dirge! I liked the pure upbeat pop songs though.
Was waiting for this one to end. Too long and not my style, but was alright in moments. Will I listen to again: 0%
bit boring tbh
Yeah, Madonna's comeback in the late 90s/early 00s was pretty desperate and Ray Of Light isn't good, but it's better than "Music". I don't know whether it's simple nostalgia and familiarity from having lived through their releases but the title track and Frozen are really quite good songs, and better than anything else on the record, but we still only get to a high 2 vs a low 2 for Music. Her best song from the comeback 'era' was ironically Beautiful Stranger, which never ended up on any album.
Meh. Better than the other Madonna album we had recently, but in no way good. Don't have any nostalgia for it (but do remember Beautiful Stranger that Rolfe mentioned). Some funky influences, goes spiritual in places and very electronic in others, but it doesn't feel like she's quite comfortable with either of those sounds. 2/5.
Never listened to this music
Ray of Light is the seventh studio album by Madonna, originally released in 1998. It's kinda hard to believe this is a Madonna album. I gotta give her credit, she always keeps up with the times. This album really focuses on that late 90s electronic production. There's some pretty cool triphop elements in here that again, would surprise you coming from Madonna. It almost gets experimental in places, with some middle eastern influence. Not a huge fan of the lyrical content on here, but the production is cool.
i wish i could give this 1.5 stars
Four songs into this, I was surprised at how much I was enjoying it, but the longer the albums went on, the more trite and desperate it seemed to get. I liked some of the trip hop elements earlier in the album.
This isn't anywhere near her best album.
Ehhh I guess when Madonna does electronic dance pop it's pure gold.. I mean it's not bad but is it really just a few singles with filler.
I though the title track was good when I first heard it. Not a fan of the other singles or the rest of the album.
The title song is okay, I get why it was a hit. But I don't really like this album, I'm not a fan of her vocals over this era of electronic music. It's just not for me.
All sounds the same. Like Madonna.
This was pretty dumb and nothing really memorable at all for me.
She has no depth to her voice and the songs on this album match her energy
Ethereal feel Overly poppy dance tracks Not worth a listen
Little Star makes me feel like I’m playing a low budget Dreamcast game. One great song, one decent song, and that’s about it.
I was really excited for this album after listening to the title track "Ray of Light". A dance club beat with Madonna belting it out at the top of her lungs! What's not to love? But then the rest of the album fell a little flat for me. The club beats stayed, but Madonna's singing was slow and low on every other song. Her singing never really matched the music for me. I was hoping for up beat, but instead got slow and dramatic.
I had only heard the titular track "Ray of Light" prior to this. This is an interesting Madonna album, especially if you're coming straight from her mega-hits from the 80s. I also did not know this album was that critically acclaimed. There is quite a bit going on with this album, as it melds different genres and represents a new direction for the former "Queen of Pop". "Candy Perfume Girl" literally sounds like something that a band like Garbage would've written and performed. Most of the album is centered around electronica and techno-pop, with singles such as "Ray of Light", "Nothing Really Matters", and "Frozen" leading the way. The rest of the album slows down, offering more of a downbeat and tender sound. It's unusual to me to see this album considered by many to be Madonna's magnum opus. Like many I'm sure, when I see Madonna I hear her early career pop-oriented sound rather than this. I get that most artists tend to branch out as their musical career goes on, but this album eliminated any momentum it had the longer it went on. It's really only the singles that could be labeled as techno-pop, as the rest of the album slows to a crawl. Points for trying something different and daring to be deeply emotional, though.
Not even my favorite Madonna, and I really don’t like Madonna.