Madonna: I'm The Picasso Of Pop

"I like to compare myself to other kinds of artists like Picasso. He kept painting and painting until the day he died. Why? Because I guess he felt inspired to do so. Life inspired him, so he had to keep expressing himself, and that’s how I feel. I don’t think there’s a time, a date, an expiration date for being creative. I think you go until you don’t have any more to say.” - Madonna, speaking to the Associated Press. Her next world tour launches in early September.

Madonna - Bitch I'm Madonna

Madonna - Bitch I'm Madonna (Remix)

Via Billboard:

Billboard has the exclusive premiere of the Sick Individuals remix of Madonna's new single "Bitch I'm Madonna." Listen to the thumping reworking below. "Bitch I'm Madonna," which features Nicki Minaj, is the third single from Madonna's Rebel Heart album. "Bitch" follows "Living For Love" and "Ghosttown," which both reached No. 1 on Billboard's Dance Club Songs chart. Remixes for "Bitch I'm Madonna" will be commercially released on June 16, the same day that its music video is due to premiere.

Releasing this during Pride Month is not a coincidence.

Madonna Sets Billboard Chart Record

Via Billboard:

The Queen of Pop is now unequaled chart royalty. Madonna makes momentous Billboard chart history, as she now has the most No. 1s ever, 45, by an act on a singular Billboard chart. She earns her 45th No. 1 on Dance Club Songs, where "Ghosttown" lifts 3-1. With the coronation, Madonna passes another icon, George Strait, who's logged 44 No. 1s on Hot Country Songs. "Thanks to all my fans on and off the dancefloor," Madonna said in an exclusive statement to Billboard. "I'll (always) be your partner." With her 45th leader on Dance Club Songs, which measures reports submitted by a national sample of club DJs, Madonna pulls further ahead of runners-up Beyonce and Rihanna. In fact, Madonna has tallied more No. 1s as they have combined: 22 each. (The chart launched as a national survey in the Billboard issue dated Aug. 28, 1976.)

RELATED: The first-ever #1 single on Billboard's dance chart, which launched as National Disco Action, was You Should Be Dancing by the Bee Gees. Wikipedia maintains a list of all #1 dance singles by year.

Madonna Makes Her Stand-Up Debut

Via The Week:

"Will you laugh if my jokes suck?" Madonna asked Thursday's Tonight Show audience, after Jimmy Fallon invited her to try her hand at stand-up comedy. The response suggested that Madonna could bomb and still feel good about herself, but she wasn't half bad, at least for a newbie. The setup was that Madonna said she wanted to try something simpler than the extravagant stage shows she carts around the world. Some people may have suggested an intimate acoustic tour; Fallon gave her a shot at stand-up. Watch a star being reborn (or not) below, especially if you like jokes about younger men and fine art.

Quote Of The Day - Madonna

"The person I most want to meet is President Obama. When the heck am I going to meet him? He just needs to invite me to the White House already. He probably thinks I'm too shocking to be there. I'm serious. If I was a little bit more demure or if I was just married to Jay Z. Hey, if Jay would only take me as his second wife, then I'd score an invitation.' - Madonna, in an US Weekly piece titled "25 Things You Don't Know About Me." Other things include that she hates Material Girl and suffers from "major" claustrophobia.

25 Years Of Vogue

Slant Magazine reflects on today's anniversary:

A sample of Madonna's 1990 hit "Vogue" inexplicably appears two-thirds of the way through the sexually charged "Holy Water," a track from the singer's new album, Rebel Heart. Previously, Madonna erupted into the song's refrain at the end of her 1992 single "Deeper and Deeper," and it's perhaps a testament to the euphoric spirit of "Vogue" that she seemed compelled to reference it at these climactic moments. Released 25 years ago tomorrow, "Vogue" wasn't just a hit single; it was a cultural phenomenon. Ironically, no other song better exemplifies both Madonna's influence on pop culture and the accusations of appropriation that have been lobbed at her over the years. The track, produced by Shep Pettibone, is at once a musical map of disco, shamelessly ripping MFSB's "Love Is the Message" and Salsoul Orchestra's "Ooh, I Love It (Love Break)," and an enduring prototype of its own, spawning countless copycats and spoofs in the early '90s and inspiring covers by more contemporary acolytes like Britney Spears, Rihanna, and Katy Perry. Like the Harlem drag balls that inspired it, "Vogue" is about presentation, and unlike, say, "Like a Virgin," the queen of reinvention has found little need to fuss with perfection.

The late Malcolm McLaren beat Madonna to the co-opting punch by a year, of course, and his remains my preferred take on the Harlem ball scene.

Madonna Performs New Single On Ellen

Madonna Responds To Dolce & Gabbana

(Tipped by JMG reader Eric)

Howard Stern Interviews Madonna

Billboard recaps:

Did you know Madonna wrote "Vogue" in just a couple of hours? Or that she doesn't like being stoned? Or that she dated Tupac Shakur? (We really didn't know that one.) Well, she revealed that and much, much more in a nearly 90-minute interview with Howard Stern on Wednesday (March 11) -- her first interview ever with the radio personality. The chat covered a lot of ground, from her childhood and the early death of her mother to the time she was raped but didn't report it and her odd friendship with Michael Jackson. Madonna's latest album, Rebel Heart, was just released. In the interview, Madonna revealed that the album's next single will be "Ghosttown," for which she's shooting a video next week.

Madonna On Women's Rights

"Gay rights are way more advanced than women’s rights. People are a lot more open-minded to the gay community than they are to women, period. It’s moved along for the gay community, for the African-American community, but women are still just trading on their ass. To me, the last great frontier is women. Women are still the most marginalized group. They’re still the group that people won’t let change. You’re still categorized - you’re still either a virgin or a whore. If you’re a certain age, you’re not allowed to express your sexuality, be single, or date younger men." - Madonna, speaking with Out Magazine.

Madonna Announces 2015 Tour Dates

Madge's last tour in 2012 was the top-grossing concert tour of that year, taking in an estimated $305 million. Her tours in this century alone have grossed over 1.2 billion. Ticket sales for the Rebel Heart tour begin tomorrow for Madonna fan club members and open to the general public on Monday when buyers will also get a "super deluxe" free download of the album plus six unreleased tracks. Ticket prices at Brooklyn's Barclays Center start at $55 and top out at $415. Until it sells out, of course, and then the resellers and scalpers will score their usual three and four times face value.

Madonna Ties Billboard Chart Record

Via Billboard:

The Queen of Pop reigns again with 'Living for Love,' tying with George Strait, the King of Country, for the most leaders on a single Billboard chart. Madonna makes Billboard chart history, as she earns her 44th No. 1 on Dance Club Songs, where "Living for Love" lifts 2-1. With the coronation, Madonna equals George Strait, who's logged 44 No. 1s on Hot Country Songs, for the most leaders ever by an act on a singular Billboard chart. It's fitting history for the artists also known, respectively, and reverently, as the Queen of Pop and the King of Country. With her 44th leading title on Dance Club Songs, Madonna pulls further ahead of runners-up Beyonce and Rihanna. In fact, Madonna has tallied as many No. 1s as they have combined: 22 each. (The chart launched as a national survey in the Billboard issue dated Aug. 28, 1976.)

Living For Love has failed to make the Hot 100 pop chart, however. Madonna's first #1 on the dance chart came in 1983 with Holiday.

RELATED: Since Madonna just vented about ageism, perhaps it's worth noting that the oldest artist to achieve a #1 dance single is Yoko Ono, who last year scored her 11th dance chart topper at the age of 81 thanks to a remix by popular EDM artist Dave Aude.

Madonna Falls Off Stairs At Brit Awards

The BBC reports:

Pop star Madonna has fallen off the stage during her performance at the 2015 Brit Awards. The singer tumbled down a set of stairs and landed awkwardly, apparently after a dancer tried to remove a cape she was wearing at the start of her routine. However, she recovered and returned to the stage to finish her song, Living For Love. She later released a statement saying she was "fine" and her cape had been "tied too tight". "Nothing can stop me and love really lifted me up," she wrote on Instagram, referencing the lyrics to her song. "Thanks for your good wishes!"

At least everybody knows she wasn't lip-syncing.

Madonna Vents On Ageism

"It's still the one area where you can totally discriminate against somebody. and talk shit. Because of their age. Only females, though. Not males. So in that respect we still live in a very sexist society. No one would dare to say a degrading remark about being black or dare to say a degrading remark on Instagram about someone being gay. But my age – anybody and everybody would say something degrading to me. And I always think to myself, why is that accepted? What's the difference between that and racism, or any discrimination? They're judging me by my age. I don't understand. I'm trying to get my head around it. Because women, generally, when they reach a certain age, have accepted that they're not allowed to behave a certain way. But I don't follow the rules. I never did, and I'm not going to start." - Madonna, speaking to Rolling Stone.

Madonna To Chat With Grindr Users

As a promotion for the coming release of Rebel Heart, Madonna has teamed up with Grindr for a contest in which five winning users will get to chat with the Material Girl over the app. In order to enter, Grindr users must recreate the album's artwork with their own photo and include the first single's hashtag in their profile headline.

Madonna - Living For Love

The video launched yesterday on Snapchat.

"Living for Love" shows Madonna dressed as a bullfighter fighting her dancers dressed as bulls. The dramatic visual, which takes place on a stage in front of a blood red velvet curtain, was directed by J.A.C.K. (Julien Choquart and Camille Hirigoyen) and ends with a Friedrich Nietzsche quote ("Man is the cruelest animal. At tragedies, bullfights and crucifixions he has felt best on earth; and when he invented hell for himself that was his very heaven.")

This Is Madonna's Xmas Wreath

Seriously.

Madonna Releases Six New Tracks

Via Rolling Stone:

Madonna hadn't planned on releasing her 13th album, Rebel Heart, until spring 2015. But leakers had other plans for the Queen of Pop's follow-up to 2012's MDNA, unleashing early mixes of 13 tracks onto the Internet this week. In response, Madonna has put six official versions of the songs up for sale on iTunes and other digital music retailers, effective immediately. More music will be available February 9th, and the full album will be released the first week of March via Interscope. "I was hoping to release my new single 'Living for Love' on Valentine's Day with the rest of the album coming in the spring," she said in a statement. "I would prefer my fans to hear completed versions of some of the songs instead of the incomplete tracks that are circulating. Please consider these six songs as an early Christmas gift."

One of the new tracks is a duet with Nicki Minaj titled Bitch, I'm Madonna. You can find rips of all six singles on YouTube. Below is the only one posted so far to Madonna's official channel.

Madonna - Rebel Heart

Via Billboard:

A snippet of a new Madonna song, rumored to be titled "Rebel Heart," leaked to the Internet on Thursday (Nov. 27). Madonna's publicist had no comment about the leak, but the diva's manager, Guy Oseary, tweeted: "I would be grateful to any Madonna fans that can assist us in finding those responsible for the leak. We appreciate your help." It's assumed the song is titled "Rebel Heart," as Madonna is heard singing the phrase at one point in the snippet, and because she used the #RebelHeart hashtag on her Instagram for months. The song might be a co-production with Avicii, as Madonna used the #RebelHeart hashtag in a photo of her with him and his team nine months ago. It's unknown if the song clip is from a demo version of the song or a recording of a finished track.

The full song was leaked today. If the clip below gets yanked, Attitude has the file.

UPDATE: And it's gone.

RELATED: Madonna's last album, 2012's MDNA, reached #1 in the US but barely achieved gold certification. MDNA sold two million copies worldwide. Her top-selling album is the 1990 greatest hits package, The Immaculate Collection, with 30 million copies sold worldwide.