Should we believe in Madonna’s latest comeback?

Cigarette in hand, hair cut long or short, blonde then brown… Madonna collects outfits and identities in the short video presenting Madame X, her upcoming album. We hear a few notes of music before she reveals her alter ego: “Madame X is a secret agent traveling around the world, changing identities, fighting for freedom. Bringing light to dark places. Madame X is a dancer. A professor. A head of state. A housekeeper. An equestrian. A prisoner. A student. A mother. A child. A teacher. A nun. A singer. A saint. A whore. A spy in the house of love. I’m Madame X," reveals Madonna.

In France countless fans remember the sad concert of July 2012 at the Olympia, where after a two-hour delay, the singer left the stage without an encore after just 48 minutes.

At 60 years old, Madonna certainly didn’t steal her title as queen of pop. In forty years of career, she has released 75 singles, recorded 13 studio albums and been awarded numerous accolades. Madonna revolutionised the world of music with tracks that combined pop, sex and religion: Like A Virgin, Papa Don't Preach and Material Girl became the hymns of a generation asserting themselves through the artist’s music.

While Madame X is both a saint and a whore, we should note that every one of Madonna’s eras has been marked by religion. She prayed in a church and sang in front of burning crosses in her 1989 video for Like A Prayer, and wore a crown of thorns and appeared on an immense cross in her 2006 Confessions tour. During the Rebel Heart tour of 2015, dancers dressed as nuns joined her on stage for a session of pole dancing.

But for a few years Madonna’s career seems to have run out of steam as the singer struggles to convince anyone anymore. In Rebel Heart, released four years ago, she collaborated with Avicii, Natalia Kills and Diplo but the sales never happened: it’s her only album that never went at least gold in the USA. Younger singers now share the pop queen crown: Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande and Taylor Swift have all since inherited a similar nickname.

Madonna has been in the news recently. But not for musical reasons: her falling out (and making up) with Lady Gaga, her alleged connection with the Paradise Papers, her multiple political declarations… In France countless fans remember the sad concert of July 2012 at the Olympia, where after a two-hour delay, the singer left the stage without an encore after just 48 minutes. The same year, during her MDNA tour, she showed a video in which Marine Le Pen appeared with a swastika printed on her forehead. Last March, the diva made an enemy of Portugal. While filming a music video in the city of Sintra, she wasn’t allowed to enter on horseback into the Quinta nova da Assunção Palace, an 18th century residence deemed too fragile by the city hall – the horse's hooves might damage the palace floors. Offended, the star accused the entire country of ingratitude.  

So, should we believe in Madonna’s comeback? Did her recent sojourn in Portugal recharge her batteries? Not long ago, the singer posted a fado version of her hit Like a Virgin on her Instagram account…  You can already listen to Medellín, the first single from the album, sung in duo with the Columbian singer Maluma.