How Ray of Light redefined Pop music.

[Spicechinodiva]

1998, The year of Girl Power, Backstreet boys and Teen pop exploding in America,  one woman Was successful and she was going to Turn 40, that August.  

 

Madonna released her 7th Studio album "Ray of Light", discussing Kabbalah,  The world and life and death, and once again her favorite person besides herself,  Her own mother. 

 

I did notice even on past recordings Madonna always said nice things about her mom, but never anything good about her father or her stepmom Joan. 

Ray of light is credited for introducing Electronic dance Music,  not to the US but the world, and as most critics pointed it is dance Music but with emotion.

 

It is also credited for south Asian influence in the US, particularly her Geisha look, which unlike Katy Perry in 2013, Madonna was never criticized but actually thanked by her Asian fans , for the appreciation, Madonna said the idea of the Geisha came from the book titled "Memoirs of a Geisha", she even told Rolling stone that alot of her looks come from movies or books, and people make way too much hoopla over the Reinvention. 

 

It also touches in the End, how 1992's Erotica was made for her Gay fans and to celebrate *******uality and their Lives in and out of the bedroom .

 

Like the blogger said, Madonna will go down in history as the greatest Gay icon of our times, recieving awards that rarely get given out like her Gladd award for advocacy in 2019, she and Bill Clinton are the only LGBT icons given that award. 

[Stefani]

Cute album, although I always thought it was unfair that ROL got so much praise even though Kylie released Impossible Princess one year earlier, which was generally panned despite being sonically similar to ROL.

It's like when you quietly tell a joke to your friend in class and they barely have a reaction to it, but then the popular kid tells the same joke loudly and the whole class laughs... 

[Exaholic]

Ray of Light is highly overrated. My biggest pet peeve on Exhale from the day I joined is people asking “when will Britney have her Ray of Light?” - this used to appear at least once a week over and over in this forum for like 5 years and has made me loathe this album.

Madonna’s best album from beginning to end is Confessions. Ray of Light has like 4 good songs on it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also just for the record, Britney has had her Ray of Light - Blackout was her Ray of Light. It redefined her career and shaped what her future sound would be.

[Gayseus911]

 

[Spicechinodiva]

2 hours ago, Stefani said:

Cute album, although I always thought it was unfair that ROL got so much praise even though Kylie released Impossible Princess one year earlier, which was generally panned despite being sonically similar to ROL.

It's like when you quietly tell a joke to your friend in class and they barely have a reaction to it, but then the popular kid tells the same joke loudly and the whole class laughs... 

To be fair, I think the problem was Not kylie,  but impossible princess was misunderstood,  in fact the whole deconstruction era was misunderstood,  everybody came back when she did her signature dance pop with light years, and unfortunately outside the American R&B influenced Body language and Kiss Me once and American country influenced Golden, she stayed in disco as that's where the money is for her. 

 

If you think about it, outside confide in me, and put yourself in my place,  deconstruction gets trashed by kyle fans a lot. 

[Blackout2006]

The greatest pop album of all time. It truly did redefine and change the pop scene with such everlasting impact. The title track is some of the most gorgeous and euphoric songs I enjoy. The album not only changed pop, but Madonna's career as well since she become a respected figure in pop music with this record. Drowned world is probably the greatest introduction to an album I have ever heard, it is so immaculate and beautiful. And Mer Girl!....what a song to finish an album. I do not listen to Madonna that much but jeez, this album was so good that I even have a vinyl of it  The track listing was true chefs kiss. Drowned World, Ray Of Light, Candy Perfume Girl. Nothing Really Matters, Sky Fits Heaven, Ashanti, Frozen, The Power Of A Goodbye, To Have And Not To Hold, Little Star and Mer Girl are still such amazing tracks and truly are timeless.

[Blackout2006]

 

4 hours ago, Exaholic said:

Ray of Light is highly overrated. My biggest pet peeve on Exhale from the day I joined is people asking “when will Britney have her Ray of Light?” - this used to appear at least once a week over and over in this forum for like 5 years and has made me loathe this album.

Madonna’s best album from beginning to end is Confessions. Ray of Light has like 4 good songs on it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also just for the record, Britney has had her Ray of Light - Blackout was her Ray of Light. It redefined her career and shaped what her future sound would be.

 

Ray of light aint overrated even by an inch! Its a masterpiece and all the respect, acclaim and love it has received in the past few years is very well deserving

[Brat]

I think it could’ve had more of an impact if more artists worked with William Orbit’s music/production vision.  Won’t lie,  it’s one of my favorite albums of all time.  My Dad took me to get any CD I wanted from Virgin and I picked Ray of Light,  all he did was shake his head.  I’m still unapologetic (B) about it!

[Spicechinodiva]

29 minutes ago, Brat said:

I think it could’ve had more of an impact if more artists worked with William Orbit’s music/production vision.  Won’t lie,  it’s one of my favorite albums of all time.  My Dad took me to get any CD I wanted from Virgin and I picked Ray of Light,  all he did was shake his head.  I’m still unapologetic (B) about it!

Alot of Madonna's unusual producers don't work with a lot of artists,  and the problem , that a lot of artists care about trends, and at that Time, Madonna didn't, so sometimes it never worked well. 

 

William orbit did work with Britney,  but that's the last time I heard about him, and that came after MDNA where his work was praised the most on that album. 

[FemmeFataleBrit]

Fun Fact: She also broke the record for the highest first week sales for a female artist with Ray Of Light!

[ColdAsFire88]

ROL proves that you don’t need a number one single or album to have an impact. I remember everyone loving this album and I still do too. 

The Gay community will always have Madonna’s back. She had ours when no one else did. It’s something that I have to remind the younger generation. 

[Peanut]

It's a good album but I feel she went too over the top with this "kabalah" schtick. Something about it felt forced and fake. I personally think "American Life" is a better and more memorable album and balances human and spiritual ideas better. Her voice sounds better on AL as well. 

[Spicechinodiva]

37 minutes ago, Peanut said:

It's a good album but I feel she went too over the top with this "kabalah" schtick. Something about it felt forced and fake. I personally think "American Life" is a better and more memorable album and balances human and spiritual ideas better. Her voice sounds better on AL as well. 

That's Mirwais, listen to Music, he was able to actually record her vocals dry as he calls it..

 

Unfortunately for Madame X, he said, the contract she signed with live nation gave her complete control and she didn't deal with any A&R, as she called the shots,  so if she wanted Autotune,  it stayed. 

 

I couldn't fight with her as it's a losing battle anyway.