Girl Gone Wild is Madonna's second single to be lifted from upcoming album MDNA and its just hit the internet! But the question is, does it share the same corrupt (M)DNA as first and flop single Give Me All Your Luvin', or has Madonna finally given us a worthy comeback single?
I should say outright that I like Girl Gone Wild a lot more than her last single- though that doesn't seem to be an opinion shared by readers on the site if the chatbox comments are to believed (please let me know why below :P). But my fondness for it may be in large part due to it sounding like it would have fitted perfectly on the Confessions On A Dance floor album, an album I am quite fond of.
If this was a song that was meant to be deep and meaningful, I would have had a problem with the generic and poor lyrics, but as it's a dance song this doesn't bother me too much. Besides, Madonna songs have always been spotty when it came to their lyrical content- anyone remember "I drive my mini cooper, and I'm feeling super-dooper, Yo they tell me I'm a trooper"- so I've come to not expect any insight from the star's writing skills. No expectations, no let downs. Besides, they suite the uplifting, electro-house feel of the production- which was helmed by Madonna, Benny Benassi and Alle Benassi.
The biggest problem I have with Girl Gone Wild, is Madonna's "voice". Her tone is simply becoming more unpleasant as she ages. Whereas most singer's voices tend to deepen and soften as they progress in years, Madonna's seems to buck that trend and be getting higher, more nasal and less human as time passes: becoming almost robotic, and noticeably harsher on the ear. The song would have benefited greatly from some studio "magic" cast on Madonna's voice to at the very least soften it, but as it is, it's bearable.
I think anything would have been an improvement on the first single from MDNA, so Girl Gone Wild was always going to be received well-ish by me. But I am a tad conflicted as to how to feel about Madonna recycling a sound that she only explored two studio albums ago, and that's not even mentioning its similarities to 2009's remix of Celebration. In any case, lets just be grateful that this single shows a different, and much improved, sound to that on Give Me All Your Luvin'.
Ratings C+
