As many have continued to point out in their reviews of Confessions II, it’s, like, “a big deal and stuff” that Madonna is willing to 1) reflect so candidly on her past and 2) return very specifically to a certain “phase” in her career. That phase taking place from roughly 2005-2006, when Confessions on a Dance Floor was released (on November 9, 2005) and the Confessions Tour kicked off (on May 21, 2006). By 2007, she was already transitioning out of her “weenie roll” hair mode and laying the groundwork for 2008’s Hard Candy by signing a 360 deal with Live Nation. She also released a single in ‘07 that people too often (want to) forget about: “Hey You” (not to be confused with the Pink Floyd song of the same name). Specifically created for the July 7, 2007 Live Earth event. A prime example of how the 2000s were still ripe with so much naïve hope (even if it didn’t seem like it at the time), paired with more than a light hint of hypocrisy (and Live Earth drew much backlash for that considering the extent of the carbon footprint required to put it on). Hence, the many benefit concerts Madonna was a part of during that decade, including not just Live Earth, but also 2004’s Tsunami Aid: A Concert of Hope, 2005’s Live 8 and 2005’s Children in Need.
It was also the decade that Madonna ratcheted up her desire to disseminate the teachings and practices of Kabbalah into her work (complete with a set of children’s books released between 2003 and 2005: The English Roses, Mr. Peabody’s Apples, Yakov and the Seven Thieves, The Adventures of Abdi and Lotsa de Casha). With the Kabbalah Centre in Los Angeles and London also being primary locations for where many of her paparazzi shots were taken. And, speaking of those images, even Madonna’s 00s “off-duty” style has been reassessed and praised of late despite it following the trends of the day rather than setting them. Case in point, her constant donning of tracksuits and Ed Hardy attire (trucker hats included, naturally). Not to mention rocking the beloved-in-the-time “Mary Is My Homegirl” t-shirt. But, again, these were simply the fashions of the day, often as retroactively cracked out as what people wore in the 1980s, the decade when Madonna hit the big time.
Along with the ass crack- and stomach-baring fashions, there was the obsession with thinness and being tan that has only reanimated in recent years precisely because of ill-advised 00s nostalgia. Represented by the “holy trinity” of Britney Spears, Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan. During this time, Madonna herself tried to not get too caught up in the lives of the “it girls” who most embodied these trends, save for her occasional “brushes” with Britney (most memorably at the 2003 VMAs), who she would later throw shade at during a January 2007 interview with David Letterman when she commented of Hollywood’s “no panties” trend that maybe Letterman could send Britney the underwear he still had of Madonna’s (which she gave to him during her notorious interview with him in 1994).
In other words, it was a catty time, with even the most “feministic” of women falling prey to tearing other women down because it was just so goddamn normalized and demanded. Yet Confessions on a Dance Floor miraculously doesn’t exhibit any signs of the decade in that particular way (a testament to Madonna still marching to the beat of her own drum). And, ever since Confessions II was released, critics and fans alike have somewhat impolitely (and inaccurately) pointed out that Confessions on a Dance Floor was her last “truly great” album, thus, her decision to home in on that one in coming up with a “sequel” (even dredging up good ol’ Stuart Price to produce again). Of sorts. Because, for Madonna, the point isn’t necessarily to “recreate” COADF (which is obvious, in that this album sounds more like a sequel to Erotica), but to tap into an “album brand” that people (even the non-diehard fans) are already familiar with and hails from a time that is looked upon as “simpler,” thereby evoking nostalgia for it.
With these qualities built into Confessions II, it was already destined to be a success (despite the naysayers constantly mentioning that Madonna is too “old” to have success anymore and that she’s now relegated to being “merely” a “legacy act”). Particularly because, it’s true that, for the first time, Madonna has shown a greater willingness to revisit a specific era that she helped shape. For while she was already revisiting the 1970s disco sound with COADF, she wasn’t yet famous in that decade to have actually influenced the culture of that time. And this is what makes the “revisiting” of Confessions II so much more unique. For it says that even Madonna—with all her money and ability to cultivate a “good time” wherever she goes—is ostensibly having a bout of 00s nostalgia. This despite all of the bad that came with said decade (and, on a personal level, this despite being married to King of Patriarchal Conventions, Guy Ritchie).
And the bad made itself known almost immediately, with the illustrious 9/11 attacks (which Gen Z can only see as a meme) kicking off the decade with a vengeance (literally). Yet, for whatever reason—whether blind optimism or blind ego—the U.S. seemed to come out swinging after that vicious affront to its sense of self-importance. Because how dare some “outside entity” come for the nation that way? Which is the crux of most of George W. Bush’s ineloquent post-9/11 speeches. Indeed, Madonna wasn’t (initially) shy about coming for Bush’s politics in early 2003, when her plan to release a provocative video for “American Life” during the first week of April was full steam ahead until she decided at the last minute to pull it and instead replace the original with a rather, let’s face it, shittaytay/totally slapped together visual of her singing in front of a backdrop of different countries’ alternating flags.
In a statement about the decision, Madonna explained, “It was filmed before the war started and I do not believe it is appropriate to air it at this time. Due to the volatile state of the world and out of sensitivity and respect to the armed forces, who I support and pray for, I do not want to risk offending anyone who might misinterpret the meaning of this video.” Because, yes, it was a time when people, despite how much simultaneous parading of poor taste was going on, did consider their actions with more measuredness, more consideration for others. And Madonna definitely appears to still be either channeling or stuck in that time with such Confessions II lyrics as, “There’s nothing that we cannot do” and “Love’s the reason why/It’s a drug that I can’t stop taking/Baby, let’s get high” (both of these lyrics being from “Love Sensation”). The blind faith and optimism not necessarily translating to a 2020s context. Nonetheless, it’s obviously what people still want (and need) to hear at a moment like this. One in which, compared to 2005, it makes the masses realize that maybe the world has strayed far too much off course.
To that point, in an interview from 2003, Madonna was already noting of the twenty-first century and its “modern values,” “We’re all getting further and further away from what matters and what’s important in life.” And if she already thought that then, there’s no denying she feels (along with many other people) that society has officially gone completely off the rails and that the 2000s might not have only been the full-fledged beginning of the train getting off the track, but also the last time it was even semi on it.
That Madonna herself—the Queen of Pop as much as the Queen of Looking to the Future—is more keen on stepping into this part of the past, well, let’s just say it doesn’t exactly bode well. Either that, or maybe it truly has all been done before (as Barenaked Ladies already told us in 1998). Either way, Confessions II provides the same kind escapism that COADF did. It’s just that, in the present, there’s much more that people have a desire to escape from.
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