Madonna Surfaces the Past on ‘Confessions II’

In a year when Paul McCartney and the Rolling Stones released some of their strongest late-career work, Madonna has joined them with Confessions II, her most focused album in two decades. It arrives after a trio of poorly received records had pushed her toward cultural irrelevance, but the 67-year-old does not chase a new trend. Instead, she returns to producer Stuart Price, who helmed 2005’s Confessions on a Dance Floor, and builds a sequel that works more like a one-hour DJ set than a track-by-track pop album.

The 16 seamless cuts favor a continuous, ecstatic pulse, with Madonna’s voice often gliding above Price’s production. The record is unusually autobiographical for an artist who has rarely looked backward. “Danceteria” sketches her pre-fame years alongside Basquiat, Maripol and Debi Mazar, while “The Test” features her daughter Lola Leon. Sabrina Carpenter’s turn on “Bring Your Love” feels less like a torch pass than a shared moment between two pop generations.

The emotional weight collects in “L.E.S. Girl,” a drum-machine-and-guitar lullaby that pulls the party into memory and loss. “Everything fades away,” Madonna sings at its close. The single-LP version omits that track and three other key songs, including “Betrayal”; only the double-LP deluxe edition preserves