Artist Of The Month: Madonna

Madonna is 2012's first Artist Of The Month. Madonna is going to release her twelfth studio album this month,MDNA. Below is everything you need to know about the album.

In December 2010 Madonna posted a message on her Facebook page exclaiming: "Its official! I need to move. I need to sweat. I need to make new music! Music I can dance to. I'm on the lookout for the maddest, sickest, most badass people to collaborate with. I'm just saying [...]." On July 4, 2011, Madonna's manager Guy Oseary, announced that Madonna entered the studio to begin the recording sessions for her twelfth studio album. On December 15, 2011, Madonna announced that the album will be released in the spring of 2012 and it will be her debut release from her 360 deal with Live Nation Entertainment which was signed in 2007. Through this contract, Madonna and Live Nation signed a three-album deal with Interscope Records, who will market and distribute the album. In the 2011 year-end readers poll by Billboard, it was voted as the most anticipated album of 2012.

In an interview with Channel V Australia, Martin Solveig commented on Madonna's involvement in the production of the album: "She is as involved as you can be in the recording process. This was a very good and big surprise for me! I was assuming that she would spend only an hour or two in the studio per day and come and see where we were and say, "Ok I like this, I don't like that. I'll sing this. Bye!" And absolutely not... I mean we co-produced the track and it’s not just written on the credits "co-produced by Martin Solveig and Madonna", we literally co-produced the tracks. I mean, at some point she wanted to choose the sound of a snare drum or a synth and that kind of stuff. She was really in the session!"

The album's title was announced by Madonna during an interview on The Graham Norton Show on January 11, 2012. When asked about the title's meaning at the W.E. film premiere, she said: "Madonna... I just liked the play on words... It's a triple entendre." Album producer, Martin Solveig revealed that it was M.I.A. who suggested the album title to Madonna, noting “We were having a lot of fun with the initials. M.I.A. said, ‘You should call your album ‘MDNA’ because it would be a good abbreviation and spelling of your name.’ Then we realized that there were actually many different possibilities of understanding for those initials — the most important being the DNA of Madonna." The title of the album was condemned by Lucy Dawe, a spokesperson for the anti-drugs campaign group Cannabis Skunk Sense. She told The Sun newspaper that Madonna's choice of album title was "an ill advised decision" as to her, it made reference to MDMA, the name of the class-A drug "Ecstacy". Solveig continued in his explanation "There is of course no intention of making the promotion of drugs. Except for the harmless and pure exciting drugs: like music."

The album's artwork was shot by Mert and Marcus and directed by Giovanni Bianco. It was unveiled through the Madonna's official Facebook page on January 31, 2012. According to Jocelyn Vena of MTV, in the artwork, the singer "cocks her head up, her curly hair pulled back. She's wearing lots of mascara, bright red lipstick, a choker and a silky bright pink top. The photo has some kind of broken mirror filter over it, giving it a funky, dance-queen vibe." Vena also commented that Madonna is "truly expressing herself in the glamorous, deconstructed photograph full of bouncing colors." The deluxe artwork, as noted by Nadine Cheung of Pop Crush, "features a close-up shot of the singer, complimented by rainbow hues." Robbie Daw of Idolator compared the artwork to the one of True Blue (1986).

"Give Me All Your Luvin'" was released as the first single from the album on February 3, 2012. According to Billboard: "Within a few hours, it was among one of the top 10 trending topics worldwide on Twitter." Jim Farber from the New York Daily News considered that the song is "a pure snap of bubble gum, closer to an early single like 'Burning Up' than any of her more recent club hits. Only the rap cameos from the quite camp Nicki Minaj, and the less so M.I.A., tell us what decade we're in."

On February 10, 2012, Madonna confirmed to Ryan Seacrest that "Girl Gone Wild" would serve as the album's second single. She announced after the pre-rehearsals of her world tour, she would shoot a video. The video will be directed by Mert and Marcus. On February 26, 2012, Vevo's Facebook page announced that a lyric video would be released for the second single, "Girl Gone Wild," on Monday February 27, 2012 at 9am PST and Noon EST.