Confessions on a Dance Floor

Not to be confused with Madonna's live album: The Confessions Tour.

Confessions on a Dance Floor is the tenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Madonna, released on November 15, 2005 by Warner Bros. Records. The RIAA certified it Gold & Platinum on December 14, 2005, and according to Nielsen Soundscan has sold an additional 675,000 copies. Confessions on a Dance Floor sold over three million copies in its first month of release in Europe and has reached sales of over eight million copies worldwide to date.^[2] The album won a Grammy Award for Best Electronic/Dance Album in 2007.

Album history

Confessions on a Dance Floor has become one of Madonna's best selling albums, with international hits such as "Hung Up" and "Sorry". The album led to the most successful concert tour of her career, the Confessions Tour. It was co-produced by Stuart Price and contains collaborations with Mirwais Ahmadzaï, Bloodshy & Avant Bagge & Peer and ABBA (Bjorn & Benny.)

Of the album, Madonna said:

"I wanted a record with no ballads. I wanted there to be no breaks, with one song segueing into the next -- just like in a disco. (...) Whenever I make records, I often like the remixes better than the original versions. So I thought, screw that. I'm going to start from that perspective. I want to hear all these songs in a club. I approached the album from more of a DJ's point of view, but Stuart [Price] is a DJ. That really influenced the vibe -- the dance aspect -- of the record."^[3] (...) "We listened to a lot of other people's records when we were making this - obviously ABBA and Giorgio Moroder - so to me it's more of an homage to other people's records than mine. If there are references to earlier records it's probably done unknowingly, part of our molecular structure; it comes out again and again, hopefully not too boringly and repetitive."^[4]

After its original release, a limited-edition Triple-LP remix compilation titled Confessions Remixed was released. It contained tracks from the album all remixed by Stuart Price. It was a limited edition release with three records, only three thousand of which were pressed.

Formats

• CD — 12-track continuous mix
• CD Deluxe Edition — 13-track version, released in December 2005, includes bonus track, "Fighting Spirit", a 40 page picture book from the Steven Klein photo session; an 80 page blank journal book, which includes lyrics from the album track "Let It Will Be"; a one month free ICON fanclub membership, and a unique slipcover housing. All tracks are a continuous mix, except for the bonus track
• iTunes Regular Edition— Digital download 12-track edition, all tracks are separate and not sequenced
• iTunes Deluxe Edition — Digital download 12-track edition, all tracks are separate and not sequenced. It also includes a digital artwork booklet and the "Hung Up" video
• iTunes Non-Stop Mix: Deluxe Edition — digital download which blends the 12 songs into one long track. It also includes a digital artwork booklet and the "Hung Up" video
• iTunes Non-Stop Mix: Regular Edition — digital download which blends the 12 songs into one long track
• Amazon Unmixed Version — Digital download 12-track edition, all tracks are separate and not sequenced. This version is DRM free
• 2-LP Vinyl Set — Double album promo pack
• Limited Edition 2-LP Pink Vinyl Set — Double album
• Philippines Exclusive - Madonna Confessions On A Dancefloor Official Card available at the time before album was released. Card was a pass used for clubs and special events.
• Japanese Exclusive CD+DVD Tour Edition — Released August 23, 2006 is the Japan only exclusive Tour Edition. Disc 1 contains the continuous mix CD. Disc 2 is a DVD containing the previously commercially unavailable music videos for "Hung Up" and "Sorry" plus their "Making of" featurettes that were shown earlier in 2006 on MTV channels around the world
• Confessions Remixed — Triple LP Vinyl Set. Full remix set by Stuart Price, released on April 11, 2006, with a limited print of only 3,000 copies

Track listing

¹ not to be confused with the 1994 track on the album Bedtime Stories.
² the Mixed Version. Available on the regular CD.
³ the Unmixed version. Available as digital download on iTunes and Amazon.

Additional tracks

1. "Super Pop" (Madonna, Ahmadzaï) - released via download to ICON fanclub members only - 3:40
2. "Fighting Spirit" (Madonna, Ahmadzaï) - released on the Deluxe Edition CD as a bonus track - 3:30
3. "History" (Madonna, Price) - released as B-side to the single Jump - 6:54/5:55
4. "History (Land of Free)" (Madonna, Price) - demo version of the song, leaked onto the Internet in May 2008 - 4:46
5. "Keep The Trance" (Madonna, Ahmadzaï) - a demo of this song leaked onto the Internet in January 2008. Lyrics from it were later reworked into "Hey You" - 2:48. Another version described as the "final mix" leaked in August 2008 - 3:18
6. "Triggering Your Senses" (Madonna, Ahmadzaï) - leaked onto the Internet August 2008 - 3:29

Promotion

As a part of the album's commercial campaign, the album's cover was on some shirts of the models at the 2007 Dolce & Gabbana fashion show.

In order to promote the album with emerging media, Madonna set up the 1-888-2-CONFESS hotline. Callers were instructed to call in with their confessions, and, as they came in, some were selected to be part of a Podcast released on iTunes for approximately six weeks before the album was released.

Tours

"Hung Up Promo Tour"

"Confessions Tour"

Critical and commercial performance

Confessions on a Dance Floor has been a worldwide success and has received rave reviews from critics and fans. It went triple platinum in the EU in only a month, debuting the number one spot in twenty-nine countries. On September 13, 2006, IFPI credited the album 4x platinum for sales in Europe.^[5] Confessions On A Dance Floor went to #1 in over 40 countries (a world record).^[6]

In the United States, Confessions on a Dance Floor debuted at number one, selling 350,606 copies in its first week, taking the top spot from Carrie Underwood's Some Hearts album, which sold nearly 35,000 fewer copies. In the following week, Confessions on a Dance Floor sold 210,000 copies and slipped to number four with a thirty-nine per cent sales decrease. To date, the album has sold over 1.6 million copies in the U.S., a significant improvement over 2003's American Life with only 670,000 copies sold. It was the twenty-second best-selling album of 2006 in the United States as well (Billboard counted sales from November 2005 to December 2006).

According to the Daily Mail's Adrian Thrills, "Madonna is returning to reclaim her dance-pop crown with a record that pushes her, feet-first, back into club culture. Confessions on a Dance Floor... is not only the former Ms. Ciccone's best album since 1998's Ray of Light, it's a non-stop, rhythm-driven tour de force that ranks alongside anything she made in her chart-conquering heyday. According to Rolling Stone, "This is an album designed for maximum volume. It's all motion, action, speed. The tracks are constantly shifting, with dizzying layers of sounds and samples dropping in and out, skittering and whooshing across the speakers. Unlike the crystalline precision of latter-day Madonna discs like Ray of Light and Music, the sonic signature here is a powerhouse density -- on tunes like "Future Lovers" and "Push", with its hypnotic tribal beat mixed with future trance. Not only do the twelve songs all blend together like a ready-made DJ set, it's as if they also come pre-remixed... Coming off her last album, the tepid American Life, the forty-seven-year-old mother of two wants to show that she can still stay up late."^[7]

Madonna won the "Best International Female Award" at the BRIT Awards 2006 and won "World's Best Selling Pop Artist" & "Best Selling U.S. Artist" at the 2006 World Music Awards for the album. She was nominated for five MTV Video Music Awards for her video Hung Up. She was nominated for "Best Album of the Year", "Best Pop", and "Best Female Artist" at the MTV Europe Music Awards 2006. Madonna then went onto winning an Ivor Novello Award in 2007 for "International Hit of the Year" for her single, "Sorry." The Rolling Stone Magazine ranked Confessions on a Dance Floor as the twenty-second top album of 2005, beating other top albums such as Missy Elliott's "Cookbook",Franz Ferdinand and Stevie Wonder. In early 2007, she won her sixth Grammy award for "Best Dance/Electronic Album"

Confessions on a Dance Floor, and her follow up Confessions Tour, have given Madonna the most number of international music and tour awards she has ever won in a single year.

Singles

Certifications, peaks & sales

Personnel

• Madonna - Lead vocals, backing vocals, guitar
• Stuart Price - Producer, keyboards, synthesizers, vocoders, programming, sequencing, sampling
• Roberta Carraro - keyboards, Bass, drums, Harmonica
• Monte Pittman - guitar
• Photography: Steven Klein
• Art Direction and Graphic Design: Giovanni Bianco
• Legal: Grubman Indursky
• Management: Guy Oseary and Angela Becker
• Mixing: Mark "Spike" Stent at Olympic Studios and Record Plant Studios, Los Angeles (Except: "Forbidden Love" which was mixed by Stuart Price at Shirland Road)
• Recording: Stuart Price at Shirland Road (Except: "How High" and "Like It Or Not" which were recorded at Murlyn Studios, Stockholm and Shirland Road, "Future Lovers" was recorded at Mayfair Studios.)
• Assistant Engineer: Alex Dromgoole
• Second Assistant Engineer at Olympic: David Emery
• Second Assistant Engineer at Record Plant, Los Angeles: Antony Kilhoffer
• Mastering: Brian "Big Bass" Gardner at Bernie Grundman Mastering

Notes