Cruel Summer

I love how engaged and happy Madonna looks in the video of them chatting. It's so nice to see such an important, legendary figure be so good to those who have come in her wake. A cute little moment - sad that some clearly feel upset about it.

The Best Direction win is almost more validating than the VOTY win, given the allegations that she "bought" the Artist Director Honors. I feel like it's hard to fake an award that's meant to be selected by your peers in the discipline in question.

Yes. Madonna's legacy in terms of videography is foundational to the entire media format and she came back with a truly excellent short film, released a career-best album that most pop girls couldn't do in their primes if they tried let alone in their late sixties and forty-some years into their careers, and was a huge part of the overall pop culture conversation. She absolutely deserves this, and more.

When she wins again next year for Patient Zero omg the domination

I actually loved this. and thought it was just about her best video yet in terms of direction, cinematography, framing - I thought it was stunning! The monologue was a bit too long for my taste but I can forgive that.

The way some people on this forum are trying so very hard to revise the entire history of her career into her never being talented at all or outstanding in her field in any way, the desperate wishful thinking - you can tell how bad they've wanted the tide to turn and they really think this is it

Literally all she has to do in order to do so is lay low for a minute, release Debut TV late this year or sometime next, and come back with a better album at least a year from now, maybe a little more, that changes her sonic direction away from mainstream radio pop. Even just an album that goes back to being primarily country pop would be enough to turn the tide if she also challenges herself to do new things with her subject matter and lyricism.

Please don't give her more ideas, I can't afford the $31.13/mo she'd charge in this economy!

The way I predicted 185k, oh me!stradamus

Babylon is a 'Tis The Damn Season sister and the girls who get it get it and we're horribly depressed longing to go back to our small town roots whilst living in a city that feels a thousand times more lonely and dead than home ever did Hypothetically of course totally don't mean anything by this

And that's even if they all get their fervent, desperate wish and she finally relinquishes her sheer commercial dominance in the US starting right this second. A storied career with decades yet to come

The way they're already comparing it to regular album releases and pre-album singles because they just can't actually compare deluxe edition releases without looking like clowns, not to mention making up weird narratives that she's hitless or something… they're so desperate for her to be over

Ignoring the global numbers (I have no clue if this is even "bad" for a deluxe) and focusing on how she's still locking down the top four in the US

TTPD (song) being a hyperfixation of obsessed haters should have been the warning sign for where things would go by now, honestly, because the way they acted like she committed heinous artistic crimes over... um, mentioning a contemporary popular artist and using a golden retriever analogy

I think that pretending the critic score "matters" is maybe a little divorced from reality. Nobody who likes this song is going to have their mind changed because Pitchfork decides it's uncool trash, and nobody who hates it is going to be swayed if Rolling Stone says it's the best song of the year. Quality, sure - but clearly notions of quality aren't universal anyway.