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Songbook: How Madonna Became The Queen Of Pop & Reinvention, From Her 'Boy Toy' Era To The Celebration Tour

As Madonna fans eagerly await the start of her highly anticipated The Celebration Tour, take a look back at the icon's four-decade legacy that changed pop music forever.

Seconds after making her television debut on American Bandstand in early 1984, Madonna announced her plans to "rule the world."

Nearly 40 years later, she's done just that: Selling 300 million albums worldwide, Madonna is one of the best-selling artists of all time. Her 14 studio albums have spawned 12 No. 1s and 63 top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, and she earned a spot in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2008. But just her nickname alone proves she achieved her goal: the Queen of Pop.

Madonna's legacy is more than her music, too. The seven-time GRAMMY-winner has empowered several generations to own their sexuality and call their own shots; she dared to be different and bending the rules on and off stage, particularly with the merging of sexual freedom and religion. Her fearlessness helped open doors for individuality in pop music and beyond, becoming a star that didn't just rule the world — she changed culture.

As Madonna's self-titled debut LP turns 40 on July 27, GRAMMY.com is revisiting the most groundbreaking, exhilarating, and gasp-worthy moments of her extraordinary career.

Listen to GRAMMY.com's official Songbook: An Essential Guide To Madonna playlist on Spotify above and on Amazon Music , Apple Music and Pandora .

The '80s Reign

"Everybody" and "Burning Up," the first two singles off Madonna's 1983 eponymous solo debut, were instantaneous dance hits but failed to crack the Hot 100. Rooted in disco, "Holiday" not only became Madonna's first Hot 100 entry at No. 16, but it also topped the Dance Club Songs chart — her first of 50, a record no other artist holds to this day . It also spawned even bigger hits "Lucky Star" and "Borderline," which reached No. 4 and No. 10 on the Hot 100, respectively.

As "Borderline" climbed the charts, Madonna enlisted the legendary Nile Rogers to craft what would become the best-selling album of her career: Like a Virgin .

Selling over 21 million copies worldwide, 1984's Like a Virgin proved Madonna wasn't just another flash in the pan with a long string of hits, including "Material Girl," "Dress You Up," and her first chart-topper, "Like a Virgin." But her sexual assertiveness is what made the era truly iconic. The sepia-toned album cover featured the then 26-year-old wearing a corset wedding dress, accessorized with lace gloves and a hard-to-miss "Boy Toy" belt buckle.

"The photo was a statement of independence, if you wanna be a virgin, you are welcome. But if you wanna be a whore, it's your f—ing right to be so," Madonna reportedly said about the album's brow-raising imagery. Around this time, droves of "Madonna wannabes" copied her look, which incorporated jelly bracelets, rosaries, crucifixes, lace tights, and giant bow headbands — solidifying her as a fashion icon. (Earlier this year, Like a Virgin was added to the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.")

Fresh off tying the knot with then-husband Sean Penn in 1986, Madonna's True Blue featured her first image makeover and veered away from the bubblegum-pop sound she was known for. Lead single "Live to Tell" displayed artistic growth as she seemingly confronts a painful past. ("I have a tale to tell/ Sometimes it gets so hard to hide it well," she sings in the ballad's opening verse.)

In addition, True Blue found Madonna experimenting with new musical styles, including classical ("Papa Don't Preach," which shined a light on teen pregnancy), Latin ("La Isla Bonita"), and doo-wop ("True Blue"). Still, dance-pop is at forefront of "Open Your Heart," as well as sexual innuendos in the accompanying video, which shows the singer performing as an exotic dancer at a peep show.

By the time 1989's Like a Prayer arrived, Madonna had earned the title of "First Lady of Pop,"  holding her own alongside male counterparts Michael Jackson and Prince . Leading up to the album's release, Madonna was battling a lot behind the scenes — she and Sean Penn filed for divorce two months prior, she reached the age her mother was when she died, and she was struggling with her Catholic upbringing.

In turn, the 11-track LP is considered the first of Madonna's projects to feature deeply personal lyrics and themes, particularly on tracks like "Till Death Do Us Part," "Promise to Try," "Oh Father," and "Keep It Together," the latter of which features Prince on guitar. On the flip side, "Cherish" and feminist anthem "Express Yourself" serve as bright spots on Like a Prayer .

The title track earned Madonna her seventh Hot 100 chart-topper, but it's most synonymous with its accompanying video. The clip depicts a number of controversial images, including Madonna singing in front of burning crosses, which cost the entertainer her Pepsi sponsorship contract (more on that later). "Like a Prayer" set the tone for Madonna's "Justify My Love" and "Erotica" videos, which caused their own controversies for their boundary-pushing imagery.

The Shock Factor

It's impossible to revisit Madonna's catalog without reliving some of the performer's most jaw-dropping moments. From going on a profanity-filled rant on the Late Show with David Letterman in 1994 to kissing Britney Spears and Christinia Aguilera at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards, Madonna is no stranger to shocking the world.

Only a year into her extraordinary career, Madonna stole the show at MTV's inaugural Video Music Awards . Donning a bridal gown reminiscent to the one she wore on the Like a Virgin album cover, the then 26-year-old unintentionally exposed her underwear while reaching for one of her heels that fell off as she made her way down from a 17-foot wedding cake. After the performance, Madonna was told by her manager that her career was over — but instead, it ended up catapulting her into superstardom.

To close out the '80s decade, Madonna was named Pepsi's spokesperson, but her $5 million sponsorship was revoked when the "Like a Prayer" video premiered a couple months later. The groundbreaking visuals depict racism against an interracial couple, stigmata, and Madonna herself kissing a Black saint — but its most provocative scene appears midway when Madonna sings in front of Ku Klux Klan-style burning crosses. 

Unsurprisingly, it was largely seen as blasphemous by the Christian community, with the pope calling for Italy to boycott the singer. Though the controversial video cost Madonna her Pepsi deal, it paved the way for artists to merge religion with their art to make a bold statement — seemingly inspiring the videos Lady Gaga 's "Judas," Lil Nas X 's "Montero (Call Me By Your Name)," and Sam Smith and Kim Petras ' "Unholy." (In the same vein, part of Madonna's 2006's Confessions Tour was condemned due to performing "Live to Tell" on a mirrored cross while wearing a crown of thorns, simulating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.)

Perhaps one of her most scandalous moments, though, belongs to the media frenzy and brilliance that was the "Justify My Love" video. Co-written with Lenny Kravitz , the song itself is raunchy enough to raise a few eyebrows, but still relatively tame by today's standards. "I want to run naked in a rainstorm/ Make love in a train cross-country," she coos over a Public Enemy -sampled drum beat.

Themes of nudity, sadomasochism, bisexuality, and androgyny run throughout the Jean-Baptiste Mondino-directed video, which Madonna defended as a "celebration of sex" after it was banned from MTV. Seizing the moment, Madonna released it as a video single, selling over a million copies at $9.98 — proof that Madonna could flip any potential career disaster into a shrewd business move.

Madonna: Truth or Dare premiered a mere six months later and received mostly positive reviews — though certain scenes sparked backlash, including Madonna performing fellatio on a glass bottle. The documentary chronicled the singer's 1990 Blond Ambition World Tour, but it's often hailed for championing the LGBTQIA+ community since it shows Madonna and her dancers attending a Pride parade and gay men casually discussing sex.

What followed next in Madonna's career was not for the faint-hearted: 1992's Erotica album examines every aspect of sexuality, from S&M and oral sex to the awareness of the AIDS epidemic. 

Madonna's alter-ego named Dita takes center stage on lead single "Erotica," one of her most distinctive yet forgotten singles. "My name is Dita/ I'll be your mistress tonight," she declares over a slinky groove with hip-hop and Middle Eastern influences. The racy track and its follow-up single "Deeper and Deeper" claimed the No. 3 and No. 7 spots on the Hot 100, respectively, but the remaining Erotica -era singles didn't chart as high. "Bad Girl," which also appeared in the 1993 film Body of Evidence , peaked at No. 36 while "Fever" and "Bye Bye Baby" completely missed the Hot 100.

Gems like "Rain," "Words," "Waiting," and "In This Life" get buried in the controversy that surrounded the LP, but its impact still reigns three decades later, inspiring more female artists to flaunt their sexuality unapologetically; Beyoncé 's "Partition," Christina Aguilera 's "Not Myself Tonight," and Rihanna 's "S&M" serve as a prime examples.

The Blockbuster Hits

Madonna's acting chops weren't always well received by audiences, but her soundtrack hits came out swinging every time.

Originally recorded for 1985's Vision Quest film, "Crazy for You" marks Madonna's first time releasing a ballad as a single — flaunting her vocal abilities while appealing to more mature audiences. In addition to earning Madonna her second Hot 100 chart-topper, she picked up her first-ever GRAMMY nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

A couple months later, "Into the Groove" appeared in the comedy Desperately Seeking Susan , which co-stars Madonna in the titular role and marks her film debut. Backed by synthesizers and drum machines, the song itself showcases Madonna at the height of her popularity, making it that much more special to listen to. Ironically, though, the infectious track never saw the Hot 100; it was ineligible to chart due to her label's decision to not officially release it as a single, out of fear it could overshadow "Crazy For You."

While Madonna's performance in the screwball comedy Who's That Girl was panned by critics, she scored No. 1 and No. 2 hits with "Who's That Girl" and "Causing a Commotion," respectively.

Madonna's acting aspirations continued throughout the decade. Despite starring in back-to-back box office disaster bombs, including Shanghai Surprise , she tried her hand at acting again in 1990 with Dick Tracy . Not only was the Oscar-winning film the box office comeback Madonna needed, but it birthed "Vogue," one of the most iconic dance tunes to ever grace airwaves — despite never appearing in the film.

Topping the charts in over 30 countries, "Vogue" shined a light on a flamboyant style of dance stemming from Harlem's 1960s ballroom community led by Black and Latino gay men. From the spoken section (in which Madonna shouts out "Golden Age" Hollywood stars like Marlon Brando and Bette Davis) to the accompanying black-and-white video where Madonna debuts the now-legendary Jean Paul Gaultier cone bra , everything about "Vogue" is iconic and a cultural moment many artists can only dream of.

Madonna's film soundtrack success continued with 1992's A League of Their Own , 1996's Evita , and 1999's Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me . All three films' soundtracks demonstrate Madonna's constant willingness to push herself beyond her own artistic boundaries. On the operatic "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" and "You Must Love Me" from Evita,  which earned her a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination, Madonna explores musical theater as her voice reaches new heights. Meanwhile, the GRAMMY-winning "Beautiful Stranger" revisits 1960s psychedelic pop, hence the Austin Powers theme. Back by a live string arrangement, the melancholy "This Used to Be My Playground" off A League of Their Own is a testament to Madonna's many hats.

Though met with mixed reviews at the time of its early aughts release, "Die Another Day" is now considered quintessential Madonna and one of the highest charting James Bond songs in the U.S. At a whopping $6 million, its accompanying video remains the second most expensive, just behind Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson 's 1995 "Scream" video.

The Reinvention Periods

By late 1994, Madonna dialed down her sexed-up image following the release of back-to-back sexually explicit projects, including the controversial coffee table Sex book that featured softcore pornographic images of Madonna herself — along with Big Daddy Kane , Vanilla Ice , Naomi Campbell, and other famous faces.

For Bedtime Stories , she tapped R&B hitmakers like Babyface and Dallas Austin as she explored themes of love and romance versus the sexual freedom heard on 1992's Erotica . Radio-friendly singles "Take a Bow" and "Secret" marked a new musical direction for Madonna that paid off: both showcased some of her finest vocal performances and received glowing reviews from music critics. 

But the entertainer's rebellious nature reappears on the criminally underrated "Human Nature" — an answer to the backlash she faced for her hyper-sexualized persona from two years earlier. "Did I say something wrong?/ Oops, I didn't know I couldn't talk about sex/ Did I stay too long?/ Oops, I didn't know I couldn't speak my mind," she sings on the song's bridge before declaring "I'm not sorry."

After enjoying the success of starring in Evita and becoming a first-time mother, 1998's Ray of Light marked Madonna's longest gap in between studio albums at the time — but the wait was well worth it.

Hailed as her magnum opus and her greatest reinvention, Ray of Light saw Madonna at her most creative due to motherhood and her spiritual awakening, as she experimented with techno-pop, electronica, trip hop, Middle Eastern sounds, and mysticism. With each song, the then 39-year-old transforms from Material Girl to Madonna the Artist, as evidenced on the title track, "Frozen," "Drowned World/Substitute for Love," "Nothing Really Matters," "Shanti/Ashtangi," and "The Power of Goodbye." She takes the theme of self-reflection a step further with songs like "Swim," "Mer Girl," and "Little Star," the latter of which is dedicated to her first-born child, Lourdes Leon.

Ray of Light boasts the biggest first-week sales by any female artist at the time of its release — an impressive feat given that the late '90s music scene was dominated by a sea of younger artists, including Backstreet Boys , Lauryn Hill , and Jay-Z . The 13-track LP earned Madonna three more GRAMMYs at the 1999 ceremony: Best Pop Album, as well as Best Dance Recording and Best Short Form Music Video for "Ray of Light."

With the arrival of 2000's Music , Madonna embarked on yet another transformation. In the new millennium, fans were introduced to Madonna the Cowgirl. While the title track sounded like a callback to her earlier dance hits like "Everybody," "Holiday" and "Into the Groove," follow-up single "Don't Tell Me" is notable as the pop icon's first time incorporating country stylings into her artistry.

The album's final single "What It Feels Like for a Girl," which calls out the double standards women face in society, only peaked at No. 23 on the Hot 100, but it remains a fan favorite and still holds its relevance today thanks to its feminist theme. Receiving four GRAMMY nominations across 2001 and 2002, Music 's commercial success defied the music industry's limits on aging female entertainers — an issue Madonna is still confronting head-on today.

In 2003, following the 9/11 tragedy amid the Iraq war, Madonna felt moved to put out the politically driven American Life . It was a complete departure in both subject matter and sound, which leaned heavily toward "folktronica," a blend of folk and electronica music. "I'd like to express my extreme point of view/ I'm not a Christian and I'm not a Jew," she raps on the title track.

While Madonna's attempt to make a socially conscious record didn't produce the same payoff as other politically charged songs at the time (including Black Eyed Peas ' "Where Is The Love?" and Green Day 's "American Idiot"), the 11-track LP, if nothing else, displayed her willingness to take creative risks even two decades into her career.

The Dance Floor Classics

While Madonna got her start in New York City's club scene, her dance reign went into overdrive with the 1987 arrival of You Can Dance — which contains new track "Spotlight" plus a handful of remixed tracks off her first three studio albums. For You Can Dance , Madonna enlisted veteran DJs, including John "Jellybean" Benitez and Shep Pettibone. At a time when remixes were still uncharted territory, the club-ready LP remains the second best-selling remix album of all time and is considered the first album by a mainstream artist to be solely dedicated to the art of the remix.

While dance music lies at the core of Madonna's discography, her work shifted toward more of an adult-oriented sound after You Can Dance , beginning with 1989's Like a Prayer . After nearly two decades of musical experimentation, Madonna returned to her dance roots in a big way with 2005's Confessions on a Dance Floor . 

The album's lead single "Hung Up" — built around a prominent sample of ABBA 's "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" — smashed records when it skyrocketed to No. 1 in 41 countries . Its follow-up singles "Sorry," "Get Together," and "Jump" fared better internationally, but the LP's commercial success kicked off the 21st century's disco revival that later influenced the likes of Dua Lipa 's Future Nostalgia and Lizzo 's "About Damn Time."

In 2007, Confessions on a Dance Floor won a GRAMMY for Best Electronic/Dance Album, and its accompanying Confessions Tour took home another GRAMMY for Best Long Form Music Video the following year.

With contributions from Justin Timberlake , Timbaland , Pharrell Williams , and Nate "Danja" Hills , 2008's Hard Candy is one of Madonna's lowest-selling albums, despite housing the massive hit "4 Minutes" (a collaboration with Timberlake), which reached No. 3 on the Hot 100. "4 Minutes" also earned Madonna her 37th top 10 single, making her the artist with the most top 10 entries at the time. Other standout tracks from Hard Candy include "Give It 2 Me," "She's Not Me," "Devil Wouldn't Recognize You," and "Miles Away," the latter of which was inspired by her then-husband Guy Ritchie.

The Legacy Continues

Around the time when Madonna was crafting her 2011 directorial debut W.E. , she was laying down the foundation for her twelfth studio album MDNA , which arrived the following year.

Out of the four singles released, "Give Me All Your Luvin'" (featuring Nicki Minaj and M.I.A. ) is the only song to enter the Hot 100, though "Girl Gone Wild" and "Turn Up the Radio" became her 42nd and 43rd No. 1 dance hits. The guitar-led ballad "Masterpiece," which also appears on W.E.' s soundtrack, won for Best Original Song at the 2012 Golden Globes. 

Despite not being released as a single, "Gang Bang" quickly emerged as a fan favorite while receiving criticism from those who said it glorified violence. Inspired by Quentin Tarantino's films, the aggressive song's lyrics depict a woman who murders an ex-lover: "And I'm going straight to hell/ And I got a lot of friends there/ And if I see that b— in hell/ I'm gonna shoot him in the head again/ 'Cause I want to see him die," she sneers on the bridge.

Madonna's next two LPs, 2015's Rebel Heart and 2019's Madame X , didn't generate any massive hits, though Rebel Heart 's "Living for Love" and "B— I'm Madonna" are the most recognizable. The latter's accompanying video features cameos from Beyoncé, Katy Perry , and Miley Cyrus , to name a few. Both albums, however, spawned an additional six No. 1 dance hits for Madonna. With a whopping 50 No. 1s on the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart, Madonna cemented her status as the dancing queen.

At the top of 2023, Madonna announced her upcoming Celebration Tour to commemorate her 40th anniversary since her debut. With 45 stops spanning from Detroit and Los Angeles to Amsterdam and Barcelona, the Celebration Tour was scheduled for a July 15 kickoff before getting postponed after the 64-year-old superstar's recent health scare.

As the tour name suggests, Madonna is ready to honor the hit-filled legacy she's built. "I am excited to explore as many songs as possible, in hopes to give my fans the show they have been waiting for," she said at the time of announcing the tour, which is her first dedicated to her greatest hits. When the megastar makes her glorious return to the stage later this year, she'll remind the world of her relentless spirit — the same one that made her a North Star for nearly every female entertainer on the charts today regardless of genre.

Madonna has supported gay rights, pushed sexual freedom, implemented religious imagery, and reshaped feminism at a time when it wasn't trendy to do so. All the while, she never has apologized for her "rebel heart" — solidifying her legacy as the true Queen of Pop.

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Photo: Eric Ross

Global Spin: Watch VASSY Search For The “Off Switch” In This Acoustic Performance Of Her New Single

Australian dance pop singer VASSY offers an acoustic take on her EDM-influenced single, “Off Switch.”

In her latest track "Off Switch," Australian dance-pop artist VASSY captures the exhilarating intensity of a budding romance. She loves the rush but, at the same time, wishes she could fight the feeling, even if only for a few seconds.

"There's something electric between you and I/ The way we connected I can't describe/ We're right on the edge of blurring the lines/ Don't know why I'm scared of this rush inside," she sings in the intro. "I wish my heart, it had an off switch/ 'Cause, boy, I don't know how to stop this."

In this episode of Global Spin , watch VASSY deliver an acoustic performance of her track, playing guitar and using a pair of castanets for added rhythm.

VASSY released "Off Switch" on Jan. 5 with an electrifying music video swirling with vibrant neon lights. 

Recently she wrapped a string of appearances supporting Aqua's United States leg of their world tour and earlier this month, performed a headlining show in San Diego. On May 18, she will take the stage at the BASSINTHEGRASS music festival in Darwin, Australia.

Press play on the video above to watch VASSY's lively performance of "Off Switch," and remember to check back to GRAMMY.com for more new episodes of Global Spin.

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Photo: Kevin Mazur/TCA 2008/WireImage/Getty Images

Disney's Golden Age Of Pop: Revisit 2000s Jams From Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez & More

As Disney Music Group celebrates its defining era of superstars and franchises, relive the magic of the 2000s with a playlist of hits from Hilary Duff, Jesse McCartney and more.

"...and you're watching Disney Channel!" For anyone who grew up in the 2000s, those five words likely trigger some pretty vivid imagery: a glowing neon wand, an outline of Mickey Mouse's ears, and every Disney star from Hilary Duff to the Jonas Brothers . 

Nearly 20 years later, many of those child stars remain instantly recognizable — and often mononymous — to the millions of fans who grew up with them: Miley Cyrus , Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato . Nick , Kevin and Joe . 

Each of those names has equally memorable music attached to it — tunes that often wrap any given millennial in a blanket of nostalgia for a time that was, for better or for worse, "So Yesterday." And all of those hits, and the careers that go with them, have the same starting point in Hollywood Records, Disney Music Group's pop-oriented record label.

This time in Disney's history — the core of which can be traced from roughly 2003 to 2010 — was impactful on multiple fronts. With its music-oriented programming and multi-platform marketing strategies, the network launched a procession of teen idols whose music would come to define the soundtrack to millennials' lives, simultaneously breaking records with its Disney Channel Original Movies, TV shows and soundtracks.

Now, two decades later, Disney Music Group launched the Disney 2000s campaign, honoring the pivotal, star-making era that gave fans a generation of unforgettable pop music. The campaign will last through August and lead directly into D23 2024: The Ultimate Fan Event with special vinyl releases of landmark LPs and nostalgic social media activations occurring all summer long. April's campaign activation was Disney 2000s Weekend at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, which featured special screenings of 2008's Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert and 2009's Hannah Montana: The Movie and Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience .

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But before Miley and the JoBros, Hollywood Records' formula for creating relatable (and bankable) teen pop stars began with just one name: Hilary Duff. At the time, the bubbly blonde girl next door was essentially the face of the network thanks to her starring role in "Lizzie McGuire," and she'd just made the leap to the big screen in the summer of 2003 with The Lizzie McGuire Movie . In her years with Disney, Duff had dabbled in recording songs for Radio Disney, and even released a Christmas album under Buena Vista Records. However, her first album with Hollywood Records had the potential to catapult her from charming tween ingénue to bonafide teen pop star — and that's exactly what it did.

Released on August 26, 2003, Duff's Metamorphosis sold more than 200,000 copies in its first week and debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. The following week, the bubblegum studio set performed the rare feat of rising from No. 2 to No. 1, making the then-16-year-old Duff the first solo artist under 18 to earn a No. 1 album since Britney Spears .

The album's immediate success was no fluke: Within a matter of months, Metamorphosis had sold 2.6 million copies. Music videos for its radio-friendly singles "So Yesterday" and "Come Clean" received constant airplay between programming on the Disney Channel. (The latter was eventually licensed as the theme song for MTV's pioneering teen reality series "Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County," giving it an additional boost as a cultural touchstone of the early '00s.) A 33-date North American tour soon followed, and Hollywood Records officially had a sensation on their hands. 

Naturally, the label went to work replicating Duff's recipe for success, and even looked outside the pool of Disney Channel stars to develop new talent. Another early signee was Jesse McCartney. With a soulful croon and blonde mop, the former Dream Street member notched the label another big win with his 2004 breakout hit "Beautiful Soul."

" When 'Beautiful Soul' became the label's first No. 1 hit at radio, I think that's when they really knew they had something," McCartney tells GRAMMY.com. "Miley [Cyrus] and the Jonas Brothers were signed shortly after that success and the rest is history.

"The thing that Disney really excelled at was using the synergy of the channel with promoting songs at pop," he continues. "I did appearances on 'Hannah Montana' and 'The Suite Life of Zack & Cody' and my music videos were pushed to Disney Channel. The marketing was incredibly brilliant and I don't think there has been anything as connected with an entire generation like that since then."

By 2006, Disney had nearly perfected its synergistic formula, continually launching wildly popular tentpole franchises like High School Musical and The Cheetah Girls , and then giving stars like Vanessa Hudgens and Corbin Bleu recording contracts of their own. (Curiously, the pair's HSM co-star Ashley Tisdale was never signed to Hollywood Records, instead releasing her first two solo albums with Warner.) 

Aly Michalka showed off her vocal chops as sunny girl next door Keely Teslow on "Phil of the Future," and fans could find her off-screen as one half of sibling duo Aly & AJ. In between their 2005 debut album Into the Rush and its electro-pop-charged follow-up, 2007's Insomniatic , Aly and her equally talented younger sister, AJ, also headlined their own Disney Channel Original Movie, Cow Belles . (Duff also helped trailblaze this strategy with her own early DCOM, the ever-charming Cadet Kelly , in 2002, while she was simultaneously starring in "Lizzie McGuire.")

Even after years of proven success, the next class of stars became Disney's biggest and brightest, with Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato and the Jonas Brothers all joining the network — and record label — around the same time. "Hannah Montana" found Cyrus playing a spunky middle schooler by day and world-famous pop star by night, and the network leveraged the sitcom's conceit to give the Tennessee native (and daughter of '90s country heartthrob Billy Ray Cyrus ) the best of both worlds. 

After establishing Hannah as a persona, the series' sophomore soundtrack introduced Miley as a pop star in her own right thanks to a clever double album that was one-half Hannah's music and one-half Miley's. It's literally there in the title: Hannah Montana 2: Meet Miley Cyrus .

From there, Cyrus' stardom took off like a rocket as she scored back-to-back No.1 albums and a parade of Top 10 hits like "See You Again," "7 Things," "The Climb," "Can't Be Tamed," and the ever-so-timeless anthem "Party in the U.S.A."

At the same time, Gomez had top billing on her own Disney Channel series, the magical (but less musical) "Wizards of Waverly Place." That hardly stopped her from launching her own music career, though, first by fronting Selena Gomez & the Scene from 2008 to 2012, then eventually going solo with the release of 2013's Stars Dance after the "Wizards" finale aired.

For her part, Lovato — Gomez's childhood bestie and "Barney & Friends" costar — got her big break playing Mitchie Torres in Camp Rock alongside the Jonas Brothers as fictional boy band Connect 3, led by Joe Jonas as the swaggering and floppy-haired Shane Gray. Much like Duff had five years prior in the wake of The Lizzie McGuire Movie , Lovato released her debut solo album, 2008's Don't Forget, just three months after her DCOM broke records for the Disney Channel. 

Building off their chemistry from the movie musical, nearly the entirety of Don't Forget was co-written with the Jonas Brothers, who released two of their own albums on Hollywood Records — 2007's Jonas Brothers and 2008's A Little Bit Longer — before getting their own short-lived, goofily meta Disney series, "Jonas," which wrapped weeks after the inevitable Camp Rock sequel arrived in September 2010.

As the 2000s gave way to the 2010s, the Disney machine began slowing down as its cavalcade of stars graduated to more grown-up acting roles, music and careers. But from Duff's Metamorphosis through Lovato's 2017 LP, Tell Me You Love Me , Hollywood Records caught lightning in a bottle again and again and again, giving millennials an entire generation of talent that has carried them through adulthood and into the 2020s.

To commemorate the Disney 2000s campaign, GRAMMY.com crafted a playlist to look back on Disney's golden age of pop with favorite tracks from Hilary Duff, Vanessa Hudgens, the Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus and more. Listen and reminisce below.

Photos (L-R): Buda Mendes/TAS23/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management, Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic, Christopher Polk/Getty Images for Clear Channel

Songbook: An Era-By-Era Breakdown Of Taylor Swift's Journey From Country Starlet To Pop Phenomenon

Upon the arrival of Taylor Swift's 'The Tortured Poets Department,' take a deep dive into her discography and see how each album helped her become the genre-shifting superstar she is today.

Editor’s note: This story was updated on April 19 to reflect the release of The Tortured Poets Department.

The world now knows Taylor Swift as a global pop superstar, but back in 2006, she was just a doe-eyed country prodigy. Since then, she's released 11 studio albums, re-recorded four as "Taylor's Version," and cultivated one of the most feverish fan bases in music. Oh, and she's also won 14 GRAMMY Awards, including four for Album Of The Year — the most ever won by an artist.

Swift has become one of music's most notable shapeshifters by refusing to limit herself to one genre, moving between country, pop, folk and beyond. A once-in-a-lifetime generational storyteller, one could argue that she is music's modern-day maverick, constantly evolving both her music and the culture around her.

Every album era has seen Swift reinvent herself over and over, which has helped pave the way for artists to explore other musical avenues. In turn, Swift hasn't just become one of the biggest artists of all time — she's changed pop music altogether.

To celebrate Taylor Swift's newest era with The Tortured Poets Department , GRAMMY.com looks back on all of her albums (Taylor's Versions not included) and how each era shaped her remarkable career.

Taylor Swift : Finding Her Place In Music

In a genre dominated by men, the odds were already stacked against Swift when she first broke into country music as a teenage female artist. The thing that differentiated her from other writers — and still does to this day — is her songwriting. She didn't want to be just "another girl singer" and knew writing her own songs would be what set her apart. 

Written throughout her adolescence, Taylor Swift was recorded at the end of 2005 and finalized by the time Swift finished her freshman year of high school. Serving as a snapshot of Swift's life and teenhood, she avoided songwriting stereotypes typically found in country music. Instead, she wanted to capture the years of her life while they still represented what she was going through, writing about what she was observing and experiencing, from love and friendship to feeling like an outsider. 

As a songwriter, Taylor Swift set the tone for what would be expected of her future recordings — all songs were written by her, some solely and others with one or two co-writers. One writer in particular, Liz Rose , applauded Swift's songwriting capabilities, stating that she was more of an "editor" for the songs because Swift already had such a distinct vision. 

The album's lead single, "Tim McGraw," an acoustic country ballad inspired by Swift knowing her relationship was going to end, represents an intricate part of Swift's songwriting process; meticulously picking apart her emotions to better understand them. With its follow-up, "Our Song" — which spent six consecutive weeks on the top of Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart — she became the youngest person to solely write and sing a No. 1 country single; she also became the first female solo artist in country music to write or co-write every song on an album. 

Although Swift's eponymous debut is underappreciated now — even lacking its own set on Swift's Eras Tour — Taylor Swift 's forthcoming rerecording is arguably the most anticipated by fans, who are eager to hear the songs with the singer's current and more refined vocals. Still, for fans who haven't properly explored Taylor Swift , it's easy to tie together Swift's earlier work to her current discography. 

On the track "A Place In This World," a song she wrote when she was just 13, Swift sings about not fitting in and trying to find her path. While her songwriting has developed and matured, feeling like an outsider and carving her own path is a theme she still writes about now, as seen on Midnights ' "You're On Your Own, Kid." 

Even as a new country artist, critics claimed that she "mastered" the genre while subsequently ushering it to a new era — one that would soon see Swift dabble in country-pop. 

Fearless : Creating A Different Kind Of Fairytale

If Taylor Swift was the soundtrack to navigating the early stages of teenhood, Fearless is Swift's coming-of-age record. More than its predecessor, Fearless blurs the line between country and pop thanks to crossover hits like "Love Story" and "You Belong With Me," yet still keeps the confessional attributes known in country songwriting. 

Most of Fearless is Swift coming to terms with what she believed love to be. On the album's liner notes, Swift says Fearless is about "living in spite" of the things that scare you, like falling in love again despite being hurt before or walking away and letting go. The 2008 version of Taylor wanted to "believe in love stories and prince charmings and happily ever after," whereas in Swift's Fearless (Taylor's Version) liner notes, she looks back on the album as a diary where she was learning "tiny lessons" every time there was a "new crack in the facade of the fairytale ending she'd been shown in the movies." 

Much of Fearless also sees Swift being reflective and nostalgic about adolescence, like in "Never Grow Up" and "Fifteen." Still wistful and romantic, the album explores Swift's hopes for love, as heard in the album's lead single "Love Story," which was one instance where she was "dramatizing" observations instead of actually experiencing them herself. 

Unlike the slow-burn of Taylor Swift , Fearless went straight to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and stayed there for eight consecutive weeks. It won Swift's first Album Of The Year GRAMMY in 2010, at the time making her the youngest person to win the accolade at age 20. To date, it has sold 7.2 million copies in America alone. It might not be the romantic tale Swift dreamed of growing up, but her sophomore album signalled that bigger things were to come.

Speak Now : Proving Her Songwriting Prowess

Everything that happened after the success of Fearless pushed Swift from country music's best-kept secret to a mainstream star. But this meant that she faced more publicity and criticism, from naysayers who nitpicked her songwriting and vocals to the infamous Kanye West incident at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.

For the first time since becoming an artist, she was forced to reckon with the concept of celebrity and how turning into one — whether she wanted it or not — informed her own writing and perception of herself. No longer was she the girl writing songs like "Fifteen" in her bedroom — now she was working through becoming a highly publicized figure. Speak Now is the answer to those growing pains. 

Along with having more eyes on her, Swift also felt pressured to maintain her persona as a perfect young female role model amid a time when her peers like Miley Cyrus and Demi Lovato were attempting to rebrand to be more mature and sexier. During her NYU commencement speech in 2022, she reflected on this era of her life as one of intense fear that she could make a mistake and face lasting consequences, so the songs were masked in metaphors rather than directly addressing adult themes in her music. But that also resulted in some of her most poignant lyrics to date.

Read More: For The Record: How Taylor Swift's 'Speak Now' Changed Her Career — And Proved She'll Always Get The Last Word

Writing the entire album herself, Swift used Speak Now to prove her songwriting prowess to those who questioned her capabilities. Much like her previous two albums, Swift included songs that were both inspired by her own life and being a fly on the wall. The album's title track pulled from the saying, "Speak now or forever hold your peace," inspired by a friend's ex-boyfriend getting engaged; meanwhile, "Mean" was everything Swift wanted to say to a critic who was continuously harsh about her vocals.

Retrospective and reflective, Speak Now is an album about the speeches she could've, would've and should've said. From addressing the aforementioned VMA incident in the forgiving "Innocent" to a toxic relationship in "Dear John," Speak Now also hinted that her rose-colored glasses were cracked, but Swift (and her songwriting) was only becoming stronger because of it.

Red : Coming Into Her Own

Highly regarded as Swift's magnum opus, Red sees the singer shed the fairytale dresses and the girl-next-door persona to craft a body of work that has now been deemed as her first "adult" record. On Red, Swift focused on emotions evoked from a hot-and-cold relationship, one that forced her to experience " intense love, intense frustration, jealousy and confusion " — all feelings that she'd describe as "red." 

Unlike most of her previous writing that had been inspired by happy endings and fairytales, Red explores the lingering pain and loss that can embed itself within despite trying your hardest to let go. In her liner notes, she references Pablo Neruda's poem "Tonight I Can Write," stating that "Love is so short, forgetting is so long" is the overarching theme for the album. She plays with time — speeding it up in "Starlight," dabbling in the past in "All Too Well," and reframing it in "State of Grace" — to better understand her experiences. 

After releasing country-pop records, Red toed the line between genres more than ever before. Swift leaned further into the full pop territory by working with esteemed producers Max Martin and Shellback for the dubstep-leaning track "I Knew You Were Trouble," the punchy lead single "We Are Never Getting Back Together," and the bouncy anthem "22." But even when the pop power players weren't involved, her country stylings still leaned more pop across the album, as further evidenced with the racing deep cut "Holy Ground" and the echoing title track. 

The slight change of direction became polarizing for critics and fans alike. Following the more country-influenced Speak Now , some critics and fans found the pop songs on Red were too pop and the lyrics were too repetitive, possibly indicating that she might be selling out. If that wasn't enough, Red became an era where Swift's personal life went from speculation to tabloid fodder, with misogynistic headlines and diluting her work to just "writing about her exes." It's an era that would eventually inspire many tracks on Red 's successor, 1989 , like "Blank Space" and "Shake It Off."

Commercially, Red debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and sold 1.2 million copies in its first week, becoming the fastest-selling country album and making Swift the first female artist to have three consecutive albums spend six or more weeks at the top of the chart. The impact of Red extended beyond its own success, too. Often mentioned as a record that inspired a generation of artists from Troye Sivan to Conan Gray , Swift's confessional, soul-bearing authenticity set a new standard for straightforward pop music. 

1989 : Reinventing Into A Pop Genius

The night Red lost the GRAMMY for Album Of The Year in 2014, Swift decided that her next album would be a full-on pop record. After years of identifying as a country artist and flirting with pop, Swift departed her roots to reinvent herself, no matter what her then-label or critics had to say. And in true Swiftian fashion, turning into a pop artist didn't just prove her genre-shapeshifting capabilities — it further solidified her as an artist who is at her best when she freely creates to her desires and refuses to adhere to anyone.

1989 was lauded by critics for its infectious synth-pop that was reminiscent of the 1980s, yet still had a contemporary sound. Swift opted to lean more into radio-friendly hits, which resulted in songs like "Style," "Wildest Dreams," "Blank Space," and "Shake It Off," all of which became singles. And where some might trade a hit or two at the expense of their artistic integrity, Swift didn't falter — instead, her lyrics were just as heartfelt and intimate as they were on prior albums.

After exploring pop-leaning sonics she first found with Red , Swift worked with Martin and Shellback again on most of 1989 . This reinvention brought new (and very important) collaborators as well. Swift's now-frequent collaborator Jack Antonoff credits her as the first person to take a chance on him as a producer with "I Wish You Would" and "Out Of The Woods"; both tracks exemplified how future Antonoff-produced songs would sound on albums like reputation, Lover and Midnights .

At the time, 1989 became Swift's best-selling album to date. It sold nearly 1.3 million copies within release week in the U.S., debuting atop the Billboard 200 and reigning for 11 non-consecutive weeks. The album also earned Swift several awards — including her second Album Of The Year GRAMMY, which made her the first female artist to ever win the award twice. 

Following the release of 1989 , Swift became a cultural juggernaut, and the album has had an omnipresence in music since. Swift didn't just normalize blending genres, but proved that you can create a sound that is uniquely yours by doing so. In turn, Billie Eilish , Dua Lipa and more pop stars have refused to conform or stick to what they've done prior. 

reputation : Killing The Old Taylor

For years, Swift was on a strict two-year cycle — she'd release an album one year, tour the next, and then release a new album the following year. But following the heightened scrutiny and highly publicized tabloid drama that followed the end of the 1989 era, Swift completely disappeared for a year. She stayed away from public appearances, didn't do any press, and missed the album schedule fans became accustomed to. It wasn't until summer 2017 when she returned from her media (and social media) blackout to unveil the fitting title for her new album: reputation .

Born as a response to the naysayers and name-callers, reputation follows Swift shedding her public image — which includes the pressure to be perfect, the drama, and the criticism — by declaring, "There will be no further explanation. There will just be reputation." Leaning on the same tongue-in-cheek songwriting techniques she used while penning "Blank Space," Swift wrote from the mindset of how the public perceived her.

When Swift released the lead single "Look What You Made Me Do," a song she initially wrote as a poem about not trusting specific people, many assumed the album would center on vengeance and drama. Although Swift said that the album has its vindictive moments — even declaring that the "old Taylor" is dead on the bridge of "Look What You Made Me Do" — it's a vulnerable record for her. Swift described reputation as a bait-and-switch; at their core, the songs are about finding love in the darkest moments. 

Swift still remained in the pop lane with reputation , largely leaning on Antonoff and the Martin/Shellback team. The sound almost mirrored the scrutiny Swift faced in the years prior — booming electropop beats, maximalist production and pulsing synthesizers dominate, particularly on "End Game," "I Did Something Bad," and "Ready For It…?" But the "old Taylor" isn't entirely gone on songs like "Call It What You Want," "So It Goes…" and "New Year's Day," where she lets her guard down to write earnest love odes.

Even after Swift spent some time away from the spotlight, the public didn't immediately gravitate toward her return. And even despite matching the 1.2 million first-week sales of her previous releases, some concluded that the album was her first commercial failure when compared to 1989 . With time, though, it became clear that the response to reputation became muddled with the public's overall perception of her at the time — some even claimed that Swift was ahead of her time with the album's overall sound.

For her 2023 TIME Person of the Year profile , Swift described reputation as a "goth-punk moment of female rage at being gaslit by an entire social structure." For years, she felt the pressure to be "America's Sweetheart" and to never step out of line. Writing reputation became a lifeline following the events that catalyzed it  — a way to shed the so-called snakeskin and make peace with however the public wanted to view her. 

Lover : Stepping Into The Daylight

After finding love amongst chaos with reput ation, Swift was learning to deal with the anxiety and fear of losing her partner — became a major theme of another aptly titled album, Lover . Both sonically and visually, Lover was a complete change from reputation . After touring reputation , Swift found that her fans saw her as "a flesh-and-blood human being," inspiring her to be "brave enough to be vulnerable" because her fans were along with her. Stepping away from the dark and antagonistic themes around reputation encouraged Swift to step into the light and be playful with her work on Lover .

Swift also found a new sense of creativity within this new mindset, one where she aimed to still embed playful themes in her songwriting but with less snark than that of "Blank Space" and "Look What You Made Me Do." Leaning into Lover being a "love letter to love," Swift explored every aspect of it. Tracks like "Paper Rings" and "London Boy" exude a whimsical energy, even if they center on more serious themes like marriage and commitment. Other songs, including "Death By A Thousand Cuts" and "Cornelia Street," are Swift at her most vulnerable, reflecting on a love lost and grappling with the extreme worry that comes when you could potentially lose someone. 

Looking at Lover retrospectively, it's an album that almost symbolizes a bookend in her discography. She was playful yet poignant, picking apart her past lyrics and feelings and looking at them with the perspective of someone who was once on top of the world, hit rock bottom, and survived in spite of it. This evolution is mentioned throughout Lover, particularly in a direct callback to 2012's Red , "Daylight," which sees her describe her love as "golden" rather than "burning red." 

Lover also marked the first time Swift divulged into politics and societal issues, like campaigning against Donald Trump, releasing the Pride-infused "You Need To Calm Down," and feeling disillusioned by the political climate with "Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince." Swift's documentary Miss Americana explores this change further, discussing how she regrets not being vocal about politics and issues prior, in addition to opening up about her body image issues and mental health struggles.

Lover became Swift's sixth No. 1 album in America, making her the first female artist to achieve the feat. But Lover was more than any accolades could reflect — it was Swift's transitional album in many ways, notably marking the first album that she owned entirely herself following leaving Big Machine Records for Republic Records in 2018.

folklore : Looking Beyond Her Personal Stories

After the pandemic started and Swift cancelled her Lover Fest, she spent the early stages of quarantine reading and watching a myriad of films. Without exactly setting out to create an album, she began dreaming of fictional stories and characters with various narrative arcs, allowing her imagination to run free. The result became folklore , 2020's surprise archetypal quarantine album.

Crafting a world with characters like the folklore love triangle between those in "betty" and "august," as well as Rebekah Harkness from "the last great american dynasty" (who once lived in Swift's Rhode Island mansion), was Swift's way of venturing outside her typical autobiographical style of writing. She'd see visceral images in her mind — from battleships to tree swings to mirrored disco balls — and turned them into stories, sometimes weaving in her own personal narrative throughout, or taking on a narrator role and speaking from the perspective of someone she had never met. 

She worked remotely with two producers — again working with her right-hand man Jack Antonoff, and first-time collaborator Aaron Dessner from The National . Some songs, like "peace," were recorded in just one take, capturing the essence and fragility in the song's story, whereas the lyrics for the sun-drenched "august" were penned on the spot as Swift was in her makeshift home studio in Los Angeles.

Another aspect that separated folklore from her previous work was the obvious decision not to create hits made for radio play, so much so that Dessner claimed that she made an anti-pop record at a time when radio wanted clear "bops." Sonically, it ventured into genres Swift hadn't explored much outside of a few folkier tracks on Lover . Rather than relying on mostly electronic elements, Swift, Antonoff and Dessner weaved in soft pianos, ethereal strings, and plucky guitars.

folklore 's impact on the zeitgeist at a time where everyone was stuck at home helped shape people's quarantine experience. Fans rejoiced at having songs to comfort them during difficult times, and artists like Maya Hawke , Gracie Abrams , and Sabrina Carpenter credit folklore for inspiring them to create and be even more emotionally honest in their songwriting. After its release, folklore became the best-selling album of 2020 after selling 1.2 million records. At the 2021 GRAMMYs, folklore took home Album Of The Year , making her the fourth artist in history to win three times in the Category. 

evermore : Embracing Experimentation

It was exciting enough for Swifties to experience one surprise album drop from Swift, an artist who typically has an entire album campaign calculated. So when evermore was released just six months after folklore , fans were in shock. 

Like its (literally) folklorian sister, evermore was a surprise release at the end of 2020, marking the first time Swift didn't have distinct "eras" between albums. She felt like there was something "different" with folklore , stating in a social media post that making it was less like she was "departing" and more like she was "returning" to the next stage of her discography. In turn, the album served as a similar escape for Swift as folklore did.

Bridging together the same wistful and nostalgic themes as heard on its predecessor, evermore sees Swift venture even further into escapism. She explores more stories and characters, some based in fiction like "dorothea," and some real, like "marjorie," written in dedication to Swift's grandmother. 

Evermore follows folklore 's inclusion of natural imagery and motifs, like landscapes, skies, ivy, and celestial elements. In contrast to the fairytale motifs and happy endings of Fearless , evermore saw Swift become fixated on "unhappy" endings — stories of failed marriages ("happiness"), lifeless relationships ("tolerate it"), and one-time flings ("'tis the damn season"). 

Sonically, evermore is a slight departure from its sister record; where folklore relies on more alt-leaning and indie-tinged sounds, evermore takes the sonics from all of Swift's past records — from pop to country to indie rock — and features all of them on one album. Country songs like "cowboy like me" and "no body, no crime" reaches back to Swift's earlier work in narrative building, seamlessly crafting a three-party story with ease. "Closure" is a "skittering" track that has the same energy as tracks like Lover 's "I Forgot That You Existed," whereas the ballad "champagne problems" is thematically reminiscent of Swift's Speak Now track "Back To December" where she takes responsibility for her lover's heartache. 

Working mostly with Dessner on evermore , Swift was emboldened to continue creating and opted to embrace whatever came naturally to them rather than limiting themselves to a sound. Swift felt a "quiet conclusion" after finishing up evermore , describing that it was more about grappling with endings of all "sizes and shapes," and the record represented a chapter closing. Even so, its poetic lyricism and mystical storytelling cleverly foreshadowed what was to come with subsequent albums, particularly The Tortured Poets Department .

Midnights : Encapsulating Her Artistic Magic

After coming out of the folklorian woods following folklore and evermore , fans and critics alike were intrigued to see what direction Swift would take on her next studio album. On Midnights , Swift leaves behind indie folk sounds and returns to the pop production of 1989 and Lover .

Her most conceptual album to date, Midnights charts 13 sleepless nights and explores five themes, from self-hatred and revenge to "what if" fantasies, falling in love, and falling apart. They are the things that keep her up at night, like the self-critiquing in "Anti-Hero," her rise to fame in "You're on Your Own, Kid," and the anxiety of falling in love again in "Labyrinth." Similarly to Swift's cheeky songwriting style that sees her create caricatures of herself in songs like "Blank Space" and "Look What You Made Me Do," she doubles down on claims she's "calculated" on "Mastermind," a song about devising a plan for her and her lover. 

Although the album is a departure from the two pandemic sister albums, the overall creation process didn't differ too much. In addition to working alongside Antonoff (and bringing Dessner in for the bonus-track-filled 3am Edition), Swift's worldbuilding is still the throughline that connects Midnights and Swift's recent albums, whether she's dreaming of a Parisian escape in "Paris" or using war imagery as a metaphor for the struggle of love in "The Great War."

Read More: 5 Takeaways From Taylor Swift's New Album 'Midnights'

Following the success with folklore and evermore , Swift's intrigue was at a then-all-time high upon the release of Midnights . Along with breaking several streaming records — including becoming the first album to exceed 700 million global streams in a week — it was Swift's 11th No. 1 debut on the Billboard 200, and was the highest-selling album of 2022 (and, remarkably, the second best-selling of 2023).

To say that Swift's celebrity has become otherworldly since the release of Midnights would be an understatement. Celebrating her genre-defying and varied discography through The Eras Tour has resulted in old songs having a resurgence, new inside jokes and Easter eggs within the fandom, and a plethora of new listeners being exposed to Swift's work. 

As a result, there has arguably never been more excitement for a Taylor Swift album than for The Tortured Poets Department — especially because the announcement came on the heels of her lucky 13th GRAMMY win in February. Midnights helped further solidify Swift's larger-than-life status at the finale of the 2024 GRAMMYs, too, as she became the only artist in history to win Album Of The Year four times. 

The Tortured Poets Department : A Grief-Stricken Poetic Odyssey

It’s been a while since Swift has penned a full-fledged breakup album. On The Tortured Poets Department , she navigates the five stages of grief — denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance — after her long-term relationship ended. Taking a page from the release of folklore and evermore , she dropped a double album and announced The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology at 2 a.m. on release day. Throughout a total of 31 tracks, the prolific songwriter shelved the glittery pop radio-friendly tunes in favor of more subdued, synthy and heart-wrenching songs. 

On Instagram, Swift described the album as a collection of poetic songs that reflect the "events, opinions and sentiments from a fleeting and fatalistic moment in time," Swift pulled out the fountain and quill pens to craft songs about the "tortured poets" in her life — sometimes musing about lovers, sometimes taking aim at villains, and sometimes pointing the finger at herself. 

TTPD is also her most confessional album thus far. It pokes fun at so-called fans who overstep with her personal life ("But Daddy I Love Him"), says goodbye to a city that gave her a home ("So Long London"), and muses on how her own celebrity has stunted her growth ("Who's Afraid Of Little Old Me?"). To help explain this chapter of her life, Swift brings together a myriad of collaborators — from Stevie Nicks as fellow poetess, to duets with Florence Welch and Post Malone — and leans on real and fictional characters, like Clara Bow, Peter Pan ("Peter"), and Patti Smith .

In the same post, Swift declared that once she’s confessed all of her saddest stories, she’s able to find freedom. Yet The Tortured Poets Department (and its accompanying 15-track anthology) spends much time reflecting: she toys with her own lore, self-referencing past songs from albums like 1989 and poems from her reputation era. 

Fourteen years ago, Swift declared that she would never change, but she’ll never stay the same either. The Tortured Poets Department proves that in the throughline of Taylor Swift's many artistic eras is a commitment to exploration and a love of autobiographical lyricism.

All Things Taylor Swift

Photo: Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images

25 Years Of Backstreet Boys' "I Want It That Way": 10 Covers By Ed Sheeran, Lil Uzi Vert & More

To commemorate the anniversary of Backstreet Boys' biggest hit, take a look at 10 clever ways it's been covered and sampled — from Ed Sheeran's karaoke bit to a Weird Al special.

When the Backstreet Boys released "I Want It That Way" on April 12, 1999, they likely had no idea how beloved their smash hit would still be a quarter-century later.

Written by the Swedish powerhouse team of Andreas Carlsson and Max Martin , "I Want It That Way" is undoubtedly BSB's signature hit, particularly thanks to its memorable undulating melody and its long-debated cryptic meaning. But perhaps the most surprising part of the song's legacy is how it has resonated across genres — from a TikTok cover by Korn to a hip-hop sampling by Lil Uzi Vert .

As the Backstreet Boys celebrate the 25th anniversary of "I Want It That Way," take a look at how the song has been diversely covered, lovingly lampooned and karaoke jammed by an array of voices in the business.

Weird Al Yankovic (2003)

When the king of parody songs selects one to skewer, you know it's an iconic song. Weird Al Yankovic paid tribute to the largeness of the Backstreet Boys classic when he used "I Want It That Way" as the basis of a song called "eBay" in 2003.

Yankovic's chorus replaces the original's with, "A used pink bathrobe/ A rare mint snow globe/ A Smurf TV tray/ I bought on eBay." The Backstreet Boys send up appears on Yankovic's album Poodle Hat , which won Best Comedy Album at the 2004 GRAMMYs.

One Direction (2013)

Three years One Direction formed on "The X Factor," the five lads — Harry Styles , Zayn Malik, Niall Horan, Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson — included a cover of "I Want It That Way" on their 2013 concert set lists, the young boy band paying homage to the ones that came before them. Though their English accents poked through at times, their version was loyal to the original, and got their crowds singing along.

"Glee" (2013)

Poking fun at the presumed rivalry between *NSYNC and Backstreet Boys, a medley of the former's "Bye Bye Bye" and "I Want It That Way" was featured in Season 4, Episode 16 of "Glee." In the episode — aptly titled "Feud" — choir director Mr. Schuester (Matthew Morrison) and glee club heartthrob Finn (Cory Monteith) face off in an epic boy band battle, which ultimately proved the groups' respective music was more cohesive than divisive.

Brittany Howard and Jim James (2016)

The lead singers of Alabama Shakes and My Morning Jacket covering a boy band classic. It doesn't sound real, but Brittany Howard and Jim James did just that in 2016 when they recorded "I Want It That Way" for an animated short cartoon called "A Love Story."

Released by the fast food chain Chipotle Mexican Grill, the clip was part of a creative campaign to showcase the company's focus on natural ingredients. Howard and James highlight the poignancy and versatility of the song by adding lush string arrangements and dramatic beats.

Backstreet Boys x Jimmy Fallon and The Roots (2018)

The 2018 live performance of "I Want It That Way" by the Backstreet Boys, Jimmy Fallon and The Roots for "The Tonight Show" is arguably the sweetest rendition of the song — and not just because they're using a mini xylophone, baby tambourine and other toy classroom instruments. It's even more endearing than the previous collaborations between Fallon and Backstreet Boys: a barbershop singing version of Sisqo's "Thong Song" and a "Bawkstreet Boys" version of "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)," with everyone dressed like fluffy birds.

The 1975 (2020)

British rockers The 1975 performed a fairly faithful cover of "I Want It That Way," hitting all the high notes at several of their 2023 world concert tour stops. But it's not the first time frontman Matty Healy has hinted at the Backstreet Boys' influence on his band: he told Pitchfork in 2020 that " College Dropout -era Kanye West meets Backstreet Boys" was part of their veritable moodboard at the time when working on their own song called "Tonight (I Wish I Was Your Boy)."

Lil Uzi Vert (2020)

In 2020, Lil Uzi Vert released a rap song called "That Way" that includes a refrain of "I want it that way" sung to the tune of the Backstreet original, but with an AutoTune twist. From there, the lyrics become quite a bit naughtier than anything the BSB guys have uttered in any song.

"I don't know how [the idea of] Backstreet Boys got involved in this song, I really don't," the song's producer Supah Mario told Splice at the time. "I think it was all Uzi. But it was a game changer."

The interpolation was so good, in fact, that Nick Carter even invited Lil Uzi Vert to collaborate: "Now you're gonna have to be featured on our next album bud," he tweeted upon the song's release.

Korn (2022)

Fans of Korn know that the nu metal band has a sense of humor, but few could've expected that Jonathan Davis and crew would post a TikTok of themselves singing "I Want It That Way" in 2022.

"I never wanna hear you say… 'Worst Is On Its Way,'" reads the caption on the post, a tongue-in-cheek reference to Korn's 2022 song of the same name.

Backstreet Boys responded on the app via a hilarious Duet video with Nick Carter. In the video, Carter — who sports fabulous metal eye makeup and a long silver wig — doesn't actually say or sing anything, he just drops his jaw in amazement.

Backstreet Boys x Downy (2022)

Downy hired the Backstreet Boys to poke fun at "I Want It That Way" with the now-viral "Tell Me Why" commercial in 2022. All five members — Nick Carter, Howie Dorough , Brian Littrell , AJ McLean and Kevin Richardson — appear as a Backstreet Boys poster on the wall that comes to life, using the "tell me why" hook of their hit to engage a woman doing laundry in a conversation about washing her clothes.

As Saatchi group account director Jen Brotman told Muse at the time, the nostalgic ad also spawned some memories for the folks working on the ad campaign.

"The moment [BSB] stood in front of the camera, they rehearsed 'I Want It That Way' just to get the notes right, and we felt like we were getting serenaded on set," Brotman recalled. "We couldn't believe how emotional we all got — there may or may not have been tears in some eyes. The song has always been a karaoke favorite of the team, so we knew which 'tell me whys' we wanted them to hit, and we still can't get it out of our heads."

Ed Sheeran (2023)

When he fancies singing a bit of karaoke, Ed Sheeran loves leaning on "I Want It That Way," as the star showed at his favorite Nashville bar in July 2023. A patron caught him on camera and his happiness level is undeniable when belting out this enduring pop classic.

As Sheeran told CBS News a few months later, he grew up on the pop hits of everyone from Backstreet Boys to Britney Spears . But what he said about "I Want It That Way" specifically may be the best way to describe its long-lasting impact: "You can't be in a bar, a couple of beers in, and 'I Want It That Way' comes on and not be like, 'This is a good song.' You can't."

24 Songs Turning 20: Listen To 2004's Bangers, From "Yeah!" To "Since U Been Gone"

• 1 Songbook: How Madonna Became The Queen Of Pop & Reinvention, From Her 'Boy Toy' Era To The Celebration Tour
• 2 Global Spin: Watch VASSY Search For The “Off Switch” In This Acoustic Performance Of Her New Single
• 3 Disney's Golden Age Of Pop: Revisit 2000s Jams From Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez & More
• 4 Songbook: An Era-By-Era Breakdown Of Taylor Swift's Journey From Country Starlet To Pop Phenomenon
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Madonna announces Celebration greatest hits world tour

Singer will celebrate four decades in music with a 35-date run beginning in Vancouver on 15 July, with one date at London’s O2 Arena on 14 October

Madonna has announced a tour celebrating her 40 years as a recording and touring artist. Dubbed the Celebration tour, the 35-date run will begin in Vancouver, Canada, on 15 July, and run through to winter, ending on 1 December at Amsterdam’s Ziggo Dome.

First teased in a promotional video for last year’s dance chart No 1s album Finally Enough Love, the Celebration tour was officially announced in a clip parodying Madonna’s 1991 tour film Truth or Dare. In the video, celebrities including Diplo, Jack Black, Lil Wayne and Amy Schumer play a game of truth or dare with Madonna, which culminates with Schumer “daring” Madonna to embark on a greatest hits tour. “You think people would come to that show?” Madonna asks. “The answer is – fuck yeah.”

Per a press release, the Celebration tour will showcase “Madonna’s artistic journey through four decades and pays respect to the city of New York where her career in music began.”

Supporting Madonna on all dates is drag performer Bob the Drag Queen, AKA Caldwell Tidicue. Best known for winning season eight of RuPaul’s Drag Race, Tidicue has also released a handful of singles, starred in a production of Angels in America at the Berkeley Repertory Theater, and hosts a podcast, Sibling Rivalry, with Monét X Change.

The Celebration tour is Madonna’s 12th concert tour. The last time she went on the road was in 2019 and 2020, when she performed in intimate venues in support of her album Madame X. That run saw her play 12 shows at the 2,200-capacity London Palladium, with similarly lengthy stints in New York, Los Angeles and more.

The only UK date of the Celebration tour announced thus far is on 14 October at London’s 20,000-capacity O2 Arena. In a statement, Madonna said: “I am excited to explore as many songs as possible in hopes to give my fans the show they have been waiting for.”

Live Nation, the producer of the Celebration tour, has faced criticism in recent months, with the US government currently in the midst of an antitrust investigation into the touring giant and Ticketmaster parent company over whether it has abused its power in the entertainment industry. Scrutiny intensified in November, when Taylor Swift slammed Ticketmaster over the bungled pre-sale for her own greatest hits shows, dubbed the Eras tour.

In a letter to the company, the US Senate’s antitrust committee chair Amy Klobuchar expressed “serious concern about the state of competition in the ticketing industry and its harmful impact on consumers”.

Tickets for the Celebration tour go on sale on 20 January and are available from Madonna’s website .

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Madonna Unveils Ultimate Greatest Hits Show ‘The Celebration Tour’

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Truth or dare? ? Madonna has rarely ever been one to shy away from the latter. In an announcement video that nods to her documentary of the same title, a slate of special guests prompts her with a challenge: “I dare you to do a world tour and play your greatest motherfucking hits.”

Madonna: the Celebration tour will span 40 years of the singer’s career, bringing her greatest hits to 35 cities across North America and Europe. “I am excited to explore as many songs as possible in hopes to give my fans the show they have been waiting for,” Madonna shared in a statement.

On Thursday, she added an additional 13 dates due to “overwhelming demanded.”

General sale for the Celebration tour begins Friday, Jan. 20, at 10 a.m. local time. More information is available via the official Madonna website .

Bob the Drag Queen – who appears in the announcement video alongside Diplo, Judd Apatow, Jack Black, Lil Wayne, Bob The Drag Queen, Kate Berlant, Larry Owens, Meg Stalter, and Eric Andre – will join as support across the entire tour.

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Madonna announces north american and european dates for 2023 celebration tour.

The superstar will explore her musical journey across four decades through concerts announced in a video featuring Amy Schumer, Lil Wayne, Kate Berlant, Jack Black, Judd Apatow, Eric Andre, Diplo and more.

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Madonna announced dates for her Celebration Tour on Tuesday with the help of some Hollywood friends.

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The tour will kick off this July in Vancouver and end in December in Amsterdam, spanning 35 cities in total across North America and Europe. Other major stops during the first leg include Detroit, Chicago, New York, Miami and Los Angeles, with 11 additional dates outside North America — in London, Barcelona, Paris and Stockholm, among others — slated for the fall and early winter.

Produced by Live Nation and featuring Bob the Drag Queen (Caldwell Tidicue) at all dates on the tour, the music event will honor Madonna’s musical journey across four decades with a special celebration of New York, the city where her career began. “I am excited to explore as many songs as possible in hopes to give my fans the show they have been waiting for,” Madonna said in a statement included in her tour announcement .

Celebration Tour tickets go on sale at madonna.com/tour starting Friday at 10 a.m. local time. U.S. Citi cardmembers, European and Canadian AMEX cardmembers as well as Legacy members of Madonna’s official fan club will have access to separate presales. VIP packages — featuring premium tickets, exclusive access to a behind-the-scenes tour, a group photo onstage, a pre-show reception, a limited edition lithograph and more — will also be available at vipnation.com . 

The Celebration tour arrives nearly 40 years after Madonna’s 1985 North American Virgin Tour. Madonna last toured in 2019 and early 2020 as part of her Madame X theater tour.

More on the Celebration tour, including its dates and presales, can be found at madonna.com .

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Madonna’s Celebration Tour Is More Than Just Another Greatest Hits Show

By Shaad D’Souza

At Beyoncé’s Renaissance tour , you wear silver, as decreed by the queen. At the Eras tour , you don an outfit that corresponds to your favorite chapter of Taylor Swift’s career. At Madonna’s Celebration tour , which opened in London last weekend, the crowd’s costumes were decidedly more muted, but no less devotional. A quick scan revealed that a good deal of the audience—mostly middle-aged women and gay men—was wearing T-shirts from past Madonna tours: rare Girlie Show relics from 1993, brightly-colored tees sold on 2006’s Confessions tour, hugely coveted Blond Ambition bomber jackets that date back 33 years. Much of this vintage merch was threadbare and faded—but worn with ecstatic pride.

The shirts made for an appropriate uniform given the show’s unspoken central theme: I’m still kicking . Madonna’s first arena tour in seven years lived up to its name, as a celebration of both her remarkable artistry and of the fact that, yes, she’s still singing and dancing, despite almost all her contemporaries being retired, dead, or relegated to the oldies circuit. The 65-year-old nearly died earlier this year, after a bacterial infection landed her in the hospital ; while she didn’t address her illness directly at Tuesday night’s show, she did seem earnestly grateful to see 20,000 adoring fans staring back at her. “Thanks for hanging in there for me, I appreciate it,” she said, before snapping back into Madonna mode: “Now enough of this sentimental bullshit.”

When the Celebration tour was announced, it seemed like a capitulation, at long last, to those wishing for a cut-and-dry greatest hits set—something that Madonna seemingly views as a fate worse than death, given her prickly relationship with her own legacy. In reality, the show was far more complicated and curated: While it wasn’t lacking in beloved classics, it often came across like Madonna’s attempt to relitigate the trajectory of her own career, which has experienced more peaks and valleys than nearly any other performer of her ilk. The biggest hits of each of her records were often eschewed for other singles that weren’t as commercially dominant: Ray of Light ’s “Nothing Really Matters” instead of “Frozen”; “Into the Groove” and “Burning Up” but no “Borderline” or “Material Girl”; “Bedtime Story” and “Rain” but no “Take a Bow,” her longest-running U.S. chart-topper.

It would be hard to come away from Celebration feeling shortchanged, though. Madonna’s voice arguably sounded the best it has since Ray of Light , when she had undergone rigorous vocal training for Evita . She glided above ballads like “Human Nature” and “Crazy for You,” yodeled through “Ray of Light,” and didn’t miss a beat on any of her ’80s material, recorded when her voice was markedly higher.

The set was filled with guests, all of them in complete reverence of the woman whose name was on the flag flying high above the O2 Arena. Diplo received a lap dance from a male dancer and judged a drag ball with Madonna during “Vogue.” Three of Madonna’s children appeared: Mercy, playing grand piano on “Bad Girl”; David, playing guitar on “Mother and Father”; and 11-year-old Estere, who received rapturous applause as she vogued and held her own alongside the professionals during “Don’t Tell Me.”

The show opened with the night’s MC, Drag Race winner and comedian Bob the Drag Queen, dressed in full Madonna-as-Marie-Antoinette regalia. Bob proceeded to remind the audience of their hero’s humble origins—arriving in New York on a bus from Detroit with $35 in her pocket—and of just how much culture she’s shifted over the intervening 40 years: “She taught us a lot over the years: She taught us how to dance, she taught us how to express ourselves, she taught us how to party, and she taught us how to fuck.”

Madonna and Bob the Drag Queen at London’s O2 Arena on October 15, 2023

The rest of the show felt like an Architectural Digest walkthrough of the Madonna archives, as she shimmied across three catwalks, stepping into sets that echoed past tours and iconic moments. The circular main stage occasionally rose to three tiers, in a nod to her scandalous “Like a Virgin” performance from 1984; at one point, she sat next to a dancer dressed like ’80s Madonna (“I keep her always in my heart… I’m gonna go over here and give her a hug, because she went through it”) and at another she laid down with a dancer wearing a Blond Ambition-era cone bra. In the show’s spectacular final moments, dozens of Madonnas flooded the stage, from Erotica -era dominatrix Madge to the pink-leotarded “Hung Up” iteration, all dancing along to the underrated Rebel Heart cut “Bitch I’m Madonna,” which was co-produced by SOPHIE.

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By Pitchfork

By Nina Corcoran

Throughout, Madonna was careful to throw in reminders of just how influential she’s been: The hook of Sam Smith and Kim Petras’ “Unholy” introduced “Like a Prayer” (an insane tonal jump); before “Hung Up,” Madonna “FaceTimed” the Gen Z Dominican star Tokischa , who rapped a few bars of their collaborative remix of the song before Madonna performed the real thing; and a video montage featured old clips of stars like Ariana Grande and Beyoncé speaking about the impact of her career. In the past, Madonna’s moments of legacy-affirmation could be outright mean—see her MDNA tour performance of “Express Yourself” that worked Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” into a track titled, ahem, “She’s Not Me”—but these nods didn’t feel like they were score-settling or bratty.

Madonna’s shows are known for being meticulous and highly conceptual, but this bricolage of past styles and aesthetics made Celebration feel unusually scrappy. That ramshackle quality was also the show’s greatest strength, allowing for brilliant choreographed moments, like a recreation of the dance from the “Don’t Tell Me” video, alongside Madonna’s trademark vaudevillian raunch (making out with one of her topless female dancers after “Hung Up”) and sections that felt off-the-cuff. She shredded and noodled her way through “Burning Up” on electric guitar, as images of CBGB flashed in the background, turning a 40-year-old song into something punchy and galvanizing. And throughout the show, the often-imperious star looked to be having as much fun as anyone in the crowd, cracking jokes with her dancers, bantering with Bob, and giggling as she, blindfolded and dressed in lingerie, was guided up and down the catwalk during “Hung Up.”

Madonna playing “Burning Up” at the O2 Arena on October 15, 2023

For all the festivities, the show didn’t shy away from an aspect of Madonna’s career that’s become more and more clear over the past 20 years: The life of a trailblazer is a solitary one. She performed the wounded 2003 track “Mother and Father,” about the death of her mother and subsequent alienation from her father, with her son David; the song is reviled by fans for its middle-eight rap, but I find it to be one of the most shattering songs in her entire oeuvre, and this performance captured all its icy, grief-stricken anger.

As she sang “Live to Tell,” from 1986’s True Blue , the arena was filled with large screens bearing the names and faces of those lost to AIDS. Floating above the crowd in a silver frame, Madonna gazed at the faces of cultural icons like Keith Haring, Arthur Ashe, and Cookie Mueller, sometimes looking genuinely distraught. The scene telegraphed an almost-uncomfortable sense of loneliness; Madonna is often championed as one of the only celebrities brave enough to speak about the AIDS crisis in the ’80s and ’90s, and this was a moment that showed the flipside of that coin with stark sobriety. At other points, she paid tribute to her late pop peers, Michael Jackson and Prince. These constant reminders of death created a sense of immense gratitude, both from Madonna to the audience and vice-versa. What could have been one of the show’s most wan moments—an acoustic cover of “I Will Survive”—was met with raucous approval. “Did you think I’d lay down and die?” she sang. “No fucking way.”

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Madonna Announces 'The Celebration Tour'

Today, Madonna announced Madonna: The Celebration Tour , in an iconic viral video with a wink to her groundbreaking film Truth or Dare. The video  (click here for trailer version) features notable names such as Diplo, Judd Apatow, Jack Black, Lil Wayne, Bob The Drag Queen, Kate Berlant, Larry Owens, Meg Stalter, Eric Andre and culminates with Amy Schumer daring the global superstar to go on tour and perform her four decades of mega hits. Madonna, the best-selling female solo touring artist of all time, rises to the challenge announcing The Celebration Tour which will be highlighting her unmatched catalog of music from the past 40 plus years. Produced by Live Nation, the 35-city global tour will kick off in North America on Saturday, July 15th at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, BC with stops in Detroit, Chicago, New York, Miami, Los Angeles, and more before making its way to Europe where she will hit 11 cities throughout the fall, including London, Barcelona, Paris, and Stockholm, among others. The Celebration Tour will wrap in Amsterdam, NL on Friday, December 1st at Ziggo Dome. The Celebration Tour will take us on Madonna’s artistic journey through four decades and pays respect to the city of New York where her career in music began. “I am excited to explore as many songs as possible in hopes to give my fans the show they have been waiting for,” states Madonna. The Celebration Tour will offer a one-of-a-kind experience with special guest Bob the Drag Queen a.k.a. Caldwell Tidicue across all dates on the global tour. TICKETS: Tickets go on sale Friday, January 20 and Friday, January 27at 10am local time at madonna.com/tour .

FAN CLUB PRESALE:  Legacy members of Madonna’s Official Fan Club will have a pre-sale opportunity for the shows that go on sale on Friday, January 20 beginning Tuesday, January 17 at 12pm ET through Wednesday, January 18 at 5pm ET for the North America based shows and from 9am GMT/10am CET to 5pm GMT/6pm CET on Wednesday, January 18 for UK and European shows. An additional Legacy pre-sale for the North American based shows going on sale on January 27th begins on Monday, January 23 (10am) through Wednesday, January 25 (5pm). U.S. CITI PRESALE: Citi is the official card of Madonna The Celebration Tour. Citi cardmembers will have access to presale tickets for shows going on sale January 20th beginning Tuesday, January 17 at 2pm local time through Thursday, January 19 at 6pm local time through the Citi Entertainment program. The Citi cardmember presale for the shows going on sale on January 27 will begin Tuesday, January 24 at 10am local time through Thursday, January 26 at 6pm local time. For complete presale details visit www.citientertainment.com . CANADA AMEX PRESALE:  American Express Cardmembers will have access to presale tickets in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal beginning Wednesday January 18 at 10am local time through Thursday, January 19 at 6pm local time. Visit ticketmaster.ca/americanexpress)] to purchase tickets.  Ticket limits & terms apply. EUROPE AMEX PRESALE: American Express Cardmembers can purchase tickets to Madonna’s tour in Sweden, France, Italy, Netherlands, Spain and Belgium before the general public. Pre-sale open from 18 January at 9am, until 19 January at 6pm. VIP: Fans can also purchase VIP Packages, which may include premium tickets, exclusive access to a behind the scenes tour, group photo on-stage, pre-show reception, limited edition lithograph & more. For more information, visit vipnation.com . THE CELEBRATION TOUR NORTH AMERICAN DATES:   Sat Jul 15 – Vancouver, BC – Rogers Arena Tue Jul 18 – Seattle, WA – Climate Pledge Arena Sat Jul 22 – Phoenix, AZ – Footprint Center Tue Jul 25 – Denver, CO – Ball Arena Thu Jul 27 – Tulsa, OK – BOK Center Sun Jul 30 – St. Paul, MN – Xcel Energy Center Wed Aug 02 – Cleveland, OH – Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse Sat Aug 05 – Detroit, MI – Little Caesars Arena Mon. Aug 07 – Pittsburgh, PA – PPG Paints Arena Wed Aug 09 – Chicago, IL – United Center Sun Aug 13 – Toronto, ON – Scotiabank Arena Sat Aug 19 – Montreal, QC – Centre Bell Wed Aug 23 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden Thu Aug 24 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden Wed Aug 30 – Boston, MA – TD Garden Sat Sep 02 – Washington, DC – Capital One Arena Tue Sep 05 – Atlanta, GA – State Farm Arena Thu Sep 07 – Tampa, FL – Amalie Arena Sat Sep 09 – Miami, FL – Miami-Dade Arena Wed Sep 13 – Houston, TX – Toyota Center Mon Sep 18 – Dallas, TX – American Airlines Center Thu Sep 21 – Austin, TX – Moody Center ATX Wed Sep 27 – Los Angeles, CA – Crypto.com Arena Wed Oct 04 – San Francisco, CA – Chase Center Sat Oct 07 – Las Vegas, NV – T-Mobile Arena THE CELEBRATION TOUR EUROPE DATES:  Sat Oct 14 – London, UK – The O2 Sat Oct 21 – Antwerp, BE – Sportpaleis Wed. Oct. 25 – Copenhagen, DK – Royal Arena Sat Oct 28 – Stockholm, SE – Tele2 Wed Nov 01 – Barcelona, ES – Palau Sant Jordi Mon Nov 06 – Lisbon, PT – Altice Arena Sun Nov 12 – Paris, FR – Accor Arena Mon Nov 13 – Paris, FR – Accor Arena Wed Nov 15 – Cologne, DE – Lanxess Arena Thu Nov 23 – Milan, IT – Mediolanum Forum Tue Nov 28 – Berlin, DE – Mercedes-Benz Arena Fri Dec 1 – Amsterdam, NL – Ziggo Dome

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Madonna announces music tour celebrating 40 years of hits

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Madonna’s ‘The Celebration Tour’ gives fans 40 years of music in one night

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SAN FRANCISCO ( KRON ) – Madonna , the ultimate mononym, graced the Chase Center stage on Wednesday during the second night of her San Francisco stop of “The Celebration Tour.”

The seven-time Grammy Award winner celebrated four decades of music taking the audience on her journey through song and theatrics. The long-awaited tour dates were postponed in October due to the pop star’s recent health concerns and then was postponed again in January.

Madonna announces 2023 SF tour stop, will span 40 years of music

The 65-year-old entertainer brought a wide range of ages to the sold-out arena. In true Madonna fashion, there was plenty of kissing and floor crawling. With singles such as “Burning Up,” “Celebration,” “Ray of Light,” “Take a Bow,” and “Like a Prayer,” Madonna and her dancers performed salaciously and seductively.

Bob the Drag Queen kicked off the show, hyping up the crowd and explaining the show would display multiple periods of Madonna’s life. Madonna’s first performance was her 1999 single “Nothing Really Matters.”

The majority of the production was her chronological order of hits with the anecdotes and stories of how the songs came about.

Madonna is a strong supporter of the LGBTQIA community, which has always reflected in her music and this tour was not any different. Madonna also celebrated the LGBTQIA community and ballroom cultures. The event ended with a runway voguing competition.

The concert was also a family affair for Madonna. Her daughter Estere danced to her ballroom classic “Vogue.” Madonna’s other daughter, Mercy James, assisted in the “Bad Girl” performance delivering the piano performance.

This upbeat full-house show did not shy away from the tougher times Madonna has faced, including losing friends to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 80s. The song “In This Life” highlighted multiple people who died from the epidemic and are still suffering from the disease.

Madonna shared a story about the worst road trip of her life: Michigan to San Francisco as a teenager. She jokingly described it as “the miserable experience of her life.” Teenage Madonna still managed to get grounded on the trip. Despite not being allowed to roam the streets, she still was able to describe San Franciscans as having a sense of “freedom.”

“San Francisco looked like heaven to me,” Madonna said as the crowd burst with appreciation.

Madonna’s stories stole the show, and connecting with the audience on a human level engaged her adoring fans more. Her beer bottle breaks (which she confirmed wasn’t actually beer) made the crowd cheer harder in between songs.

Madonna did have a task for the audience, while the crowd illuminated the arena.

“When you leave here tonight, I want you to share your light with each other, with your friends, families, lovers, and most importantly your enemies,” Madonna said. “It will make a difference. I promise you.”

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KRON4.

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Madonna tells fans it is 'a miracle that I’m alive' at Celebration tour concert

NEW YORK – “No one is more surprised that I have made it this far than me. I didn’t think I was gonna make it this summer, but … here I am.”

With that address after the first three songs of her Celebration Tour, Madonna bridged 40 years of pop stardom with one very frightening health incident in June, a blunt assessment of both her atypical longevity and the fragility of her – or anyone’s − future.

A week after concluding a 27-show outing through Europe with her career-spanning production, Madonna , 65, reactivated her elaborate tour Wednesday at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, the first of three sold-out shows at the venue as part of her North American sprint through April.

Neither age nor consideration will sway Madonna’s stubborn fixation with taking the stage at a time when most concertgoers are preparing for work the next morning – 10:50 on this night. Plenty of fans who have experienced her aversion to punctuality on previous tours have vowed to stay away, but forgiveness is quick among Madonna devotees, a colorful crowd dotted with feather boas, sequins and corsets who packed the venue to the rafters.

Though Madonna has never been one for nostalgia and cozy reminiscing, she is also shrewd enough to note the popularity of her younger peers unspooling their musical stories (so far) with stadium blowouts.

If anyone deserves a bow in the spotlight, it’s the undisputed Queen of Pop. She bulldozed every adversity after moving to New York from Detroit at 19, circumvented her vocal limitations with crafty originality and hustle, developed into an ace businesswoman and musical tastemaker, and remains an inspiration for many.

Madonna doesn’t need to be out there, wonky left knee sheathed in a sleeve , teetering atop chairs and skipping through a glistening “Open Your Heart” with her nimble posse of dancers or gliding over the crowd in a Plexiglas box to sing, quite robustly, the lovely “Live to Tell.”

But tell her she can’t do something and she’d likely reference her 2015 hit, played near the end of this two-hour-plus spectacle: “Bitch, I’m Madonna.”

Madonna Celebration Tour: See the setlist for her iconic career-spanning show

Madonna turns reflective: ‘I feel like I’m one of the lucky ones’

This Celebration Tour was almost anything but triumphant after Madonna spent several days in the ICU this summer because of a severe bacterial infection, which prompted the postponement of her North American dates until now.

Her elation at being back on stage was unmistakable not only through her comments −“You have no idea the enthusiasm, the joy, coming out of my pores,” she said before strapping on a guitar to play “I Love New York” for the first time this tour – but through her movements.

An onstage camera captured refreshingly real shots of her cavorting with her team during “Holiday” (with a bit of Chic’s “I Want Your Love” nestled into the groove) and her “Vogue” routine of judging her stylishly clad dancers – including daughter Estere − as they sashayed down the lighted stage runway was a goofy giggle-fest.

One of the most poignant moments in a show packed with visuals including a spinning circular stage − tiered to evoke memories of the wedding cake from her iconic 1984 MTV VMAs performance – unique video scrolls that rolled open in various spots around the arena and pyramids of lasers, came with Madonna and a guitar.

Shortly after engaging in the thumbs-hooked-through-belt-loops dance routine for the stuttering country-pop of “Don’t Tell Me,” Madonna again chatted with fans.

“It’s a miracle that I’m alive,” she said. “I feel like I’m one of the lucky ones. … Let’s take a moment to be grateful.”

With that, she asked the crowd to turn on their phone lights and dived into a deliberate rendition of Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive,” her voice unaccompanied save for the song’s basic guitar chords.

It was simple, yet stirring, and it made for an unconventional segue into “La Isla Bonita” – with son David Banda on guitar – which, weirdly, worked.

Madonna is still selling sex, but does it have the same effect?

Madonna has always used sex to not only titillate, but also to needle her critics. Even four decades into a career, she isn’t going to limit the raunch factor in her shows.

It’s debatable whether the simulated masturbation on a red velvet bed with a “Vogue”-era doppelganger – staged between the hypnotic chug of “Erotica” and “Justify My Love” – was provocative or a shrug-inducing callback to her 1990 Blond Ambition tour, when those salacious simulations almost got her arrested.

In her red-and-black negligee and knee-high black boots, Madonna cut a seductive figure. But watching her get devoured in a sea of writhing bodies and pet and kiss her topless male and female dancers before a tone-shifting “Hung Up” wasn’t nearly as stimulating as her artful lighted-carousel presentation of “Like a Prayer,” another classic creation of agitation in its time (1989) that now feels subdued.

Madonna has traversed so many musical styles, birthed so many trends whether via fashion, song or attitude, and shattered more glass ceilings that nothing short of a six-hour show coupled with a documentary would fully illuminate the archives of her career.

But The Celebration Tour is an effective commemoration of a woman who has fulfilled every accomplishment yet still possesses a scrappy drive.

“It’s important to never forget where you came from,” Madonna said from the stage. “Always remember the struggle.”

More: Madonna turns 65, so naturally we rank her 65 best songs

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Madonna finally speaks out on ‘near-death’ experience after being in induced coma

The pop icon took to instagram to share the emotional post.

Rhiannon Ingle

Madonna has spoken out on her 'near-death' experience after being put in an induced coma.

The 65-year-old 'Holiday' singer , who has been treating fans to her critically-acclaimed Celebration Tour , left people terrified last June after her management team revealed she'd been admitted to the intensive care unit following a serious bacterial infection .

Fears over the singer's health only intensified after reports emerged that Madonna had been induced into a coma , after she was said to have been found unresponsive in her New York City apartment.

Madonna was able to get back to her home in the Big Apple about a week later, and a few days after that, she shared a statement to thank those who had sent her 'positive energy, prayers and words of healing and encouragement'.

She was scheduled to kick off her 40th anniversary Celebration Tour , all about 'highlighting her unmatched catalog of music from the past 40-plus years', last July but had to postpone it to start in October instead.

Since then, the pop icon has opened up about the traumatic ordeal and shared a sweet message to her entourage.

She took to Instagram yesterday (25 April) to share an update with her 19.3 million followers.

She posted a series of sweet snaps of herself and her team including musicians and dancers who see referred to as her ' children '.

Madonna captioned the photo dump: "On the day before our 80th show of the Celebration Tour I need to acknowledge my incredibly talented children who carried me through this Journey each of them bringing their own unique talent to the stage."

She explained that rehearsals began 'over a year ago' with almost a two-month break waiting for the singer to 'recover from a near-death experience'.

"They never stopped practicing… they never stopped cheering me on and supporting me," Madonna continued. "Their enthusiasm kept me Going!!!

"They were also going to school and rehearsing every night. !! . am so very proud of all of them."

The Grammy award-winning hit-maker continued: "I think what my children learned the most this year of rehearsing and performing is that if you want to follow your dreams, you have to work hard for them.

"And if all of them choose something different later in life, they will never forget this year of blood, sweat, and tears. Nor will I."

She aptly signed off the heartfelt post adding: "It’s a CELEBRATION!"

Earlier this year, Madonna delved into further detail about her time spent in a coma , even going as far as revealing what her first word was when she awoke.

"This show every night is not really so hard on me physically. It’s hard on me emotionally because I’m really telling you the story of my life," she gushed.

"My heart is on my sleeve. I’ve fallen off a lot of horses and broken a lot of bones… but nothing can stop me."

After her assistant revealed that her first word was 'No!', Madonna went on: "I’m pretty sure that was God saying to me, 'Do you want to come? Want to come up with me?'"

Topics:  Madonna , Celebrity , Music , Health , US News

Rhiannon Ingle is a Journalist at LADbible Group. She graduated from the University of Manchester in 2021 in English Literature. Alongside her studies, she was the Lifestyle Editor of The Mancunian, the largest student newspaper in the United Kingdom. Her favourite topics to write about include sex and relationships, bizarre lifestyle trends and all things travel.

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Madonna Talks Life on Tour With Her Kids: “Nothing Brings Me More Happiness”

Madonna has been clear from the beginning that The Celebration Tour is no mere “greatest hits” circuit. It’s more like an artist’s MoMA retrospective blown up into an arena tour showcasing her singular contributions to the culture. It’s also the Queen of Pop’s most deeply personal tour yet, paying tribute to her influences, mentors, parents, and the friends and collaborators she’s lost. Nowhere is that personal touch more apparent than the inclusion of four of her children in the show. Across 78 performances so far, Madonna has worked double-duty as mom with son David and daughters Mercy, Stella, and Estere along for the ride—each one getting their own moment on stage. Mercy accompanies her mother on piano during “Bad Girl,” while David duets with his mom on “Mother and Father” (which, apparently, required the young musician to work up a bit of confidence to do). Twins Stella and Estere meanwhile, show off their dance skills during “Don’t Tell Me” and a segment dedicated to ballroom.

Ahead of her final arena dates in Mexico and a historic (potentially record-breaking) free show in Rio de Janeiro, Madonna sat down to answer questions over e-mail about life on the road with her children.

Madonna with Estere and David.

Madonna with David.

Rocco performed on stage during MDNA , and Lola worked in the wardrobe department on that same tour. Your children always seem to be involved in some capacity with your work. How does that feel as a mother?

I have always been blessed with children who are interested in music, dance, and art. Starting from the top with Lola , who was not only an incredible ballet dancer and and a rhythmic gymnast, switching to musical theater and contemporary dance. Now she is a unique singer and song writer in her own right. When I go on tour, nothing brings me more happiness to know, we are all working on the same show creating the magic together. It would be boring if they were just traveling from hotel to hotel, and occasionally coming to watch the show.  Of course, I am also their mother so sometimes we get on each other’s nerves. We are a family of artists but are also a family and that’s what happens.

Estere during dance practice.

Madonna, Mercy, and her piano teacher Ric’Key Pageot.

It seems like your children have been honing their talents for years. How important is it for you as a mother to make sure they take their art seriously?

Because The Celebration Tour is a retrospective of my life, I thought it made perfect sense to include all of my children still living with me in the show. As they all dance, and play musical instruments, and have been doing so for years.  David has played guitar since he was a child.  Mercy has played piano since she was eight and has been classically trained most of her life. Eventually, when I adopted the twins, they started to play piano and dance as well.  There is always an endless parade of music and dance teachers coming and going in our house. And then we add to that Djing as Estere showed a keen interest in learning. She started taking DJ lessons and took it very seriously.

Madonna and Mercy onstage performing “Bad Girl.”

Each of the children has their own moment in the show. Mercy James playing piano during “Bad Girl” was a highlight. Any back story on how that all came together?

I saw a strange poetic juxtaposition of hedonism, erotic exploration emerging into the light of Mercy, sitting stoically at her grand piano playing Chopin as she beckoned me towards her, making me think about the choices I have made in my life.  Singing “Bad Girl” was kind of a confession, not an apology, and I felt we had an unspoken understanding of what was happening.

Stella dancing during “Don’t Tell Me.”

Stella and Mercy.

Stella performs in “Don’t Tell Me,” which is a big number during the show. How was she with learning the choreography?

Stella, who I would say is my shyest child, comes alive on stage, and I love having her as my little cowgirl. But she happens to be an incredible fine artist, and I’m hoping that she follows in the footsteps of Rocco who after being a B-boy, skater, and graffiti artist has really come into his own as an incredible painter.

David and Madonna performing onstage.

David during the show’s finale.

David singing a verse during “Mother and Father” was fantastic. Has he expressed any interest in following in your footsteps with a musical career? He had originally only played guitar at the beginning of the tour. Did it take some convincing to get him to sing?

“Mother and Father” is one of my favorite moments in the show because it gave me a chance to not only honor my mother and her memory but also to honor David’s mother and her memory. He has always wanted to sing and play guitar.  He loves being on stage. This is nothing new. I love that we both get to sing to our mothers. Much of the show is about motherhood, family, and the importance of that in my artistic life.

Estere showing off her moves.

Estere, backstage in a “Britney Spears” t-shirt.

How did Estere get so into ballroom? Does she have any vogue mentors (aside from you)?

While Estere was learning how to DJ she became interested in ballroom competitions and just by luck, one of my choreographer’s assistants, Ivy Mugler, has her own ballroom house called House of Mugler.  She started taking Estere aside during rehearsals in another room, and within a couple of weeks she was doing death drops and spins and surprising us with her ability.  So, of course we had to turn that section of the show into Estere’s Ball.

Because this tour is a celebration of your entire career, did you kids learn or realize anything new about you?

I think what my children learned the most in this year of rehearsing and performing is that if you want to follow your dreams, you have to work hard for them.  And if all of them choose something different later in life, they will never forget this year of blood, sweat, and tears.

David, Stella, Mercy and Estere.

Estere studying.

The tour just wrapped up its U.S. dates. With five shows in Mexico City coming up and the huge free concert in Rio, what’s going through your mind right now?

This show was created for an indoor arena. Transforming and adapting it to perform outdoors on the beach, with no roof in Rio is going to be quite an undertaking and full of surprises. God willing, we will pull it off, and it will be an experience they will never forget.

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Madonna Pays Tribute to Her Kids as She Shares Behind-the-Scenes Photos with Them from Her Celebration Tour

The singer is mom to six kids — Lourdes, Rocco, David, Mercy, Stella and Estere

Madonna/Instagram

Madonna is taking a minute to honor her kids.

On Thursday, April 25, the singer, 65, shared a series of behind-the-scenes photos on Instagram of herself and her kids from the past few months after they joined her on stage during her Celebration Tour. In the first photo, Madonna is surrounded by three of her six kids — son David, 18 and twins Estere and Stella, 11 — as they engulf her in a group hug.

Other photos show David and Madonna playing guitar together, daughter Mercy, 18, getting a kiss on the cheek from one of her sisters, as well as scenes of all of them on stage with their mother.

"On the day before our 80th show of the Celebration Tour I need to acknowledge my incredibly talented children who carried me through this Journey each of them bringing their own unique talent to the stage," the proud mom began in her caption.

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"Rehearsals began over a year ago with almost a 2 month break waiting for me recover from a near death experience. They never stopped practicing… they never stopped cheering me on and supporting me," she continued. "There [sic] enthusiasm kept me Going!!!"

"They were also going to school and rehearsing every night. !! . am so very proud of all of them. I think what my children learned the most this year of rehearsing and performing is that if you who to follow your dreams, you have to work hard for them."

"And if all of them choose something different later in life, they will never forget this year of blood, sweat, and tears. Nor will I. ♥️ It’s a CELEBRATION," Madonna ended her caption.

In an interview with  W. Magazine earlier this week, the "Material Girl" singer spoke about her Celebration Tour , which concludes in the coming weeks with a few stops in South America.

"When I go on tour, nothing brings me more happiness than to know we are all working on the same show, creating the magic together," the proud mom said. "It would be boring if they were just traveling from hotel to hotel, and occasionally coming to watch the show."

"Of course, I am their mother so sometimes we get on each other's nerves. We are a family of artists but we are also a family, and that's what happens."

Madonna is mom to six kids — Lourdes, 27, Rocco, 23, David, Mercy, and twins Stella and Estere. Her son David and daughters Mercy, Stella and Estere joined her on stage for this tour.

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Will there be international tour dates?

How to buy madonna tickets for 2024 tour.

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Madonna is wrapping up her current concert tour over the next few days with a trilogy of shows in Mexico City. Prices have been climbing over recent days, so you'll have to be sharp if you want to buy Madonna tickets for these dates while you can for the The Celebration Tour.

Before she takes her final bow of the Celebration Tour concert series in April 2024, Madonna will have performed 52 shows across 27 cities in the US, Canada, and Mexico. While many dates earlier in the tour were available for under $100, these final dates will cost you at least $245 at the time of writing. Still, it's a few grand cheaper than the Swifties have been paying this year.

• More events: Olivia Rodrigo tickets | Taylor Swift tickets | Adele tickets | Rolling Stones tickets

With the concert series being a retrospective celebration of her iconic career, The Celebration Tour's setlist unsurprisingly includes plenty of Madonna's timeless hits. Songs like "Like a Prayer," "Vogue," "Don't Cry for Me Argentina," and "Like a Virgin" have been performed across various dates on her tour.

We've got you covered if you're still looking for tickets to Madonna's Celebration Tour. Here's our breakdown of Madonna's remaining 2024 tour schedule, purchasing details, and original and resale ticket prices. You can also browse the available tickets for sale on StubHub and Vivid Seats at your leisure.

Madonna 2024 tour schedule

All concert times are listed in local time zones.

How to buy tickets for Madonna's 2024 concert tour

Madonna tickets have been on sale for a while now, so all original ones via Ticketmaster are long gone.

However, Madonna tickets are still available through verified resale vendors like StubHub and Vivid Seats .

How much do Madonna tickets cost?

The price for standard original tickets to Madonna's 2024 tour varies depending on date, location, and demand. For example, concert dates in major cities like New York City tend to be more expensive.

Standard original tickets still available on Ticketmaster a few weeks ago  were comparable to prices on verified resale platforms. However, the remaining original tickets have all been snapped up though, so resale vendors are your only hope now.

The Celebration Tour originally had VIP tickets available for premium prices. Madonna's 2024 concert series had The Immaculate VIP Package, Iconic VIP Package), You Can Dance Premium Ticket Package, and Where's The Party Premium Ticket Package. The prices for original tickets for each package on Ticketmaster started at $1,750, $895, $545, and $475, respectively.

Who is opening for Madonna's tour?

Madonna has not announced any additional opening acts for her 2024 concert dates. However, the artist is joined by Bob the Drag Queen, a special guest in each of her shows, who helps introduce the concert and interacts with Madonna as the emcee.

Madonna's 2024 tour began with the international leg in Europe, so the only remaining concerts in The Celebration Tour outside the United States are in Mexico.

In April, she'll have five performances in Mexico City, where she'll take her final bow of The Celebration Tour on April 26.

You can purchase logo and accolade licensing to this story here . Disclosure: Written and researched by the Insider Reviews team. We highlight products and services you might find interesting. If you buy them, we may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our partners. We may receive products free of charge from manufacturers to test. This does not drive our decision as to whether or not a product is featured or recommended. We operate independently from our advertising team. We welcome your feedback. Email us at [email protected] .

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Proud mom Madonna says her kids have put ‘blood, sweat and tears’ into Celebration Tour performances

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Madonna is proud of her children for working hard as performers in her ongoing Celebration Tour. 

“I think what my children learned the most in this year of rehearsing and performing is that if you want to follow your dreams, you have to work hard for them,” the pop superstar, 65, said in an interview with W magazine published Wednesday. 

“And if all of them choose something different later in life, they will never forget this year of blood, sweat, and tears.”

As Madonna prepared to hit the road for the concert series — a spectacle that honors her four decades in the spotlight — she tapped her four youngest kids, David, 18, Mercy, also 18, plus 11-year-old twins Stella and Estere, to showcase their unique talents on stage. 

“Because the Celebration Tour is a retrospective of my life, I thought it made perfect sense to include all of my children still living with me in the show; they all dance and play musical instruments, and have been doing so for years,” the “Ray of Light” singer told the publication. 

“David has played guitar since he was a child. Mercy has played piano since she was 8 and she’s been classically trained most of her life. Eventually, when I adopted the twins, they started to play piano and dance as well.”

Madonna noted that there is “always an endless parade of dancing and [performing arts] teachers coming and going in our house,” so it only made sense to give her children a bigger platform to shine on the Celebration Tour.

A show highlight for the Grammy winner is when daughter Mercy accompanies her on piano during a powerful rendition of her 1993 ballad “Bad Girl.”

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“I saw a strange, poetic juxtaposition of hedonism and exploration emerging into the light of Mercy, sitting stoically at her grand piano playing Chopin as she beckoned me towards her, making me think about the choices I have made in my life,” Madonna said, explaining how that specific moment came to be.

“Singing ‘Bad Girl’ was kind of my confession to her, and I felt we had an unspoken understanding of what was happening.”

Meanwhile, David duets with his mom on “Mother and Father” from her 2003 album, “American Life.” 

“‘Mother and Father’ is one of my favorite moments in the show because it gave me a chance to not only honor my mother and her memory but also to honor David’s mother and her memory,” she said of the young creative, whom she adopted from Malawi in 2006. 

“He has always wanted to sing and play guitar. He loves being on stage — this is nothing new. Much of the show is about motherhood, family, and the importance of that in my artistic life.”

As for Stella and Estere, the girls dance their hearts out when Madonna sings her 2000 smash “Don’t Tell Me,” and also during a section in the show that pays homage to ballroom and the art of vogueing. 

“While Estere was learning how to DJ, she became interested in ballroom competitions. Just by luck, one of my choreographer’s assistants, Ivy Mugler, has her own ballroom house called House of Mugler,” she says of how the two became interested in that sect of dance. 

“She started taking Estere aside during rehearsals to another room—and within a couple of weeks she was doing death drops and spins and surprising us with her ability. So, of course we had to turn that section of the show into Estere’s Ball.”

Madonna is also mom to Lourdes “Lola” Leon, 27 — whom she shares with ex Carlos Leon — and Rocco Ritchie, 23 — whom she shares with ex-husband Guy Ritchie. Her eldest have also participated in her tours, including 2012’s MDNA Tour, for which Lourdes worked in the wardrobe department while Rocco performed on stage. 

“I have always been blessed with children who are interested in music, dance and art. Starting from the top with Lola, who was not only an incredible ballet dancer and a rhythmic gymnast, she also switches to musical theater and contemporary dance,” she said. 

The eternal hitmaker acknowledged that “nothing brings [her] more happiness” than collaborating with her kids. 

“It would be boring if they were just traveling from hotel to hotel, and occasionally coming to watch the show,” she elaborated. “Of course, I am their mother so sometimes we get on each other’s nerves. We are a family of artists but we are also a family, and that’s what happens.”

The Celebration Tour’s next stop is Friday in Mexico City, followed by a final — and free — show in Rio de Janeiro on May 4. 

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Madonna Says Her Children 'Will Never Forget' Putting Their 'Blood, Sweat and Tears' Into Training for Singer's World Tour

Apr. 25 2024, Published 4:00 p.m. ET

Madonna not only passed her incredible talent down to her six children, but she shared her driven work ethic, too!

In a new interview published Wednesday, April 24, the Queen of Pop reflected on how dedicated her four youngest children — David Banda , 18, Mercy James , also 18, and 11-year-old twins Stella and Estere Ciccone — were when it came to perfecting the special roles they had in their mom's world tour.

Madonna's four youngest children all have a special role in her world tour.

"I think what my children learned the most in this year of rehearsing and performing is that if you want to follow your dreams, you have to work hard for them," Madonna expressed to a news publication. "And if all of them choose something different later in life, they will never forget this year of blood, sweat, and tears."

As for why she decided to include her four adopted kids in her show, Madonna explained: "Because the Celebration Tour is a retrospective of my life, I thought it made perfect sense to include all of my children still living with me in the show; they all dance and play musical instruments, and have been doing so for years."

David Banda, 18, was the first of four kids Madonna adopted.

"David has played guitar since he was a child. Mercy has played piano since she was 8 and she’s been classically trained most of her life. Eventually, when I adopted the twins, they started to play piano and dance as well," she continued, admitting there's "always an endless parade of dancing and [performing arts] teachers coming and going in our house."

During the show, Mercy joins her mom on piano for a moving performance of the pop icon's 1993 song "Bad Girl."

"I saw a strange, poetic juxtaposition of hedonism and exploration emerging into the light of Mercy, sitting stoically at her grand piano playing Chopin as she beckoned me towards her, making me think about the choices I have made in my life," Madonna said of how she chose where to include the teenager.

"Singing ‘Bad Girl’ was kind of my confession to her, and I felt we had an unspoken understanding of what was happening," she added.

Madonna and her daughter Mercy James, 18, collaborate on the piano during her show.

For David's part in the show, he and Madonna sing her 2003 hit "Mother and Father" as a duet.

"'Mother and Father’ is one of my favorite moments in the show because it gave me a chance to not only honor my mother and her memory but also to honor David’s mother and her memory," she said of her son, whom Madonna adopted from Malawi in 2006. "He has always wanted to sing and play guitar. He loves being on stage — this is nothing new. Much of the show is about motherhood, family, and the importance of that in my artistic life."

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Madonna didn't forget to include her adorable twins, Stella and Estere, as they show off their impressive dance moves while the mom-of-six sings her song "Don't Tell Me," originally released in 2000.

The trio's performance occurs during a part of the concert that honors the art of vogueing and ballroom dancing.

"While Estere was learning how to DJ, she became interested in ballroom competitions. Just by luck, one of my choreographer’s assistants, Ivy Mugler, has her own ballroom house called House of Mugler," Madonna shared.

The "Material Girl" singer added: "She started taking Estere aside during rehearsals to another room — and within a couple of weeks she was doing death drops and spins and surprising us with her ability. So, of course we had to turn that section of the show into Estere’s Ball."

Madonna's twins, Estere and Stella Ciccone, 11, adorably dance during one portion of the concert.

Madonna is also a mom to her eldest daughter, Lourdes "Lola" Leon , 27, and her son Rocco Ritchie , 23. Her older children have previously worked witht heir mom on tour, but are off focusing on their own ventures.

"I have always been blessed with children who are interested in music, dance and art. Starting from the top with Lola, who was not only an incredible ballet dancer and a rhythmic gymnast, she also switches to musical theater and contemporary dance," she gushed of Lourdes, while Rocco is fulfilling his dreams as an accomplished artist .

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W Magazine interviewed Madonna.

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