Madonna Conquered Times Square 'Cuz She’s the Queen Forever and Don’t You Forget It
New Yorkers love to tell you that Manhattan is a grid. So it’s only natural that Madonna would emerge from her newfound home on the Grindr grid for a pop-up performance in none other than Times Square.The performance, livestreamed on the app, is the latest installment in a robust partnership which started with an exclusive vinyl that stopped me in my tracks when I first saw it. Look at her!!! Other highlights include a fabulous “Confessions” interview in the vein of the “Truth or Dare” sequence in Madonna: Truth or Dare and the introduction of in-app tags for her discography where one might ordinarily list things like “sub” or “cumdump.” (The Bedtime Stories tag achieves the same effect.) There’s new merch today as well, which is honestly way better than any popstar-sex-app-collaboration merch should be.As is customary, Stuart Price kicked things off with some DJing while various girls and gays and especially Honey Balenciaga did something I’d call a flash mob if it wasn’t part of a whole production. And then: “thanks for coming…” At which point the walls part to reveal Donna seated atop Price’s decks, underneath her veil, recreating the Confessions II album cover. Well, almost, except she’s in silver and pink because you bastards still won’t give her back her purples from Coachella. But girl, is she hitting that pose. As always, she is toddlerific. She does an abbreviated version of “I Feel So Free” which omits the “safety in numbers” bit and is therefore tantamount to her looking directly into the camera and declaring her hatred for me, personally. Some following choreo implores me to forgive her. Her blue sunglasses do have the post-eye-dilation silhouette, but she’s carrying. Those boots!!! She wishes everyone a happy Pride and does her “c’mon gays” thing again, because she’s apparently really loving that, and it still kind of feels like a slur in a good way. This time with an addendum: “girls, guys, dolls.” Never mind that dolls fall under the “girl” umbrella. She may be 2, but she is also 67. She sheds her silver coat, whips it around atop her rotating platform, and just like that it’s time to “Bring Your Love.” This solo remix is so fucking good. Would love to find out what numbers people are trying to distract her with someday. She straddles a speaker as if it is a literal extension of her pussy (not no) and does her “it’s mutha” thing. You may remember this as the first imagery of the era, posted the literal morning after Gaga’s final MAYHEM Ball show. New single “Love Sensation” follows, which dedicated readers may remember as the “nothing that we cannot do” song she played at the Abbey. This transitions into “Get Together,” which she briefly flirted with at Coachella but does in full here for the first time since 2006. If she’s teasing a live show that combines the two Confessions installments, this is certainly a strong proof of concept. One of the flash mob dancers is wearing a Taxi Driver t-shirt…? Whatever. It’s all an illusion!! The stage lights go rainbow, a grandiose choral arrangement takes over, and the screens display a history of queer rioting and Keith Haring. Mother removes her sunglasses. “Run, run, it’s the cops!” she shouts before putting the glasses back on and launching into… “I Love New York.” Whatever you say, girl! Yasss!!! This song is so fucking stupid, I love it. She does a sort of air guitar thing that transitions into drag queen windmills. She closes the set, of course, with “Hung Up,” which is a song that will literally always work because it is arguably the closest a human being has ever come to touching divinity. (That, or “Like A Prayer,” or “Deeper and Deeper,” or)I keep looking at this fucking Taxi Driver t-shirt.And with that, she vanishes. Back to the other grid, where I’m sure we’ll all see her in some wee hours of the night. It’s Pride after all.Photos courtesy of Alex Antonioni, COBRASNAKE, and Ricardo Gomes
Black News 
New Yorkers love to tell you that Manhattan is a grid. So it’s only natural that Madonna would emerge from her newfound home on the Grindr grid for a pop-up performance in none other than Times Square.
The performance, livestreamed on the app, is the latest installment in a robust partnership which started with an exclusive vinyl that stopped me in my tracks when I first saw it. Look at her!!! Other highlights include a fabulous “Confessions” interview in the vein of the “Truth or Dare” sequence in Madonna: Truth or Dare and the introduction of in-app tags for her discography where one might ordinarily list things like “sub” or “cumdump.” (The Bedtime Stories tag achieves the same effect.) There’s new merch today as well, which is honestly way better than any popstar-sex-app-collaboration merch should be.
As is customary, Stuart Price kicked things off with some DJing while various girls and gays and especially Honey Balenciaga did something I’d call a flash mob if it wasn’t part of a whole production. And then: “thanks for coming…”
At which point the walls part to reveal Donna seated atop Price’s decks, underneath her veil, recreating the Confessions II album cover. Well, almost, except she’s in silver and pink because you bastards still won’t give her back her purples from Coachella. But girl, is she hitting that pose. As always, she is toddlerific. She does an abbreviated version of “I Feel So Free” which omits the “safety in numbers” bit and is therefore tantamount to her looking directly into the camera and declaring her hatred for me, personally. Some following choreo implores me to forgive her. Her blue sunglasses do have the post-eye-dilation silhouette, but she’s carrying. Those boots!!!
She wishes everyone a happy Pride and does her “c’mon gays” thing again, because she’s apparently really loving that, and it still kind of feels like a slur in a good way. This time with an addendum: “girls, guys, dolls.” Never mind that dolls fall under the “girl” umbrella. She may be 2, but she is also 67. She sheds her silver coat, whips it around atop her rotating platform, and just like that it’s time to “Bring Your Love.” This solo remix is so fucking good. Would love to find out what numbers people are trying to distract her with someday. She straddles a speaker as if it is a literal extension of her pussy (not no) and does her “it’s mutha” thing. You may remember this as the first imagery of the era, posted the literal morning after Gaga’s final MAYHEM Ball show.
New single “Love Sensation” follows, which dedicated readers may remember as the “nothing that we cannot do” song she played at the Abbey. This transitions into “Get Together,” which she briefly flirted with at Coachella but does in full here for the first time since 2006. If she’s teasing a live show that combines the two Confessions installments, this is certainly a strong proof of concept. One of the flash mob dancers is wearing a Taxi Driver t-shirt…? Whatever. It’s all an illusion!!
The stage lights go rainbow, a grandiose choral arrangement takes over, and the screens display a history of queer rioting and Keith Haring. Mother removes her sunglasses. “Run, run, it’s the cops!” she shouts before putting the glasses back on and launching into… “I Love New York.” Whatever you say, girl! Yasss!!! This song is so fucking stupid, I love it. She does a sort of air guitar thing that transitions into drag queen windmills.
She closes the set, of course, with “Hung Up,” which is a song that will literally always work because it is arguably the closest a human being has ever come to touching divinity. (That, or “Like A Prayer,” or “Deeper and Deeper,” or)
I keep looking at this fucking Taxi Driver t-shirt.
And with that, she vanishes. Back to the other grid, where I’m sure we’ll all see her in some wee hours of the night. It’s Pride after all.
Photos courtesy of Alex Antonioni, COBRASNAKE, and Ricardo Gomes
