Confessions II – Twenty-one years after “Confessions on a Dance Floor,” Madonna returns with the first sequel album of her career—shaped again by Stuart Price—and the 16-track lineup runs from club-ready collabs to intimate family and mortality-adjacent moments.
Twenty-one years after “Confessions on a Dance Floor” made disco feel not just timeless. but urgent. Madonna is back in the club. “Confessions II” arrives after years of online whispers—rumors that often go nowhere—somehow turning into a real sequel. even if it doesn’t only sound like a redux of 2005.
Stuart Price is again at the center of the sound. He produced “Confessions on a Dance Floor. ” a record that topped the Billboard 200 and spawned the Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hit “Hung Up.” Price also served as the musical director on Madonna’s career-retrospective Celebration Tour. In 2023. he explained how the renewed partnership clicked: “You measure a working relationship not by the gaps between but by how easily you pick up again from when you left off. As soon as we started to work together on this tour, the shorthand was there. We were able to create productively.”.
On the album itself, Madonna moves between insecurity and omnipotence, candor and camp, spiritual fortification and libidinous release. Madame X was praised, but “Confessions II” is the release that lands like she’s in her element again—when she’s making dance music feel like confession.
Here’s the ranking of every song on Madonna’s “Confessions II,” from least to best.
“Bizarre” ft. Martin Garrix
The album makes one of its sharpest turns into modern commercial dance music through Martin Garrix. the Dutch mainstage figure who teams up with Madonna for a track that seems to be about Madonna’s ex-husband Sean Penn. The lyric points to Penn as “a movie star with deep blue eyes. ” including the line about a Shelby Cobra—“He drove way too fast/Shelby Cobra wasn’t built to last”—and it references the Shelby GT500 she bought for Penn during their marriage from 1985 to 1989. The hook lands: “Only love can be so bizarre.” But despite strong production and an irresistible premise. the song carries too many sonic ideas that almost gel.
“Fragile”
“People really think that there’s a beginning and an ending to this thing called life / Energy never dies. this is just a portal we’re going through / Still it’s hard to let go.” Those words hit hard. especially in light of Madonna’s near-death experience in 2023. The vocal melody doesn’t quite land with the same precision, and the production feels meaningful without being fully memorable. It’s not described as a flop—more like a strong album track that’s best when it sits deeper into the record.
“My Sins Are My Savior” ft. Stromae
For listeners wanting “Confessions on a Dance Floor” redux. some of the album may disappoint. but “My Sins Are My Savior” is positioned as a worthwhile journey. The track shifts from Belgian rapper Stromae’s legato verses into percolating rhythms that evoke Brian Eno/David Byrne soundscapes. It also includes whispered R&B reminiscent of Madonna in the ‘90s and a scatter of other textures. including random piano meandering. As an album track, it enriches the experience without fully standing on its own.
“Read My Lips” ft. Feid
Feid. a Colombian reggaeton star. is framed as having had a busy year in dance music—appearing on recent albums by John Summit and Skrillex before now showing up on Madonna’s. “Read My Lips” is a dance track in spirit more than an outright dance-floor sprint. It’s centered on urgent acoustic guitar that supports the Latin mood Feid brings in the second half. The song becomes an impassioned bilingual duet about lies and love gone wrong. with Madonna eventually commanding: “Shut your mouth.” It may not be positioned as an eventual fan favorite. but it’s described as effective for setting the album’s tone.
“Betrayal”
Musically, “Betrayal” is described as interesting, with shades of Carl Craig, Miles Davis, and Massive Attack. It blends stop-start minimalism, lonely trumpet playing, and trip-hop. The lyrics also carry more than just atmosphere—“Take the hammer hit the nail / You’ll never take my mother’s place”—a line presented as plenty to unpack. On a weaker album. it might rank higher. but on “Confessions II. ” it fades back while remaining one of the record’s most arresting. lonely moments.
“Love Without Words”
Near the opening of the album’s ninth song. Madonna declares: “Call it trance / call it house / call it love without words.” It echoes the reverence for clubland and its possibilities of transcendence that Madonna also used on “Future Lovers” from “Confessions on a Dance Floor.” With Stuart Price and additional help from Italian dance duo Parisi. the track builds layer by layer. shifts from punchy house to digital noise mid-way. and ultimately builds toward an Italo-disco drop. Madonna invites listeners: “come into the club. come into the club. ” with the confidence of someone who believes in what the club can offer. The message is treated as a repeating theme across the album—and “Love Without Words” is where it’s most welcome.
“L.E.S. Girl”
“L.E.S. Girl” is framed as a song presumably about Madonna’s pre-stardom musical life in New York City in the early ‘80s. It’s described as wistful without romance, simple without naivety, sweet without sugarcoating. Lines like “he played guitar on St. Marks place / had Marlon Brando face / painted nails the same shade as his boots” land as a reflection on how New York romance can feel ephemeral and sempiternal depending on your mood. The album closes with “Everything fades away. ” and here that last note is presented as lasting longer precisely because Madonna chose to put this memory into song.
“One Step Away”
“One Step Away” opens with an album manifesto used in some of the “Confessions II” promo: “People think dance music is superficial / But they’ve got it all wrong / The dance floor is not just a place / It’s a threshold / A ritualistic space where movement replaces language.” The track then turns into a lush. steady production: strings. throbbing percussion. and piano flourishes melt into a low simmer. Madonna beckons about being “one step away from your freedom.” It builds toward urgency and ends with the feeling of a night out that leaves you wanting more.
“The Test” ft. Lola Leon
One of the album’s most delicate and powerful tracks is “The Test. ” Madonna’s first collaboration with her eldest daughter Lola Leon. Madonna and Leon are credited as writers, and Stuart Price is credited as producer, with additional work from Arca. The song is described as Madonna looking at how fame affected Leon. who inspired “Ray of Light. ” and who was nine years old when the first “Confessions” came out.
Madonna sings: “You didn’t ask for all the flashing lights. ” and continues: “I didn’t think of how it could disturb / Or how it hurt / I wish I knew the pain I’ve caused / My butterfly was always being watched.” Then Leon enters. calling Madonna her “reason to be” in a slightly husky voice. connecting her mother’s struggles to her own. Leon says: “I know they try to put you to the test / I’m not so different / time is knocking on my doorstep.” They sing together: “I know they’re trying to put us to the test. ” framed as a moment of both confessing and comforting each other. Soft, twinkly production—compared to a lullaby—pushes the track into standout territory.
“Bring Your Love” ft. Sabrina Carpenter
“Bring Your Love” is presented as one of the album’s sweetest declarations. It includes lines like “I know where the bodies are buried / Don’t try to shut me up.” The song premiered in April at Coachella. when Madonna appeared as a surprise guest during Sabrina Carpenter’s headlining set. It evokes Madonna dance music outside the “Confessions” universe—“Ray of Light” and “Bedtime Stories” are cited as reference points—while also drawing energy from the house tendencies of “Vogue.” The duet is described as another Madonna bridge between generations of pop’s A-list.
“I Feel So Free”
Opening “Confessions II” with “I Feel So Free. ” Madonna is framed as more confessional than the hooky “Hung Up” that opened the original. The sentiments “safety in numbers” and “I wish I just could be like other people” aren’t the kind of lines people typically associate with the unapologetic Queen of Pop. especially at the very start of an album when she also tells listeners “thanks for coming.”.
Still, the track is described as an irresistible arpeggiated volley of retro synths about the dance floor as escape, release, and self-actualization. The writing emphasizes how Madonna keeps making pop music feel like self-expression and spiritual fortification.
“School”
“School” begins with Madonna declaring: “school is in session” as a euphemism for sexual education. It’s described as a subject she’s been studying for decades. Early in the song. she asks: “Please someone. ” then: “teach me something I don’t already know.” The track matches the overt desire associated with “Erotica” and “Bedtime Stories. ” with swirly. pulsing production lifting the saucy lyrics. The piece also returns to Madonna’s age at 67 and her stance against the idea that she should tone it down—she’s described as refusing to apologize for lust. and insisting it should sound and feel good.
“Love Sensation”
“Love Sensation” is singled out as a near-perfect encapsulation of why Madonna and Stuart Price work so well together. The swirling melodies and throbbing beat are described as natural exuberance rather than forced. The track begins “in medias res. ” soaring with an indie disco flavor—described as dance music circa 2008. influenced in large part by the “Confessions” blueprint. It ebbs and flows with sweet, irresponsible abandon. The hook “There’s nothing that we cannot do” is described as potentially trite for most—but when Madonna says it. the point lands.
“Danceteria”
“Danceteria” is described as raising the energy of a 2005 song Madonna once faced side-eye for: “I Love New York.” A decade later. that track is framed as canon and a camp masterclass in reveling in a city without whitewashing it. “Danceteria” turns that approach into something more literal: it takes listeners through a night in the Manhattan club from Madonna’s pre-fame days. when Debi Mazar ran the elevators and you had to hide coke from nose-hungry DJs.
The song’s lyric “Everyone here is a work of art” expands into a roll call of regulars in a “Vogue”-style list—Fab 5 Freddy. Basquiat. Keith Haring. David Byrne. Nile Rodgers—plus flavor connections to Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side.” The track also borrows rhythms associated with “Ultimate Breaks & Beats” compilations from the ‘80s. If you get it. it’s celebrated; if not. the song’s message is framed as blunt: move on and “shut up. ” because for those who do. “everybody get up and dance.”.
“Everything”
“Everything” is described as bridging the gap between processing sadness and trying to avoid it through club escapism. The article connects it to the fact that “Confessions on a Dance Floor” itself was described as a reaction to current events after “American Life. ” with Madonna wanting to “get her sillies out” after the 9/11-era horrors captured on the predecessor.
Madonna told MTV in 2005: “I was angry. I had a lot to get off my chest. I made a lot of political statements.” She added: “But now. I feel that I just want to have fun; I want to dance; I want to feel buoyant.” On “Confessions II. ” “Everything” is framed as acknowledging that heaviness: “When I close my eyes / Everything is crystallized / No one wants to go outside / It’s not okay / It blows my mind.” Over a stuttering house track. she insists “so come outside into the light. ” calling it an emotional high point that makes good on the album’s promise of dance floor salvation.
“Good For The Soul”
The final ranked song is “Good for the Soul.” At the start. Madonna says: “Everything begins in consciousness. ” and follows with “Interstellar helix unwinds.” The song shifts sonically rather than spiritually: it’s described as introspective electronica evocative of “Ray of Light. ” while also touching urgent strings and propulsive. syncopated beats that split the difference between Giorgio Moroder and Avicii.
The piece connects lines like “the ones that you love will keep you above” to the context of Madonna’s near-death experience in 2023, presenting dance music as a power to succor the soul, connect people to their transient environment, and link them with loved ones.
“Confessions II” lands like a return to form, but it doesn’t lock itself into nostalgia alone. It brings old collaborators back. it welcomes new dance-world names into Madonna’s orbit. and it keeps a few moments—especially the album’s family-centered “The Test”—from letting the club become purely escapist. After all the rumors and the wait. the sequel arrives with exactly the kind of momentum its predecessor invented: a promise that movement can stand in for words.
Madonna Confessions II Stuart Price Lola Leon Martin Garrix Stromae Feid Sabrina Carpenter Arca ranking