Last Thursday, Madonna played a free show in Times Square. From the onslaught of clips that dominated my Instagram feed that night, I could tell you that it looked like a Pride kickoff, sponsored by Grindr, and a preview of Confessions II, set for release in July, with a couple Confessions on a Dance Floor songs (“Hung Up” and “I Love New York,” obviously) thrown in to hype the crowd. The clipshow came courtesy of influencers, legacy media and fan accounts whose posts quickly overthrew the Euphoria loop that had eclipsed election news earlier in the week.
The Madonna loop was a particularly relentless one, filled with virtually identical videos that bombarded my feed for no less than 24 hours. Even after it subsided, the remnants of Madonna Mania lingered on my For You page as I finished writing this post on Sunday evening. It was overkill, and that’s coming from someone who grew up listening to Madonna, cites Confessions as her best album and intends to get Confessions II on release day.
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