Madonna’s Dance Floor-Dominating ‘Confessions II’ Is Her Best Album in Decades: Album Review

Jul 2, 2026 9:00pm PT Madonna’s Dance Floor-Dominating ‘Confessions II’ Is Her Best Album in Decades: Album Review Steven J. Horowitz Senior Music Writer speriod Latest Madonna’s Dance Floor-Dominating ‘Confessions II’ Is Her Best Album in Decades: Album Review 1 hour ago Spymob Returns: How the Pop-Rock Group Went From Backing Pharrell Williams’ N. D. to Reuniting 20 Years After Their Debut 3 days ago Lauryn Hill Receives All-Star Tribute From Queen Latifah, SZA, Doechii, Doja Cat, Nas and More at BET Awards 2026 4 days ago See All Courtesy of Rafael Pavarotti “Sometimes I like to just hide in the shadows,” mutters Madonna at the start of “I Feel So Free,” the opening track on her 15th album “Confessions II.” “Create a new persona. I can be whoever I want to be.” As hard as it may be to picture Madonna hiding in the shadows of anything, that’s the thrill of any new album from her: guessing which version we’ll be getting. Will it be a cowgirl kicking up dust this time? A spiritually reborn idealist with a penchant for chanting and sitars? Film Independent Launches Robert Redford Environmental Vision Award for Spirit Awards Madonna made it clear at the start of the promotional cycle for “Confessions II” that her first album in seven years would be a return to the dance floor, a sequel to her seismic 2005 album “Confessions on a Dance Floor” that, , was the last time she conceived a project with such a fully realized scope. And it’s an approach that’s paid off: “Confessions II,” a 16-track album mainly produced , who sat at the helm of “Confessions on a Dance Floor,” is easily the best album that Madonna has made in two decades, a palpable record that celebrates the thrill of the dance floor while embracing its mystique. Popular on Variety “Confessions II” is an album where form meets function, assembled as a continuous DJ mix much like the original iteration of “Confessions on a Dance Floor.” (That version, added back to streaming last year, is part and parcel the most arresting Madonna record this century.) It allows for a continuous flow state to tell a full story, one of dance floor abandon, of reveling in the anonymity of a dimly lit room and the space it creates for reinvention. At the start of many tracks, Madonna whispers of the freedom that the cloak of darkness provides; she materializes it, quite literally, in the video for “Bring Your Love” featuring Sabrina Carpenter, soaring above a crowd of bodies like an otherworldly specter.