Confessions Q&A with Stuart
Some notes I took during the Q&A - it was hosted by Jodie Harsh.
Stuart said Celebration was the start of CII and they went to the studio after the tour. Madonna enjoyed doing the Celebration tour.
They didn’t go in the studio thinking they were going to do Confessions II, the project evolved into it. It’s documenting where she is at in life and who she is.
Moodboard was revisiting clubs like Twilight, Limelight, Danceteria etc. that Madonna frequented
Recording of the album was very structured. M would come with an A4 notepad with lyrics. Sometimes she would bring the lyrics and Stuart would have some music and they would connect the lyrics with the music.
It was mostly recorded in one location with the same microphone she used for confession 1 Stuart had bought with all of his money28 years ago.
As mentioned elsewhere nothing was recorded remotely. BYL was recorded in NY with Sabrina. There was an immediate physical chemistry between them as they had similar experiences at different times of their lives.
He said the idea of recording BYL came up naturally and they just went “let’s get in the room and see what happens.”He also said BYL was F U record and was about having control over your own career. And it was like “you don’t think I am in control of my career? F U! bring your love!”
The album took over a year to complete. Madonna would listen to each song they recorded, start to finish everyday when she was at the gym.
There is a lot of spoken word on the album about what the dancefloor means. It’s confessional but also includes songs around loss and related to world events.
He talked about bit about the Abbey show.
He said M’s vocals was the best he heard. I also made a note about the record was Madonna being at the height of her expression and also showing vulnerability.
He referred to the album as a 16 track record and did not mention the 12 track version. He also said is it 16 tracks or is it one long track?
He also mentioned no collaborator was ever the same after working with Madonna (in a positive way)