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Let It Will Be (Paper Faces Mix/Live Version)
Madonna
The Confessions Tour
2007

It all started with Jean Paul Gaultier.

The MMFA exhibit roused a part of my brain that has been...asleep...for a while.  So many ideas and thoughts flew around in my head as I made my way through the exhibit; as I tried to take everything in as best I could.  Beauty, femininity, feminism, sexuality, diversity, change...taking risks, trying something new, self-confidence, feeling art, making art...it felt like my head was going to explode (in the best possible way).

I loved the idea that corsets can be a liberating expression rather than a method of constricting femininity.  I was surprised that I wasn’t particularly bothered by the fetishist images, but was rather intrigued by them.  When I turned the corner in the “Boudoir” space and saw Madonna’s cone-bra corsets I thought, and said out loud, “My God, I fucking love Madonna” and then “I must listen to Madonna (and Kylie!) for the rest of the weekend.”  There was a big Madonna phase a few years ago.  Well, more accurately, I should say that my Madonna phases come in waves.  And between each cycle I kind of forget how freaking awesome she is.

So being who I am, I of course popped in the The Confessions Tour DVD after seeing the exhibit and after seeing the riding costume JPG designed for the tour in person.  I guess one of the things I took away from the exhibit, and something I consistently get from the persona that is Madonna, is confidence.  Self-confidence.  I want to rock a bit of a “Damn right I am wearing a dress with hand-beaded nipples, belly button and pubic hair and I feel great, so DON’T FUCK WITH ME.”  I love the idea of change, of transformation, and of being confident in those changes, in accepting them, challenging them, embracing them.

Which (sort of) brings me to the song I chose this week.  This version of Let It Will Be has undergone a bit of a transformation...it sounds nothing like the original.  It’s a live version of a remix which I thought was kind of interesting.  I know most of the time you don’t think, “Yeah!  Madonna live!  Now that is some quality shit.”  I realize that Madonna live is about spectacle.  I think this song stands up on it’s own though...watching Madonna perform it isn’t necessary in order to feel it’s intensity (the performance is pretty fucking intense though, Madonna takes the music into her body and moves through it, it’s violent.  Minus the crotch-thrusting, she would fit in with us at Saph I am telling you).  The drums are about 100 times more intense than the studio version and 50 times that of the remixed version.  They make me want to thrash and punch and kick and stamp my feet.  I love the snarkiness of the lyrics...the song is about all these young and fabulous stars that rise and shine and burn like supernovas and then kind of fade away.  Fame isn’t necessarily permanent and Madonna is acknowledging that, but also kind of saying, “Well, even if that’s true, fuck you.  How about you ‘just watch me burn’”.  I LOVE “just watch me burn” and the way it sounds in this version...angry and ugly and riddled with spit.  That line and “I’m at the point of no return” kill me.  They are the lines I cannot help but shout (in a hoarse whisper from the back of my throat).