Madonna tells the story behind Madame X in new Amazon documentary: “It was about passion and music and art”

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Live Nation/Interscope Records/MaverickMost Madonna fans know by now that she was inspired to create her new album Madame X after she moved to Lisbon, Portugal, and started to become involved in the local music scene there. But in a new Amazon Prime Original documentary short called The World of Madame X, you can get a detailed and intimate look at exactly how the album came together.

In the 23-minute documentary, Madonna explains the album title, and also details how she felt lonely and isolated in Lisbon after moving there so her son David could attend a top soccer academy. She also describes how she eventually became entranced by the local musicians and their community.

“What struck me most was this organic, authentic feeling of people being there because they just love music,” she says. “Money had nothing to do with it. Fame had nothing to do with it. Instagram followers had nothing to do with it. It was really about passion, and music, and art.”

Madonna also explains how she tapped her longtime collaborator Mirwais to help her turn that music into modern pop songs.

As she recalls in the documentary, she sent him recordings of local musicians and said, “I know this is crazy, but tell me if it inspires you. Let’s chop up the guitar sounds, let’s give them some modern sounding drums.’ Within a week, he had sent me back music. It was amazing and I felt super inspired.”

You can watch a three-minute clip from the documentary now.  In addition, Madonna has shared two new Amazon Original remixes of tracks from the new album, which you can listen to by saying, “Alexa play the Amazon Original by Madonna.”

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