As if we should have ever doubted her staying power as the original and still-reigning Queen of Pop. This is not to say that it hasn’t been a rough millennia for Madonna — everything she has released since the 2005 album her 15th studio album second chapters has been a result of demoralizing label politics continuously trying to repackage her relevance for a younger audience with worse and mor forgettable results in every instance, with the greater irony being that Gen Z ultimately would ultimately discover her creative prowess throughout the ’80s, ’90s, and early 2000s were peak incomparable and trailblazing.

Now she’s once again allowed to feel so free to do whatever she wants, as she does best, and we’re reminded why Madonna is one of the faces of pop music to begin with. Her modern day inconsistency issues are remedied in CONFESSIONS II reunion with o.g. Confessions on a Dance Floor producer Stuart Price, re-rendering the sparkle flash of the mirror ball under the violent pink-and-purple club lights with flourishes of modern house and techno that’s good for the soul, a love sensation, and everything all at once that makes you feel wholly alive.

Between the two, they certainly don’t fixate on just that one era of future-perfected nostalgia either. The hour-plus listen revisits Madge’s lore through a house of vogue on “Danceteria” and new found erotica within the the Stromae-guesting “My Sins Are My Savior”. Guests of the now include Sabrina Carpenter on the exhilarating invitational single “Bring Your Love” as well as Madge’s little star ray of light daughter Lourdes Leon on the experimental-meets-trip-pop-influenced ballad “The Test”. The floor is joined by Colombian reggaeton artist Feid on “Read My Lips” and Dutch DJ Martin Garrix for a pair of internationally-flavored club bangers. They’re all reminders that the Queen of Pop has impeccable taste in her chosen company.

CONFESSIONS II may also be the deepest we’ve heard Madonna get lyrically on a personal level since defining her own form of universal spirituality. That it’s the freshest she has sounded in 20 years without losing sight on how her art should make you live your life in the now — or forgetting the past that got you there through one continuous flow of energy is a thing of mastery.

Highlights: “Bring Your Love”, “Danceteria”, “The Test”

Madonna’s CONFESSIONS II is available now on Warner Records.

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