Madonna Drops New Song ‘Medellin’

By Variety Staff

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Madonna today dropped “Medellin,” the first single from her forthcoming album, “Madame X. ” The song is a collaboration with Colombian singer Maluma and is named after that country’s city of Medellin, formerly the home base of narcoterrorist Pablo Escobar, but now a peaceful and thriving metropolis.

On April 24 at 4 p.m. ET, MTV will broadcast “MTV Presents Live & Exclusive: ‘Medellín’ Video World Premiere,” where she will  join British DJ Trevor Nelson and fans live from London for a conversation about the influences of her new album. “Medellín” collaborator and global Latin superstar Maluma will join live from Miami. Madonna will also take questions during the global event via satellite from MTV’s Sway Calloway and fans in New York City, with additional MTV-hosted events in Milan (hosted by MTV Italy “Riccanza” star Tommaso Zorzi) and São Paulo (hosted by Brazilian entertainer Hugo Gloss).

On Sunday Madonna shared a video about the album — her follow-up to 2015’s “Rebel Heart” — along with a snippet of her new music, on her Instagram account. She is seen in several different guises as her voice over says: “I decided to call my record Madame X. Madame X is a secret agent traveling around the world. Changing identities. Bringing light to dark places. Madame X is a dancer. A professor. A head of state. An equestrian. A prisoner,” Madonna says. “A student. A mother. A child. A teacher. A nun. A singer. A saint. A whore. And a spy in the house of love. I’m Madame X.”

Little information about the album has been revealed, although she has worked with Mirwais Ahmadzai — with whom she collaborated on her “Music” and “American Life” albums — and Mike Dean (ditto “Rebel Heart”) as well as Maluma.

Madonna has also been confirmed to perform at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv on May 18, where she will play two songs — quite possibly new ones, which may provide a hint about the album’s arrival date.