Associate Editor Tom Bryant has the first review of the new Madonna album Confessions II as the singer lets rip on a number of subjects in her most revealing album for years ★★★★★08:28, 02 Jul 2026Updated 08:46, 02 Jul 2026For more than four decades, Madonna has never shied from mining her own life for inspiration. And after a tumultuous seven years since her last record, she’s certainly got a lot of material to harvest.‌A brush with death, the passing of her brother and a strained relationship with her daughter all leave their mark on Confessions II, her latest album with producer Stuart Price. Over the course of the hour-long record, it feels up there with her most vulnerable work to date as she strips away her armour to reveal a tenderness at odds with her occasionally spiky persona.‌This is none more so than on haunting track Fragile, an ode to her brother Christopher Ciccone, who died at the age of 63 in 2024. The two enjoyed a notoriously fractious relationship which culminated with him writing a tell-all book about her. Madonna was left blindsided, and even dubbed him her “biggest enemy.” The two only recently reconciled after she learned he was ill.‌Paying tribute to him on the record, she sings “We shared a name, a home / We shared a fragile bond / Now you're gone / We laughed, we cried / We held each other's hands.” Poignantly, Madge accepts she struggles to find the right words about him, adding: “This is the part I hate the most / The words inside my heart.”Her daughter Lourdes also makes a cameo on track The Test which comes after a period of time in which both women have spoken about having to heal their relationship. Five years ago the 29-year spoke of her struggle to escape her mum’s shadow as she lambasted her as a “control freak” who “controlled me my whole life.”‌Intriguingly, Madonna appears to reference the friction, singing: “I know they tried to put us to the test / You're not to blame, but you need to be free now.” It leads to a sweet moment in which Lourdes sings of her admiration for her mum. She says: “You are my reason to be / what I want, or look like / what I wear, all the clothes on my back.”Musically, Confessions II unfolds almost like a night out. It begins in euphoric fashion, with songs bleeding seamlessly into one another as Madonna leans heavily into deep house and club music. Infectious opener I Feel So Free sets the tone, while Danceteria is an early standout, recalling the spoken-word swagger of Vogue as Madonna declares: “Everybody here is a work of art.”Article continues belowBut just as the best nights never stay at full throttle forever, neither does Confessions II. As the album progresses, the pace gradually eases, the beats soften and the mood becomes increasingly introspective. The haunting Bizarre, with its shades of ABBA’s The Visitors, hints at hidden depths as she sings: “I guess you would never know my dirty little secret.” It also appears to be a nod to her first husband, Sean Penn and their short-lived marriage. She references the car she gave him as a wedding present, and claims he was "threatened" by her, but "won't admit it."If the opening section of the album belongs in the nightclub, the final third - including the lo-fi gem LES - belongs to the morning after.“Everything fades away, except for you,” she sings, neatly rounding off an album whose biggest surprises arrive long after the dancefloor has emptied.