After slyly dominating the first ten episodes of your new favourite music podcast, we're finally giving a much-deserved hour to the pop monolith that is... Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone. Madame X, if you're nasty. Fourteen studio albums, three hundred million records sold and a superlative-exhausting run of smashed records later, the Queen of Pop has been thrusting queer sensibility to the forefront of mainstream pop culture for nearly 40 years, spanning from her early 80s association with Keith Haring and Andy Warhol right through up to her 2019 World Pride performance marking five decades since the Stonewall uprising. True to Aural Fixation form, however, this album... may not be what you expect us to start with. It’s 2003, and Madonna is angry – at celebrity culture, overconsumption, and yes, Bush and Blair – but she’s also full of love. Still in the happy years of her second marriage and with two young children, American Life was Madonna’s opportunity to reflect on growing older and wiser, with her musings brought to life via one of her most successful creative relationships, with French producer Mirwais. Still confused as to what makes this album, once seen as her biggest flop, the queerest Madonna choice of all? Hit play, and buckle down. It’s no Easy Ride. Don’t forget to listen to this episode’s companion playlist on Spotify, and follow us on Instagram at @auralfixationpodcast. Your hosts are @drew_down_under and @andrewdoyouthinkyouare.