Ray of Light * Madonna Listen! React! Review! Pop Culture Weekly with Kyle McMahon

It's LISTEN! REACT! REVIEW!
In honor of the 25th anniversary of Madonna's classic album, Ray Of Light, it is the latest LISTEN! REACT! REVIEW! video in the series.
Kyle McMahon of iHeartRadio's Pop Culture Weekly listens, reacts and reviews Madonna's 1998 Grammy winning album Ray of Light - track by track.
1. Drowned World (Substitute For Love)
2. Swim
3. Ray of Light
4. Candy Perfume Girl
5. Skin
6. Nothing Really Matters
7. Sky Fits Heaven
8. Shanti / Ashtangi
9. Frozen
10. The Power of Goodbye
11. To Have And Not To Hold
12. Little Star
13. Mer Girl
-------------
Listen to the Pop Culture Weekly podcast: podcast.popcultureweekly.com/...
Join the Pop Culture Chat Facebook Group: / popculturechat
Get the latest news, reviews & interviews at: www.popcultureweekly.com

[@albertramirez9770]

ROL is undoubtedly Madonna’s INCOMPARABLE masterpiece that is forever timeless and is an album that, in another quarter of a century’s time at 50 years old, will impress new listeners 💫 - @ 7 mins 30 secs in, FANTASTIC comparison there; Madonna truly is THE Queen of Pop 👑🎵 for proven reasons & has been THE ONLY artist, female for that matter, and for decades now, to hold HER position next to the ICONIC likes of Elvis, The Beatles & Michael Jackson ♾️🫰🔥🤩

[@popcultureweekly]

Totally agree!! Tysm for watching! More Madonna reacts to come!

[@EAB82]

Mer Girl is a gorgeous, daring piece of work. I think its a great way to end the album tbh. Ray of Light is such an exemplary record.

[@popcultureweekly]

I know I was rough on it. I’ll give it a few more listens

[@luizribeirooo]

Mer Girlis kind a hearphones trip. Love it

[@bentoth6377]

Masterpiece of an album....changed everything. Mer girl is such a piece of art btw. Bedtime stories next please 🙌

[@popcultureweekly]

Thanks so much for watching! I'm going back to Debut and going forward! :)

[@karimbenmahmoud1197]

What about the track Sky Fits Heaven?!?

[@MadonnaIsTheShit]

SFH is one of the BEST tracks, too!!

[@karimbenmahmoud1197]

@@MadonnaIsTheShit Agree!!!

[@popcultureweekly]

SOMEHOW IT GOT CUT DURING EDITING! :( I FREKAIN LOVE THAT SONG THOUGH!

[@kimbaedie]

Another great album review! CPG,never gets a lot of love. Watching her perform it live brings it more to life. It's hard to believe 25 years old,still so fresh.👍👍

[@popcultureweekly]

I seem to be in the minority with that one lol. That’s okay though. Thanks so much for watching!

[@MadonnaIsTheShit]

It was SO good on the Drowned World Tour! "F*uck off Mother F*ckers!!" 😂

[@popcultureweekly]

Lol that was classic

[@homeschoolhelpbenlukis]

I just subscribed because loved your two Madonna album reviews. I *LOVE* Mer Girl, lol

[@popcultureweekly]

Tysm for subbing! And sorry about mer girl. I’m going to give it another couple of listens. And fyi, I’m going to be doing Madonnas whole catalogue, starting from album 1 forward :)

[@oscardelgado1075]

Drowned world / substitute for love is my favorite track of this album, I was in her first concert of the drowned world tour in Barcelona and it was very grateful surprise for me when she started the concert with this, the perfect song to open the show after 9 years from her last tour, I ❤ that era

[@popcultureweekly]

DW is up there for me too! That must have been awesome to see opening night! I saw the shows in Philly and Atlanta on that tour. Was my first time seeing her & was blown away.

[@movicgraphart]

Great musical review my friend. Thanks for that ❤

[@Phippa64]

Another great Madonna reaction! Hope you do more.

[@popcultureweekly]

I'm doing the whole catalogue!! TYSM!

[@shannonh9726]

Love the Madonna reactions! Keep them coming please! ❤

[@popcultureweekly]

Tysm!! I’m thinking about now starting from the first and going forward. Do you think it’s too late for that?

[@briskb]

@@popcultureweekly great idea. Do videos and live performances too

[@briandubois-gilbert8182]

@@popcultureweekly never too late to go back to the beginning of her iconic career. Her music is timeless. The different eras will give you a rich experience of the depth of her musical artistry and genius as she evolves and matures. She is after all the reinvention Queen. Really appreciate your insightful Madonna reactions and your audio-visual presentation-so refreshing and engrossing.

[@karimbenmahmoud1197]

@@popcultureweekly not too late, please do start from the first album, I love your enthusiasm!!!

[@popcultureweekly]

@@karimbenmahmoud1197 TYSM! Debut is coming soon :)

[@anthonyflynn6228]

Love these! Your Madam X video was amazing.

[@popcultureweekly]

TYSM!! I really really appreciate it! A few comments suggested I do the whole catalogue from the beginning forward so I’m going to do that :)

[@anthonyflynn6228]

I am excited that you are doing it! It will be quite a journey though times and styles. It will be so interesting to go on it with you and see what you discover.

[@popcultureweekly]

@@anthonyflynn6228 TYSM!!!

[@brownspiders2707]

I love yr great reviews on the Queen's uncomparable catalogue. Yeah pls do a complete discography series and start with the first album and go from there. Would love hearing you go through this journey. This woman means the world to me. Bought Like a Virgin(first record I ever bought) in 1985 when I was a 12 year old kid. Been in love ever since. J

[@3O2Nick]

YES!

[@popcultureweekly]

IM DOING THIS!!!!! TYSM!

[@henrymenesesaguilera2197]

El mejor album de madonna .

[@TheGamerClubber]

THE POWER OF GOODBYE...what a vídeo...what an incredible lyrics and song One of my favorites MADONNA songs along with HUNG UP & EROTICA ❤️

[@popcultureweekly]

TPOG really is an absolutely beautiful song…and video. Tysm for watching! I’ll be doing M’s catalogue.

[@sirex02]

Amazing reaction! Hope you get to see her live this year. I mean Madonna 40 years in ya know.

[@popcultureweekly]

Yes I’m looking forward to it! And tysm for watching

[@MadonnaIsTheShit]

​@@popcultureweekly When will you be seeing her?! I'm going Sept 28th in LA. Can't freaking wait!!

[@popcultureweekly]

Most likely, at least Philly and DC

[@sirex02]

@Pop Culture Weekly NYC night 2 and maybe Brooklyn or Philly. I have a request ...Paradise For Me official and live. Same song but different performed live....some deep shit from Madonna

[@popcultureweekly]

@@sirex02 I absolutely will!

[@MadonnaIsTheShit]

Bubble bath: ✔️ Candle lit: ✔️ Incredible Madonna review: ✔️ Yes, I'm living my best life, thanks to you 😂 Thanks for coming through with this amazing review! Keep the Madonna reviews coming!

[@3O2Nick]

😎

[@popcultureweekly]

TY SO FREAKIN MUCH!

[@scottsaunders5087]

Just an amazing album madge at the peak of her power. Loved your reaction new subscriber!

[@popcultureweekly]

Tysm Scott! More M to come!

[@shaunhoward6838]

Can you do Kylie Minogue?!

[@bongileaugust]

Nothing Really Matters is the song that propelled me to listen to the Ray of Light album in full and since April 10th 2018, my life was never the same again. Where's Sky Fits Heaven though?

[@focociadedanca8513]

I love this reaction ❤

[@RoPiDe]

I thought for ages that this was Madonna's best album... until Confessions On A Dancefloor came out...

[@popcultureweekly]

Confessions is one of my all time favs!

[@rebelblue]

Candy perfume girl is one of my fave❤

[@popcultureweekly]

Ugh I’m sorry, I just don’t feel it. I don’t think it’s bad, it’s just not for me. More M reacts coming :)

[@tomasperezgonzalez7055]

Madonna queen 👑, ray of light 4 grammys

[@popcultureweekly]

The ultimate queen.

[@irina1296]

The Power of Goodbye & Sky Fits Heaven are my favorite tracks here but the whole album is fantastic. Despite that it's not in my Top 5 Favorite Madonna Albums.

[@oceanlover3530]

I’m with you on your track ratings with the exception of Mer Girl. While it’s not a song I would play often, I think it fits with the vibe of the album. Glad you liked, Little Star. Seems to be a 50/50 on the love/hate ratings scale with fans. I think it’s beautiful as are most the tracks on the album. Thanks for a great review and I appreciate you keeping it real. ✌🏻😉✌🏻

[@karimbenmahmoud1197]

Agree. Little Star is definitely not my favorite. And neither is Candy perfume Girl. But Skin on the other hand is a hidden gem to me…

[@California_dreaming]

Absolutely great Reaction !!!!!!!!!❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@popcultureweekly]

Thank you so much!! More M coming soon!

[@TheSiberion]

What happened to "Sky Fits Heaven"? One of the album's best in my opinion!

[@popcultureweekly]

It somehow got cut in the edit 😭

[@joe2606]

Nothing Really Matters, my favourite amongst the many awesome songs

[@salonglosswoodstock5773]

I think the album ended perfectly. The last song was referring to her mother.

[@popcultureweekly]

I get it now. My bad

[@elgabriel2983]

Mer Girl is so beautiful and such a great album closer. A surreal meditation on mortality and the death of Madonna's mother. Her best album, followed by 'Confessions...' and 'Madame X' imho.

[@popcultureweekly]

I will give it another chance, especially as I recently lost my mother. Tysm for the background on it.

[@elgabriel2983]

@@popcultureweekly Sorry to hear about your loss. Wish you strength!

[@popcultureweekly]

Tysm 💜

[@leeindtla]

Great React/Review! I was hoping you might get to the bonus track from ROF, Has to Be. It was supposed to be on the record but M wanted just 13 tracks on the official version, 13 an important number in Kabbalah, so it was bumped. I think it appeared on the Japanese version. Anyway, it's a shame that it didn't make it not only because of the brilliant production, but it concludes the lyrical story that begins with Frozen and continues with Power of Goodbye and To Have and not to Hold. I think it would have been a much stronger final track than Mer Girl. Or maybe if it came directly after Have not to Hold, and the album ended with Little Star, either way, it would have been perfection. Has to Be is an optimistic track that finds M searching for love/someone after a breakup (Power of Goodbye). Give it a listen (with your headphones) and tell me I'm right here. Mer Girl should have been the B-Side.

[@ejm6460]

I always thought that Frozen was such a brave first single release. Ray of Light title track always makes me happy but The Power of Goodbye had the best lyrics hands down

[@salonglosswoodstock5773]

I will agree with your Candy Perfume Girl sentiments. Have to disagree with you on Mer Girl. I believe it's one of the highlights and a very impactful end to the album.

[@jimmybelc2057]

Iconic album ❤ love it

[@Greystoke1986]

One of my favorite albums of all time. Candy Perfume Girl and the last song (which I can't remember the name of) do fit on the album. Candy Perfume Girl took several listens. Then you get to the last track and you're scared out of your mind!! Lol! I skipped it for a very long time. But, I grew to appreciate its experimental or artistic value. Dude, you're right t

[@popcultureweekly]

Tysm for watching and for your awesome insight. More M coming very very soon ;)

[@noproblemnostress963]

Let's pretend you haven't made that comment about Mer girl

[@3O2Nick]

😂

[@popcultureweekly]

I’m sorry 😖

[@sirex02]

The vocals on Swim are very raw and powerful. She recorded on the day she found out her close friend was murdered...Gianni Versace.

[@mdnaholi]

Did you skip Sky Fits Heaven??

[@popcultureweekly]

In editing somehow :( I freakin love sky fits heaven tho!

[@hugofernandez8264]

Thanks for this Kyle! :) Now, let grandad share a couple of thoughts on two of my all time absolute favourites, Candy Perfume Girl, it's SO sensual, sexy, like the entire Erotica album distilled into 4.5 minutes, the guitars, acoustic and electric, when she sings 'the secret nerve is magic POISON' still gives me goosebumps. Orgasmic. Now, Mer Girl is one of those tracks that allows you to truly differentiate hard core fans vs. the rest of the world. Her mum died when she was five. She had already alluded to this with the emotional, punch in the guts crying power, beautiful 'Promise To Try' in Like A Prayer, 1989 (btw Like A Prayer is THE best Madonna album ever, my humble opinion). Fast forward to 1998. Mer Girl won't make you cry your eyes out like Promise To Try (not everyone, granted). But OMG the lyrics, the raw emotion, the prose, the artistry. Grief will never leave you, it just evolves. I ran and I ran...I'm still running away...Just sharing! Kudos to you mate. Ta

[@kidtexaus1]

ROL would certainly be one of my favorite Madonna songs, but if we are being totally honest, she's really just channeling Kate Bush here, particularly songs like Big Sky (1985).

[@madmandonna1]

Mer Girl is a poem set to music basically, it's why it doesn't really have a melody. But it's quite sad, if you read the lyrics. I was never really a fan of it as a song, but the 'lyrics' are quite stark.

[@popcultureweekly]

You are so right! Read the lyrics as poetry & WOW!

[@mertcantekgul]

Swim, always been my favorite ❤

[@popcultureweekly]

It’s such a great song

[@riaanbehr7976]

The power of goodbye and Sky fits heaven are my absolute faves from this album. Nobody's perfect from the music album is my fave song by her. Rebel heart next please! Devil pray, Ghosttown, Wash all over me and Joan of Arc are beyond awesome 👌

[@popcultureweekly]

Tysm for watching! I’m going to do her whole catalogue starting with the debut.

[@johnnysampa]

Where is Sky Fits Heaven? The best track of the album??

[@popcultureweekly]

I’m an idiot and it got lost in editing. It’s an amazing song

[@moonstone1159]

Mer Girl is an amazing song, a haunting dreamscape of the death of her mother, the driving force that still drives her art.

[@popcultureweekly]

I f’d that one up

[@MiguelMikeLopez]

Why did you skip Sky fits heaven? I loved your reaction 🤗 ♥

[@popcultureweekly]

Ayyy. Tysm! More M coming very soon :)

[@ejm6460]

However Justice for Mer Girl! That is a perfect perfect closing track! She's saying: I told you all of this, I got enlightened and shared it with you but in the end, I don't know what I know and what I've learned: I'm still running away... to better, open pastures and spaces!

[@ricardogarcia9243]

Wtf?! Mer girl is the perfect closure of this album. Americans and their well known taste in music.

[@joasdavi693]

❤❤❤❤

[@popcultureweekly]

Tysm for watching. More M vids coming soon

[@RafaelAlves-fi9dm]

Hello! Your reactions are great! Please react to Confessions Album!!!! It's a Madonna's materpiece!!!

[@popcultureweekly]

On it!

[@leandroferraz3776]

Thank you for this reaction. Too bad you didn't include the ethereal Has To Be...

[@funeko_6194]

Sky fits Heaven??? 🥺

[@popcultureweekly]

I’m dumb I’m sorry. But it’s an amazing song

[@funeko_6194]

@@popcultureweekly 👍👍👍

[@HolaQueTal-gi6ru]

And has to be?

[@popcultureweekly]

In the US it wasn’t on the album. But I really like that song. More Madonna reacts coming!

[@stevenmcilroy3935]

This would have got a thumbs up until you dissed Mer girl one of my favourite tracks on the album.

[@popcultureweekly]

Ahh I’m sorry.

[@JuanMartinez-wz1yg]

Nobody love CPG

[@popcultureweekly]

Lmao

[@egoriysemenov]

WGERE THA FUCK IS SKY FITS HEAVEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@popcultureweekly]

Comment of the year! I’m an idiot and we accidentally took it out in editing. I LOVE THAT SONG TOO

[@egoriysemenov]

skyfits heaveb?????????????????????

[@popcultureweekly]

It was accidentally cut. I LOVE THAT SONG

[@user-sc3cl1im4r]

depeche mode did it first

[@popcultureweekly]

🤔

[@madonnko]

Pretending Mer girl doesn't exist? How dare you? Thumb down. Now following you anymore.

[@popcultureweekly]

Huh? I talk about Mer Girl

[@madonnko]

@@popcultureweekly You said in the video: "Just pretend this song doesn't exist..." That is why I made this comment.

[@rebelblue]

What are you talking about, Mer Girl is amazing! Imagine making stupid faces why listening to this sad piece of art 🤦‍♂️

[@popcultureweekly]

You know we can have different opinions, right?

[@oceanlover3530]

@@popcultureweekly 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[@rebelblue]

@@popcultureweekly I know, but in this case you deeply wrong.