The Smarts: It’s the MDNA CMBCK!

SO where do you stand on the title of Madonna’s new album? MDNA obviously ticks several boxes at once – it sounds like text-message speak (how current!), it sounds a bit like an illegal drug (how subversive!) and it’s an abbreviation for mitochondrial DNA, a genetic building block passed from mother to child (how clever!).

But is this evidence that Madonna still has her finger on the zeitgeist, or that she’s trying way too hard to appear younger than she is? The case for the prosecution: her comeback single, premiered on American Idol today before its release online tomorrow, is called Give Me All Your Luvin. What? Should that not be “loving”, 53-year-old lady? Or is Luvin the name of a high-end beauty product/sleeping pill/brand of cocoa that somehow passed us by? If she really does mean “loving”, then the whole luvin thing just screams naffness, even if it has MIA and Nicki Minaj performing on it.

Minaj, MIA and Madge (try saying that with a mouthful of toffee) will all perform together at the US Super Bowl on Sunday, the climax of Mdna’s bg cmbck wknd. If you feel like being bitchy about this, you might wish to quote Elton John, who was mean about Madonna again this week (advising her to “lip-sync good” at the event).

If you feel like standing up for the Queen of Pop, though, you could point out that Elton has been consistently naff and conservative for decades now – Gnomeo & Juliet, indeed – while Madonna has been working with musical innovators such as Björk, William Orbit, Stuart Price, Pharrell Williams and Timbaland. Admittedly she has also been making bad movies, but aside from the patchy American Life, she’s been on a pretty consistent musical winning streak since Ray of Light back in 1998. Perhaps Elton is just jealous.