Well, that didn’t take long. Just days after she took to social media to excoriate the dastardly scoundrels who leaked ‘unfinished’ versions of tracks from her forthcoming album, Madonna fired back at the bad guys by suddenly making the first six tracks from the album available for purchase on iTunes. The album, which is now definitively called Rebel Heart, will be released in full on March 10, and according to the iTunes listing will have 19 tracks. The tracks released on Friday include new versions of five songs that had initially popped up in the leak, marking her first official new music since 2012’s MDNA.
In a statement on her official website, Madonna said, “I was hoping to release my new single ‘Living For Love’ on Valentine’s Day with the rest of the album coming in the Spring. I would prefer my fans to hear completed versions of some of the songs instead of the incomplete tracks that are circulating. Please consider these six songs as an early Christmas gift.” So never say Madonna never gave you anything, even if you do have to shell out almost eight bucks to get her gift.
According to the statement, production credits on the album will include Diplo, Kanye West, and Billboard. The rumored collaboration with Nicki Minaj does appear in the early release, with Nicki’s guest verse appearing on the track “Bitch I’m Madonna,” where we learn that Nicki Minaj is a sprinter on the track and also that she also might, in fact, be Madonna (bitch).