If you’re out there waiting for the long-rumored sequel to Madonna‘s Grammy-winning 1998 album Ray of Light, you can stop, because it is definitely not happening. At least not with the LP’s original producer, William Orbit.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
Orbit took to his Facebook page on Wednesday (March 18) to spill the tea on the purported sequel to the album that won the best pop album Grammy and another for best dance recording for the title track nearly 30 years ago.
“Right. Let’s put this Madonna ROL 2.0 thing to rest here and now folks. Can get exhausting
Is NOT going to happen,” wrote Orbit. “Look, why don’t I just lay it out, cos I get asked constantly
I have an album ready that imho is indeed the successor to ROL. Everything about how it was made and how it sounds yells that from the first few bars.”
Orbit said he reached out to Madonna’s camp with the music, but, alas, he said he’s gotten “Nil response. A week later. I speak with many close to her, including fam, but have not had a single syllable back in over two decades. There I said it.”
At press time a spokesperson for Madonna had not returned Billboard‘s request for comment.
Orbit continued, suggesting that he “only sort of hint we’re pals so’s not to ignite a firestorm of speculation,” noting that he doesn’t want to come off as bitter because in his life and art he is “finally where I want to be and the very opposite of bitter. Sweet as a nut.” The producer wished Madonna well, saying he believes she is “very happy, she looks fabulous and full of life in recent pics i’ve seen.”
He said the last time they spoke was in New York at MSR Studios, during sessions for the singer’s 12th studio album, 2012’s MDNA. And while the post appeared to be spiced with a soupçon of underlying peevishness, Orbit assured his FB followers that he has “Zero zero absolute zero hard feelings. Are you kidding, I will always love that woman. For real. She made my career But am I crying? Look at me. Crying with mirth and glee these days. You can’t shut me up squeaking and squawking about the table of lovely musical goodies laid before me.”
Orbit finished by saying he is writing a book, where he plans to tell the full story of the scotched sequel, alongside “candid reflections,” “Some deep chapters. Some pop goss. Some cartoon art” and pithy “one-liners.”
In addition to debuting at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 album chart at the time of release, Ray of Light, Madonna’s seventh studio album found the singer embracing an electronica vibe on an LP many consider to be one of her finest. The single “Frozen” peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, while the title track topped out at No. 5 and “The Power of Good-Bye” hit No. 11 and “Nothing Really Matters” hit No. 93.
While the Ray of Light follow seems like toast, Madonna confirmed in September that she had re-signed with Warner Records and is working on Confessions on a Dance Floor Part 2, whose release date has not been announced. In November, she dropped the digital album Confessions on a Dance Floor Twenty Years Edition, revisiting the 2005 electropop classic that featured such beloved hits as “Hung Up,” “Sorry” and “Get Together.”
Though it seems she will not be back in William’s Orbit any time soon, Madonna has definitely been in a reflective mood over the past year. Last July she released her long-rumored Veronica Electronica album, a collection of eight rare and unreleased remixes of songs from Ray of Light, followed in November by the revamp of her 1994 Bedtime Stories album on the eight-track Bedtime Stories — The Untold Chapter EP.
This week it was revealed that Madonna was spotted on the Venice set of the Emmy-winning Apple TV comedy The Studio, marking the singer’s first live-action acting gig in more than two decades.
