- [Kurt] Hi!
Let us help you down!
- I just blew my "give someone a hard time" energy.
- [Laughs] Oh, you did?
On someone else?
- Yeah, I'm sorry.
I meant it for you, Kurt.
- Oh, well, there'll be time.
Let us help you out here.
- Thank you.
- [Crew Member] OK. Stand by, guys. Here we go!
Ready?
- [Crew member] What are you putting
over here, Chris [Cunningham]?
- [Crew Member] I need quarter stops in the middle,
to start slowing it down. - OK.
- [Kurt] Now, why did you come out here to do "Frozen"?
Is there a connection between the sort of desolation out here and the song?
- [Madonna] Well, the song's about
being emotionally frozen.
So, I think a desert
is sort of symbolic of that, you know?
Hey, we should keep walking that way, shouldn't we?
It's more beautiful!
- Uh, sure! [Laughs]
Of course! What a good idea.
- Let's head straight into the sun.
- Now, who'd you work on this song with?
- [Madonna] I wrote it with Pat Leonard, and I —
Let’s see, who did I produce it with?
It's very complicated.
I produced it with Pat Leonard and William Orbit.
I've really been a big fan of William Orbit's
for a long time. I like the sound of his records,
and I like a lot of this music that's coming out of England,
and I wanted to go more in that direction.
- [Kurt] Yeah.
- [Crew Member] And roll!
- [Kurt] Do you cruise the internet
and see what they're saying out there?
- [Madonna] I haven't got time to cruise the internet.
What are they saying?
- [Kurt] Well, they're just some people who are interested, say,
"I hear she's gonna do some, you know, remixes of this,"
and this is the first album you've put out since
the internet became really big.
- [Madonna] Uh-huh.
Well, that's good.
I'm glad people are curious. - Yeah.
And it doesn't sound like any other record around.
So, they'll be happy when it comes out.
- I hope so!
I hope so.
- What did you set out to do when you did this record?
Did you say, “I want this to be, like,
more, after ‘Evita’ and ‘Bedtime Stories,’
I want this to be really up, and really dance,”
or was it that —
- Well, I don't think every song is up.
I just wanted to explore different territory,
both, you know,
emotionally and lyrically,
and also, musically.
- [Crew Member] Yeah, right here.
- Where? Here?
- [Chris] Same start position,
but instead of cutting across it, go out more.
- [Madonna] Instead of cutting across, going that way,
go that way? - [Chris] Yeah, yeah.
- Did you come up with this,
with, like, the storyline here?
- Did I come up —
It's not exactly a storyline.
It's more abstract. - Mhm.
- And it's something that
Chris and I worked on together,
Chris Cunningham.
- [Kurt] Yeah.
- [Madonna] He's really talented,
and a lot of his imagery is haunting.
He's a very dark sensibility,
but this is not a disturbing song.
It's more of a kind of melancholy —
- Yeah. - It’s a love song.
- [Chris] You've gotta be on the floor, collapsed on the floor.
- Really? - Yeah.
- Something like that? - Yeah, we'll try that.
We'll try that the first take.
- [Kurt] So, as a viewer, we're seeing —
We're in the middle of the desert, and we come across Veronica.
She's in the middle of the desert, sort of, I guess —
- [Madonna] Undulating. - Undulating!
Undulating. - Yes.
- And we're immediately caught up
in her struggle to be free, kinda thing?
- My struggle to free myself,
my struggle to, I don't know —
I mean, whenever I write songs in the first person,
I'm usually talking about myself, too.
- Mhm.
- Did I say that right?
- Yeah, yeah. - OK.
- I mean, it's about you —
- I'm no literary giant, Kurt.
- [Laughs] Well, who among us is, really,
when you think about it? - [Laughs]
- [Kurt] Is there a master plan for how to break this album?
Are you gonna do anything special to, like, alert the world?
Knowing that it won't be public
until, you know, months from now, probably.
- Yeah. We're doing some things, but I'd rather not say.
I don't wanna tell all the secrets.
- Well, could you tell us a few?
- No. - Oh!
- [Kurt] Is ‘Ray of Light’ gonna be the album title?
- [Madonna] Yeah, mhm. - Oh, good.
It's not gonna be ‘Veronica Electronica,’
or anything like that?
- No, that's the remix Odyssey record that —
- Oh!
- You know, as soon as I can get William Orbit
out of his hotel bed — - [Laughs]
- And get him back into the studio.
He's collapsed in a heap after the record.
- I'll bet he is!
- We are turning now, and why are we turning?
- [Crew member] They might need you back.
- Let's go back, 'cause you know, I'm getting a sunburn.
- OK, yeah.
- I'm supposed to be pale and sort of have
a death-like pallor in this video.
- [Producer] A little goth?
- Yeah.
No, don't say goth.
- No goth?
- No, the director won't like that at all.
- [Laughs]
- Want a Red, Kurt?
- [Kurt] No, thank you [laughs]. I gave up Reds a long time ago.
- [Crew Member] Are you sure you don't want some cake?
- Mm-mm.
- [Kurt] So, what was the other possibility
for a single, if it wasn't gonna be "Frozen"?
- [Madonna] "Ray of Light."
- Good song, too.
- Yeah.
I was very torn. I couldn't decide.
- Yeah.
- In the end, I had to consult my rabbi.
- [Laughs]
- [Crew Member] Standby. Eric, ready?
OK, guys, we're ready. Here we go.
Ready? And...
Roll!
- [Kurt] So, if something — - [Madonna] Well, I guess you guys
are going home to your warm beds now!
- [Laughs]
- [Kurt] Thanks for, you know, putting up with us,
and it's gonna be great!
It's gonna be fabulous. - I hope so.
- And we wanna see a track date,
or something, gonna be out there?
- In New York?
- Near our offices, perhaps?
- Maybe. - Yeah! That would be good.
- OK! - [Laughs] If you could arrange that.
- Will you be in the front row?
- Oh, I'll be onstage with you!
- OK! - Just leaping around behind.
- I want you onstage with me, OK? You.
And you.