All the six singles that pop star Madonna released from her latest upcoming album "Rebel Heart" are topping charts on iTunes in more than 40 countries!
It all started on Tuesday, when 10 of Madonna's demo songs turned up online. The "La Isla Bonita" hitmaker hadn't even completed the album when the leaks struck. Therefore, Madonna announced on Friday that she would release six finished singles immediately and the whole album would hit shelves in March 2015.
Calling the six songs an "early Christmas gift" 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."
The accelerated release was damage control. Madonna initially planned on unveiling her singles and album much later but the hacks changed everything. In an interview with Billboard, Madonna said:
"I'm not happy that unreleased demos are out there in the world for people to hear, listen, judge, etcetera, etcetera. Once that happened we went into overdrive. A) Trying to figure out where the leaks were coming from, and then B) Trying to combat that with putting out finished music that people could focus on versus demos that were never meant for anyone to hear. So, that led to no sleep."
Madonna also told the magazine that these were "crazy times," referring to her song leaks and the recent data breach at Sony Pictures that exposed several confidential material to the public.
The "Hard Candy" hitmaker added that the internet was making the world unsafe.
"The Internet is as constructive and helpful in bringing people together as it is in doing dangerous things and hurting people. It's a double-edged sword," she said.
Madonna said she was surprised that her songs leaked despite tight security.
"We don't put things up on servers anymore. Everything we work on, if we work on computers, we're not on WiFi, we're not on the Internet, we don't work in a way where anybody can access the information. Hard drives of music are hand-carried to people. We don't leave music laying around."
Speaking to The Guardian, Madonna said that the leaks scared her.
"Obviously there is a person, or a group of people behind this that were essentially terrorising me. I don't want to sound alarming, but certainly that's how I felt. It's one thing if someone comes into your house and steals a painting off your wall: that's also a violation, but, your work, as an artist, that's devastating," she said.
"I'm an artistic person, I'm very expressive. I'm sorry if words alarm people, but that's what it felt like. It was not a consensual agreement. I did not say 'hey, here's my music, and it's finished.' It was theft," she added.
However, now that her tracks are topping charts worldwide, she calls it a miracle and thanks her fans for the love.
"Yeah. They're extremely [loyal] and I'm really super grateful for that," she told The Rolling Stone magazine.
