How Madonna’s Songwriter Felt When Her Lil Wayne Song Failed
Madonna and Lil Wayne made a song together in 2009, but you probably don’t remember it. There’s a reason why it’s not one of the “Like a Prayer” singer‘s biggest tunes. The producer of the track explained why working with the Queen of Pop was anxiety-inducing.
Madonna and Lil Wayne made a song together with bizarre lyrics
DJ Frank E is not your average DJ. He’s produced hit tunes like Enrique Iglesias’ “Tonight (I’m Lovin’ You),” Flo Rida’s “Whistle,” and B.o.B.’s “Airplane.” He knows how to straddle the line between pop and hip-hop. With that in mind, it makes sense that he produced a collaboration between Madonna and Lil Wayne. The song in question is “Revolver,” a track where the Queen of Pop brags that her love is a revolver and her sex is a killer.
During a 2010 interview with Hip Hop Update, DJ Frank E discussed working with the Material Girl. “Talk about stress,” he recalled. “It felt like I was about to meet the president or something. I got to the session two hours beforehand to set up and give the files to the engineer, and I can’t remember a longer two hours of my life. It was like a countdown. Every five minutes, I’d get an update on her status.
“I received updates up to the last 15 seconds when she finally walked into the room,” he remembered. “She said, ‘So you’re the one?’ and I politely answered, “No … you’re the one.” We got along great after that and finished the song on my second day with her.”
Madonna’s producer admitted the track was a flop
DJ Frank E explained the upside of working with Madonna. “I will never forget the feeling of leaving that session after vocal producing Madonna, and thinking to myself, ‘It can’t it really get any harder than this,'” he recalled. “I’ve taken that mentality into every other session I’ve been in, and it’s helped me make the session and song more of a success.”
Despite this, the DJ didn’t think “Revolver” was any good. “Unfortunately, the mix sounded like crap and the song flopped,” she added. No Madonna fan or Lil Wayne fan is going to tell you that “Revolver” is one of their favorite songs. The ugly beat, the overuse of AutoTune, and the awkward gun metaphor made the song downright unlistenable.
Lil Wayne’s star power didn’t save the song
When DJ Frank E said “Revolver” flopped, he meant it. It did not hit the Billboard Hot 100. The tune was one of the new tracks on Madonna’s greatest hits album Celebration. That record peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard 200 and stayed on the chart for 17 weeks.
Celebration is the quintessential greatest hits album of Madonna’s catalog because it captures the best of each era of her career from the 1980s to the late 2000s. However, the two original songs on the album, “Revolver” and “Celebration,” are less than impressive. “Celebration” at least works on a cheesy Eurodance level, but “Revolver” is a cavalcade of bad lyrics coupled with a limp beat. It didn’t just fail. It deservedly failed.
Madonna swung and missed with “Revolver,” but at least the song proved she was willing to do something different.
