"Bitch I'm Madonna" is a song by American singer Madonna from her thirteenth studio album, Rebel Heart (2015), featuring guest vocals from Trinidadian rapper Nicki Minaj. The artists co-wrote the song with MoZella, Toby Gad, Ariel Rechtshaid, Diplo, and Sophie. It was released as the third single from the album by Interscope Records on June 15, 2015, along with a number of remixes commissioned. Produced by Madonna and Diplo, it is an EDM song with lyrics about Madonna having continuous fun because she is Madonna.
The song divided music critics, as some called it "energetic", applauding Minaj's rap verse and its unusual composition, while others criticized it for being "desperate to shock". In the United States, "Bitch I'm Madonna" became the first Madonna song to enter the Billboard Hot 100 in three years, peaking at number 84. The song became Minaj's 63rd and Madonna's 57th Hot 100 entry, placing them at positions three and four on the list of women with the most entries on the chart up that point. It also reached number-one on the Hot Dance Club Songs chart, extending Madonna's lead as the artist with the most number-ones on the US dance chart. Worldwide, the song has reached the top-thirty in Hungary, and the digital charts of Finland and Sweden.
The song's accompanying video, directed by Jonas Åkerlund, has Minaj and Diplo appearing alongside Madonna. The video also contains cameos from Rita Ora, Chris Rock, Jon Kortajarena, Miley Cyrus, Alexander Wang, Beyoncé, Katy Perry, Kanye West, and Madonna's two sons, Rocco and David. It was shot at the Standard Hotel in New York City and shows Madonna and her entourage having a party throughout the building, ending at the rooftop. The release of the video to the streaming service Tidal was plagued by technical difficulties and was met with a mixed response. Critics complimented the craziness of the clip but panned the absence of the guest stars from the set. Additionally, comparisons ensued with then recently released music video for singer-songwriter Taylor Swift's single "Bad Blood", which had featured similar guest stars. To further promote the song, Madonna performed "Bitch I'm Madonna" during her appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, which was received positively. It was also performed on the Rebel Heart (2015–2016) and Celebration (2023–2024) concert tours.
Background and development
In February 2014, Madonna announced that she had begun working on her thirteenth studio album, saying "I'm right now in the process of talking to various co-writers and producers and talking about where I want to go with my music". By the next month she started posting a number of images on social media website Instagram, where she hinted at possible songwriters and collaborators with hashtag captions. Two months later, Madonna posted a selfie where she talked about working with American DJ Diplo. Madonna had invited him to her annual Oscar party, but he was unable to attend. They eventually started talking about music through texts and decided to collaborate on the album. In an interview with Idolator, Diplo explained that Madonna had asked him to provide his "craziest record" for the album. Together they wrote and recorded seven songs and Diplo added that "[Madonna] was up for anything. I love when an artist gives a producer the confidence he needs to work with them, and [she] was very open-minded to my ideas. Those records are gonna be crazy-sounding. We really pushed the envelope with some of the stuff we were doing."
One of the tracks recorded was confirmed by Diplo as titled "Bitch I'm Madonna", which he believed would push his boundaries of songwriting. Madonna explained that the phrase was new to her and was introduced by Diplo, who explained that anyone who could remain cool when faced with criticism was appropriating Madonna, hence it was not just a unique reference to the singer. The origin of the song's idea was traced back to rapper Lil B's 2010 song, "Pretty Boy Anthem", which presented the lyrics "I look like Madonna / Bitch, I'm a farmer". Diplo took this idea to Madonna and developed a song which addressed the singer's detractors, who spoke negatively about her longevity in the music industry, adding "We made this record about, 'Fuck it, bitch, we're all Madonna. He also insisted that they recruit rapper Nicki Minaj, who had previously worked with Madonna on two songs, "Give Me All Your Luvin'" and "I Don't Give A", from her MDNA album.
Diplo explained to Interview magazine that the song's composition happened while they were drinking one night in the studio. There he played Madonna a Japanese pizzicato melody and a drop, which she liked. Since Madonna preferred to start her compositions on guitar, Diplo added guitar sounds over the melody and then progressed with the writing. Another Instagram post by Madonna confirmed Minaj's involvement in the track, with the photo caption "We go hard or we go home we gon' do this all night long! #werk". Madonna commented about her method working with Minaj: Whenever we work together she always sits with me and listens to the song, and says "tell me what this song is about to you." She's very methodical in her thinking. We talk about it, she writes down words that I say describing what the song's about and the sentiment that I'd like her to get out there, and then she goes away and she works on it. She writes it, she comes back. She does a version of it, we talk about it. It's a back and forth until she gets it right. It's a total collaboration.
Release On December 17, 2014, Billboard reported that the demo version of "Bitch I'm Madonna" had leaked onto the Internet, alongside the other twelve demo recordings for Madonna's then untitled thirteenth studio album. An aggravated Madonna clarified that the songs were demo versions from earlier recordings; she compared the leak to that of "artistic rape". She was subsequently criticized for referring to the hack as "terrorism" in the wake of the Peshawar school attack and Sydney hostage crisis. On December 20, 2014, the album became available for pre-order on iTunes Store. When ordered, six tracks including "Bitch I'm Madonna" were available for digital download. Madonna stated that the songs were meant to be "an early Christmas gift" with the final release in March 2015.
Following "Living for Love" and "Ghosttown", "Bitch I'm Madonna" was confirmed as the third single from Rebel Heart by Madonna on her Instagram. She also released three remixes of the song on her YouTube and Tidal accounts for streaming. The cover art of the song was also released along with the remixes; it was created from one of her images on Instagram. The majority of house remixes of "Bitch I'm Madonna" were produced by Rosabel, Sander Kleinenberg and Oscar G, who posted a message on his Facebook account about the collaboration, "When Madonna calls you, you do exactly what she asks. I am very grateful for this opportunity!" Another remix by Sick Individuals, which consist of Dutch duo Rinze "Ray" Hofstee and Joep "Jim" Smeele, was released exclusively to Billboard. The remixes were first released on June 15, 2015, in Australia and Germany, and the next day in other nations.
Composition and remixes "Bitch I'm Madonna" was co-written and co-produced by Madonna and Diplo, with other writers including Sophie, MoZella, Toby Gad, Ariel Rechtshaid and Minaj. Demacio "Demo" Castellon was the audio engineer for the track and also did the audio mixing and recording. Other engineers who worked on the track included Nick Rowe and Aubrey "Big Juice" Delaine, with Zeke Mishanec helping with additional recording and Angie Teo working on additional mixing. The song was the first time that PC Music, which generally catered to underground music and artists, was working with a mainstream artist like Madonna. Sophie recalled that it was Madonna who was "calling the final shots" for recording the song and noted that there was no label representative who dictated the process.
"Bitch I'm Madonna" has similarities to DJ Snake and Lil Jon's "Turn Down for What" (2013) with Madonna's vocals reminiscent of singer Miley Cyrus' autotuned rapping. The song has a "berserk", "bleepy" and "churning" EDM, trap, electro, dubstep and electropop sound. It begins with the sound of acoustic guitar reminiscent of Avicii's single "Wake Me Up" (2012), as Madonna coos in the background, "You're gonna love this", but quickly transitions "past stadium-filling EDM into a genre that more commonly fills the headphones of kids surfing obscure music blogs late at night", as noted by Sasha Geffen, who also compared the sound to the vaporwave genre. The track deviates from a traditional song structure and hook, instead featuring harsh cuts, synths and Madonna singing in a nasal tone. Minaj raps in the track, asking everybody to "go hard or go home", while Madonna shouts lyrics like, "I just wanna have fun tonight, I wanna blow up this house tonight", "alternating between pitch-shifted shrieks of 'Who do you think you are??' and the sing-songy title taunt." Regarding her profuse usage of the word "bitch" in the song (along with another song "Unapologetic Bitch" from Rebel Heart), Madonna defended her decision to Billboard, saying: I think that's bullshit. The word police can fuck off. I don't want to be policed! I'm not interested in political correctness. The word "bitch" means a lot of different things. Everything is about context. When I first moved to England and heard the word "cunt", I was horrified. People were calling each other cunts! And then I realized that, in that culture, it was different—they slapped each other on the back and said, "Who's the cunt, right, you're my best mate!" The word "fuck" doesn't just mean sexual intercourse. I mean, "You're a stupid fuck", "Are you going to fuck with me?" "Fuck off!" ... Sex has nothing to do with any of those expressions, and the same goes for "bitch". If I say to you, "I'm a badass bitch", I'm owning myself, I'm saying, "I'm strong, I'm tough, and don't mess with me." If I say, "Why are you being such a bitch to me?", well, that means something else. Since Madonna had to rush-release the first six songs from Rebel Heart due to the hack and leaks, Diplo clarified that the released version on the album was not his final mixing of the track; he later posted his intended cut on his SoundCloud account. Three of the house remixes of "Bitch I'm Madonna" were released as dub versions of the song, with a long drawn-out beat section and minimal vocals from Madonna, as noted by Robbie Daw from Idolator. Kleinenberg's remix had a completely different sound from the house mixes, although Daw believed all of them to be "cheap" sounding in comparison to the original. According to Sick Individuals, their remix of the song had "hard-hitting" beats and it was also an energetic version, catering to the dance floors. Fedde Le Grand's remix of the song did not use any of the effects present in the album version, and was created as an electro house track with metallic sounds.
Critical reception