Continuing my look at the albums of 2005…
Now that I’ve counted down my favorite albums of 2005, I’m turning my attention to other notable albums from that year. Some of these I know a little bit or a lot, some I didn’t know at all. Each of them made a splash commercially or critically and helped shape the popular music landscape that year.
I wrote about Madonna’s Confessions On a Dance Floor back when I did a deep dive of all of her albums. This one was Madonna’s last Platinum album in the U.S., and the last real triumph of her career.
Confessions is a full-on dance record, sequenced like a DJ’s uninterrupted set and embracing EDM to a degree she never had before. It brings the seed of her 80s pop into a new era with muscular electronic production.
This isn’t my sort of music, but I can set aside my biases enough to recognize the artistry behind this project. I love the idea of Madonna dominating the dance floor more than two decades after she exploded the pop scene.
I ended up putting this album at #4 on my Madonna ranking, up there with classics from the 80s and 90s, in part because it demonstrated how adept she was at adapting her sound to the times. Unfortunately, that streak ended here and her next four albums were ambitious failures.
This one was an ambitious success.
It’s all an illusion
There’s too much confusion
It’s all an illusion
There’s too much confusion
[Verse 1]
Down, down, down in your heart
Find, find, find the secret
Turn, turn, turn your head around
Baby we can do it, we can do it all right
[Pre-Chorus]
Do you believe in love at first sight?
It’s an illusion, I don’t care
Do you believe I can make you feel better?
Too much confusion, come on over here
[Chorus]
Can we get together?
I really, I really wanna be with you
Come on, check it out with me
I hope you, I hope you feel the same way too
[Verse 2]
I searched, I searched, I searched my whole life
To find, find, find the secret
But all I did was open up my eyes
Baby we can do it, we can do it all right
[Pre-Chorus]
Do you believe that we can change the future?
Do you believe I can make you feel better?
[Chorus]
Can we get together?
I really, I really wanna be with you
Come on, check it out with me
I hope you, I hope you feel the same way too
Can we get together?
I really, I really wanna be with you
Come on, check it out with me
I hope you, I hope you feel the same way too
[Refrain]
It’s all an illusion
There’s too much confusion
I’ll make you feel better
If it’s bitter at the start
Then it’s sweeter in the end
[Pre-Chorus]
Do you believe in love at first sight?
It’s an illusion, I don’t care
Do you believe I can make you feel better?
Too much confusion, come on over here
[Chorus]
Can we get together?
I really, I really wanna be with you
Come on, check it out with me
I hope you, I hope you feel the same way too
Can we get together?
I really wanna be with you
Come on, check it out with me
I hope you feel the same way too
[Refrain]
It’s all an illusion
There’s too much confusion
I’ll make you feel better
If it’s bitter at the start
Then it’s sweeter in the end
Meet Me In Montauk 
I am neither enough of a fan of Madonna nor EDM/dance music to embrace this album.