Wednesday, April 2nd Promotion
MTV UNPLUGGED: MILEY x MADONNA
Tonight a legendary MTV moment was about to be created, as Miley Cyrus and Madonna starred in a collaborative special of MTV Unplugged. Normally being half-an-hour, this episode had been extended to one hour, making room for two Queens to truly shine in the episode. With a TV viewing of over 10 million people, the MTV episode was set to do well considering its great hype. All the viewers had expected an amazing episode, and the two were about to serve up a damn good one.
Gang Bang
The episode opened with the intense Madonna song, “Gang Bang” from her latest album ‘MDNA’. The song was inspired by the Quentin Tarantino film Kill Bill which Uma Thurman starred in about ten years about. The two came out on the stage raging to the bass of the song. There was a ton of dead suit-man on the floor covered in blood, as Madonna turned around to revealed herself. She wore a black catsuit, all in leather, looking flawless. The top had a tight hood, with Madonna having some blood scratches and marks on her face. Her vocal was low and intense, as she gritted her teeth while singing the song. “Bang bang, shot ya dead” she sang angrily. After about a minute and a half into the performance, she moved around a little bit. During the breakdown, a few girls came onto the stage and danced with Madonna, all carrying swords and guns. Madonna slayed with some light choreography for the next minute, slaying with her pissed off mood. She really embodied the character of the avenged The Bride, as she grabbed and a gun and marched around, kicking some of the men on the floor. The bridge breakdown came, larger than ever before, and all the lights went berserk. Some more agents came out to murder Madonna, put she slaughtered all of them using some swords and a gun. “I need you to die for me, baby!” Madonna screamed going through a sea of running agents. She murders all of them effortlessly, as the sound of gunshots and electronic beats filled the audience-empty studio. A car drives up, with Miley driving it as Madonna speaks the outro of the song, screaming as she gets in the car. “Now, drive bitch! I said, drive bitch!” she says to Miley as a background image of a desert comes up with Miley pretending to drive a pickup truck. The curtain closes as the performance is over.
Bitch Like That
The curtains opened again after a short commercial break, to a prison scene. In a huge workout room, an officer comes in throwing Miley and Madonna onto the ground. “Eat ‘em up ladies, these two are real bad ones.” Miley and Madonna both shook off the dust on their uniforms and both got in. The Queen of the Prison walked up to Miley and Madonna, looking as if she did not give the slightest **** about life. She spit out her tobacco and asked: “Excuse me… who the **** are y’all?” Miley answered, “Well I’m Miley… and that’s-“ until Madonna pushed her backward a little bit. She walked up towards the Queen of the Prison, giving her an eye. She nodded to Miley, and Miley spoke: “Madonna.” The music hit and the lights went blue and red all over the place. The acoustic arrangement embarked “Aura”/“Girl Gone Wild” teas with an overdosage of guitars mixed in with light piano chords. Miley began to sing and Madonna sang Lindsay’s first line, practically taking over Lindsay’s parts of the whole song. Everyone moved all over the place, getting into position. The chorus exploded, with everyone doing choreography. The second verse hit, and everyone began to help plot the escape while the Queen of the Prison and Madonna still gave each other shady looks. The bridge came, as the guards barged in. “What the **** is going on here - we heard y’all.” No one answered, some of the girls whistled, and some were asleep in the common room. “****ing bye,” the HBIC cop stormed off with her little trainee behind her, scampering. One prisoner held up the keys out, and everyone rejoiced. The last chorus exploded in more choreography, as the rough acoustics worked out very well with the performance after all. At the end, all the prisoners escaped.
Ray of Light
The performance of “Ray of Light” was very simple. The two walk together on a long road back home, singing the Madonna classic on the way back home. Throughout the song, the scenery changed in colors. Both of them had beautiful, elegant vocals throughout the song. Reels from the music video had also been shown, and Miley helped Madonna sing some of the parts together - but Madonna took the lead in the light again.
La Isla Bonita
On the way back home, the two stopped at a Spanish Bar/Club out in the West. Madonna and Miley crashed the backstage and began to our on uniforms, looking like some girls who had just had sex in the back of an El Paso hotel in the 1950s. They both took to the stage, with Madonna singing the beginning lines, with the band strumming very Islander-sounding tunes mixed with some acoustic tango influences. They both swayed, singing in old fashioned microphones. This time, Miley was able to shine through although mostly picking up background vocals and ad-libs. They had some women come onto the stage to dance, looking very poise and very extravagant. Candles lit up the saloon-esque area, with many spectators still talking during the performance. During the bridge, Miley and Madonna both grabbed men by their shirts to the stage to dance with them. They got a little hot on the men. They sang the final chorus in perfection, moving their bodies left and right. The saloon clapped for them.
Where Was the Love?
Suddenly, the saloon like setting turned into a 2000s type of club, where all the outfits and scenery changed. Miley was on the stage solo now, as she walked up to the microphone. “This song is about a lying, cheating little bastard.” Madonna stood up, acting to be a part of the crowd, “You still pissed?” Miley looked at her firmly, “We just broke up yesterday. So yes, very.” The rock guitars and light drums started as Miley eyed the audience, looking through with anger. Miley had began to sing, being very irritated and infuriated, but sounding edgy and great. Her tone had a more sharp quality to it than normal, definitely giving her best performance of the song this whole era. At the chorus, she completely rocked out and started crying everywhere but she still powered through. Towards the bridge, she walked through the audience in tears but screaming her lines. Madonna, acting as a drunk supporter, got up and stood with her, giving her a drink. They both did a cheers and she pushed Miley back onto the stage where Miley began to falsetto, hitting notes she had never attempted to try with the song ever before. The performance ended, with a commercial break following.
On the Radio
The two hit the road again, in a car this time. They both drove, turning up “On the Radio”… on the car radio. Miley sang her lines in the verse as the band played, giving perfect and effortless vocals. Madonna sang the chorus with Miley, as the guitar player from the band sat on the top of the roof. Miley rapped Macklemore’s part with no difficulties, just as she’s been doing in all of her solo live performances of the current single. During the bridge, Madonna rapped a little with Miley hitting the higher notes to create perfection. The final chorus was fantastic, as both of them just laughed and smiled towards the end.
Music
They kept driving in the desert in the night time, as they had finally hit a rest area… although there was nothing in the area but sand and random cars and people. Madonna and Miley conversed with the people, as Madonna’s huge hit “Music” came on. Both Madonna and Miley began to sing the song, teaching some of the random people choreography. The people all had different ethnicities, so Madonna spoke to them in different languages as Miley showed them the routine. The first chorus was great, as around a fifth of the people got the choreography fully and the two sounded great singing the classic smash together. In the middle, about sixty percent of the people had the **** down. Madonna kept encouraging the others to get out there into the fun dance as Miley kept singing her lines, sounding great still. At the end, all of them danced in the pale moonlight on a desert with a ton of cars, and a fire surrounding. It was a very good time, and the two girls left the scene at the end.
Express Yourself / My Truth
Back in the city, both Madonna and Miley were irrelevant and broke as ****. They set up a corner at the street to perform for money, where they both sang. At first, Madonna stepped out performing another classic “Express Yourself”. She danced around with two guys, but attracted barely any attention. Her vocals were on-par and she had a ball, however no one on the streets thought so. Afterwards, Miley strummed on her guitar and sang “My Truth”, the title track of her latest album. Her vocals were heartfelt, as she also twerked a little bit while playing the guitar, which was something we had not seen from Miley this era yet. Miley smiled at the end, thinking she’d made enough money, but did not. The two looked disappointed and left the scene.
Invisible / Open Your Heart
It was midnight, in the empty streets of New York City, as set up by the studio. The low synthesizers played very dark and captivating notes, with some light guitar chords and some drum hits, creating the performance that was “Invisible”. Miley and Madonna walked holding hands in the night, as Miley sang the first half of the song. They both looked lost, terrified of the dark and the cold, but hopeful. Halfway through the song, an instrumental change went through which lasted about a minute. Miley cried, Madonna hugging her and she began to sing “Open Your Heart”. She hugged Miley tight, still singing the song. They clutched each other’s hands tight, as Miley found the courage to sing along with Madonna, as they both laughed a bit during the song. At the end, they both skipped into the fog of New York City, with the special ending a few seconds after.
