By Samita Mason

The Material Girl is back — and trying something new. Which, may not be a good thing.

MDNA, is Madonna’s 12th album — it’s a two-disk set of 17 songs  — some of which feels as if you should be in a club waving around glow sticks while you listen.

If you missed Madonna’s Super Bowl half time show — and haven’t had a chance to download the disc which dropped March 26 — the music video for hit single “Give Me All Your Luvin” has a football theme. Rappers Nicki Minaj and M.I.A. are featured prancing around in cheerleader uniforms shaking pom poms.

Half of the tracks on the album sound as if they have been remixed for a Saturday night in downtown Atlanta. The other half sound painful and awful.

A typical Madonna fan remembers hit songs such as “Papa Don’t Preach” and “Like a Prayer” where the queen of pop actually sang songs. In MDNA, fans are either hearing auto tuning or a Madonna voice that has aged along with her.

Madonna may have fans confused when they listen to her current album all the way through.  Some tracks made me  want to cringe. Others made me wonder how and why she went from her popular songs like “True Blue” to a deejay dance mix. But, a few of the slower songs had me singing at the top of my lungs in the car.

These new songs may make the average fan want to turn the volume down on their speakers. Her voice is scratchy, low and off pitch. Not the Madonna I remember.

Madonna released her first CD in 1983. Almost 20 years later, she is still attempting to sing and perform like she did when she was in her 30s. In her current album, lyrics such as “you shot my lover in the head,” or  “I’m a sinner, I like it that way” can be heard. She does get points for working hard, raising a family and releasing new music for her fans. But as a 53-year-old woman, she would look classier if she dumped the skimpy clothing.

Madonna should have stuck with her pop genre that she knows and what got her to where she is today. She sounds like she is trying to compete with the younger generation and it is not working. Stick with what you know and what you are good at Madonna.