‘I have to tell a story’: Madonna says new album was inspired by family trauma

Madonna says her upcoming album, Confessions II, is a direct response to family trauma she has faced in recent years. The singer opened up about the personal events that shaped the record in a conversation with Interview magazine.

The 67-year-old explained that her songwriting is closely tied to what she has actually lived through. “It’s hard for me to write a song about nothing. I have to tell a story. So I wrote about a lot of family trauma, and then we started making dance music,” she said. This shift in direction followed a series of difficult events, including the deaths of her brother, Christopher Ciccone, and her stepmother, Joan.

Madonna described the toll these losses took on her. “I had a lot of stuff going on in my life personally. My brother was very, very, very ill, and my stepmother, with whom I’d had a very traumatic relationship throughout my entire childhood, had just died,” she said.

Madonna says daughter Lourdes co-wrote a song as a way to heal their relationship

The new album also touches on her relationship with her eldest daughter, Lourdes Leon. Lourdes is credited as a co-writer on the record, and Madonna said their work together was a step toward repairing their bond. “The song I wrote with my daughter, Lola. She approached me about writing a song together as a way to heal our relationship. It was a really important moment, and it solidified the idea that now is the time to make this record,” Madonna said.

According to the Daily Mail, the relationship between Madonna and Lourdes has been discussed publicly for years, often centered on Lourdes’ push for independence. In a 2021 interview, Lourdes called her mother a “control freak” and said she paid for her own college and apartment to break away from that influence. 

“My mom is such a control freak, and she has controlled me my whole life. I needed to be completely independent from her as soon as I graduated high school,” Lourdes said at the time. Madonna has also been outspoken in other parts of her public life, including when she criticized a Trump administration policy.

Despite that earlier tension, the two now appear to be on better terms. Lourdes appears in the short film made for the new project. Madonna’s brother, Christopher, also plays a major role in this chapter of her life. He died in 2024 at age 63 after a battle with cancer. Following his death, Madonna wrote on social media, “My brother Christopher is gone. He was the closest human to me for so long.”

Their relationship spanned decades and went through major changes. Christopher worked as Madonna’s backup dancer and art director before the two had a public falling out in the early 2000s. He later wrote a book about their relationship that included sharp criticism of his sister. 

Reflecting on their connection, Madonna said, “It’s hard to explain our bond. But it grew out of an understanding that we were different and society was going to give us a hard time for not following the status quo. We took each other’s hands and we danced through the madness of our childhood. In fact dance was a kind of superglue that held us together.”

Confessions II is set for release on July 3 through Warner Records. Other musicians have also dealt with their own promotional struggles recently, including A$AP Rocky’s frustrating experience promoting his album on social media.