The Queen of Pop is heading back to the dance floor with a new set of confessions for her next album.
Madonna and Warner Records, the label that launched her career, recently announced that the legendary pop superstar will release her next album in 2026. “Almost 2 decades later—and it Feels like home with Warner Records!” she captioned her announcement post in her official Instagram page. “Back to music. Back to the Dance Floor. Back to where it all began! COADF P.2. 2026.”
COADF is short for “Confessions on a Dancefloor,” the title of her chart-topping disco-inspired 2005 album that spawned the instant classic, global smash single Hung Up, which famously samples the 1979 ABBA hit Gimme Gimme Gimme (A Man After Midnight). The album earned Madonna the most critical acclaim and biggest chart hits since her 1999 album Ray of Light , paving her way to winning a Grammy in 2007 for Best Electronic/Dance Album.
In a statement, the 67-year-old singer-songwriter-producer shared her excitement at being reunited with the label that first took a gamble on her and gave her a record deal. “From being a struggling artist in New York City to signing a record deal to releasing just three singles, it seemed at the time my world would never be the same again, and in fact that couldn’t have been truer,” she says. “Since the beginning, Warner Records has been a real partner with me. I am happy to be reunited and look forward to the future, making music, doing the unexpected while perhaps provoking a few needed conversations.”
For their part, Warner Records co-chairmen Tom Corson and Aaron Bay-Schuck sang Madonna’s praises. “Madonna isn’t just an artist — she’s the blueprint, the rule-breaker, the ultimate cultural juggernaut,” they note in the statement. “For decades, she has not only defined the sound of global pop music but also reshaped culture itself with her vision, innovation, and fearless artistry. This signing represents a historic, full-circle moment, one that brings her back to the label where it all began and reaffirms her unparalleled influence, setting the stage for an exciting new era of creativity and impact.”
Bedtime confessions?
The announcement noted that Madonna is the best-selling solo recording artist of all time, with over 400 million records sold. It came with images from a new photo shoot that recreated some of the iconic visuals from COADF. But instead of a stylized ‘70s disco diva aesthetic and a blouse-and-tanga outfit, Madonna is garbed in a dreamy two-piece lace nightgown that recalls her 1992 album Bedtime Stories which saw her dabbling in soul-R&B and hip-hop-flavored upbeat R&B called “new jill swing.”
Could COADF P.2 be a glorious Bedtime Confessions on a Dance Floor hybrid? Madonna’s current boyfriend, 28-year-old Jamaican soccer player Akeen Morris, seems to hint at it. His IG story about the announcement, where he shared coverage of the news from Rolling Stone magazine, carried this caption: Substance Soulful Sacred.
It sounds like we’re in for another reinvention from the empress dowager of reinvention in pop music, fashion, and culture.
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The new album will be Madonna’s first since 2019’s “Madame X.” Inspired by the sounds, people, and culture of Portugal where she resided with her children for several years, X has been described as a concept album that represents a musical and lyrical departure from the artist’s discography of pop records. It features forays into Latin, trap, art pop, and world music and deals with political themes including sexism, freedom of speech, social and religious oppression, and gun control.
Madonna has actually been teasing COADF P.2 since 2023. First came news about recording sessions for an entire album with DJ Sickick, the masked Canadian EDM artist, producer, and vocalist who had his breakthrough with his viral hit remix of Madonna’s 1999 classic Frozen.
Then came photos of a studio session with Grammy-winning Swedish pop hitmaker Max Martin, who holds the record as the producer with the most #1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, including Katy Perry’s I Kissed A Girl, Taylor Swift’s Shake It Off, and The Weeknd’s Blinding Lights, the best performing song of all time on the chart.
She first announced COADF P.2 in late 2024, sharing photos on her socials of studio time with Stuart Price, her main co-producer on the first COADF. “Working on new music with Stuart Price,” Madonna captioned on an Instagram Reel. “These past few months [have] been medicine for my SOUL.”
She added, “Songwriting and making music is the one area where I don’t need to ask anyone for their permission. I’m so excited to share it with you. Who wants to hear new music in 2026!”
Prior to working on the upcoming album, Madonna and Price collaborated on her greatest hits The Celebration Tour. The project saw the dynamic duo as artist and musical director, respectively, controversially reinventing and innovating the live pop concert by ditching a live band altogether in favor of a full soundtrack of studio recordings, explaining that they wanted to hew as close to the original versions.
The tour culminated in early 2024 with a final performance that gathered a live crowd of over 1.6 million at the iconic Copacabana beach in Brazil, with millions more tuning in online. It set the record for the biggest stand-alone concert by a solo artist in history. Celebration grossed over $225 million and sold 1.1 million tickets worldwide and made Madonna the first female artist in history to have six solo concert tours each grossing at least US$100 million.
Aside from the tour, Madonna’s musical projects in the last six years include records with the Weeknd (Popular), Sam Smith (Vulgar), and Dominican rapper Tokischa (Hung Up remake Hung Up on Tokischa).
No specific date has been given for the album release. Meanwhile rumors have it that the lead single will drop on Oct 10.
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