Linda Perry Wants to Produce for Madonna Because She’s Become “Weak to Me and Not Powerful”

Linda Perry named Madonna as her bucket list collaborator, but not because she thinks the Queen of Pop is still going strong. In fact, it’s quite the opposite: “Of late, I feel she is a follower,” Perry said of Madonna. “She’s following the trends. She’s trying to compete with Charli XCX and this and that. Everything about her seems weak to me, and not powerful.”

Speaking with Consequence, Perry noted that Madonna has turned her down as a co-writer/producer numerous times, making her “a thorn in my side.” But she still has great respect for the pop icon: “She’s one of the greatest. She taught women to be strong and be yourself, and I love how she just constantly was changing her sound. Every record sounded different. I mean, she is an explorer. She is a leader.”

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But that’s not the Madonna she sees these days, and Perry wants to course correct that before it’s too late. “When Madonna is ready to retire, she should make that album with me because I’ll make her such a great album,” she said, adding rhetorically, “I would love to get that woman in a studio, slap her in the face a couple times and say, ‘Wake up. Get back to who Madonna is and what you represent. You are a leader, so we gotta get back there.’ And focus on the power of what her voice can do, not the power of what Auto-Tune and effects can do, and all the electronics that she’s into right now to hide all that.”

Perry explained she’d want to “put her out in the open,” allowing Madonna to “just show [her flaws] and make this beautiful, more acoustic type of record with strings. Something she could sit down and just sing to a crowd that’s wearing nice clothes at Carnegie Hall or whatever.”

Does she think it will actually happen? Well, no. “She will not step into a room with me, ’cause that is far from what Madonna wants to do,” she said. “So, Madonna, call me when you’re ready to get back to your strength, all right?”

Making the media rounds to support her new Let It Die Here album, documentary, and 4 Non Blondes reunion, Perry has proven to be an industry vet unafraid to speak her truth about some of the biggest names in music. She labeled Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong “a little pussy” for pulling her off the American Idiot follow-up, and recounted a story about kicking Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan out of the studio while working on a Courtney Love record. Perry said she told Corgan, “You’re walking around like you’re God’s gift to fucking rock ‘n’ roll. You’ve got bad energy. I want you out of my studio.”

Even Love took strays in the story, as her reaction to Perry kicking Corgan out made her realize, “‘Oh, she’s a pussy!’ Courtney acts like this tough person – and she is. She’s very intimidating, but really she is a bottom. She wants to be kind and wants a hug and she’s very gentle, but she has an armor she puts up.”

Watch Linda Perry’s full Bucket List answer about Madonna below. We’ll see if Perry’s criticism holds when Madonna releases her first album in seven years, Confessions II (a sequel to 2005’s Confessions on a Dance Floor) on July 3rd. Madonna may not tour behind the LP, but Perry has some road dates coming up with Indigo Girls (get tickets here) as well as a handful of 4 Non Blondes reunion gigs (tickets available here), including a Red Rocks concert and slots at Rock in Rio Lisboa and Bourbon & Beyond festivals.

Linda Perry reveals why the Queen of Pop is her No. 1 bucket list collaborator. #madonna #madonnafans #lindaperry #4nonblondes

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