Madonna headed for huge comeback as new album 'Confessions II' becomes her most acclaimed release in DECADES

 has staged multiple successful comebacks throughout the course of her four-decade career, and it looks like she's about to do it once again at age 67.

The Material Girl's fifteenth studio album Confessions II, which drops this Friday, is already shaping up to be her best-reviewed disc since 2005's Confessions On a Dance Floor. 

According to review aggregators like Metacritic, Confessions II is already one of the most critically-acclaimed pop releases of 2026.

Daily Mail's own Adrian Thrills , calling it 'uniformly excellent' and a return to the star's musical roots.

'By drawing from her past, both personally and musically, Madonna has made her most vital album in over two decades. This grande dame still knows how to make us move,' wrote NME.

'After a long and anxious seven-year wait, Madonna finally plugs back into her clubland roots with a record of shamanic force,' gushed Mojo.

'If it's not quite as good as Confessions on a Dance Floor, it's unequivocally Madonna's best album since Confessions on a Dance Floor,' wrote The Guardian. 

BBC said that the record 'comes close' to being as good as the original Confessions On a Dance Floor, adding that 'the first 30 minutes are impeccable'.

Some of the tracks are deeply personal, and even include some pointed swipes at her ex-husband Sean Penn and her late stepmother Joan. 

The pop icon talks about her 'movie star with deep blue eyes' in the track 'Bizarre', which is likely a reference to Penn, who she was married to for three and a half years in the eighties. 

The lyrics accused Penn of being 'threatened by her' level of fame, suggesting the Hollywood actor wasn't prepared to 'share the red carpet' with her. 

She also name checks the 1968 Shelby GT500 convertible she gave him as a wedding gift and his conviction for reckless driving in 1987. 

Madonna has portrayed her relationship with Sean as intense and often turbulent, but she has consistently spoken of him with warmth in later years. 

In another track, pointedly named 'Betrayal', Madonna turns her disdain to her late stepmother Joan, who passed away in 2024 while the album was being made.

Madonna, who did not , lost her mother at age five to breast cancer and three years later her father Silvio remarried.

The lyrics read, 'This is a story of betrayal / You couldn't see your fall from grace / So take the hammer, hit the nail / You'll never take my mother's place.'

She later adds, 'You betrayed me, you enslaved me.'

Despite the rave reviews, so far the album's singles have underperformed commercially.

Lead single 'I Feel So Free' failed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 and only reached No. 90 in the UK, while the latest offering 'Love Sensation' hasn't charted anywhere. 

The only track that's gathered any steam is the Sabrina Carpenter collaboration 'Bring Your Love', which reached No. 74 on the Hot 100.

While the album was largely produced by Stuart Price, it features a surprise collaboration between Madonna and her eldest daughter Lourdes Leon.

Other collaborators include Martin Garrix, Cirkut, Arca, and Tainy.