Madonna opens up about the pain of losing her brother Christopher Ciccone on her new album, Confessions II, and says she still sees him. The siblings were estranged for a number of years partly due to Christopher's 2008 tell-all memoir, but reconciled shortly before his death from cancer in 2024 aged 63.
New Ballad Fragile Reveals Grief
In a new ballad, Fragile from her Confessions II LP, Madonna reflects on Chris and sings of their “special bond” and how she still sees him because “energy never dies”. The lyrics go: “when I'm alone I see you standing there / and I feel whole. You said don't forget about me, don't forget to be free.”
She continues: “I know you’re fragile ‘cos you’ve been hurt and let down, you couldn’t be yourself now, you had a nervous breakdown / you’ve been hurt before.” At the start of the track Madonna says life is “just a portal we are going through” suggesting that she expects to see her brother again. A synthesised vocoded voice part responds to Madonna towards the conclusion, which could be interpreted as somebody answering her.
Mourning her loss Madonna also sings: “we shared a name, a home, we shared a special bond, now you're gone. We laughed we cried we had each other's eyes and we belonged.”
Producer Stuart Price on the Making of Fragile
British producer Stuart Price, who penned the song with Madonna, said of the track: “Madonna’s gone on record to say she lost her brother during the making of the record. It was a process of grieving and the most powerful music is shared experience.”
First Review: Confessions II is Madonna's Best Album in Years
The Queen of Pop barely comes up for air on this club friendly epic that is mixed as one continuous track. Towards the end things get even more interesting as she dips into jazzy textures on Betrayl and even a Beatles-esque pop moment reflecting on her early career called LES. There’s no Kylie Minogue collab as previously teased but her duet with daughter Lourdes on The Test is a beautiful apology for “putting you on a pedestal” and shows the musical family jewels are in good hands.
