MADONNA TO "CELEBRATE" A WEEK LATER THAN EXPECTED

Word on the street is that Madonna's new single "Celebrate" has been pushed back to August 3rd. also while touring, she's actually figured out a way to film a video for it while touring. According to Madonnatribe, she showed up at a D&G party at Gold last night with a camera crew and was filmed "Celebrate"-ing with her tour dancers until four in the morning.

A Madonna friend who's heard the song was pleasantly surprised:

"Heard ['Celebrate'] at the weekend—it's fantastic. I think [Madonna fans are] all gonna be impressed. It has a great pop melody, very summery with a kinda 'Holiday'-esque but more upbeat vibe, she sings all the way through it so no rent-a-rappers, no long instrumental breaks or anything and a very, very catchy chorus. There's a funny spoken bit in the middle where she says something along the lines of, 'You look better with your shirt off,' which may explain all this silly 'take your shirt off' stuff she's been doing at the shows."

(This could lead to Madonna's own Evatastic "shirtless ones.")

Sounds like Madonna is ending her Warner years with a classic pop feel-good tune, forsaking the urban elements of Hard Candy and perhaps even the club edge of Confessions. It's a fine line between genius simplicity (Britney's "Toxic," Lady GaGa's "Just Dance") and Forrest Gump simplicity, so hopefully this will be more of the former than the latter.

After the hits album, coming in September, I'll be expecting...demanding...a deeper kind of Madonna record a la Like a Prayer and Ray of Light or some kind of an I'm Breathless/Evita curveball.

Partial lyrics are said to be very "Holiday"-esque.

"Celebrate" by Madonna

When the world's got you down
And there's trouble all around
You can stand up
You can stand up and say
I'm not gonna let it get the best of me

And when your love falls apart
You've got a broken heart
You can make it
You can make it all go away
Just follow me and you will see

CHORUS:
We all need a celebration
Celebrate
Celebrate
Let's join hands across the nation
Celebrate
Celebrate
Come together
Live forever
Celebrate
Celebrate
Celebration

Also check out three songs from the Sticky & Sweet Tour DVD (in the Gypsy section of the show)