Seven years ago in Paris, Madonna invited Christine and the Queens onto the stage for a performance of “Unapologetic Bitches”. A year after the release of the French artist’s thrilling breakthrough album, Christine (as he was then known) danced the Queen of Pop off the stage before falling at her feet and claiming to be “reborn”. Since then, the singer really has been through a rebirth or two. Amid updating his pronouns to he/him, he shortened his name to Chris, then adopted the alter ego Redcar, or just Red. Now, he’s invited Madge into his world as a kind of sexy-sage celestial being called “Big Eye”, one who narrates sections of his sprawling fourth album, Paranoia, Angels, True Love and assures the younger artist: “I’m dwelling in your sorry, broken, crazy, reaching heart”.
Fans hoping that Madonna’s involvement suggests a return to snappy pop form will be disappointed. Paranoia, Angels, True Love turns out to be a continuation of the freeform experimentalism that the star began on 2022’s questing Redcar les adorables étoiles (prologue). Exhausting and elevating by turns, it clocks in at 90 minutes, stretching over 20 tracks. Co-producer Mike “Synth God” Dean (Kanye West, The Weeknd and Madonna’s Madame X) has created a shapeshifting, trancey, trip-hoppy electronic stage on which Chris has infinite space for his theatrical, stream-of-consciousness exploration of loss, sex, love, and spirituality. He says he was inspired by Mike Nichols’ 2003 TV adaptation of Tony Kushner’s 1991 play Angels in America, in which heavenly beings visit gay men dying of Aids in 1980s New York. After losing his mother in 2019, Chris said he found “a place to rest” in faith, prayer and his newfound belief that death is not final.
