In 2026, Madonna will release a new album, a project already surrounded by enormous anticipation. And yes, she is already working on the music video that will accompany this new material. Madonna’s videos, much like those of Michael Jackson, have always been an essential part of her artistic expression, and what fans and industry observers are saying is that she has no intention of disappointing: something grand is coming and, above all, something controversial. Madonna, music, controversy, and video? We know this combination well.

The first rumors about the project only add to the anticipation. The new album is expected to mark a kind of return to the universe of Confessions on a Dance Floor, the 2005 record that cemented Madonna as one of the great architects of 21st-century dance music. She has reunited with producer Stuart Price and has already mentioned in interviews a few songs from the new repertoire, including “Fragile” and “Forgive Yourself.” At the same time, reports from the British press suggest that the video for the first single is being filmed in London, with a massive crew and cameo appearances from names such as Kate Moss, Gwendoline Christie, and Benedict Cumberbatch. There is still no official confirmation of all these details, but the sheer scale of the production already suggests something fans know well: when Madonna decides to return to the format of the grand music video, the result rarely goes unnoticed.

Madonna built a career in which music, image, and provocation move together. Since the early 1980s, her music videos have functioned as narrative extensions of her songs, but also as cultural interventions capable of challenging social, religious, and political taboos. At a time when MTV still largely defined what was acceptable in pop culture, she transformed the music video into a space of symbolic confrontation, one in which she addressed sexuality, female power, religion, violence, and international politics.

Over more than four decades, several of her videos have been censored, pulled from the air, or targeted by public protests. In many cases, the initial scandal was later reassessed, and these works came to be seen as landmarks in the history of pop music. What follows are ten of the most controversial videos of Madonna’s career and the reasons why each of them sparked such intense debates.

Like a Prayer

Released in 1989, Like a Prayer remains probably the most famous and controversial video of Madonna’s career. Directed by Mary Lambert, the clip mixes Catholic iconography with a narrative about racism and injustice. In one of its most discussed scenes, Madonna witnesses a crime committed by white men, but a Black man is wrongly accused. She seeks refuge in a church where a Black saint comes to life, and the video includes images of burning crosses that directly evoke the Ku Klux Klan. The combination of eroticized religious imagery, racial critique, and Catholic aesthetics triggered an immediate backlash from religious groups. The controversy became so intense that Pepsi canceled a multimillion-dollar contract with Madonna just days after the video’s release.

Justify My Love

Released in 1990, Justify My Love pushed the discussion into the realm of explicit sexuality. Filmed in black and white and set in a Paris hotel, the video depicts a series of sexual encounters and fantasies involving voyeurism, sadomasochism, and bisexual relationships. MTV decided to ban the video from its programming, something extremely rare at the time. Madonna responded by turning the censorship into a marketing strategy, releasing the video on VHS, which quickly became one of the best-selling video singles in history.

Erotica

Erotica, released in 1992, belongs to one of the most provocative periods of Madonna’s career. The video accompanied the release of the album Erotica and the infamous book Sex, a photographic project that explored fetishism, domination, and alternative sexualities. In the clip, Madonna adopts the persona of Dita, a dominatrix figure who guides the viewer through a world of voyeurism and stylized eroticism. Although today it is often seen as part of a broader conversation about sexual freedom, at the time the video provoked a strong moral backlash from the press and segments of the public.

Like a Virgin

Released in the mid-1980s, Like a Virgin may seem relatively innocent today, but at the time, it represented a significant rupture in how female sexuality was presented in pop culture. In the video, Madonna appears dressed as a bride and also in scenes on a bed, suggesting a playful and provocative irony surrounding the idea of virginity. The controversy lay less in the images themselves and more in the singer’s attitude, as she openly took control of her own sexual narrative at a moment when the music industry still expected far more restrained behavior from female artists.

Papa Don’t Preach

Released in 1986, Papa Don’t Preach generated a different kind of debate by addressing teenage pregnancy. The video tells the story of a young woman who discovers she is pregnant and decides to keep the child despite her father’s reaction. The narrative was interpreted in opposing ways by different groups. While conservative sectors praised the message, progressive organizations criticized the video for romanticizing a complex social issue. The result was a wide public debate that demonstrated how Madonna could turn a pop song into a point of cultural discussion.

Express Yourself

Also released in 1989, Express Yourself became one of the most ambitious music videos of the decade. Visually inspired by the expressionist classic Metropolis, the video depicts an industrial society dominated by powerful men while Madonna assumes positions of authority and seduction. She appears wearing masculine suits and performing gestures that challenged gender conventions, which drew criticism from more conservative commentators. At the same time, the video established itself as one of the earliest major pop manifestos about female autonomy.

Human Nature

Released in 1995, Human Nature functions as a direct response to the backlash Madonna received during the Erotica era. The video features costumes inspired by fetish and BDSM aesthetics, while the singer delivers lyrics that openly confront her critics. By repeating the phrase “Express Yourself, Don’t Repress Yourself,” Madonna reinforces the idea that society’s moral repression is more troubling than artistic freedom. At the time, many commentators interpreted the video as an open challenge to cultural censorship.

American Life

Released in 2003, American Life marked an important shift in Madonna’s provocations by entering explicitly political territory. The original video, which was ultimately withdrawn before its official release, depicted a surreal fashion show in which mutilated soldiers walked down the runway while scenes of war played in the background. In one particularly controversial moment, Madonna threw a grenade toward a man resembling President George W. Bush. With the Iraq War dominating the news at the time, she decided to withdraw the video and replace it with a far simpler version.

What It Feels Like for a Girl

Released in 2001 in a version directed by Guy Ritchie, What It Feels Like for a Girl generated controversy for a different reason. In the video, Madonna embarks on a violent spree that includes robberies, reckless driving, and the destruction of property. The narrative ends explosively, and MTV drastically limited the video’s broadcast after judging the content too violent for regular programming.

God Control

Released in 2019, God Control shows that Madonna continues to use the music video as a platform for political commentary. Inspired by mass shootings in American nightclubs, the video portrays a brutal attack inside a disco while intercutting scenes of dancing and celebration. Madonna’s intention was to denounce gun violence and call for legislative reform, but the extremely graphic imagery provoked a strong reaction from viewers who found the depiction disturbing.

What unites all these videos is not only provocation, but the way Madonna uses the music video format to engage with cultural questions that extend far beyond music itself. Over decades, these works helped expand the boundaries of pop and demonstrated that, in Madonna’s artistic universe, controversy is rarely accidental. In many cases, it is a deliberate strategy to place uncomfortable issues at the center of the public conversation.