Though Madonna's manager, Guy Oseary, is livid—which means I won't post the actual leak—the snippet everyone's hearing of Madonna's upcoming Avicii collaboration sounds good to me. “Rebel Heart” has a OneRepublic sound to me, not a total dance song, introspective. The lyrics arereminiscent of “Drowned World (Substitute of Love)”, the song, and American Life, the era. It has a radio-friendly feel, she's singing in her lower register (some have complained about the vocal but it's refeshing and matches the lyrical content). It's catchy and mature. I wouldn't go out on a limb and say it's a hit, though—I've thought lots of her non-hit tunes sounded like hits and vice versa.

HuffPo UK likes, Idolator notes that Madonna's in charge, MuuMuse and others note the pronunciation of the word “narcissist.” (IMHO, Madonna has has a hard R forever and ever; my college prof and I talked endlessly about her R sound in La Isla Bonita.)

What do you think?