Georgia: 'About Work the Dancefloor' [The Blessed Madonna Remix] (2019)

EDIT: Following a brief online petition to change her name, the artist formally known as The Black Madonna has changed her stage name to The Blessed Madonna as of 21 July 2020.

Georgia

About Work the Dancefloor [The Black Madonna Remix]

2019

Album: 'About Work the Dancefloor'

Licensed to Youtube by [Merlin] Domino Recording Co (on behalf of Domino Recording Co); Sony ATV Publishing, CMRRA, SOLAR Music Rights Management, and 6 Music Rights Societies

Not so long ago, including a remix in discussions of your favourite tracks would have been considered rather gauche, but firstly I couldn't care less about what hypothetical snobs have to say about my music taste, and secondly, The Black Madonna's spin on Georgia's 2019 track is one of those remixes that, in a blind taste test, you would perhaps suggest was the original song. Under this category I would also be tempted to include Jamie xx's remix of FaltyDL's summery 'Hip Love' and 808 State's sample of UB40 in their 'One in Ten' release. 

Alas, 'About Work the Dancefloor' is one of those songs where, upon first listen, one might think "where has this been my whole life?" but as it happens, it's only been around for a year. It is in the same calibre as Lady Gaga at her prime, and wouldn't feel out of place either side of A-Trak's mix of Yeah Yeah Yeahs' 'Heads Will Roll'. It has exactly the same filmic quality that implores you to move. Equally, its title is quite amusing that, to me at least, it means nothing. Maybe even less than nothing! The recurring lyric is "I was just thinking about work the dancefloor", which I'll definitely bop along to, but lyrically it won't have me reminiscing about the good old days.

All that said, the track is Georgia getting misty-eyed about the dancefloor, which of course is highly apt at the time of writing, given the coronavirus pandemic; who knows when it will be safe to go to a nightclub again. I think I first discovered the track shortly after seeing Robyn at Alexandra Palace last year, which was just my little gay girl disco fantasy coming to life. Thinking about it a little deeper, in the wider context of it being Pride month and LGBT+ venues closing down across London, and that's before we even scratch the surface of women and non binary venues being practically non-existent, thinking about a lost era of partying and getting lost on the dancefloor with kindred souls becomes more meaningful. 

Emotive strings counteract the thudding and increased BPM of The Black Madonna's remix, and the recurring loop begins. The lyrics of the first verse are fairly misleading as an opener; "here we go again my love / you've got so much time to spend"  would imply a love song but in fact it has a more vague storytelling quality than that. Lyrics lie in the foreground of an irresistible electronic beat that could be the sexy older sister of Rihanna's 'Only Girl in the World' from ten years ago. The song is so fresh and, frankly, likeable, that it was nominated in the NME Awards under the Best British Song and, naturally, Best Song in the World categories (but lost out to AJ Tracey and Billie Eilish respectively). Kentucky's The Black Madonna has elevated an already incredibly intricate, power pop-dance track into a heavenly bliss that transports us as well as fixing us to the floor; it's got me thinking about working the dancefloor as soon as I possibly can.