@picabeass
BLAINE: I just heard the song "Devil Prays" [from Madonna's forthcoming album], and it's fucking amazing. And it's not like you were using drugs, but it's all about drug use ...
MADONNA: Well, no, it's about how people take drugs to connect to God or to a higher level of consciousness. I keep saying, "Plugging into the matrix." If you get high, you can do that, which is why a lot of people drop acid or do drugs, because they want to get closer to God. But there's going to be a short circuit, and that's the illusion of drugs, because they give you the illusion of getting closer to God, but ultimately they kill you. They destroy you. I mean, I tried everything once, but as soon as I was high, I spent my time drinking tons of water to get it out of my system. As soon as I was high, I was obsessed with flushing it out of me. [Blaine laughs] I was like, "Okay, I'm done now."
BLAINE: Was that song written to anyone in particular?
MADONNA: No, just sharing my experiences that there are different ways to connect to a higher level of consciousness and that it's the devil's trick. It is the illusion.
BLAINE: So when you write that type of song, do you just sit there by yourself?
MADONNA: No, I'm working with a musician. He'll start playing a guitar, and ideas just come to me. I have a computer on my lap. I start typing lyrics, and I start thinking of a melody. And then I try it out and say, "What do you guys think?" Everybody's riffing off each other. I like to see the words written; it inspires me. Poetry, reading, language, playing with wordsâbeing around talented songwriters, you develop an innate understanding of what notes sound good together. I don't really think about it, to tell you the truth. You listen to music, you read books, you watch films. Other people's art inspires you. I would be nothing without other people's art.
