True Blue, released in 1986, was Madonna’s third album in as many years right at the start of the career and continued her meteoric rise in both the commercial and critical arenas. Author Tim Riley (Madonna Illustrated, Riley Rock Report) and Tristan get into how the record is simultaneously a refinement of accessible pop construction and a deepening of lyrical themes.

Like a Virgin was only Madonna’s second album but it is often credited as the one that “made” her. Tristan and Santiago Fouz-Hernández, professor in Iberian Studies and Film Studies at Durham University and co-editor of Madonna's Drowned Worlds: New Approaches to her Cultural Transformations, 1983-2003, discuss how the 1984 album made a huge global splash and continues to carry many distinct pleasures.

Welcome to The Complete Catalog, a podcast for media deep dives. For this second season, host Tristan Ettleman and his guests explore the 18 albums of Madonna (including some videos, movies, and other releases) across 43 years.

Madonna’s 1983 self-titled debut almost feels like a fully-formed artist burst into pop culture consciousness out of nowhere. But as Tristan and Matthew Rettenmund, author of Encyclopedia Madonnica, discuss, there were a lot of work ethic and New York scenes/aesthetics that led to the Madonna (the album and the artist) as we know them, and her meteoric success wasn’t necessarily immediately assured.