Madonna has a lengthy new interview with Billboard, and the piece just reminded me of something that I had forgotten: Madonna actually CAN be interesting sometimes. When she gets out of her own way, when she stops trying to be one of the kidz, she actually is somewhat interesting. You can read the Billboard piece here – there’s actually too much to even excerpt all of the interesting stuff. She discusses her collaborators on her new album (Diplo, Kanye, etc), dancing in Ibiza with her daughter, sex, love, Fifty Shades and much more. Some highlights:

Her album collaborators: “I felt like a schoolmarm. Kanye, for instance, has excellent ideas, but it’s hard to get him to pay attention. So my job was to keep him focused. I was the mistress walking around with the clipboard going, ‘Guys, can you please — can you guys come back in the room? Let’s just finish the song. What do you mean you’re going to a photo shoot? What do you mean you have to go to a red carpet event? Get off your phone! Will you stop tweeting? Wait, we haven’t finished!’ ”

Whether the word “bitch” should be banned: “I think that’s bulls–t. The word police can f— off. I don’t want to be policed! I’m not interested in political correctness. The word “bitch” means a lot of different things. Everything is about context. When I first moved to England and heard the word “c–t,” I was horrified. People were calling each other c–ts! And then I realized that, in that culture, it was different — they slapped each other on the back and said, “Who’s the c–t, right, you’re my best mate!” The word “f—” doesn’t just mean sexual intercourse. I mean, “You’re a stupid f—,” “Are you going to f— with me?” “F– off!” (Laughs.) Sex has nothing to do with any of those expressions, and the same goes for “bitch.” If I say to you, “I’m a badass bitch,” I’m owning myself, I’m saying, “I’m strong, I’m tough, and don’t mess with me.” If I say, “Why are you being such a bitch to me?,” well, that means something else.

Whether that language affects a larger discourse about bullying, power, etc: “OK, but that’s another story. Language, and the use of language, is different than one human physically abusing somebody or bullying somebody, or killing somebody because of the color of their skin or their sexual preference or their religious beliefs. I don’t think the two should get mixed up.

Her thoughts on Fifty Shades of Grey: “It’s pulp fiction. It’s not very sexy, maybe for someone who has never had sex before. I kept waiting for something exciting and crazy to happen in that red room thing, and I was like, “Hmm, a lot of spanking.”

Whether she would be addicted to Instagram if she was 22: “I am addicted to Instagram. I don’t know what I would do if I was 22.”

Her favorite TV shows: “I watch Game of Thrones with my kids. That’s a good family bonding experience. My own personal obsession is True Detective, because Matthew McConaughey is so brilliant and the writing is genius. And an Irish series, The Fall. I mostly watch old movies, over and over again. All of Godard’s, and Visconti, Fellini, Pasolini. I love Alain Resnais.

[From Billboard]

She also has nice things to say about Miley Cyrus’s IDGAF attitude, whether pop stars are allowed to be dangerous today and how she wants to sit down with the groovy new Pope and talk about sex. And while I don’t 100% agree with her position on the word police and self-censorship of certain terminology, I think her point of view is valid enough.

Photos courtesy of WENN, Madonna’s Instagram.