Madonna’s ‘God Control’ Music Video Is Incredibly Violent (And Necessary)
The video recalls the 2016 Pulse nightclub shootings, which is the largest act of violence against LGBTIQ people in US history.
Madonna’s fourteenth studio album, Madame X, arrived a few weeks back, with fans and critics alike hailing it as one of her best of the past 15 years. Today, she’s released a potent and violent video for single ‘God Control’, which centres on a fictional nightclub shooting.
Directed by acclaimed music video director and long-standing Madonna collaborator Jonas Åkerlund, the eight-minute video begins with a warning of its extreme content. “The story you are about to see is very disturbing,” it reads. “It shows graphic scenes of gun violence. But it’s happening everyday. And it has to stop.”
In the video, footage swaps between a mass funeral, Madonna — in her Madame X eyepatch — reporting on the violence, sitting at a typewriter, and club scenes which alternate between vibrant, disco inspired dance scenes and a massacre. Screams play over the song, which includes several lyrics critical of current government discourse, and the idea of ‘thoughts and prayers’ without action: “When they talk reforms, it makes me laugh/They pretend to help, it makes me laugh”, Madonna sings.
In its setting, the film clip recalls the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting in Florida, where 49 people were killed and 53 more wounded by one shooter. The gay nightclub was holding a Latin night, and most of the victims were queer people of colour — it is the largest act of violence against LGBTIQ people in U.S. history.
The video ends with footage of protests against gun violence from the post-Sandy Hook massacre March For Our Lives protests, and acts as a call-to-arms for viewers to demand reform to US gun control laws.
“This is your wake up call,” the video’s caption reads. “Gun violence disproportionately affects children, teenagers and the marginalised in our communities. Honour the victims and demand GUN CONTROL. NOW. Volunteer, stand up, donate, reach out. Wake up and insist on common-sense gun safety legislation. Innocent lives depend on it.”
The description then links to several organisations, including March For Our Lives and Trans Equality. Madame X is a decidedly political album, as diverse in its social topics as its worldly sonic palette.
On ‘Killers Who Are Partying’, Madonna aligns herself with many persecuted minorities, saying among other things, “I will be gay, if the gay are burned/I’ll be Africa, if Africa is shut down…I’ll be Islam, if Islam is hated“. Early single ‘I Rise’ begins with a sample of a viral speech from gun control activist Emma González, a high school senior who survived a 2018 school shooting in Florida.
The ‘God Control’ video ends with a quote from civil rights activist and Black Panther member Angela Davis, saying “I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept.”
Watch the video for ‘God Control’ below — as mentioned, it’s an upsetting watch.