Illuminati
Lyrics
It's not Jay-Z and Beyoncé
It's not Nicki or Lil Wayne
It's not Oprah and Obama
The Pope and Rihanna
Queen Elisabeth or Kanye
It's not pentagrams or witchcraft
It's not triangles or stacks of cash
Black magic or Gaga
Gucci or Prada
Riding on the Golden Calf
The All-Seeing Eye is watching tonight
That's what it is, the Truth and the Light
The All-Seeing Eye is watching tonight
Nothing to hide, the secret's inside
It's like everybody in this party's shining like Illuminati
It's like everybody in this party's shining like Illuminati
It's the Enlightenment that started it all
The Founding Fathers wrote it down on the wall
And now the media's misleading us all
Turned right and to wrong
It's time to dance and turn this dark into somethin'
So let the fire burn, this music is bumpin'
We're gonna live forever, love never dies
It starts tonight
Behind the curtain of the New World Order
It's not platinum encrypted corners
It's not Isis or the Phoenix, Pyramids of Egypt
Don't make it into something sordid
It's not Steve Jobs or Bill Gates
It's not the Google of United States
It's not Bieber or Lebron
Clinton or Obama
Or anyone you'd love to hate
The All-Seeing Eye is watching tonight
That's what it is, the Truth and the Light
The All-Seeing Eye is watching tonight
Nothing to hide, the secret's inside
It's like everybody in this party's shining like Illuminati
It's like everybody in this party's shining like Illuminati
You know that everything that glitters ain't gold
So let the music take you out of control
It's time to feel it in your body and soul
Come on let's go
We're gonna dance and turn the dark into somethin'
So let the fire burn, this music is bumpin'
We're gonna live forever, love never dies
It starts tonight (tonight, tonight, ...)
It's like, it's like
It's like everybody in this party's shining like Illuminati
It's like everybody in this party's shining like Illuminati
It's like everybody in this party's shining like Illuminati
It's like everybody in this party's shining like Illuminati
It's like everybody in this party's shining like Illuminati
It's like everybody in this party's shining like Illuminati
It's like everybody in this party's shining like Illuminati
It's like everybody in this party's shining like Illuminati
Credits
Written by Madonna, Toby Gad, Maureen McDonald, Larry Griffin Jr., Mike Dean, Kanye West and Ernest Brown
Produced by Madonna, Kanye West and Mike Dean
Co-produced by Charlie Heat
Guitar by Toby Gad
Keyboards and drum programming by Mike Dean
Album
Song
This track was part of the album pre-order on December 20th, 2014. In a Rolling Stone interview she commented on the song:
"People are always using the word Illuminati but they're always referencing it in an incorrect way. People often accuse me of being a member of the Illuminati and I think in today's pop culture the Illuminati is perceived as a group of powerful, successful people who are working behind the scenes to control the universe. Not people with consciousness, not people who are enlightened."
"The real Illuminati were a group of scientists, artists, philosophers, writers, who came about in what is referred to as the Age of Enlightenment, after the Dark Ages, when there was no writing and no art and no creativity and no spirituality, and life was really at a standstill.
"Of course they were powerful, because they influenced people. But their goal was to inspire and enlighten. So when people refer to me as a member of the Illuminati, I always want to say thank you. Thank you for putting me in that category."
Tour
Through the years, it became a staple that Madonna would dedicate an interlude video on her shows to politics. Naturally, it's Illuminati that takes this role on the Rebel Heart Tour, right before the final segment of the show. This time around, however, the focus is not on the actual video (that features many historical images, including the Ku-Klux Klan) but on the jaw-dropping choreography that is thrown down by the big dancer group. Dressed up in suits and top hats, foreshadowing the theme of the upcoming segment, they impress the crowd by swinging on ten feet tall poles. Representing the rebels, they mock and tease the bourgeoisie dancers on the catwalk, and interact with the audience at the same time.