Madonna may have just released her 13th studio album, but it was one of her classic songs that Jimmy Fallon and Questlove helped her perform.
The Material Girl stopped by “The Tonight Show” Music Room Thursday to join Fallon and The Roots for a special retro rendition of her classic ’80s hit “Holiday.”
In this latest edition of “Classroom Instruments,” the host and band donned Hawaiian-print shirts and sunglasses while Madonna rocked fishnets and “grillz.” The Queen of Pop set the tone with a gold whistle before picking up the cowbell and dinging away. While Fallon rotated between a wood block, bass drum, and Casio keyboard, it was Mark Kelly and Tuba Gooding Jr.’s plastic fruit shakers that really gave this song a reason to take some time and celebrate.
Madonna later revealed that she had forgotten the words to “Holiday” during their classroom performance.
“I forget the words to songs I wrote yesterday,” Madge said. “That catalog is so vast.”
Madonna also said her kids think she’s very uncool.
“They remind me everyday of how uncool and basic I am,” Madonna admitted. “But, doing the ‘Tonight Show,’ is not basic. That got the thumbs up.”
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Madonna said her kids gave her a lot of input into the sounds featured in her latest album, "'Rebel Heart," which features collaborations from Diplo, Kanye West, Nikki Minaj and Avicii.
Though being Madonna has its perks, the singer reminisced about her early days in the music business when there were no expectations and contrasted her early years trying to make it New York City to today's artists with social media at their fingertips.
“You had to physically take your cassette tapes to all the clubs and you had to perform live until you got discovered,” Madonna said. “It’s how you earned your way in the world.”
The singer also confessed to being a “closet comedian” which, of course, prompted Fallon to encourage her to perform a stand-up routine — one she eagerly accepted.
Madonna talked about dating younger men, and joke about one 26-year-old who was admiring her collection of Andy Warhol paintings.
“And he goes, wait a minute, you have so many. Did you know the guy?” Madonna said before explaining why it was funny.
Though her punchlines failed to land with the audience, her epic performance of “B——-h I’m Madonna,” with DJ Diplo was more than redeeming.
