Madonna on the theme of slave/master in the song, "Voices":

In that song, slave and master is in reference to your ego. Who is in charge, is the ego in charge of you or are you a slave to your ego? So it is meant more in a psychological term, not a sexual term.

On the strength of women today:

I don't think that strength is gender specific. I know a lot of strong men and I know a lot of weak men. I know a lot of strong women and I know a lot of weak women. I think that most people underestimate their own strength and don't really tap into the reserves of strength that they actually embody. I think that it is a gift to have strength and to be able to tap into it, to be able to know that it is there and to not abuse it and to use it in the right places. Sometimes what we define as strength is not strength. Sometimes to be strong is to do nothing and vice versa. Sometimes to do too much but to use your strength is weakness, so there is a contradiction there. But I do admire people who have emotional and mental strength and use it wisely.

Madonna on the secret of staying on top of her game, physically and mentally:

The secret? Oh dear. I think a big part of it is the recognition that I am not the owner of my talent. I am just the manager of it. I know that I have been blessed with many gifts and I think that as soon as you think that you own what you have, it will go away, so I think that is part of it. The other part of it is that I have a great sense of curiosity about the world and I am always trying to learn new things and put myself in a position where I am working with people who know more than I do. So if I constantly put myself in a position where I am learning something, then I have something new to express. I think putting myself in challenging environments, knowing that I am not the owner of my talent but the manager, and that if I manage my talents well, they will always be there for me, and I also think that I just have a great sense of curiosity about learning and a desire to learn and with that comes evolution and with evolution comes discovery and with discovery comes the desire to express what you've learned. So I don't know. I hope that answers your question.

On whether she feels for celebrities in the spotlight:

Yes, I feel for them but I think we are all responsible for it as well. We buy the magazines. We are hungrily devouring the information, so as long as there are people out there to buy the magazines and to go on the internet, and as long as there is an audience for it, then there is going to be a supply. Supply and demand, so we all have to take responsibility for it and it is all tragic and I feel for the girls. But you cannot think it is their fault, you cannot think it is the paparazzi's fault, everybody is sort of responsible for it. And because of the internet, there is a lot of competition now with magazines and stuff, and you just have to do the math. Now people have to do more and more and more to get attention to sell their product and their magazine, so now they have no limits and no boundaries. It is a kind of madness.

What she hears now when she listens to "Like a Virgin":

When I hear the song "Like a Virgin", I think that it is kind of a statement about the sounds of the music that everybody was making in the early 80s. There is a kind of simplicity about it. There is an innocence about it, and when I look at the video I also see a girl who is innocent and wide-eyed and really excited about life and the beginning of her career.

Madonna on Radiohead letting their customers decide their price:

I think it is kind of a cool idea but I am not sure if it works exactly. It is like a new world out there and I think that people have to try a lot of things and make mistakes. Some things will work and some things will not, but it is kind of revolutionary and we are in that strange moment, the darkness before the dawn before we really know what is next.

On the videos for this new album:

For the visual, I can only tell you where the inspiration came from for the artwork of the record. Basically, the persona that I adapted is one of a female fighter, a boxer. Yeah! I feel there is a sense of urgency in the record. There is also the song "Give It To Me" 'Give me what you got, I am going to take on the world', so the stance is sort of tough, like, 'Come into the ring with me,' and that is also why the album is called "Hard Candy" because there is sweetness in the music, but there is also something hard about it.