Her songs are already heard on dancefloors around the world - and yet she hasn't even brought out her first album.
Fans of The Blessed Madonna's fun-packed singles have long been waiting for her debut album "Godspeed", due out on Friday.
In 2016, she scooped Mixmag’s title DJ of the Year and for good reason. Her rise to fame continued in 2020 when she made pop singer Dua Lipa’s second album club ready with a remix of "Club Future Nostalgia".
Having mastered the art of pulling people onto the dancefloor with explosively upbeat tunes, the London-based electronic musician from the US is mixing in a broader emotional spectrum.
"Maybe there was a part of me that wanted to imagine what if dance music wasn't just about getting high in Ibiza," The Blessed Madonna, born Marea Stamper, tells dpa.
"I did feel hungry for risk and pain and joy."
As well as keeping people dancing, the album explores bitter topics like the passage of time and loss, a theme hinted at with a title that suggests her debut album is already a kind of farewell.
The ticking clock of time
A ticking clock sometimes loud and at times softer is like a common thread through the album. It is up to the listener to decide whether the clock is ticking forwards or backwards, Stamper says, and embraces the awareness that time is passing: "We're all trying to beat the clock."
Stamper's father died while she was making the album, which prompted her to compose the track "Somebody's Daughter" shortly afterwards. This is one of the few techno tracks on the album, and it closes with a recording of her father saying how proud he is of her.
And yet the songs on "Godspeed" still radiate joy and will have you on the dance floor in no time with pulsating beats, bouncy piano chords with a touch of gospel, R'n'B and folk pop.
Pop icon Kylie Minogue, sings in "Edge of Saturday Night", for instance, about a never-ending party that lasts from Saturday night until Monday morning and literally goes full circle. The duo performed the song in a club in Ibiza this summer.
"Serotonin Moonbeams" is another infectious feel-good track with sounds similar to a happy whistle. Uffie, the US singer and rapper, lends her dulcet voice to this track over looping 90s piano chords.
Secret recordings of people
Part of The Blessed Madonna's brand is her use of spoken voices.
"I secretly record people all the time," Stamper says. Not even her mother and stepfather are safe from her recordings and can be heard saying "do something pretty while you can" in the interludes.
Seven of 24 tracks on the album are like insertions literally gluing the individual layers of the album together - like a connecting link or a speed bump that makes you pause while listening.
The Blessed Madonna has added other people's voices and her own as well! Many people know her voice from the smash hit "Marea (We've Lost Dancing)" with Grammy winner Fred Again, who sampled excerpts from their conversation about the pandemic for the track.
"The Blessed Madonna" is often seen with other artists on social media. Many photos show her hugging others and she radiates warmth. This is the theme of "Secretariat" - a song named after a winning US racehorse. A post-mortem revealed that he had a huge heart. Stamper says, adding: "Learning to live with a little more heart, I think that's really important."
The Blessed Madonna has achieved what she set out to do. And says: "I wanted somebody to actually know something about me." The mix of pain and joy in danceable songs on "Godspeed" is her way of telling her own story.
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