Songwriter Toby Gad on how Madonna reacted when he said “fuck you” during ‘Rebel Heart’ sessions

A songwriter who worked with Madonna has revealed how she reacted when he told her “fuck you” during a ‘Rebel Heart’ studio session.

The songwriter, Toby Gad, worked with the Queen of Pop during the writing and recording sessions for her 2014 album, and has now opened up about how the two of them had a tense moment along the way.

In a new interview with MailOnline, Gad recalled how on one of the 11 songs he contributed to, he was insistent that Madonna could deliver a stronger vocal performance than the ones she was recording, and his insistence led to them butting heads.

“Madonna is an incredible performer and her stage shows are unbelievable. She’s iconic, but vocally I felt maybe we could expand it a little bit,” he said. “I’ve worked with some incredible vocalists. And I felt maybe Madonna could get just a little better with the performance.

“So I kept telling her, do it again and try to feel it more and try it again and again – maybe just put more passion into it and so on.”

Toby Gad is seen during the first event show of the TV competition “Deutschland sucht den Superstar”. CREDIT: Joshua Sammer/Getty Images

He also told the outlet about a rumour he had heard ahead of working with the ‘Like A Virgin’ singer, in which she signals to an assistant to let the person go while she leaves the room.

“There were rumours going around that if you cross her the wrong way, if you do something she doesn’t like or you say something she doesn’t like then she will ‘go to the bathroom’ and then her assistant will come out and say, ‘Here’s your ticket home and the taxi is waiting downstairs. You have five minutes to vacate the premises. She does not want to see you when she comes back.’”

“At some point, she was like, ‘Fuck you, Toby. I’m not singing this again, and I instinctively said ‘Fuck you, Madonna, you are singing this again.’ And then there was silence in the room and I was waiting for her to go to the bathroom.

“That didn’t happen and somehow we bonded over this and we spent another five weeks together in total.”

He also told the outlet about how he felt a sense of “intimidation” when it came to working with Madge for the first time, but pushed himself to be honest in his feedback.

“You don’t know whether she is going to turn up or not and then her assistant comes in and starts tidying things up and brings in incense candles and lights them everywhere,” he recalled.

Madonna performs onstage during “The Celebration Tour” in 2024. CREDIT: Kevin Mazur/WireImage/Getty

“Then the bathroom gets locked off and you have to use the one downstairs, so it’s the whole royal preparation. Eventually, lights get dimmed and then she walks in… It’s intimidating at first but we had a week together and recorded some songs and I was quite honest with her.’

The outlet reported that it had contacted representatives of Madonna for a statement following Gad’s comments.

As well as his time working on ‘Rebel Heart’, the songwriter has also worked on releases from the likes of Keke Palmer, Beyoncé, Fergie and John Legend.

In other Madonna news, the singer recently announced details of a 35th anniversary edition reissue of her ‘Like A Prayer’ album, and it was also reported that a planned biopic around the singer is back in the works.

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