Madonna and William Orbit watched old French movies while they worked on the singer’s new album.
The 52-year-old has launched a fresh assault on the charts with her latest musical offering MDNA.
Madonna reunited with English producer William – the pair previously worked on the smash hit Ray of Light – for the project and they spent a lot of time brainstorming ideas.
They refused to listen to any sort of new music in case it might influence their efforts, so instead began watching old films in their downtime.
"We never played tracks by everybody else, all the current artists. It's a dangerous road to go down. It doesn't work," he told MTV News. "We liked what we're doing in this current time and space. What we tended to do was watch old French films from the '60s or listen to music that was so far away that it wasn't, in any way, relevant."
Although the pair were reluctant to listen to current chart stars, William has recalled a humorous incident involving Kreayshawn.
The music producer decided to give Madonna a laugh by introducing her to one of the American rapper’s outrageous tracks.
“We were just looking at links on YouTube. And I was showing her Kreayshawn, and I've been working with her, and I really like her,” he explained. “And she's obviously got this track out called Hoes on My D**k [with the line] 'cause I look like Madonna.' And, I played it for Madonna... then she was saying afterwards, 'Hoes on my d**k, 'cause I am Madonna.' That was about the only time we looked at any serious contemporary pop music."
