In a year already packed with groundbreaking content, Netflix has just raised the bar once again with the highly anticipated and now officially released documentary “Single Track Next Week,” a raw and revelatory look into the life and legacy of one of pop music’s most influential icons—Madonna. The 2025 exclusive is more than a film. It’s an experience—a cinematic exploration of reinvention, rebellion, and resilience spanning over four decades.
Congratulations are in order not just to Netflix for scoring such an exclusive but to Madonna fans worldwide, who now have front-row seats to a documentary that is already being hailed as one of the most important pop culture artifacts of the decade.
Few artists have had the cultural impact of Madonna Louise Ciccone. Since bursting onto the scene in the early 1980s with hits like “Holiday” and “Like a Virgin,” Madonna has remained a trailblazing force in music, fashion, feminism, and LGBTQ+ advocacy. But “Single Track Next Week” is not your typical music documentary. It doesn’t just recount her greatest hits or stage performances—it dives deep into the woman behind the icon.
Directed by Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Lana Wilson (best known for Taylor Swift: Miss Americana), the documentary is a sprawling, intimate, and often emotional look at Madonna’s creative evolution, her personal battles, and the cost of being a woman who refuses to conform.
The title, “Single Track Next Week,” is an intentionally ambiguous phrase that takes on layered meanings as the film unfolds. It originated as a tongue-in-cheek response Madonna often gave to her team whenever asked about new music deadlines. “There’s always a track next week,” she’d say—an expression of both hope and exhaustion.
Over time, the phrase became symbolic of her relentless drive to innovate, regardless of public opinion or industry pressure. In the film, it’s revealed that this mantra helped carry her through periods of personal and professional uncertainty—from her divisive Erotica era to recent health scares and canceled tours.
Filmed over the course of three years, beginning during her 2022 Celebration Tour preparations and continuing through the global resurgence of her catalog on TikTok and Gen Z playlists, the documentary offers:
- Rare home footage from Madonna’s early days in New York’s Lower East Side
- Behind-the-scenes access to the Celebration Tour and previously unreleased concert rehearsal clips
- Heartfelt interviews with her children, closest collaborators (including longtime producer Mirwais), and fellow artists like Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, and Billie Eilish
- Emotional reflections on aging in the public eye, motherhood, heartbreak, and surviving the 2023 ICU hospitalization that nearly ended her career
- Exclusive previews of new music she recorded in 2024 that blend spiritual themes with techno-futuristic sounds
One standout segment features Madonna revisiting her childhood home in Detroit, walking through a neighborhood she hasn’t stepped foot in for over 40 years. The vulnerability she shows contrasts sharply with the hardened persona often portrayed in the media.
Alongside the documentary, Netflix and Warner Records have released an official companion soundtrack—a blend of reimagined classics, remixes, and a brand-new track also titled “Single Track Next Week.”
This new song, co-produced by Madonna and British electronic producer Fred again.., fuses ethereal synths with poetic lyrics that reflect on time, loss, and legacy. The track is already trending on Spotify and has reignited the #MadonnaRenaissance hashtag on social media.
Since its release on July 1st, Single Track Next Week has dominated Netflix’s global charts, hitting #1 in over 30 countries within 48 hours. Critics are calling it “the definitive Madonna documentary”—a rare accomplishment considering the dozens of retrospectives and unauthorized biographies that have circulated for years.
- Rolling Stone: “A masterpiece. Raw, rebellious, and recklessly honest—just like the woman it honors.”
- The New York Times: “Reinvents the celebrity documentary genre by refusing to sanitize the messiness of genius.”
- Variety: “More than a music doc—it’s a mirror held up to generations shaped by Madonna’s fearlessness.”
Fan reactions have also been overwhelmingly emotional. Longtime fans and newer audiences alike are praising the film’s ability to humanize the icon. For many LGBTQ+ viewers, the documentary is being described as “a love letter from the woman who helped save our lives.”
Though the documentary offers closure on certain chapters of her career, it’s far from a farewell. In the final scenes, Madonna is seen in a futuristic-looking studio in Lisbon, hinting at an upcoming concept album and what she calls her “final sonic rebellion.” There’s even brief mention of a film project in development—potentially the long-rumored biopic that has faced years of delays.
As she says in one of the final voiceovers, “They always ask me, ‘Are you done?’ I always say, ‘No. I’m just getting warmed up.’”
Whether you’re a lifelong Madonna fan or someone discovering her music for the first time, “Single Track Next Week” is an essential watch in 2025. It’s a reminder of why Madonna remains not only the Queen of Pop but a powerful cultural force who continues to inspire, provoke, and evolve. Netflix has delivered a monumental tribute—one worthy of the icon herself.
Streaming now, exclusively on Netflix. Don’t miss it.