Lourdes “Lola” Leon, 29, co-wrote the most personal song on her mother’s new album and sings it with her.
Lourdes Leon strikes a playful pose on the carpet at the 2021 Met Gala, held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York on September 13, 2021. Photo by Angela Weiss / AFP via Getty Images.
On Confessions II, out through Warner Records, Madonna and her eldest daughter trade verses on “The Test,” a duet about fame, resentment, and healing. Madonna pitched the record as a spiritual sequel to her 2005 dance-floor smash Confessions on a Dance Floor, with original producer Stuart Price back on board.
At the Fontaine du Trocadéro on September 29, 2025, Madonna receives a cheek kiss from daughter Lourdes Leon during the Saint Laurent Spring/Summer 2026 show at Paris Fashion Week. Photo by River Callaway / WWD via Getty Images.
Madonna opens the song singing directly to her daughter: “Little star, I tried to put you on a pedestal. You didn’t ask for all the flashing lights. I didn’t think of how it could disturb or how it hurt. I wish I knew the pain I caused. My butterfly was always being watched.”
At Landmark’s Sunshine Cinema in New York City, Carlos Leon — father of Lourdes Leon — arrived for the Cinema Society and 2(x)ist screening of “Twelve” on July 28, 2010. Photo by Dario Cantatore / Getty Images.
Lourdes answers in her own verse, describing the pressure of growing up as Madonna’s daughter: “A hand tenderly reaching to me, you are my reason to be… I trace the line of what you have sewn, keep my own design, make it a landscape, make it alive.”
A teenage Lourdes Leon and Madonna pose together on the red carpet at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party at the Sunset Tower Hotel in West Hollywood on February 27, 2011. Photo by Rich Schmitt / AFP via Getty Images.
In the chorus they meet in the middle: “I know they tried to put us to the test. We’re not the same, but I’m treading on your footsteps. Sometimes I think you wish I’d go away, but my shadow stays and it’s okay to be yourself.” Later: “You made me whole when I was broken too, and I hope and pray I can do the same for you.”
Madonna holds hands with a young Lourdes at a Gucci-hosted UNICEF benefit reception during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at the United Nations in New York on February 6, 2008. Photo by Stephen Lovekin / Getty Images.
Madonna told Graham Norton on his BBC show Madonna & Graham that Lourdes had carried resentment for years and came to the collaboration “very standoffish,” working at her own pace. It was Lourdes who eventually approached her with an offer: “Let’s write a song together, I think it will be a very healing experience. You say exactly what you want to say and I will say exactly what I want to say.”
At Macy’s Herald Square in New York City, Madonna and daughter Lourdes Leon mark the September 22, 2010 launch of their “Material Girl” collection. Photo by Bryan Bedder / Getty Images.
Madonna and Stuart Price take in the Saint Laurent Menswear Spring/Summer 2027 show during Paris Fashion Week on June 23, 2026. Photo by Kristy Sparow / Getty Images.
Lourdes has spent years pushing back on the “nepo baby” label. She paid for her own college tuition and first apartment to get out from under a mother she once called a “control freak,” and has built her own career as a model and indie musician recording as Lolahol. Her father is Carlos Leon, the Cuban-born personal trainer and actor Madonna dated in the mid-90s and has co-parented with amicably since their split.
The full 16-track standard edition, out now.
Want more Thought Catalog? Follow us on Facebook or head to our website.
Books connect our company’s digital roots with our love of traditional book publishing. Our books are designed as beloved art pieces. We publish work we love.
