The Vault Opened and Even Its Producer Started Fanboying
William Orbit has fallen into the Madonna archive—and come out the other side a full-fledged fanboy. The producer reacted on Instagram to Almost Gone: The Unreleased Songs From “Music,” an 86-minute fan-made compilation of outtakes from Madonna’s 2000 album that first surfaced online in November 2020.
Orbit helped shape some of Madonna’s most adventurous studio work across Ray of Light, Music and later MDNA, but even he sounded surprised by what had been gathered. “Cripes, where did this individual find all this?” he wrote, adding that the compilation had prompted him to dig through his own vault for forgotten material.
From the Madonna Vault
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Revisit the landmark albums, demos and deep cuts behind one of pop’s most adventurous studio partnerships.
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The trip through those unreleased Music sessions also changed how Orbit described his relationship to Madonna’s work. After seeing her Celebration Tour show in Paris, he said he had become “a true fanboy”—then sharpened the confession to two very internet-ready words: “A Stan!”
His appreciation remained both emotional and wonderfully nerdy. Orbit singled out Madonna and Vybz Kartel as the two voices most captivating him at the moment—not only for their beauty, but for what he called their waveform intrigue. He also praised the sheer labor behind Madonna’s career-spanning tour and her habit of moving forward instead of endlessly rummaging through the past.
Still, the fantasy of another creative collision was alive. Orbit admitted that he sometimes “dream[s] of creating another ‘Ray of Light’ album with her,” even imagining Madonna’s children joining the mix. He considered it unlikely while the Celebration Tour kept rolling, but the idea alone was enough to make longtime fans start levitating.
Orbit was also looking ahead to his own forthcoming Strange Cargo X album on Cargo Cult and new live material for the summer. Alongside the music, he planned a more structured Instagram schedule built around personal stories, art and candid reviews—less polished influencer routine, more professor-at-the-synth holding court.
The partnership began in earnest when Orbit and Madonna created 1998’s Ray of Light, then continued into the Music sessions with tracks including “Runaway Lover” and “Amazing.” Hearing those unfinished ideas again did more than unlock nostalgia—it reminded one of their architects just how potent the full Madonna universe could be.
Watch Channel 4 News’ William Orbit Return-to-Music Profile
The 2022 Channel 4 News profile follows Orbit’s return to recording and revisits the pop landmarks carrying his production fingerprints.
For the original flash of studio magic, MTV’s cameras caught Madonna and Orbit working through the Ray of Light sessions in 1997—before the album became a career-resetting electronic landmark.
Watch Madonna Record Ray of Light With William Orbit in 1997
The MTV Vault feature enters the studio as Madonna records her seventh album alongside Orbit.
Sources: William Orbit / Instagram and Yahoo Entertainment. This archived INYIM post was restored and reformatted for readability.
