Celebrity News May 27, 2026
Madonna & Bilt Team Up to Provide Free Studio Space to Musicians
Bilt
Madonna is opening up about her early days trying to make it in NYC ahead of her new album “Confessions on a Dance Floor: Part II."
While speaking with Bilt Founder and CEO Ankur Jain, she recalled, “I was living in an abandoned synagogue in Queens… My boyfriend at the time was in a band and we broke up because he wouldn’t let me be the singer in the band, so I was like, 'I’m out.'"
Madonna explained, "I didn’t have anywhere to live so I escaped to this building called the Music Building on Eighth Avenue… It was full of people grinding to have a music career.”
She said there were two to three bands per room who time-shared the space.
The Grammy winner told Ankur, "I put my pillow where the bass drum is, that is where I slept… Rhat was probably a year.”
The star went on, “So, I stopped living there when I got a record deal.”
Now, Madonna is collaborating with Bilt to help other musicians at the Music Building.
As part of the collab, Bilt is covering one month of studio rent for every musician currently leasing space at the Music Building.
Madonna shared in a statement, “Artists arrive every day to New York, with a dream and more often than not with little else. As much as I struggled when I showed up here with nothing, I look back very fondly on this time in my life. The creativity, diversity and community of artists all supporting each other while having the freedom to experiment is something I would have never experienced in another place.”
Madonna Is 'See'-Worthy Embodying Surrealist Painting on Met Gala 2026 Carpet
View StoryThat’s not all. As part of the collab, members can also purchase an exclusive limited-edition vinyl of "Confessions II” with custom artwork and exclusive photographs by Raphael Pavarotti. Bilt is also throwing member-exclusive album release parties in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago on July 3, the day the album drops.
Fans can see Madonna on a special edition of Bilt's monthly game show, "Rent Free,” on which members get a chance to win free rent payments of up to $2,500.