Madonna: Song leaks are rape, terror

Madonna defended her use of words “terrorism” and “artistic rape” to describe the leak of at least 10 of her unfinished, unreleased songs onto the Internet.

“Obviously there is a person, or a group of people behind this that were essentially terrorizing me,” she told the Guardian on Sunday. “I don’t want to sound alarming, but certainly that’s how I felt. It’s one thing if someone comes into your house and steals a painting off your wall — that’s also a violation, but, your work, as an artist, that’s devastating.

“I’m an artistic person, I’m very expressive. I’m sorry if words alarm people, but that’s what it felt like. It was not a consensual agreement. I did not say ‘Hey, here’s my music, and it’s finished.’ It was theft.”

She also said it was likely that her computer was hacked.

In a surprise preview of her new album, Madonna released six songs Saturday on iTunes and various streaming services.

The songs were released because several in-progress demos were leaked earlier this week, publicist Liz Rosenberg said.

Madonna said in a statement that she had wanted to wait until a different holiday season.

“I was hoping to release my new single ‘Living For Love’ on Valentine’s Day with the rest of the album coming in the spring,” she said. “I would prefer my fans to hear completed versions of some of the songs instead of the incomplete tracks that are circulating. Please consider these six songs as an early Christmas gift.”

Songs available Saturday also include the plaintive, anti-drug “Devil Pray”; the secretive, name-checking dance track “Illuminati”; and a duet with Nicki Minaj, “B—h I’m Madonna.” Additional music will be released on Feb. 9, Rosenberg said.

The full album, “Rebel Heart,” is Madonna’s 13th and is set for release in March. Producers include Madonna, Diplo and Kanye West.

“Shit, this is the age that we’re living in. It’s crazy,” she told Billboard magazine, when asked about the investigation into the leaks. “I mean, look at what’s going on with Sony Pictures. It’s just the age that we’re living in. It’s crazy times.”

Washington accuses Pyongyang of being behind the hack at Sony that led to the release of embarrassing emails and caused executives to halt the debut of the madcap comedy action film “The Interview.”

“The Internet is as constructive and helpful in bringing people together as it is in doing dangerous things and hurting people. It’s a double-edged sword,” Madonna said.

Asked about her recording security, she said it already had been quite tight, so the leak came as a surprise.

“We don’t put things up on servers anymore. Everything we work on, if we work on computers, we’re not on WiFi, we’re not on the Internet, we don’t work in a way where anybody can access the information,” she said.

“Hard drives of music are hand-carried to people. We don’t leave music laying around.”

AP contributed to this report.