In bed with Madonna: Hong Kong gets ready for Material Girl's sold-out concerts

“I’d prefer if people talk about my work as opposed to my personal life,” Madonna told this interviewer during a session at the Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles after the release of her 2003 album American Life. “I like talking about my work.”

During interview sessions over the course of several years and albums in Miami, Los Angeles and London, it’s a mantra you hear a lot. And there’s no arguing with the global impact Madonna’s work has had since she burst into the public consciousness in the 1980s. To cite just a few figures, she’s sold over 300 million albums worldwide, is the top touring female artist of all time and has had the most Billboard number one singles, period.

SEE ALSO: As Madonna announces Hong Kong show, we look at 30 years of the Material Girl as a global fashion icon

And despite what you may have heard about the singer’s personal life lately, Madonna and her 180-strong crew have racked up some impressive numbers since her “Rebel Heart” tour – which calls in at Hong Kong and Macau next month – was launched in Montreal, Canada on September 9. The shows utilise 63 tonnes of equipment. The 1,000 costumes for the performer and her 20 dancers took fashion houses such as Prada, Miu Miu, Alexander Wang and Moschino more than 10,000 hours to create. There are 22 videos played on the rear screens and the 23 songs, give or take some rotations, range from Holiday from her 1983 debut album to several from her latest, Rebel Heart.

All indications are that Madonna will put on a memorable show when she finally makes her Hong Kong debut at AsiaWorld-Arena on February 17 and 18, and her Macau debut at Studio City on February 20 and 21.

For years, the singer has been telling her Hong Kong fans that she wants to perform in the city, but had never delivered – and industry rumours had said the city’s venues were too small to accommodate her. During an interview to promote the 2005 release of Confessions on a Dance Floor, she even asked me: “Do people in China and the rest of the region want me to come there? How would I know? Nobody has written me any letters.”

In person, Madonna is, by turns, friendly, flippant, off the cuff and guarded. “She can smell fear like a dog,” one journalist said after an encounter. “If you know your stuff, she doesn’t mess with you,” said another. And it’s true. Those who stick to the music and reveal an inquisitiveness about songwriting and her collaborative processes are treated with a forthrightness and revealing insights. On the other hand, as one French journalist learned after criticising her collaborations with producer Mirwais, she doesn’t hesitate to kick people out of the room.

In Miami, before the release of 1998’s Ray Of Light album, the somewhat anxious, guarded singer, unsure of the public response to this uncharacteristic release (which eventually won four Grammy Awards), told me that she was going through a journey with a lot of “spiritual growth”. There were also internal struggles with the concept of fame. “People associate fame with happiness and being loved,” she said. “Even I made that mistake at the beginning. The things you hold onto the longest are the things you can walk away from.”