\n\tThe crowd in Times Square at 5 p.m. on Thursday (June 3) appeared normal. Tourists posed with giant Labubus and Transformers, and those pushing past to get from A to B faced no more difficulty than usual. But at 6:27 p.m., two secret doors inside a billboard three stories above Broadway opened up and the Queen of Pop emerged. For the next 15 minutes, Madonna<\/a> took to the small stage overlooking the street to perform her two new singles from her new album Confessions II<\/em>, as well as favorites from Confessions<\/em>, as thousands of adoring fans looked on from the street below.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tRelated\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p><\/div>\n \t\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n \n\tBehind\u00a0the scenes, the moment took years of careful planning. Madonna\u2019s performance, which captured attention globally and served as a marketing ploy in partnership with Grindr to celebrate Pride Month and help support her current album campaign for Confessions II<\/em>, was tied to the official launch of new venue The Square.\u00a0And its location, directly on Broadway and 47th Street in the heart of Times Square, makes it one of the more sensational, and secretive, venues in the city.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWe thought she was the right person to talk across multiple generations of fans,\u201d says Jeff Marks<\/strong>, CEO of Innovative Partnerships Group, which was involved in the venue\u2019s creation. \u201cYou don\u2019t get someone better than her who can talk to anyone in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tBuilt beneath the Hilton Tempo Hotel, The Square features 10 floors of spaces designed for brand experiences and live performances. The venue, where brands can bring in artists to perform on stage \u2014 both inside the building and on the small stage semi-hidden within the billboard overlooking the street \u2014 and blast videos to its digital billboard, is the result of a multi-billion-dollar investment. (Innovative Partnerships Group did not provide an exact figure.)\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cIt was built for curators, content creators, influencers to create cultural moments,\u201d Marks says. \u201cThe Square was built for a digital world.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tWhile the Madonna show marked the venue\u2019s official opening, The Square isn\u2019t necessarily new. Charli xcx<\/a> famously performed at the venue for an H&M partnership during her brat<\/em> era, and Shakira<\/a> and Post Malone<\/a> have also utilized the stage to help promote albums in the last few years.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tRelated\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n \n\t\u201cWhen an artist wants to do their album drop, they play here because you come on stage and it becomes global overnight,\u201d Marks says. \u201cAnd what we\u2019ve been told by each artist that tested The Square to date is that, when they did their next album drop, it was the most successful launch of all their albums.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tAccording to Marks, each of the previous editions of The Square shows were test runs for the venue\u2019s viability. With Madonna, The Square is now open in its entirety, including the second-floor broadcast studio, the Palace Theater \u2014 which was hydraulically moved up to the third and fourth floors on the back half of the property \u2014 and an events space on the ninth floor. Artists performing at The Square don\u2019t even have to leave the premises throughout their stay in New York City; they can go straight from their room at the Hilton Tempo Hotel to the stage on Times Square.<\/p>\n \n\tWhile there\u2019s only a 15-minute window for performers to take the stage \u2014 due to restrictions put in place by the city for open-air pop-up events of that scale \u2014 the space can hold a smaller group of fans inside and can close, with the concert completed behind the screen. Fans passing by Times Square who want to hear the rest of the concert happening inside can scan a QR code and stream the audio from their personal listening devices. The QR code serves a dual purpose, allowing brands to know who\u2019s engaging with their content. To comply with city permits, shows can\u2019t be announced until 30 minutes in advance to prevent too large a crowd from forming.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cEvery single time, it fills up and goes all the way down to 42nd or 43rd [Streets],\u201d Marks says. \u201cIt feels like millions and millions of people, and you can\u2019t move. Three hours ago, no one knew this was going to happen.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tInside, The Square features technology allowing artists to broadcast on the venue\u2019s digital billboard by tapping their phones and communicating to the masses in Times Square in real-time.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cIt\u2019s a safe place for artists to stay here and live in residency,\u201d Marks says. \u201cYour private backstage elevator drops you off at each floor. You can still communicate, because you\u2019re interacting with your fans on the screen. You can [also] pop out and look down on them, but you\u2019re in a safe environment.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n
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