Madonna scrapped plans to call new album "Black Madonna"

.... appear in black face on the cover

Madonna ditched the provocative title and cover image from the album that became "Hard Candy" because she feared too many people would have a problem with it.

The pop superstar had planned to call the project "Black Madonna" and posed in blackface make-up with white eyes for photographer Steven Klein's cover art, but she quickly realized the whole idea would be too controversial - and scrapped it.

She tells Rolling Stone magazine, "I painted my face black, except for red lips and white eyes. It was a play on words. Have you ever heard of the Black Madonna?

"It has layers of meaning, and, for a minute, I thought it would be a fun title... Then I thought, '25 per cent of the world might get this, probably less, it's not worth it.'"