Madonna Video Debuts On Mtv

Best make your mehndi appointment quickly. If Madonna wields her usual influence, the popularity of this henna skin-dyeing procedure is about to surge.

The singer sports mehndi and witchy hair and does a makeshift dance of the veils in her new video, “Frozen,” which debuted on MTV Monday.

It’s the opening strike for “Ray of Light,” her first release since 1994’s “Bedtime Stories” and the first since she became a mother. The disc will be in stores March 3.

The demands of motherhood have left their mark on the pop diva: With the help of special effects, she is cloned into two Madonnas, then three. So many diapers to wash, so little time.

The song is a dancy thing that intersperses classical-sounding strings with electronic beeps and bloops, but it’s Madonna, so what you really want to know about is the look.

She’s no longer the Sophia Loren of “Secret,” the sultry siren of “Sex” or the suit-clad dominatrix of “Express Yourself.” Her new image is more Bride of Marilyn Manson, with hair that’s gone inky-black and stringy, fingernails painted black and those (fake) tattoos.

Yet the video’s strong Middle Eastern feeling gives her an exotic elegance. She does a vampy bellydance, her fingers clasped as if clutching coins, and when she is “cloned,” it’s like a harem - a harem of Madonnas. No matter that Jane’s Addiction covered this same turf a decade ago.