he/him
I am now listening to Hard Candy.
Hard Candy stanning Hour is always a great Hour.
I know it's not a priority but I'm excited for the prospect of having "Across The Sky" being released in a future Deluxe, even if it's sort of Miles Away part2. It's just sooooooooo... well crafted. I know some people think she was "late for the trend" but everything on Hard Candy is just so well done and on point that I like to think of it as a pinnacle of the Pharrel\Timbaland sound that is always around the corner.
I know it's not a priority but I'm excited for the prospect of having "Across The Sky" being released in a future Deluxe, even if it's sort of Miles Away part2. It's just sooooooooo... well crafted. I know some people think she was "late for the trend" but everything on Hard Candy is just so well done and on point that I like to think of it as a pinnacle of the Pharrel\Timbaland sound that is always around the corner.
he/him
I can kind of understand the late to the trend criticism, but I still feel like it's such a uniquely Madonna record and fairly different to the less inspired material that was coming out of the Timbaland/Danja/Pharrell factories throughout that 2004-2007 era. Even songs like "Heartbeat", which could in theory be sung by anyone who landed on its beat sitting on Pharrell's hard drive, is frenetic and unhinged in Madonna's hands. There's a certain earnest and bonkers charm to it that only Madonna could bring. The album stands completely on its own to me, just as much as Loose, FutureSex/LoveSounds, Blackout or The Sweet Escape do for their respective artists.
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I just saw a drag show with this as the performers main song. Seeing this performed live was simply breathtaking! Truly an underrated gem.
I asked on another forum and apparently the Soulpower remix is the single version, so the edit is now on my Singles playlist.
I’m suddenly very inspired to listen to Hard Candy, I remember going to HMV on release day, buying the CD, putting in on in my car, and that was the last time I listened to it until a year later my brother randomly began obsessing over it, he played it all the time, the songs began to blossom, I remember realising the run of 2 6 minute songs was a moment, Incredible and She’s Not Me, and recently I’ve began to really appreciate the 2 darker songs at the end of the album, so I enjoy the album, unfairly dismissed, 4 Minutes is the one song that I can still get played in a straight club.
Honestly I wish it were a single...such a great 80's feel to it.
Dance 2Night was played at the end of every Sticky&Sweet Tour show and it was a moment.
Still her best ever tv interview
Just curious - whats everyones thoughts on American Life? I get the feeling that it's often critically panned but I honestly think it houses some of her best work.
X-Static Process, Nothing Fails, Nobody Knows Me, Mother and Father, Easy Ride and Love Profusion are all fantastic. I could honestly listen to the album in full without skipping though (I'm So Stupid is annoying but lowkey iconic).
As for Hard Candy, I think it gets judged rather harshly, I've seen people refer to it as her worst album and it's just simply not true ddd. It's not a patch on Confessions, but it's still a fun album that I still listen to when cooking or doing housework.
I also love that we got three albums from her in the 00s that were so sonically different from each other, different ones for different moods.
MDNA on the other hand... deserves to be judged harshly ddd.
X-Static Process, Nothing Fails, Nobody Knows Me, Mother and Father, Easy Ride and Love Profusion are all fantastic. I could honestly listen to the album in full without skipping though (I'm So Stupid is annoying but lowkey iconic).
As for Hard Candy, I think it gets judged rather harshly, I've seen people refer to it as her worst album and it's just simply not true ddd. It's not a patch on Confessions, but it's still a fun album that I still listen to when cooking or doing housework.
I also love that we got three albums from her in the 00s that were so sonically different from each other, different ones for different moods.
MDNA on the other hand... deserves to be judged harshly ddd.
I was at a club night on Saturday and they played the Calderone version of Beautiful Stranger. For a moment, it felt like we were in a Queer as Folk episode! So cool to see a lot of people bopping to it in the bar queue as well.
American Life is in her top three alongside Confessions and Ray Of Light. Hard Candy definitely isn't her worst, but it is worse than MDNA to me.
I like American Life a lot.
I think most people that hate it tend to take things literally and aren't able to understand that Madonna is far to inteligent to make a "protest" song that just goes pointing what's wrong and what's not. It is supossed to be messy because her journey is. The song is in the first person and it is about her realization that she's not happy with how things are, she's part of the problem and benefits from it, hence "the rap". People that sees the rap as Madonna trying to be hip are missing the entire point.
Then there's the vagueness of Hollywood, which, again, I have seen people say that she tries to criticize Hollywood but ends up being shallow and... yeah? That is the point. Look at the video... Again, she's pointing things without making a harsher critique from the outside because she knows she's part of it.
Then there's the full realization of I'm Stupid (she wakes up from the fuzzy dream !!!), Love Profusion and its message about love as a healing process against the "system" (for lack of a better word) and the complete negation of the "system" on Nobody Knows Me.
Then there's the "psychoanalysis" side of the album, making her face and deal with her deeper feelings and choices in life in Nothing Fails, Intervention, X-Static Process, Mother & Father, Die Another Day.
Easy Ride closes without a definitive resolution, with lots of aspirations and repetition, because, again, she's far too inteligent to think there is one easy answer that will solve everything.
I get if people don't like the album sonically, though. I love Mirwaisdonna but I see why people have a hard time with the three albums they made together (but then they love Future Lovers without having a clue).
I think most people that hate it tend to take things literally and aren't able to understand that Madonna is far to inteligent to make a "protest" song that just goes pointing what's wrong and what's not. It is supossed to be messy because her journey is. The song is in the first person and it is about her realization that she's not happy with how things are, she's part of the problem and benefits from it, hence "the rap". People that sees the rap as Madonna trying to be hip are missing the entire point.
Then there's the vagueness of Hollywood, which, again, I have seen people say that she tries to criticize Hollywood but ends up being shallow and... yeah? That is the point. Look at the video... Again, she's pointing things without making a harsher critique from the outside because she knows she's part of it.
Then there's the full realization of I'm Stupid (she wakes up from the fuzzy dream !!!), Love Profusion and its message about love as a healing process against the "system" (for lack of a better word) and the complete negation of the "system" on Nobody Knows Me.
Then there's the "psychoanalysis" side of the album, making her face and deal with her deeper feelings and choices in life in Nothing Fails, Intervention, X-Static Process, Mother & Father, Die Another Day.
Easy Ride closes without a definitive resolution, with lots of aspirations and repetition, because, again, she's far too inteligent to think there is one easy answer that will solve everything.
I get if people don't like the album sonically, though. I love Mirwaisdonna but I see why people have a hard time with the three albums they made together (but then they love Future Lovers without having a clue).
"Love Profusion" is done so dirty by so many. It's gorgeous. I think the somewhat lazy video taints it for people, but when you get down to the song itself, it's one of my favorite M midtempos.*
*Is it a midtempo? It bops, but tonally it feels softer.
*Is it a midtempo? It bops, but tonally it feels softer.
Love Profusion is probably my least favorite song on American Life, but it's still excellent. It getting a (full) single release over Nothing Fails stings. And the dress.
Video aside, it's one of her best. A stunner of a bop.
He/Him
American Life will always be a Top 3 Madonna album for me, along with Erotica and Hard Candy (don’t judge me). X-Static Process is a career highlight, such simple songwriting yet so, so effective.