guy922's Full Review: Hard Candy [Special Edition] by Madonna
Once upon a time, in a land not too far away, one could use the words “Madonna” and “Trendsetter” in the same sentence and not have the taste slapped out of their mouth. To be so loose lipped with such words today, however, in my book is a ground for punishment.
Madonna is a well known force in music of today as well as the 80’s and 90’s. For more than 25 years, she has served as an anchor for her record company, Warner Brothers, selling millions of multi-platinum albums and singles, playing sold-out concerts all over the world, and has had several less-than-great moments of the silver screen, and when she isn’t doing any of that, she’s curiously intervening in international custody matters with children from Malawi. 2008’s Hard Candy, is Madonna’s eleventh studio album, and the last on her contract with Warner Brothers.
When I heard about Madonna’s new album around March or so, I was mildly excited. 2005’s Confessions On A Dance Floor was a decent effort, with its catchy lead-single Hung Up, for a time overshadowing her deplorable effort or lack thereof on 2003’s American Life, which also happens to make a great decorative coaster by the way. Needless to say though, I have been less than impressed with the musical direction Madonna has taken in recent years. I have had hinting evidence that good old Madge may be losing her edge. Careful listening to songs from Confessions… revealed recycled lyrics and song titles; Forbidden Love was also a song title on 1994’s Bedtime Stories.
When I heard 4 Minutes, I did like the song. I thought it was fun, and upbeat, perfect for a crowded club. I was however less than thrilled with Justin Timberlake joining her, however, on the song. It makes it look like a last ditch attempt to appeal to the tween to early twenties crowd, which while a successful attempt no doubt, leaves a bit to be desired by long time fans, such as myself. Give it 2 Me Is a fun track. and oddly her collaboration with Pharrell works surprisingly well. I love the melody and production. Its got a nice upbeat rhythm you can dance to.
Heartbeat, which comes after Give It 2 Me, is not a favorite of mine either. Accompanied by a repetitive club-oriented beat, Madonna’s voice is high and lilting, as if she’s trying to sound like a manufactured, young thing. Her speaking to Pharrell saying “see my booty get down” is laughable, because she doesn’t have a booty or anyone who wants to see it. Things improve with Miles Away, which is danceable and upbeat, but gives a little glimpse of the Madonna I prefer. Emotion that comes across convincingly in the vocal delivery is apparent. While the vocals are ok, little else makes this one stand out against the other tracks.
So far i'm not impressed with the production on the album. Timbaland and Pharrell Williams, who have worked with other artists such as Nelly Furtado and Kelis, and garnered much better results on past work, seem to clash with Madonna overall on this disc. The music is all very generic, regurgitated urban/dance/pop etc. fluff. No track really stands out from the other at any point for me on this album, which is kind of a let down. Beat Goes On is another strange and disjointed effort. Here we also have Kanye West joining Madonna. Personally, I have never been a Kanye fan. I don’t enjoy his music and to have him on a record with Madonna is adding insult to injury for me, I mean-the music Madonna is making is bad enough and he is just total overkill at this stage of the game. The backing music is bland and indistinguishable from other music found in the top 40 of today.
Spanish Lesson has a bit of a jazzy track going for it, but is ruined with Madonna’s horribly inauthentic Spanish babble. Never one to forgo trying new things, Madonna has spoken Spanish on past records, but seems to fall flat on her face with this one. Devil Wouldn’t Recognize You naturally adds no redeeming qualities to the album. Vocals are inept and quiet, and you don’t find yourself focused in the music at all. Rather, as you listen, you forget you’re even listening to a CD.
Last Thoughts? I don’t have many words regarding this project. Hard Candy is a harsh return to mediocrity, and hardly fitting of your hard earned money. The music and vocals just aren’t memorabale, and nothing here really stands out to me as great. Surely the album will go several times platinum if it hasn’t already just because, hey…it’s Madonna. However, I just can’t get into this one. The music is just carbon copied from other pop music of today, and no real creativity nor imagination comes through when listening to it. Madonna has said herself that she wanted to “have fun” with this project, and yes, there will be fans of the album no doubt, but I won’t be one of them. She too often jumps from one extreme to the other which at times is refreshing, as one would remember with Like A Prayer or Ray Of Light. But reality can hit uncommonly hard as it did on American Life, with its choppy acoustics and of course the rapping, or the follow up EP, Remixed And Revisited, which was released to boost Madonna's sales slump. But This album has performed worse than the both of them. No Career rebound after Confessions.... I guess. If you didn’t like American Life, I wouldn’t recommend this one, and new fans should look elsewhere first as well. This is the extreme of a woman in the washed-up stages of her career trying to hold on by taking the cheap way out to appeal to the population of your local middle school. In my opinion the whole "Early-2000's expendable pop-diva act" is played out, and Madonna signed on for that movement way too late.
Madonna seems to be getting coached by the likes of Samantha Mumba and Solange if you get my drift.....
The Artist known for her pioneering and trendsetting style seems to be following the leader rather than being one for the sake of her music. What will the future hold for Madge? Only the next fifty years will tell.
Happy 50th Birthday Madge...
Coming soon from Rhino records...Madonna sings your favorite 1960's top 40 hits!
Great Music To Play While:
At your 13 year old's birthday party, right alongside your Miley Cyrus records.....
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