segunda-feira, 30 de abril de 2018

Último grande álbum de Madonna (?) Hard Candy Dez Anos

Incríveis dez anos se passaram e um dos álbums mais polêmicos de Madonna, não pelo seu tema e videoclipes, mas pela sua qualidade mostra-se após uma década relevante e melhor analisado pois houve tempo e tudo o que veio depois para que se faça comparações e ponderações. A Billboard em seu site o chama de "último grande álbum de Madonna". Hard Candy envelheceu bem.

https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop/8401373/madonna-hard-candy-10-year-anniversary-last-great-album

Why 'Hard Candy' is Madonna's Last Great Album

4/28/2018 by Chuck Arnold

Ethan Miller/Getty Images.

Singer Madonna performs at the MGM Grand Garden Arena November 8, 2008 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

For most, Hard Candy is not a classic Madonna album like 1989’s Like a Prayer,1998’s Ray of Light or her eponymous 1983 debut. It’s generally not even considered on the level of its Grammy-winning predecessor, 2005’s Confessions on a Dance Floor. The album -- which arrived stateside 10 years ago on April 29, 2008 -- only spawned one top 10 single, “4 Minutes” (which hit No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100), while most of her previous studio LPs had multiple ones.

And even "4 Minutes," a clattering collaboration with Justin Timberlake, Timbaland and some marching band, felt more like one of the Tims’ bangers than a Madonna song. In fact, probably the biggest quasi-knock against Hard Candy was that, with Timbaland, Timberlake and the Neptunes behind the boards, it found Madge working with A-list pop hitmakers for one of the rare times in her career up to that point. (Nile Rodgers, on 1984’s Like a Virgin, and Babyface and Dallas Austin, on 1994’s Bedtime Stories, also come to mind.)

Madonna on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on Nov. 26, 2003.

Madonna's 'American Life': Revisiting the Divisive Album 15 Years Later

Gone was the hip factor of William Orbit on Ray of Light, Mirwais Ahmadzaï on Music and American Life, and even Stuart Price on Confessions on a Dance Floor. There was almost a feeling that Madonna had sold out, as if one of the biggest pop stars in history could do that simply by trying to make popular music. That bad album cover -- where she strikes a dominatrix-meets-prizefighter pose -- certainly didn’t help matters.

But in retrospect, Hard Candy is, from start to finish, the last great Madonna album, if not up to her outright classics. There is no filler. There are no bad tracks. Zero. (Even the flamenco-flavored “Spanish Lesson," a frivolous addition to Madonna’s catalog of Latin-infused nuggets, is a guilty pleasure.) The same can’t be said of the more beloved Confessions on a Dance Floor, another club-ready affair that had that forgettable moment when Esther took over on "Isaac."

As the main men on Madonna’s producing and songwriting squad, Timbaland, Timberlake and the Neptunes (Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo) were in top form. On opener "Candy Shop," which sets the sexy tone for the rest of Hard Candy, the Neptunes get the party pumping with an almost sinister slinkiness. There is really nothing sweet about this sugar — it's just plain hot and raw.

That special Neptunes sauce clearly inspired Madonna to sound more erotic than she had since, well, 1992’s Erotica. Although the Neptunes also produced the second single "Give It 2 Me," a classic Madonna anthem with a determined groove to match the lyric, they really hit peak level with the back-to-back tracks "She’s Not Me" and "Incredible." Ranking among Madonna’s best deep cuts (put “Candy Shop” in that category too), the sassy "She’s Not Me" and the euphoric "Incredible" are both shape-shifting, six-minute epics that start on one dance floor and then transport you to another where the get-down goes on without missing a beat.

Later, on "Beat Goes On" (featuring Kanye West), the Neptunes channel Chic with a bumping bass line. And on the next track, the shimmering "Dance 2Night," Timbaland and Timberlake keep the disco vibe twirling. Madonna and JT, grinding on and around each other, display even more chemistry on "Dance 2Night" than they do on "4 Minutes." The Tims also worked on the ballad "Miles Away," the album's third and final single, which mixes the folktronica of Music and especially American Life with a stuttering Timbaland beat. "I guess we’re at our best when we’re miles away," sings Madonna, hinting at the marital problems that led her to split with Guy Ritchie later in 2008.

In the end, Hard Candy was a sweet victory lap for Madonna as her last of 11 studio albums for Warner Bros., the label where she became the most famous female artist on the planet.

domingo, 22 de abril de 2018

Equivalente à trilogia de Berlin de Bowie

O site da Billboard relembra, à sua maneira, o lançamento de American Life, o eterno incompreendido álbum de 2003.

https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop/8359092/madonna-american-life-revisit

Madonna's 'American Life': Revisiting the Divisive Album 15 Years Later

4/21/2018 by Chuck Arnold

While American Life certainly wasn't the kiss of death for Madonna, her ninth studio album did end one of the winningest streaks in the history of pop. Although the LP—which was released 15 years ago on April 21, 2003—did debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, it became the lowest-selling studio LP of her career up to that point. And the reviews were mixed at best.

The title-track lead single was one of Madonna’s first bona-fide flops, certainly by her standards. It barely cracked the top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 37. Even worse, it was the object of derision for her stiff, silly rap in the second half where she rhymes “latte” with “shoté” and “MINI Cooper” with “super-duper” and “trooper.” No one wants to hear Madonna rap about her lawyer, manager, agent, chef, nannies, assistant, driver, jet, trainer, butler, bodyguards, gardener and stylist. Not then, and not now. The failure of “American Life” made it hard for the album to recover with subsequent singles “Hollywood,” “Nothing Fails” and “Love Profusion” missing the Hot 100.

But revisiting American Life 15 years later, it deserves more love than it has gotten -- it's perhaps the most underappreciated album of Madonna’s catalog. Listening to it now, it certainly bests Rebel Heart and MDNA, and from a lyrical standpoint, it probably beats 2008’s Hard Candy and maybe even 2005’s beloved Confessions on a Dance Floor. In fact, with its confessional tone and commentary on the American Dream in the President George W. Bush era, American Life is easily one of Madonna’s better lyrical outings.

The strong lyrical perspective is complemented by the cohesive musical vision. Madonna worked with one producer, French electronic savant Mirwais Ahmadzaï, for the entire album—although there was additional production by Mark “Spike” Spent on “I’m So Stupid” and “Nothing Fails”—and they expanded on the folktronica experimentation they did on 2000’s Music. Indeed, if there is one Music song that served as the biggest touchstone for American Life, it's “Don’t Tell Me,” with its twangy trip-hop. Madonna and Mirwais—who are back in the studio working on new music together in 2018—also co-wrote all but three of 11 songs together. With such a tight team, not one of the songs feels out of place (although the dramatic “Die Another Day” from the James Bond film of the same name feels like it should have been sequenced earlier in the record).

In retrospect, American Life—the last truly ambitious album that Madonna has made—also marked the end of a very important phase of her career. Having achieved new artistic depth with 1998’s Ray of Light and continued that creative spirit with Music, she was very much still in risk-taking mode on American Life. You might say those three albums—starting from an electronica base but veering in different directions—amounted to her Berlin Trilogy. On an aesthetic level, this period was Madonna at her Bowie-est.

“Love Profusion,” “Nobody Knows Me” and “Nothing Fails” make for a thrilling three-song sequence that displays varied moods and styles. While glowing with its sweet strumminess, “Love Profusion” faces some troubling uncertainties: “There are too many questions/There is not one solution/There is no resurrection/There is so much confusion.” The zig-zagging “Nobody Knows Me” packs a rock thump and a sense of disillusionment: “This world is not so kind/People trap your mind/It’s so hard to find/Someone to admire.” And “Nothing Fails”—the glorious, gospel-infused centerpiece of American Life—is nothing short of a latter-day “Like a Prayer.”

Elsewhere, “X-Static Process”—co-written by Stuart Price, who Madonna would go on to work with for much of Confessions on a Dance Floor—is a beautiful ballad rich in harmony and emotional directness. You can almost hear echoes of R.E.M. on that and the previous track, “Intervention.” Meanwhile, the solemn, string-laden “Easy Ride” may be one of the best album closers of Madonna’s career. The lyric nods to her notorious work ethic: “I want the good life/But I don’t want an easy ride/What I want is to work for it/Feel the blood and sweat on my fingertips/That’s what I want for me.”

American Life—which still sounds very modern and, in some ways, seems eerily prescient of Trump-era despair—feels more like the Madonna album for now than her recent efforts. It’s not a perfect album—“I’m So Stupid” is still irritating—but it’s the sound of Madonna challenging herself, and us.