One of the Boys

Having had formal training in ballet, Madonna is well aware of the value of dance. It’s no wonder then that the pop mega-star has built an entire career around the concept. From her seminal self-titled debut 25 years ago onwards, Madonna has swathed herself with dance, techno, trip-hop and pop sensibilities. Drawing influences from Bjork, R&B, Catholicism, Jean-Paul Gaultier, gay culture, Spanish culture, Japanese culture and Kabbalah, Madonna Louise Ciccone has posited herself as the ultimate pop culture junkie. And while her detractors may opine at her occasionally vapid lyrics, her rather thin voice, her seemingly insatiable need for controversy, and her often scandalous frankness on sex and sexuality, Madonna’s music can rest on its own laurels. Not only has she influenced a whole generation of performers and entertainers, and remained the most successful female recording artist of all time with over 200 million records sold, but the music that she has churned out, while not without its inconsistencies over the years, has been enjoyable and memorable. Starting with the afore-mentioned Madonna, Mrs. Richie has always had her roots firmly planted in urban-disco. After moving from her hometown in Michigan to New York with less than $50 in her pocket, or so legend goes, she was soon discovered by a local disc jockey that helmed some of her earlier work. The rest, we say, is history. Now, with her eleventh studio album, Hard Candy, Madge has come full circle, re-presenting herself as an ever-present, dominant force in pop music. Album-opener “Candy Shop” sees Pharrell Williams generating the beat on the innuendo-laden track. “My sugar is raw, sticky and sweet,” Madge sings atop Pharrell’s paint can bangs. First single, “4 Minutes”, features Justin Timberlake on vocals, and suffice it to say, it may be the best song heard this summer. Timbaland provides a clanging whopper of a beat, with Madonna’s vocals bobbing alongside Timberlake's, fighting not to drown in the brassy funk of a marching band. With his emotive harmonies, Timberlake provides the emotional axis for the album, borrowing from his more introspective work like “Cry Me a River” and “What Goes Around… Comes Around” on such tracks like “Devil Wouldn’t Recognize You” and “Miles Away”. It may be the first time in Madonna’s history, but for the five Timbaland-produced tracks, she writes but does not co-produce. A disadvantage of this is despite the beats being solid, they sound slightly generic, as though they could have been passed on to any other singer. One would have hoped that for the album, Timbo would have custom-made some beats unique for Madge. In that aspect, Pharrell and the Neptunes do not disappoint. Beside “Candy Shop”, Pharrell pumps up the electro clash on “Give It 2 Me”. The track continues Madonna’s pervasive life-as-dance-as-sex metaphor when she sings "Don't stop me now, don't need to catch my breath/I can go on and on." The bass-popping “She’s Not Me” continues the facetious vibe of “Candy Shop”, telling the story of a copycat who’s "reading my books and stealing my looks and lingerie", and given the state of pop music, it could be about any young starlet on the scene. But when Madonna confidently sings “she’s not me/she doesn’t have my name/she’ll never have what I have” one can’t help but believe. “Heartbeat” is euphorically groovy, with Madge singing “On any given night catch me on the floor”, pulsing like another Madonna classic, “Lucky Star”. Featuring an unimpressive Kanye West cameo, “Beat Goes On” references classic Donna Summer and Chic, two obvious influences on Madonna’s early career, with its “toot-toot, beep-beep”, while “Incredible” morphs from syncopated shuffle to hysteria all in the space of 6 minutes. Like her last album, Confessions on a Dancefloor, Hard Candy celebrates the power and salvation of dance. However, while Confessions was a disc jockey’s wet dream with its almost perfect flow and sequence of song (and no ballads, to boot), Hard Candy does strike its wistful notes here and there. The afore-mentioned “Miles Away” if not the best thing on the album, is at least Madonna’s best ballad since “Don’t Tell Me”. Produced by Timbaland, the song oozes with yearning, undercut by a melancholic pining, thanks to Timberlake’s well-crafted harmonies. “You always have the biggest heart when we're 6,000 miles apart," Madonna sings. Given the state of recent tabloids reporting on the state of the house of Richie, the track takes on a new meaning. The album isn’t without its weaker moments. On “Spanish Lesson”, the Neptunes waste a perfectly good beat. The song sounds indebted to both Timberlake’s “Like I love You” and Madge’s own “La Isla Bonita”. Still, with the song’s empty lyrics (“If you do your homework, I will give you more work”) the track feels way too literal. “Dance 2night”, also, with Timberlake is completely pointless. With its almost embarrassing lyrics, the song sounds lazy- “you don’t have to be beautiful to be understood/you don’t have to be rich and famous to be good.” Huh?! The song’s intent was clearly one of empowerment, but its naiveté makes it laughable in its execution. In many ways Hard Candy is the album Confession on a Dancefloor was supposed to be. Not since her debut, has Madonna filled out one entire album with this many vapid floor fillers. The entire album is a self-declaration of Madonna's stamina, but it also sounds like a woman who clearly feels like she's in a furious battle against time, after all, she celebrates her 50th birthday this year. The album smacks of stupidity here and there, but with an album like this, as garish as its cover and art-work, stupidity is clearly one of its main themes and virtues. Thanks to its A-list team of producers and writers, the album sounds almost anonymous, engineered for any pop fledgling this decade. But after near three decades in the business, Madonna knows the importance of just having fun. She knows more than anyone that she's beyond informing the zeitgeist, instead being more than content to mine her influences and even borrow a few tricks from the very same people she’s influenced.