Madonna - Music (2000)

I agree this has something of a 'forgotten blockbuster' feel, but being the title track and Don't Tell Me seems ubiquitous when I was little and my flawed natural response to such things is to always assume they remain so later on. In the case of the title track I'd still wager that to be quite true.

Anyway, great album, but I like - even love - everything Madonna during her second UK commercial peak (roughly 1998-2006; or 1998-4 Minutes). It has the feel of a victory lap after the hugeness of Ray of Light. There's no particular new 'Madonna' to show (the cowgirl thing seems very arbitrary beyond Don't Tell Me) and even the name is deliberately blank. It's the closest there had been to 'just' a Madonna album. And in 2000 that was still more than enough.

I love the Mirwais sound (number one in 2000 when electroclash was still embryonic) and Impressive Instant and Don't Tell Me are my third and second favourites but first has to be What It Feels Like for a Girl. Was it in a listicle (for the Guardian?) I saw its sound compared to Saint Etienne? Either way I agreed. Just gorgeous.

Re:Stuart Price its startling how quickly he'd honed the sound that would later make him huge. Nik Kershaw collab Sometimes (from 1999) is the best example.

you even love american life?

probably "what it feels like for a girl", that's one of her best, but i haven't listened to this album in ages. my memory is it's largely just a an inferior sequel to ray of light, much less focused & with weaker songwriting. no idea what was with the cowgirl image, feels like one of many ideas on this album that wasn't as developed as it could have been. listening to bits now it's frustrating - "music" has a great sound but the song just isn't there. weird that it was her biggest hit in years

maybe the cowgirl thing was a nod to the song's Tex-Mex roots? It's referred to as "Electronic Cowboy" here and certainly the acoustic riffs were country before Mirwais worked his magic. https://variety.com/2020/music/news/madonna-dont-tell-me-turns-20-mirwais-joe-henry-1234821405/
One of my favourite songs of the last 20 years. This whole record sounds like she did it for her own enjoyment, most of all.

yeah "don't tell me" is the only song that really feels relevant to the cowgirl image - in the "music" video for instance it's just a weird juxtaposition that doesn't really go anywhere

lol at mirwais claiming to invent folktronica in that piece though, certainly the sound was still fairly novel then but he wasn't the first to do something like that

xps I do love American Life, though it's an admittedly strange love. Every 'flawed' decision it makes (the rapping, stupider than stupid) somehow is central to its appeal - I end up really enjoying music* where as you hear about the singer's confusion and lapse of faith in society/communication/other you can sense it via fucktons of digital manipulation and distortion - particularly on the voice, the aural representation of the boulders they're struggling to pass. It isn't just in just in the cut-ups, glitches and pitch-shifts but in the way a lot of the songs artificially bring her way to the fore, a sort of processed suffocating sfx close-mic. As though the whole thing was collapsing under the weight of it being a Madonna Statement record.

It really adds a pretty crucial dynamic imo. Of course, no doubt helped - nay, spurred on in the first place - that it is incredibly up my street musically and I do genuinely think all the songs are good. And as for the most infamous moment, I can take to it in a not dissimilar manner to the way I enjoy, say, My Teenage Dream Ended. And remember that it's Madonna instead, on a major hit single (from spring 2003! A period I am close to for various personal reasons).

Or put another way - I seemingly have a weakness for much-maligned mid-career albums by major artists.

ah yeah i get that, i can definitely appreciate just how bizarre american life is at least

but i did actually kinda like madame x (also once again with mirwais as her main creative partner) where she's making so many weird decisions that the resulting mess is strangely compelling

vastly prefer american life to this record

Nothing Fails and the Bond song are both amazing. Ding know the rest really.

"Impressive Instant," but "What It Feels Like For A Girl" still brings me right back to 2000 in a flash

Among title tracks from the '90s (or close enough), "Music" has to rank at the very bottom of the list

100% agree.

Is that made worse because of the hubris of the song standing in for "all music"?

What It Feels Like For A Girl

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

unrelated note, but UGH, I had a Citi card for the Madonna presale for Tampa show but didn't want to put another hundred bucks on a credit card knowing I'm not willing to pay it all back now from my checking , I wanted to spread the payments out like a Klarna deal.

then I got too busy at work to do LiveNation presale yesterday and was late getting on this morning and just paid an exorbitant rate for shit seats, granted monthly payments but bleh.

not missing this tho, my mother and I are going.

FWIW, I just got an email that says she added two shows in NYC, so if anyone's still looking, see if she added any at the same venue.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Yeah, a likable record. I missed the poll but would've been a superfluous "Don't Tell Me" vote. Capped off a heck of a '90s for her.

I'm convinced by these results

happy to see Music at #3 made me look up the hilariously 2000 video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sdz2oW0NMFk

Who the fuck voted for American Pie

not me, but it's better than i remember

actually surprised that "don't tell me" won over "what it feels like for a girl"

Chuck_Tatum
Posted: 11 January 2023 at 16:00:43
Voted for Nobody's Perfect (I think it's a masterpiece, or at the very least weird and great).

did you tho

Seems like something an American Pie voter might say to cover their tracks. Take him away, boys

xpost
I thought I did! Hmm

What it feels like for a girl always sounds slower than I remember, maybe there was a faster remix doing the rounds in the UK at the time

I think you are thinking of the version that they used on the video?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYwgG2oyUbA

That mix in the video goes so hard, I love it

That's not what I remember, but it's great!