Madonna Disappoints, But Mariah & Robyn Do Not

-- Malinda Lo from AfterEllen.com

I have to admit that I've been eagerly awaiting the arrival of Madonna's latest album, Hard Candy, but after downloading it on Tuesday, boy was I disappointed. The reviews have been almost across-the-board positive — or at least thoughtful, referencing Madonna's influence and stature in the pop culture world — but I found myself fast-forwarding through repetitive choruses ("get stupid get stupid get stupid" — argh! — on "Give It 2 Me") and, frankly, not quite getting the album.

 

Perhaps, as the Houston Chronicle noted: "As a sit-down listen (in the car, through headphones or via a computer), Hard Candy doesn't have the same immediate spark or insightful lyrics as 2005's gorgeous Confessions on a Dance Floor. ... Under the disco ball, however, Hard Candy proves a sparkling after-hours soundtrack."

Maybe my problem is that I've been listening to it while at the office rather than out at a club. If that's the case, it's gonna be a long time before I "get" this album, since my club-going days have dwindled down to, oh, a couple of times a year. I suspect that most of Madonna's die-hard fans also long ago stopped loving the night life (Madonna, after all, is turning 50 this year), and I'm not sure if those longtime fans will get this album, either.

I do like a few songs on the album, including "Dance 2night," which is way more of a disco track than a hip-hop one, and "Miles Away," a melancholy song that sounds  like it belongs on Confessions on a Dance Floor.

Most reviews also mention that Madonna has made a concerted effort with this new album to attract younger fans, especially by working with current hit-makers such as Justin Timberlake, Timbaland, Kanye West and others. The funny thing is, I personally really enjoy Justin, Timbaland and Kanye. The problem, in my opinion, is that Madonna's somewhat cold, emotionless voice just isn't suited to hip-hop — and Hard Candy is a total wannabe hip-hop album, right from the start of its first single, "4 Minutes" (which I think is the best track on the whole thing).

I'm far from a hip-hop expert, but the melding of Madonna and hip-hop beats just doesn't seem quite right to me. Especially in comparison to another recent album released by a pop music icon, Mariah Carey's E=MC², which melds hip-hop and pop almost perfectly.

 

 

Mariah has also received a ton of praise for her latest CD, which was released on April 15 and debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard charts. Back in the 1990s when Mariah was all about music boxes and butterflies, I admit I  kept the fact that I actually owned a Mariah CD a secret, but after The Emancipation of Mimi (and getting 10 years older), I decided  it was fine to  like her songs — and about time to acknowledge that she knows how to make a hit. Plus, anybody who watched her week on American Idol also saw that it's really hard for anybody else to sing a Mariah Carey song.

Though E=MC² has some weak points (the sing-song melody of "O.O.C." just annoys me), the album has several truly addictive tracks, including "I Stay in Love," which is a worthy successor to her hit "We Belong Together," and "Side Effects," which could be the most Mary J. Blige–like song Carey has ever written. I even like the booming, bass-heavy "Migrate." Its  simple lyrics  draw a  surreal picture of a group of friends moving from club to after-party to hotel as if they were part of some  vast wildlife migration.

But I shouldn't compare Madonna to Mariah. There's just no comparison; both have carved out their own pop music kingdoms on their own and quite separately. One artist who does compare to some extent to Madonna, though, is Swedish pop star Robyn, who just released her self-titled CD in the U.S. on the same day that Hard Candy came out.

 

 

Robyn's eponymous CD was originally released in Sweden in 2005 and came out in the U.K. in March 2007; many of the songs that Americans are only now getting to hear have already been hits across Europe and Australia, including "With Every Heartbeat." If her voice sounds familiar, that's because you may remember her 1997 pop-dance hit, "Show Me Love."

Now, it's not  Robyn's early years that  I'm comparing to Madonna — it's her new stuff. Many of the songs on Robyn remind me of very early Madonna, like from 1982. Maybe it's because that early '80s synth sound is back, but Robyn also has some of the same attitude, especially on songs like "Handle Me" ("It's a simple fact that you can't seem to handle me/No matter how you act with them you can't handle me"). She even has a song called "Who's That Girl" (although I suppose it could be referencing the Eurythmics' song as much as Madonna's).

To be fair, there are a couple of duds on Robyn. I thought the opening track, a recitation of Robyn's (false) qualifications, "Curriculum Vitae," is a bit self-indulgent, and I'm not a big fan of "Robotboy" because it's, well, a bit too boppy. But 90 percent of the CD is brilliant, from Robyn's hilarious lyrics and infectious beat on "Konichiwa Bitches" ("Right now you probably thinking how she get in them jeans/Well I'm gifted all natural and burstin' the seams") to the moody, ethereal "Eclipse" ("There's an eclipse in your eye/where I used to shine").

Robyn is currently touring the U.S. in promotion of her album, and she's got the attitude and the androgynous haircut that I think will make her quite a hit with lesbians.

 

 

Is it enough to make her a gay icon in the mold of Madonna and, even, Mariah (come on, gay men love the diva)?

Have you had a chance to listen to the new albums from Madonna, Mariah and Robyn? What did you think?

 

Comments

[WILLIAM BROGAN]

HOW DARE YOU! MADONNA'S HARD CANDY CD IS GREAT. HER MESSAGE IS BE YOURSELF & HAVE FUN. IT RELATES TO GAY BOYS EVERYWHERE. I WILL NOT TRUST YOUR REVIEWS AGAIN AFTER THIS. MADONNA RULES. MARIAH NEEDS TO GO BACK TO THE LOONEY BIN.

[Colin]

Whoa, whoa, William ... I'm actually with you. I really liked Hard Candy, especially "Give It 2 Me" - as you can see on John's and my Hard Candy preview:

http://www.newnownext.com/2008/04/newnownext-nois.html

I'm also a Madonna fan who still enjoys club-going.

Malinda from AfterEllen just felt differently - although I may agree with her that Confessions was a better album.

That being said, don't you say that about my Mimi!

[JOhn]

To WIlliam "Brainwashed" Brogan

I completely agree with NNN. Having been a Madonna fan for years, Hard Candy is a disgusting, lazy example of what happens when an artist decides to coast.

I am sick and tired of so-called tried and true fans defending her bad choices. She obviously cannot reach notes for an R&B record and should stick to the evolution of disco and dance as it is such a huge universe to conquer.

Below is pitchfork's review and I actually thought THEY were being too nice. My advice to you Madonna queens is STOP BUYING INTO THE HYPE.

Peace, J

Madonna
Hard Candy
[Warner Bros.; 2008]
Rating: 5.3
Buy it from Insound
Download it from Emusic
Digg this article
Add to del.icio.us
Madonna is coming home: Having spent a decade working with producers drawn from European club culture, Hard Candy is her link-up with the American men who've come to define global pop. Five songs with Timbaland and Justin Timberlake, six with Pharrell Williams, one with Williams and Kanye West. The best, this line-up announces, need to work with the best. But lead single "4 Minutes" doesn't sound like the best working with the best: It sounds complacent, like a pop supergroup high-fivin' each other.

The "4 Minutes" marching band rhythm-riff may be Timbaland's strongest idea on the album but the performers seem happy to let it do the work. He keeps shouting for "Mad-DON-nuh!" but she's a guest on her own track, singing from the margins of what might as well be a Timberlake outtake. Timbaland's productions are the weaker links on this frustratingly ordinary album. Partly he's a victim of his own ubiquity-- we know his tricks by now: the interlocking rhythmic hooks on his upbeat tracks, the bubbling claustrophobia on his ballads. "Devil Wouldn't Recognise You" is the third time-- at least-- that he's written "Cry Me a River", right down to the moody rainstorm breakdown and thunderclaps. But his less-typical productions don't all work well here either: "Dance 2Night" aspires to 80s funk slickness but lumbers where it should cruise.

The 1980s, specifically Madonna's 80s, haunt Hard Candy: It's been touted as a return to the spirit and sound of her earliest work, but her voice and delivery have changed too much for the comparison to hold. Her vocal training and singing lessons in the 90s broadened her range but she's never sounded as hungry since, and her phrasing on Hard Candy is frequently dreadful-- words so evenly spaced and emphasized that it sounds like she's reading aloud to a class. Or teaching you the choruses: You won't get "Miles Away" out of your head in a hurry but that's less to do with its quality than the didactic way she delivers it. Her biggest misstep is "Heartbeat"-- lyrics deliberately reminiscent of "Into the Groove" but sung so detached you might as well be at a Madonna Studies lecture.

The record's better tracks are, unsurprisingly, those where Madonna sounds more engaged. Second single "Give It to Me" has her delivering an imperious lesson on success and survival-- "Show me a record and I'll break it/ I can go on and on"-- over Hard Candy's most urgent tune, hard-pushing electro-ska whose keyboards break up trying to keep pace. Closing track "Voices" is gorgeously gothic orchestral synth-pop that she seems to relax and revel in. Centerpiece "She's Not Me" is a stirring piece of turf-defense, prowling between Chic-era disco and modern pop-house as Madonna slaps down a rival. It's taut and cold, easily Hard Candy's most emotionally compelling moment.

"She's Not Me" smoothly lays out Madonna's credentials: Twenty-five years at the top of the game. She doesn't reinvent pop; she defines it. Her strengths have always been her authority, and her smart sense of who to work with and when. So even if it's a summary of where pop's at rather than where it's going, Hard Candy should still be excellent. After all, if you're not going to do your best work for Madonna, who are you going to do it for? But after listening, the question's still open-- nobody involved in Hard Candy is anywhere near their creative peak.

-Tom Ewing, April 28, 2008

[junior]

First of all, why can't you like someone without it being "hype." Second of all, I think most everyone with ears thinks "Confessions" was a better album than this, but that doesn't mean this album was trash either. It has several good songs on it and even the bad ones are still listenable.

Everyone needs to take a chill, wait for it, pill.

[Jim]

I have to disagree about Heartbeat being a misstep. It is my favorite song by far on the album. It's actually a sad song at its core, which is why I like it. I agree there are some bad songs on this album, but it's starting to grow on me. It's no Confessions, but it certainly is better than Erotica, Bedtime Stories, and American Life.