Sugar and Spice - Hard Candy by Madonna
Jamieson Villeneuve
April 30, 2008
Everyone likes candy right? From the moment it hits your tongue, candy will flood your mouth with many flavours: savoury, tart, tantalizing. You close your eyes and are transported to another world full of sweet delights and sugary pleasure.
Such is the case with Madonna´s new album, Hard Candy. As soon as the first note plays, you know you´re in for a sensational treat. Mixing R and B with hip hop, pop and some good old 1980´s funk, Hard Candy is a flat out amazing musical experience.
After Confessions on a Dance Floor, I was wondering what Madonna´s next musical offering would be like. She is constantly reinventing herself to stay ahead and on top in the world of music. Going from electronica (Ray of Light) to electronic country pop (Music) to hard core electronic funk (American Life) to neo-disco pop (Confessions on a Dance Floor), Madonna is constantly changing and evolving.
Many were worried about what Hard Candy would be like when rumours started floating around about an R and B influence. Madonna, who is known to work with influential producers, worked with Justin Timberlake, Timberland, The Neptunes and Nate Hills this time around. Many felt that the album would sub par and I worried that Hard Candy would not be as good as Confessions on a Dance Floor.
I needn´t have worried. Hardy Candy is perhaps the most ambitious musical offering that she has ever done. It is also without a doubt her best work to date. Far from being an attempt to harness the urban market, it actually goes beyond the ideals of urban hip-hop and R and B. In true Madonna fashion, she makes the music her own.
Unlike Confessions on a Dance Floor where the songs were somewhat similar and flowed into each other from one to the next, Hard Candy is a musical candy box full of different delights and startling treats. Each song on the album has a different flavour, a different sound but somehow manages to work well; each song plays off the other songs and, collected together, give us a sticky and sweet musical tapestry.
What I love most about Hard Candy is its message: get up and dance. The theme runs through out the album but is especially notable on Give it 2 Me, Beat Goes On, Spanish Lesson, Heartbeat and Dance 2Night. There are no political or personal agendas here; instead, we are given twelve tracks that will make you want to get out on the dance floor and strut your stuff.
There are tons of musical surprises on Hard Candy. Just when you think a song will go one way, it veers off into an unexpected yet wonderful direction. Give it 2 Me breaks down into a wonderful and catchy beat box chorus. Spanish Lesson starts off with soft Spanish guitar and a wonderfully catchy tune but veers into a hypnotic chorus where we´re told to do our homework and get up on the dance floor. Voices, the last song on the album, starts off slowly, almost sensually and then veers into a sexy electronic funk that makes you sit up and take notice. Surprise after surprise makes this Madonna´s most fantastic album yet.
The dancing theme plays through out the album but the song that best describes what Hard Candy is all about is the track Dance 2night: Do it, do it/Let me turn you on/Let the music pull you through it/Till the break of dawn/Do it, do it/While the night is young/Let the music pull you through it/Till the lights go on.
With those lyrics, and indeed the lyrics of all twelve songs on Hard Candy, you can´t help but listen to Madonna´s message: get up and dance. Hard Candy is hypnotic as Madonna pulls us through her music and helps us give into the beat.
Hard Candy is Madonna at her best and most creative. It´s also one of the best albums this year. One thing is for sure: with Madonna as our musical muse, we´ll be dancing for years to come.
Such is the case with Madonna´s new album, Hard Candy. As soon as the first note plays, you know you´re in for a sensational treat. Mixing R and B with hip hop, pop and some good old 1980´s funk, Hard Candy is a flat out amazing musical experience.
After Confessions on a Dance Floor, I was wondering what Madonna´s next musical offering would be like. She is constantly reinventing herself to stay ahead and on top in the world of music. Going from electronica (Ray of Light) to electronic country pop (Music) to hard core electronic funk (American Life) to neo-disco pop (Confessions on a Dance Floor), Madonna is constantly changing and evolving.
Many were worried about what Hard Candy would be like when rumours started floating around about an R and B influence. Madonna, who is known to work with influential producers, worked with Justin Timberlake, Timberland, The Neptunes and Nate Hills this time around. Many felt that the album would sub par and I worried that Hard Candy would not be as good as Confessions on a Dance Floor.
I needn´t have worried. Hardy Candy is perhaps the most ambitious musical offering that she has ever done. It is also without a doubt her best work to date. Far from being an attempt to harness the urban market, it actually goes beyond the ideals of urban hip-hop and R and B. In true Madonna fashion, she makes the music her own.
Unlike Confessions on a Dance Floor where the songs were somewhat similar and flowed into each other from one to the next, Hard Candy is a musical candy box full of different delights and startling treats. Each song on the album has a different flavour, a different sound but somehow manages to work well; each song plays off the other songs and, collected together, give us a sticky and sweet musical tapestry.
What I love most about Hard Candy is its message: get up and dance. The theme runs through out the album but is especially notable on Give it 2 Me, Beat Goes On, Spanish Lesson, Heartbeat and Dance 2Night. There are no political or personal agendas here; instead, we are given twelve tracks that will make you want to get out on the dance floor and strut your stuff.
There are tons of musical surprises on Hard Candy. Just when you think a song will go one way, it veers off into an unexpected yet wonderful direction. Give it 2 Me breaks down into a wonderful and catchy beat box chorus. Spanish Lesson starts off with soft Spanish guitar and a wonderfully catchy tune but veers into a hypnotic chorus where we´re told to do our homework and get up on the dance floor. Voices, the last song on the album, starts off slowly, almost sensually and then veers into a sexy electronic funk that makes you sit up and take notice. Surprise after surprise makes this Madonna´s most fantastic album yet.
The dancing theme plays through out the album but the song that best describes what Hard Candy is all about is the track Dance 2night: Do it, do it/Let me turn you on/Let the music pull you through it/Till the break of dawn/Do it, do it/While the night is young/Let the music pull you through it/Till the lights go on.
With those lyrics, and indeed the lyrics of all twelve songs on Hard Candy, you can´t help but listen to Madonna´s message: get up and dance. Hard Candy is hypnotic as Madonna pulls us through her music and helps us give into the beat.
Hard Candy is Madonna at her best and most creative. It´s also one of the best albums this year. One thing is for sure: with Madonna as our musical muse, we´ll be dancing for years to come.
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