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Hard Candy
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$18.98 |
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$9.99 |
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| 59 New |
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| Editorial Reviews: | | |  | | Japanese pressing of Madonna's 2008 full-length album includes one bonus track, 'Ring My Bell'. Hard Candy is a brilliant uptempo collection that adds a hip-hop beat to the cultural icon's club sensibilities, thanks to collaborations with Timbaland, Justin Timberlake, Pharrell Williams, and Nate "Danja" Hills. Hard Candy punctuates the first 25 years of the album career of the most successful female artist in history with a musical exclamation point. 12 tracks.. | |
| Custom Reviews: | |
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| LOVE LOVE LOVE This Album | |
| | I am a HUGH Madonna fan and I do listen to all kinds of music. Her last album, "Confessions..." I thought had a European feel to it,very house/trance-like sound. I loved the fact that she just completely switched it up and created a more hip hop feel to the Hard Candy album, she worked with Amazing Producers and Writers such as the WORLD renowned Pharrell Williams and Justin Timberlake, and switching her style from album to album does not make her a "Sell Out" it makes an amazing artist who knows how to target all kinds of audiences from different Genres, not too many artists have been as successful. You can tell the songs that were produced by P. Williams, they're very heavy influenced w/ hip hop beats, where the ones co-written by Justin Timberlake are more pop songs. My favorite songs (and I have many) have to be "Miles Away" "She's not me" and "Incredible"...but to be honest I truly love it all. I HAVE TO SAY I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS ALBUM, and everyone who I lend my copy to loves it as well.
| | Hits harder with each listen... | |
| | "Hard Candy" comes alive more and more with each listen. There are so many different sounds on so many of the songs, I can't help but be more and more intrigued each time I hear them.
Despite featuring routine Neptunes' production and clichéd lyrics comparing candy to dancing/sex, "Candy Shop" is a solid, sparse dance tune; "4 Minutes" also pulls through in the end thanks to its horn sections, though it too features a setback: at times, Justin Timberlake and Timbaland's busy production practically take over the song from Madonna.
Things really start getting interesting at track 3. "Give It 2 Me" is a fantastic celebration of not only dance music, but the Queen of Dance Music as well. The Neptunes' production builds gloriously throughout, and Madge is more than capably along for the ride. The same can be said for the next song, "Heartbeat." This song stands out as one of the best on the album; you can practically feel your heart banging along with the Madonna's. It's another wonderful celebration of a night out at the club.
"Miles Away" is the best Timbaland/Timberlake production here. There is such longing in the soundscapes, in Madonna's voice, in lines such as "You always love me more, miles away." This is another standout and one of the more emotional songs on the album.
The same degree of emotion is found in the next two tracks, "She's Not Me" and "Incredible." The former hits its peak at the end of the song, with a hyper, throbbing beat and Madonna's warped, resounding vocals. The latter hits its stride at the beginning, with its lighthearted production and bittersweet vocals. These are challenging tracks for their whole durations, though, with the entire musical direction of the songs changing throughout them.
"Beat Goes On" and "Dance 2Nite" are both incredibly fun and retro odes to the freedom found on the dance floor. "Beat" features a pretty good rap from Kanye West, and on "Dance," Madonna and Justin vocally meet in the middle in a much more satisfying way then they do on "4 Minutes." By hiring the new kings of hip-hop and pop, respectively, it's obvious Madge still has her killer pop instincts intact.
The album's low point is the dull "Spanish Lesson." It's a nice idea in theory to have a Latino-flavored song on one's album, but Pharrell and Madonna don't pull it off in reality. Its lyrics are pretty much nothing more than a literal Spanish lesson (like, "I say something lusty in Spanish," "Now I'll translate it for you in English"). The best part of the song is the elastic rhythms at the end, and it's telling that there are no lyrics to be found here.
"Devil Wouldn't Recognize You," is moody and clever. However, it shows obvious influences from Timberlake's/Timbaland's "Cry Me a River" and "What Goes Around...Comes Around." It's a good song, but originality is lost.
The final track here is "Voices." It is probably the most philosophical song here and would not totally be out of place on her deeper albums like "Ray of Light" or "American Life." Its tune swirls around you like voices beckoning from all sides, and it includes the provoking question "Who is the master, who is the slave?" Madonna's answer to that is found on "Hard Candy." She is a master of dance music, but she is not beneath making herself a slave to it either if her art is made better for it. Throughout her career, that philosophy has paid of in spades, and "Hard Candy" is no different. The beats didn't hit me in the gut as immediately as they did on "Confessions on the Dance Floor," and the lyrics didn't hit me in the heart like those on "Ray of Light" did. But there are still great rewards to be found here for the patient listener who can give an album, no, a work of art, time to kick off its shoes and groove for them.
| | | Nice box and CD. If you dont want the same as everybody. However, it is a little pricey to get a couple of starlite candies and a couple of extra pictures of Madonna.
| | It's not Confessions, but it's pretty good | |
| | Not one of my favorite Madonna albums, but I've been listening to it in my car since its release, over 3 months ago. Like Confessions, it's very energetic and pumps me up before work. Puts me in a positive mood. When I'm about 4 minutes from work, or coming back from lunch and only have a short time left, I play "Four Minutes". It's silly but fun. My favorites are "Heartbeat", "She's not Me", "Devil Wouldn't Recognize You" and "Voices". I also like "Give it 2 Me". Not too fond of "Spanish Lesson" or "Candy Shop". The rest is ok filler. Other reviewers have noted that Madonna's voice is often lost in these songs, and I agree. I really like her voice, when I can hear it clearly; it's distinctive and pretty strong.
The line "Dancing makes me feel beautiful" in "Heartbeat" always gets my attention. Madonna is beautiful when she dances. I'm sure she realizes it but maybe a part of her is insecure about it. I didn't care for the "see my booty get down" part towards the end of "Heartbeat". The song would be fine without that. I also don't like the "get stupid" part in "Give it 2 Me". But it's her new style, so that's that.
I've got tickets for her next tour (Nov 20th in Philadelphia!) and I'm thrilled about it. But I hope I'll hear her voice above everything else.
| | | for once madonna decides to follow the trend instead of setting it...with serious results, 4 minutes. give it to me , heartbeat beat goes on , dance tonight.this is a fantastic album.does not deserve all the hate.say no more. buy it.
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