FEATURE:
Groovelines
Madonna - Music
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ONE of Madonna’s…
finest and most celebrated singles turns twenty-five on 21st August. Music was the first single taken from the album of the same name. Madonna’s eighth studio album, it arrived two years after the hugely successful Ray of Light. Perhaps her best-reviewed album, there was a lot of expectation around its follow-up. In terms of genres and sounds, there was a shift from Ray of Light. Between 1998 and 2000, a whole host of incredible women in Pop came through who cited Madonna as an influence. Including Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears. Whereas one can see Ray of Light as mixing Electronica, Ambient, Trip Hop, Psychedelia and Middle Eastern music, there was more of a shift to Funk, House, Rock, Country and Folk. Music was a number one album across the world. Even though the reviews in 2000 for Music were not as heady and ecstatic as they were for Ray of Light, in years since, there has been more praise and adulation. Madonna was bringing into Pop elements and sounds that were not present in 2000. In a sea of commercial artists, with boybands and girl groups ruling, Madonna was doing something different. Though she did not invent the genres and mix you hear on Music, it was not being done by other Pop acts in 2000. It was another reinvention and wonderful album. Music turns twenty-five on 18th September. It contains other terrific singles, Don’t Tell Me and What It Feels Like for a Girl. I want to focus on Music’s title track for this Groovelines. Madonna wrote and produced Music with Mirwais Ahmadzaï. I will end with some critical reception for this gem. The first single from this new album, after the phenomenal success of Ray of Light, so many eyes were on Madonna. She did not disappoint!
In 2020, GRAMMY celebrated Music on its twentieth anniversary. It is interesting what they write about its futuristic and genre-fusing lead single. One that was a big chart success – it was a number one in multiple nations – and was all over the radio. I remember when it came out and I was instantly stunned. Excited by what the rest of the album would offer. I think Music is one of Madonna’s most important moments. It still sounds so fresh and fascinating to this day. It has really not aged at all:
“Music," the lead single and title track of her eighth studio album, struck the airwaves like an intergalactic robot in August 2000, heralding a new sound for Madonna and the arrival of 21st-century pop music. With its digitally modified instruments, arpeggiated synths and a chorus Madonna says was inspired by the crowd at a Sting concert, "Music" combined elements of electronic and analog to create an anthem of unity on the dance floor. The Jonas Åkerlund-directed music video—featuring a pre-Borat Sacha Baron Cohen as his character, Ali G—seemed to skewer the decadence of late-'90s hip-hop bling while also revelling in it. We see a pimp-suited Madonna getting into the groove, relishing a night at the strip club with her girls and fending off creeps like a boss, all filmed while she was five and a half months pregnant.
On the strength of its lead single, Music released in the U.S. on September 19, 2000, via Madonna's Maverick imprint under Warner Bros. and opened at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, her highest-charting album in over a decade. Although critics didn't gush over Music with quite the same enthusiasm as they had its predecessor, the album moved millions of physical copies in its first few weeks, eventually going on to garner triple-platinum certification in the U.S. It ultimately earned five total GRAMMY nominations, including Best Pop Vocal Album and Record Of The Year for "Music" in 2001 and Best Short Form Music Video for "Don't Tell Me" in 2002. (Former Maverick Records art director and designer Kevin Reagan, who designed the album, won for Best Recording Package in 2001.)
In an effort to introduce the Queen of Pop to a new generation of fans, the album's promo campaign combined the traditional (a terrestrial radio premiere, a Rolling Stone cover story) with the new (an AOL listening party/live chat, a livestreamed club performance) over a timeline that seems enviably long by today's standards. Comparisons to more junior pop artists on the charts and airwaves swirled around her, but Madonna avoided miring herself in the muck.
Instead, for an exclusive performance at New York City's 3000-capacity Roseland Ballroom that November, Madonna took the stage wearing a Dolce & Gabbana-designed T-shirt emblazoned with the name Britney Spears. For her performance at MTV's European Music Awards later that month, she wore a similar shirt that said Kylie Minogue. "It's my celebration of other girls in pop music," she said backstage at the EMAs, praising the younger women before adding, somewhat cheekily, "I think they're the cutest."
Such spontaneous statements of support and admiration are almost boringly common now, but in an era when pop music had been denied entry into the credibility club, the moment held more weight. Though the press loved to pit female pop stars against each other at the turn of the century as much as it does now, musically, there wasn't much rivalry between them. With Spears still steeped in the sounds of Swedish pop on Oops!… I Did It Again and Minogue diving into disco on Light Years, Madonna had crafted a sound of her own on Music.
While Orbit returned for several tracks on the album, the majority of Music was co-helmed by the relatively unknown French producer Mirwais Ahmadzaï. Like his contemporaries in the French touch electronic scene (Daft Punk, Air, Rinôçérôse), Mirwais was unabashed in his affection for American music of the '70s, including the funk and R&B influences of house. Those influences, paired with his proficiency in production, worked well with Madonna's penchant for pop hooks, resulting in an LP whose sonic textures included space-age fills, guitar-washed in computerizing effects, and vocals that alternate between alien and intimate”.
Music has featured high in rankings. When critics decide which are her best singles. In 2018, The Guardian ranked her seventy-eight singles and placed Music tenth. This is what they had to say: “A glorious update of the blissfully simple sentiments of Holiday and Everybody, infused with a Daft Punk-like robotic swagger, courtesy of Mirwais’ production. Its unlikely inspiration was Madonna’s attendance at a Sting gig: she was moved at how physically his songs connected his fans. Bonus points for the way she sings “bourgeoisie”. In 2022, NME ranked her ten best singles. Music came in fourth: “Always a club kid at heart, Madonna knows a simple lyric can sound profound on the dance floor. That’s definitely true of this song’s iconic refrain: “Music makes the people come together.” Co-produced by French electro musician Mirwais Ahmadzaï, with whom she reunited for 2019’s ‘Madame X’ album, ‘Music’ is a glitzy disco banger infused with Madge’s signature brand of camp abandon. But this being Madonna, it’s also deadly serious at the same time. When she sings “don’t think of yesterday and I don’t look at the clock”, you know she means it. Madge-ic moment: Probably sneaking the word “bourgeoisie” into a dance-pop song. She’s always had an intellectual streak”. In 2016, Rolling Stone decided on Madonna’s best fifty songs. Music ranked it ninth: “After years spent making albums that bridged boundaries of race, gender and sexual orientation, Madonna finally wrote a tune explicitly devoted to the democratizing power of music itself. But her inspiration for this glitchy disco throwdown didn't come from her early days in New York's wild club scene – it emerged at a Sting concert where fans were well-behaved until the musician played old Police hits. "Everyone was practically holding hands… I mean, it really moved me," she told Rolling Stone in 2000. "And I thought, 'That's what music does to people.'" The track, propelled by French dance music producer Mirwais' pounding beat, was a Number One smash, and its video (featuring a little-known Sacha Baron Cohen) showed Madonna skillfully uniting the bourgeoisie and the rebel, even as she was five-and-a-half months pregnant”.
There is no denying the impact of Music. This incredible first single from one of Madonna’s best albums, I wanted to bring in a Wikipedia article that collates critical reaction. A Pop songs that was a lot deeper than a lot of what was around in 2000, this was proof that nobody could predict her! It was such a thrilling time seeing the new single from the Queen of Pop go up against her contemporaries:
“Upon release, the song received generally positive reviews from critics. J. Randy Taraborrelli, author of Madonna: An Intimate Biography, declared "Music" as a dance-anthem "that reaches into the future but also slyly conjures images and feelings of the good ol' disco days". In a similar review, Lucy O'Brien, author of Madonna: Like an Icon, relegated the track as "a resurrection of the disco girl" image. She listed "Music" as a career-defining moment for Madonna, like previous singles "Vogue" and "Justify My Love" (both released in 1990). O'Brien clarified the song as "the same genre defining quality, robotic, tinny, trashy and audacious... She resurrects the Madonna imperative. Dance. Party. Surrender". Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic called it "a thumping track which sounds funkier, denser, sexier with each spin" Jim Farber of the New York Daily News gave a positive feedback, stating that it is "everything a single should be: pithy, simple and maddeningly catchy, her most instantly embraceable single since 'Holiday'". Farber also highlighted the lyrics, which he felt covered familiar ground for Madonna by talking about the power of dance music. This thought was shared by Fouz-Hernández, who believed that like her debut single "Everybody", "Music" defined Madonna's artistic credibility.
Reviewing the parent album for Rolling Stone, Barry Walters also compared it to Madonna's earlier work. Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine called it Madonna's best dance track since "Vogue", also comparing it to her 1985 single, "Into the Groove". In his review of Madonna's 2001 compilation GHV2, Cinquemani praised the single's "retro club beats and vintage synth sound". Giving it a B rating, he concluded that "only a former material girl living in a NASDAQ world could get away with a song like this". Dimitri Ehrlich from Vibe found "Music" to be "a bouncing parade of synthesizers that pose the question 'Do fortysomething baby-mamas still have the divine right to get down?' (The answer is yes)". Chuck Arnold from Entertainment Weekly, called it one of Madonna's "most eccentric hits ever" and found it to be reminiscent of her earlier works, specifically "Holiday".
It is important to write about Music. I am sure that the single will get a few words on its twenty-fifth anniversary. However, I do not think it will get the love it deserves. I will finish off with this Official Charts article that looked at what else was in the charts the week Madonna delivered one of her best singles. You can tell so many artists of today are influenced by that one song alone:
“Released on August 21 2000, Music debuted atop the Official Singles Chart that same week; at the time becoming her tenth track to reach the summit.
The track spent two consecutive weeks at Number 1, before going on to tally a total of 15 weeks in the Top 40. Music can also claim to be the sole chart-topper from its parent album of the same name, with follow-up singles Don't Tell Me and What It Feels Like for a Girl reaching Number 4 and Number 7 respectively.
To date, Music has accumulated a total of 510,000 UK chart units; having shifted 388,000 physical copies. The song also boasts in excess of 9.6 million streams in the UK so far.
Elsewhere on the Official Singles Chart this week in 2000...
Following one of the biggest chart battles of the 2000s, which saw Spiller and Sophie Ellis-Bextor come out triumphant, Spiller's Groovejet (If This Ain't Love) and True Steppers and Dane Bowers feat. Victoria Beckham's Out of Your Mind both slipped one spot, to Number 2 and Number 3 respectively.
Victoria's Spice Girls bandmate Melanie C was also on the decent with former Number 1 I Turn To You (5), while boisterous double act Daphne & Celeste claimed the week's second highest new entry - and their third consecutive Top 20 single - with a cover of Alice Cooper's School's Out! (12).
You really did have to be there”.
A worldwide chart smash in 2000, it is almost twenty-five since the release of Music. I will talk about the album it came from closer to its twenty-fifth anniversary in September. For now, an important highlight of this phenomenal single. One of Madonna’s most enduring and original. After such a successful album like Ray of Light, Madonna could have repeated that album or gone down a more conventional route. Felt the pressure and released a first single from a new album that was a disappointment. As it was, Madonna took another step forward and wowed a whole new wave of fans and critics. For that alone, you have to…
BOW down to her.