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AMERICAN LIFE
Madonna
(Maverick/Warner)
The warning flare went up a couple of weeks ago.
Anyone who's followed the life and career of Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone -- which is almost everyone -- should have spotted it and prepared themselves for the worst.
It came when the artist chose to pull the video for her new single because she thought its anti-war, anti-Bush stance was inappropriate for the current climate.
Just when the hype and hoopla surrounding her newest CD, American Life, should have been kicking into high gear, the pop diva did something she's never done before -- she (gasp!) backed down from controversy.
She didn't embrace it and use it to her advantage, as has been the case on many, many occasions. She put her head between her legs -- if you've seen the yoga photos, you know how possible that is -- and gave in.
You could argue that it was simply a smart business move, having seen the backlash suffered by the Dixie Chicks for statements they made surrounding the conflict.
But after listening to the album, you can't help but wonder if Madonna, whose career trajectory certainly isn't upwards, figured out this really isn't a record strong enough to take a stand on.
It isn't. American Life is the weakest, worst and most out-of-touch offering from the artist in more than a decade.
From the songs themselves to the approach and style she's chosen, it's a miscalculated mess of a misstep.
The disc is her third in the predominantly electronic-based direction she set off on with 1998's Ray of Light, and it marks the second time in a row she's worked with Swiss producer Mirwais Ahmadzai.
The problem is, no matter how excellent the results were with Ray of Light and its 2000 followup Music -- and that was even coming to the party a little late -- this was the album where Madonna should have done what she's made a career of doing and set out on a new musical path.
She's stretched the electronica angle so thin that all of its power has been diluted.
Take the title track and first single -- with its dark, soupy Daft Punk production, American Life could have been a fine addition to either of its two predecessors. Even the silly Princess Superstar rap in the song might have come across as cheeky and forgivable.
Here, now, it just sounds stale and desperate.
But, again, maybe if the songwriting was stronger, some of the stylistic misgivings could have been overlooked.
A great deal of the album has Madonna getting very personal with her audience, which translates to little more than a fame junky asserting that fame is hollow, and subsequently attempting to tout her own depth as an artist and human being. Ironically, much of it -- songs like I'm So Stupid, Nobody Knows Me, X-Static Process and the album-closer Easy Ride, most notably -- comes across as shallow and insincere.
And Mother and Father is one of the most embarrassing, truly terrible Madonna songs ever.
Family and her upbringing have guided a great deal of her artistic pursuits, but when it produces faux rapped lines like "My mother died when I was five and all I did was sit and cry/I cried and cried and cried all day until the neighbours went away .../My father had to go to work, I used to think he was a jerk," it's definitely time to, as she acknowledges, move on.
American Life also features the Bond theme Die Another Day, another failure of a track -- not just for what it delivers but what it promises. "I'm going to break the cycle/I'm gonna shake up the system/I'm gonna destroy my ego ...," Madonna sings.
Well, now -- and this album -- would have been the right place to start. (More on Madonna)
Track Listing
1. American Life
2. Hollywood
3. I'm So Stupid
4. Love Profusion
5. Nobody Knows Me
6. Nothing Fails
7. Intervention
8. X-Static Process
9. Mother & Father
10. Die Another Day
11. Easy Ride