- 27 Apr 2008, 17:59
#1102377
Review: Madonna - Hard Candy
4/5
25/04/2008
She may be fast approaching her half century – which arrives in August – but Madonna is not about to gracefully step aside and become a shy retiring elder stateswoman of pop.
In the past, (very) old boyfriends – Warren Beatty – were embarassed by her antics. Now it’s the turn of her daughter Lourdes.
From the opening title track of Hard Candy, it sounds as if one of the great British cultural legacies she has readily clasped to her bosom is that of the Carry On movie.
While producer Pharrell Williams of The Neptunes cranks up the sugary beats, she plays the ever-attentive Italian Mama. But when she offers up her sweet and sticky confection and sings “Don’t pretend you’re not hungry because there’s plenty to eat”, you get the idea Madge’s kitchen isn’t strictly in Delia Smith or Nigella Lawson territory.
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Humour and sex have long been Madonna staples and they run naturally through the creamy harmonies, nutty rhythms and state of the art dance manoeuvres of Hard Candy like lettering through a stick of rock.
With a phalanx of heavy hitters – Timbaland, Kanye West and Justin Timberlake – onside, Hard Candy takes no chances.
Sticking to the disco/R&B pop script of the career- reviving, 10 million-selling Confessions On A Dancefloor, it’s hardly groundbreaking in the way Madge once was. But that’s no crime.
The insatiable Give It 2 Me is classic Madonna, and elsewhere other pleasures abound. There’s multi-layered majesty on Devil Wouldn’t Recognize You, a clammy tale of desire, and the sussed and wry putdown of She’s Not Me, where La Ciccone is in tunefully vengeful mode.
On Dance 2Night, she doffs a tweed cap to the wonders of vintage Prince and Jacko in a song that’s at least 100 times better than the recent Sir Paul Macca tune of the same name.
No matter how virulent the campaign becomes to make Madge, ahem, “act her age”, the lady holds her own. How many other near-fiftysomethings – of either gender – are sufficently in tune with their inner mojo to invite you to “see my booty get down” and still sound sexy?
Putting its nailfiling moments (the aptly named Miles Away) aside, Hard Candy is a mouthwatering proposition. It’s just a pity she didn’t think to provide promotional napkins to mop up after all the drooling.
mirror.co.uk
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