maddy1111

We can now eat Madonna as much as we want to 
 
... I see myself out of this thread 

I think it holds up pretty well or more than we would have expected back then simply because when Hard Candy was released we all felt like 'she is too late at the party", "Timbaland sound is so outdated he did with Justin, Nelly Furtado, Ciara (and many others) already" 
But now 16 years later, that era basically blends together. We no longer care if this sound was done half year ago (and if Nelly Furtado did all that one year before Madonna) and Madonna is just copying it with Hard Candy, rather than setting trends as before.
Hard Candy can be seen now as the album that simply summarizes the sound of late 00s and all songs trending in charts then. If it does in a particular good way or bad way, everyone needs to answer for themselves. But it is now more product of its time, rather than "too late at the party album". 

Justin eats the best, Madonna eats the rest 
.. perfectly summarizes this album

And Antarctica soon after 
Icedonna Tour 

For me TOP3 would be:
- Like a Prayer (song so iconic... And I simply love seeing half-naked men dancing upside down ) 
- Hung Up on Tokischa/Hung Up (honestly, the performance is pretty ordinary, but daaaamn, the energy, THE ENERGY when she started singing it live on Celebration Tour in Amsterdam, I was in trance.. And it even made me like Hung Up on Tokischa version which I would have swear might never happen, now I stan it) 
- Ray of Light (hypnotic, crazy, techno laser show with Madonna flying over your head! Don't need to say more).. Of course, I couldn't vote for the third one, but I felt a need to mention it. 

The secret word is aesthetic.. In Hard Candy, there is none. Even a photo of 'boxing M-Dolla' doesn't really fit with pink candy theme. While COADF is absolutely consistent in terms of topic, colors etc. 

I think @maddy1111 was being sarcastic 😁

Are you always that salty? Or just a bad day? 

No, not this discussion again, please 

And Antarctica soon after 
Icedonna Tour 

Are you always that salty? Or just a bad day? 

And Antarctica soon after 
Icedonna Tour 

For me TOP3 would be:
- Like a Prayer (song so iconic... And I simply love seeing half-naked men dancing upside down ) 
- Hung Up on Tokischa/Hung Up (honestly, the performance is pretty ordinary, but daaaamn, the energy, THE ENERGY when she started singing it live on Celebration Tour in Amsterdam, I was in trance.. And it even made me like Hung Up on Tokischa version which I would have swear might never happen, now I stan it) 
- Ray of Light (hypnotic, crazy, techno laser show with Madonna flying over your head! Don't need to say more).. Of course, I couldn't vote for the third one, but I felt a need to mention it. 

Exactly! 
People always saying "her last hit was Hung Up". Girls, just because you don't Iike a song that much (4 Minutes) and you are stunning Hung Up, it doesn't necessarily mean 4 Minutes is not a smash hit. It's one of the biggest of her career. 
Yeah, "success" of MDNA/Rebel Heart/Madame X is a different story. But Hard Candy was huge af! 4 Minutes doing extremely well on charts, delivering one of the hugest hits in 2008 in US, followed by her most successful Sticky and Sweet Tour. 
We can discuss 2010s regarding Madonna's decline in popularity, but I don't understand why Hard Candy is always throw under the bus by some fans simply because they expected COADF2 and then end up not stanning the album. Yes, personally I don't prefer HC as well but it cannot be denied she achieved exactly what she and Warner wanted to achieve with that massive era. 

Well, it worked (commercially) with Nile Rodgers in 1984/1985, it worked with Nick Kamen in 1986, it worked with Dallas Austin and Babyface in 1994/1995, it worked (internationally, not that much in the US) with Britney in 2003, it worked with Justin Timberlake and Timbaland in 2008...
Of course we all have personal preferences and she had indeed a reputation for discovering new sounds, trends and producers and making them mainstream, but facts are facts. She's gone with "flavor of the month" many times (even with Björk! She was exactly that in 1993/1994 after "Debut"), it's just a case of us fans liking that particular collaboration or not.

Exactly! 
People always saying "her last hit was Hung Up". Girls, just because you don't Iike a song that much (4 Minutes) and you are stunning Hung Up, it doesn't necessarily mean 4 Minutes is not a smash hit. It's one of the biggest of her career. 
Yeah, "success" of MDNA/Rebel Heart/Madame X is a different story. But Hard Candy was huge af! 4 Minutes doing extremely well on charts, delivering one of the hugest hits in 2008 in US, followed by her most successful Sticky and Sweet Tour. 
We can discuss 2010s regarding Madonna's decline in popularity, but I don't understand why Hard Candy is always throw under the bus by some fans simply because they expected COADF2 and then end up not stanning the album. Yes, personally I don't prefer HC as well but it cannot be denied she achieved exactly what she and Warner wanted to achieve with that massive era. 

I'd say "4 Minutes" was everything it needed to be in 2008, a killer commercial song for the time + a killer video. Plus it was one of the biggest hits of that year. It was literally everywhere in Spring 2008.
Even today, with Justin Timberlake "cancelled" and her completely ignoring the song on her greatest hits tour, remains one of her most streamed songs still.
"GMAYL", "Living For Love" and "Medellín" we can discuss for days, yes, apart from personal preferences. IMO "Living For Love" was the weakest combo (song + video), I like the song but there's something missing in the original album version (she always performed remixes and different versions of it since day one). And the video is quite simple for a lead. I think "Bitch I'm Madonna" should have been the lead on "Rebel Heart".

Courtney Love namedropping to get attention. Nothing new there. It's her brand. It used to be Gwen Stefani when she was popular. 
Courtney Love is such a toxic person her mother abandonned her to go live abroad with her other kids, her father hated her so much he launched and entertained the rumour about her having had Kurt killed, her daughter left her to go live with her paternal grandmother and her husband chose death over her. And all her past collaborators and friends have falling out with her. 
She has not released a good album in 30 years. The last decent one was in 1998. For someone who was always bragging about authenticity and posers, she's the biggest poser ever. She did that putrid solo album and tried to attach herself to The Strokes, THE rock band at the time, who did not care (even when her ex buddy Drew Barrymore was dating a member of the band). Then she did these beautiful rehab demos with Billy Corgan and Linda Perry but she did not want to share credits with them, Alan McGee wanted to relese the album but backed out because of this. So she tried to self release it on the internet via a Tampax sponsorship on their website but credits were asked again so she removed it. She finally decided to rework them with Marilyn Manson's producer and totally destroyed their beauty to release a fake Hole album with them but Hole without Eric Erlandson is nothing and she had a fall out with him for the same reason she's faing out with everybody, she's a two faced (even thousand if you count plastic surgery) backstabbing psycho. That's when i stopped being a huge fan, the ball dropped. Sw her at Le Bataclan, she could not sing anymore, she could not play guitar, she was not even drunk or high, she was pathetic, a fallen icon left without all the artifice brought in by people she sucked the life off. She was trying to strum her guitar and kept missing chords, watching them, then the voice was hoarse like a deaf drunken sailor. Her band, young men in designer grunge like clothes, looked like amateurs from Beverly High. The music was gone, the king was naked, what we had left was a professional widow living off her husband's money, doing interviews to namedrop labels she wears, famous people she knows and the wonderful things they say about her "Oh Michael Stipe always says i'm..." and relevant people of the moment she trashes to get attention, just before Swift and after Gwen Stefani, it was Katy Perry. She's not  feminist, she attacks other women whom are more popular than she'll ever be. She was like that i high school already when she looked like the fat blonde kid from Family Ties. Now she hangs out with Kris Jenner and licks Elon Musk's ass. The BBC gave her a serie for unknown reasons, maybe an old fan from the 90's is programming. She's talked about women in music who inspired her but she's mostly talking about herself, about how Marlon Brando could be her grandpa. She talks about these brilliant women as a way to level with them, like a vampire, basking in their glory. She's not in their league. She's in no league. She's a junkie with too much money and ego. Only people who know nothing about punk rock and rock n roll would give her the time of the day. She' s a celebrity who used to have a band. There's no Courtney Love interview, EVER, where she does not name drops or talks about fashion labels. Real punk rocker are Kim Gordon (who hates her guts) Kim Deal, girls from L7, Bikini Kill, girls from the band she joined before Hole, Babes in Toyland (the one Madonna wanted to sign on Maverick not Courtney on her own) she tried to run and they fired her (just line Faith No More did) after years of hanging out around rock bands, trying to fuck her way in the music industry, harrassing Trent Reznor and Axl Rose, she finally found a sexually confused soft man  she could use her way and manipulate, his nose was what made him the winner over Billy Corgan becuse she wnted to sire  a child and did not want it to inherit the schnozer her father gave her. 
She used to be Lana Del Rey biggest fan and friend, posed with her, used her in the press to be relevant to a younger audience but i guess, from what she says about her in this interview, it's over. She also says Debbie Harry was just pretty which is sexist when Harry is a brilliant lyricist that is outrageously overlooked because of sexism. And Madonna never trusted her, Courtney litterally stalked her, was obsessed with her, Kurt said it, Christopher Ciccone said it, Madonna said it, Courtney said it. Especially after Kurt died, she used to call Madonna for advices then turned on her. She tried to bed Guy O. desperately. Madonna simply ignores her because she can't be trusted. Courtney fumed because she ignored her at Tears of a Clown at Art Basel.
So yeah, a long essay because i used to be a fan and then one day i realized Courtney Love was an empty shell. But i still dig Pretty on the Inside and Live through this is a major album in music history, Celebrity Skin was half good with great singles. She did not deserve to be vilified and have this horrible rumour about killing Kurt, especially when she was grieving and grieving under the public eye. But she's not a good person and she's not a great artist. She used to be a great celebrity though but her usual tricks are old now and irrelevant to the times.

And Antarctica soon after 
Icedonna Tour 

And Antarctica soon after 
Icedonna Tour 

No hating but Taylor is like half age of Madonna. Let's see what Taylor does in her 60s (if she is still musically active). That comparison is not quite fair.. It's liek comparing apples and pears.
Now let's rather see what Madonna was doing when she was 34yo and all over the news with Erotica, to be more fair in comparison. 

https://www.billboard.com/photos/madonna-album-covers-ranked-1235642607/1-hard-candy-madonna-cover-2008-billboard-1240/

For what reason? 
From 2016 to 2024, Madonna participated in 6 RSDs, skipped 3 of them. 
Nothing unusual is happening here

Maybe that's because she has a double visual album ready for us later this year and doesn't want to oversaturate the market 
#soon #unexpectedsurprise 

No, not this discussion again, please