maddy1111

Love Don't Live Here Anymore says hi ! 

it's an album that I appreciate more picking the songs out of it and now from a distance. Mind you I never care much about Bedtime Stories until quite late.
As others comment I think the big crash was due to be after the electronic evolution from ROL onwards. She was playing with dance-pop sounds and bringing something different with each album, then she landed into generic 00's sound.
But I never like 4 minutes and I can't listen to the album straight. I like 2 songs then I don't care about the next and so on.

I agree
I became a fan when Music was released in 2000 and for me it was a fantastic ride Music => American Life => COADF... For me, she was getting better with each album. And then Hard Candy came and I was shocked. Madonna following trends so cheaply without anything new?! What the hell is this? 
But over years I've started to like Hard Candy more and more. Now when I look back to it, I am like "yeah, this is how exactly pop music sounded back then, and 4 Minutes defines that era of 10s music perfectly". 
I am not saying it is up on par with her best works, but it is not down with worst ones either. I can now listen every song from that album and enjoy it (well, exception being Spanish Lesson which is not her worst song ever only because Bday exists) 

Yeah, definitely... A new Spotify Playlist is coming 

I see it real .. 
Madonna - Frozen (Disney Remix) featuring Elza
 
Let it go, let it go
Can't hold it back anymore
Mmm, if I could melt your heart

Let it go, let it go
Turn away and slam the door
Mmm, if I could melt your heart
 

Yeah, definitely... A new Spotify Playlist is coming 

my bottom hurts just thinkin' about it

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

I guess I am just more wordy with explanations

Exactly. So now we can enjoy the songs for what they are . It’s a great pop album. Way more consistent than everything that came after it.

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simply because when Hard Candy was released we all felt like 'she is too late at the party", "Timbaland sound is so outdated he did with Justin, Nelly Furtado, Ciara (and many others) already" 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.