Idolator: "Sticky & Sweet: Madonna’s ‘Hard Candy’ Turns 12"

[Voguerista 11,798]

Hard Candy is not my favorite album, but, "Miles Away" is my favorite song from this album. When she performed this song on tour in Denver, Co. Madonna cried. So moving, I cried too. What song is your ultimate favorite from this album?

Sticky & Sweet: Madonna’s ‘Hard Candy’ Turns 12

Madonna’s Hard Candy turns 12 this month (on April 19, to be exact) and I decided to mark the occasion by revisiting the divisive opus. Full disclosure. The Queen of Pop’s 11th album didn’t exactly fill me with joy when it arrived in 2008. After the dance-pop mastery of Confessions On A Dance Floor, Hard Candy felt like a step backwards. Instead of breaking new ground, she decided to tap into the pop-meets-hip-hop sound that The Neptunes and Timbaland were already exploring with the likes of Justin Timberlake, Nelly Furtado and Gwen Stefani.

As one of the few Madonna albums I don’t regularly play, I was able to reassess Hard Candy with semi-fresh ears. And it’s less one-note than I remember. The production is very much of its time, but there’s an outrageousness to the project that I appreciate more with the benefit of hindsight. Instead of repeating herself (as much as I would have killed for Confessions 2), the living legend decided to dabble in urban beats — without the buffer of house music as she did on Bedtime Stories — at the age of 49. Oh, and she also had the audacity to open the album with a song about her vagina.

“Candy Shop” is, without a doubt, the most iconic moment on Hard Candy — massive hits like “4 Minutes” and “Give It 2 Me,” which has held up incredibly well, can’t compete. The song is such a staple of her live show that its absence from the Madame X Tour felt like a slap in the face. “Don’t pretend you’re not hungry, there’s plenty to eat,” Madonna coos on the Grammy-robbed bop. “Come on into my store, ’cause my sugar is sweet.” The Neptunes’ production is airy and multi-layered, while the bridge (“my sugar is raw, sticky and sweet”) should be carved on the statue of liberty.

Apart from “Candy Shop” and the aforementioned singles, another track that has aged handsomely is “Miles Away.” Co-produced by JT, Timbaland and Danja, there’s an emotional gravitas to this song that other cuts are missing. In some ways, it reminds me of “Love Profusion” — perhaps it’s the palpable sense of longing. Other highlights on Hard Candy include “She’s Not Me,” which really should have been a single, and the lightweight and very lovable “Dance 2Night.” I remember adoring “Incredible” upon release, but it sounds a little creaky in 2020.

The rest of Hard Candy is forgettable by Madonna’s standards. It is lacking the layers and hidden gems of American Life, the insight and creativity of Madame X and the wall-to-wall bangers of Rebel Heart. In its defense, the album is cohesive and achieved what it set out to do. Namely, remind the new wave of divas that Madonna could beat them at their own game. After all, Hard Candy sold four million copies worldwide and the tour remains the highest-grossing by a female artist of all time. Legends only.

[Guest Nobody Knows Me]

4 Minutes remains my favourite song on the album and my favourite Madonna single post-Confessions. It isn’t a big favourite of mine either but there’s still plenty of enjoyable songs, and I think it deserved better visuals and a better single run.

[wtg1987 10,160]

The only song I still play from this album is Devil cause I love the lyrics and the live version - the rest of the album I don’t - I do like across the sky though and dance 2nite - her worst album of the 2000s ?

[PWCCA 2,498]

12 years on, and still a terrible album

[madgefan 10,148]

Not my favourite but definitely not her worst. Is there really a BAD album in her catalogue? I'd rather say weak instead compared to others.

I agree when they say it's like a "Justin Timberlake & Timbaland vs Pharrel Williams featuring vocals by guest star Madonna" record. It truly is  Despite the R&B infused energy in most songs you can still 'feel' there's Madonna underneath the whole thing: cheeky lyrics, Esther still preaching about Kabbalah, and her already coined classic motto tick tock tick tock tick tock.

It still bothers me how dull the Give It 2 Me video is since it really deserved a better concept. The performance at the promo gigs was so much fun... why rush it and release that crap Munro filmed? The late 2000s were really her weakest in terms of music videos. It's like Warner didn't even want to spend a cent on her... just look at Celebration 

And Miles Away? A wonderful track that deserved better promo. Sad she hasn't performed it live again.

I'm curious that she didn't do 4 Minutes at the Super Bowl. It fit perfectly!

[confessed 9,336]

Didn't quite like it when it was released. I expected something like Confessions, it was and maybe still is THE Madonna album fo me, an etalon of how Madonna album should sound and how it should be promoted (yeah I might be stuck in 2005-6 ). Anyways, it grew on me over the years and now I can't say it's her worst; it's the album where she became trend follower, not a trend setter ;( 

and I want to get the vinyl version which is mega expensive now 

[RUADJAI 14,943]

12 years?!  

[LVX 289]

Hard Candy was the first era I experienced as a fan so it's special to me in that regard. Initially I was kinda disappointed with the album but I've grown to love it over the years.

[Mister_Pop 813]

A solid pop album to me, that received unfair hate from many fans back then (and even now), though it aged very well, and the more you listen to it, the more you realize there is Madonna DNA too in this album.

I'm still in love with lots of songs, and I do feel that from track 1 to track 6 it's 100% !

Candy Shop - 4 Minutes - Give It 2 Me - Heartbeat - Miles Aways - She's Not Me... better way to make a first half ? Not for me ! Incredible start, really. You can dance and sing to pop excellence !

The weakest tracks for me are Incredible (well, not that it is bad, but the 1'30 ending is much too long and ruins the song imo), Spanish Lesson, even though it's a fun track, and dare I say my unpopular opinion ? Devil is one of the weakest to me, there certainly was a better production to enhance that typical Madonna melody, it just doesn't work as good as for Miles Away for instance..

Beat Goes On is fine, but I love the silky demo The Beat Goes On better, but it's a great track live !

 

And that cover ?  Many hated it, I just thought it was incredible, it's Madonna saying yes, I'm 50 and I do what I want, fuck you !!  This woman really has been fighting for some kind of freedom... Love the boxing theme !!

 

 

[Mister_Pop 813]

.

[Blue Prince 995]

I have enjoyed Hard Candy as an album. It's a dance record and it serves just that for people like me who love to dance. All three singles became hits amongst other kids I knew and I just loved 4 minutes. My issues with it are some songs being way too long for no reason and her vocals sounding awful and I don't mean just over processed. I can enjoy an album with the same sound throughout but the sound of this album is tiring to my ears after a while which is why I only enjoy a couple songs at a time. It might have gotten old but I don't see why a few tracks such as Beat Goes On, Miles Away, Devil Wouldn't Recognize You shouldn't be considered some of her very best ever. For all that's worth, it's an album that kept her on top (at freaking 50!).

[gafuller 1,653]

To me, Beat Goes On and She’s Not Me are some of the freshest sounds on the album. They’re not cold and metallic like some other songs such as Voices and Heart Beat. I think the Timbaland songs should have been a strong EP released at the beginning of 07. And then Hard Candy using just Pharrell and the Neptunes and some othe producer like What air Feels Like For A girl and Ghosttown were to their respective albums. 4 Minutes is still powerful sounding and Give It 2 Me was ahead of the curve, with so many songs he touched from 2010s sounding just like it. Voices needs to be updated. It sounds flat and muffled. Miles Away is perhaps my favorite from the album. Spanish Lessons is a guilty pleasure. Sue me but I’ll take some extra homework like Maluma dide after dance class? Incredible is better towards the end but too long. And Candyshop is iconic in that she willed it to be. 

Also I want to praise the writer for actually being cheeky and constructive instead of blazing fires.

[Pootz333 2,688]

Even though I love American Life, HC would have SMASHED in '02/'03. 

Bizarre that "Beat Goes On" wasn't a single. Followed by many bizarre single choices over the next few years. 

I often wonder what her career would look like now had she gone with her original title/cover concept. One of one moments I was grateful to Guy O.

My Mom's favorite M track of the last 15 years is "Candy Shop". Always tickles me. 

CRIMINAL that "Latte" and "Across The Sky" were chopped. The latter could have been mashed up with "The Look of Love".

This was also the last album with officially released mixes from Peter Rauhofer, right? Still can't believe his mix of NRM was never performed live.

12 years flew the fuck by...

[Mp1992 260]

I liked this album a lot, it's no Confessions but it's a good, solid album, I also never got the hate from "fans" that it received.  Like another poster said, scratch the surface and you'll see Madonna's DNA on this album too

 

It sold well too, 4 Million worldwide #9 biggest selling album of 2008 worldwide

 

4 Minutes was a international smash, GI2M and MA were moderate hits outside the US

 

Good times

[Danton 618]

One of her best record for me ! 

[nito84bcn 2,745]

April 19 th? I'm sure it was released on 29 th!

I think the tour was amazing, and the album was funny and cohesive. The lack of good visuals, concept and videos were the worst part of all the project. Also I can't understand why the album was abandoned after Miles Away, Beat Goes On was a good option as a 4th single. 

[pedrofelipen 7]

Hard candy was the first Madonna album I bought. I wasn't a fan until 2009. I remember my ex-boyfriend putting the COADF cd to play and I was enchanted by future lovers. Then I went to a music store and I saw the Hard Candy. I bought it and the Sictky and Sweet Tour Dvd as well. After that I watched the DVD and after that my life was not the same. Hard Candy is special to me because that era was the beggining of the envolving with Madonna. After almost ten year I finished my masters degree in psychology, making a thesis about her. Well, this album is so nostalgic for me... I have an emotional connection with it. Except for Incredible and Spanish Lesson, i love the songs, specially 4 minutes, give it 2 me, Hearbeat, Dance 2night and Voices. 

[Semtex1 845]

I,ve still got the special edition box that came with the bag of candy. 

[Mr. Peanutbutter Horseman 3,652]

Incredible is incredible.

[steady75 9,570]

The absolute bottom of her albums pile. These new think pieces about the album are trite. If you want a good example of the sound of that time play FutureLove / SexSounds, Loose or The Sweet Escape. 

I think I was more disappointed because I was genuinely gagged that she had enlisted Timbaland and Pharrell who were on fire at the time and the previous albums listed above were insanely good. Hard Candy was so dull. Her lifeless vocals on Miles Away, the Nichole Sherzingher phones in album tracks, the experimental car crashes of Incredible and Spanish Lesson. Recycled old lyrics on Voices, The dreadful music video and chart evaporation of Give It 2 Me which should have been one of her signature hits by now. The DREADFUL tour. Miles Away been shat out at the end and the debacle with the video. The horrific artwork, the new face, The weird Gaga segment on SNL.

Ugh like...why claw your way back to the top with Confessions after your career almost implodes with American Life and waste all that Glory on ....Hard Candy. Even the name is reductive. Possible the weirdest move she's made in her career.

What a curious set of disasters. 4 Minutes and the tour sales and revenue breaking records is the afterglow affect of Confessions era. Also see Born This Way sales after the Fame Monster. 

Not only that she tortured us with the shit stain that is Candy Shop on successive tours to the point where it became her most performed song live in her career. A literal joke. 

the begining of M-Trolla

 

 

[RUADJAI 14,943]

1 hour ago, steady75 said:

The absolute bottom of her albums pile. These new think pieces about the album are trite. If you want a good example of the sound of that time play FutureLove / SexSounds, Loose or The Sweet Escape. 

 

I think she heard these albums and expected that's what she'd get. I think she trusted them too much. Pharrell can be brilliant, but he also has a tendency to be shit. And also... where was the brilliance on Timbaland on that album? He seems non existent, at least not in the way I'd expect from hearing Missy Elliott's Under Construction and This is Not a Test.

 

 

ALSO... I don't know if this has ever been discussed before, but when I listen to HeartbeatI can't help but feel Pharrell purposefully made Madonna sound bad. Not made her sing bad obviously, but kept bad vocal takes on the final product. 

at 1:35 after she tries to squeeze all the words "cuz dancing makes me feel beautiful" all into a small timeframe, he giggles. I always felt like he's laughing at her.  

 

ALSO... Why isn't Heartbeat a staple in her live shows? It's really a great song that describes her so well. And you can't help but sympathize with this character who just wants to dance despite it "feeling wrong" to other people. Something that as she gets older she probably hears more often.