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Happy 13th Anniversary “Hard Candy” ?


Ayham
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HARD CANDY is officially a TEEN! Can’t believe it’s 13 YEARS!!! I just love the whole vibes of this era... it was an uplifting fun bright era especially after COADF... not to mention her most successful tour EVER... Sticky And Sweet Tour! My sugar is RAWWWW! ??

my favorite tracks from this album: 

- 4 Minutes (I LOVEEEEE THE VIDEO) ??

- Give It 2 Me ?

- She’s Not Me ??‍♀️

- Dance 2night ?

- Voices ?

now what’s your favorite??? ?

 

FCD5DAAD-792E-412F-B060-BC8E2F56E834.jpeg

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Her last real blockbuster album. :) She was EVERYWHERE with "4 Minutes" in Spring 2008, it was really exciting.

It was a shame how things slowed down after the first single, the album had enough commercial appeal to have more monster hits. "Beat Goes On" especially always seemed like a lost opportunity. "Devil" was very similar to "Cry My A River" but it's still such a good song!

I love this album. The production is top notch. Her attitude was sometimes confusing at the time but she was simply going back to her old self after the Ritchie good wife years...

Some people didn't like the album cover but personally I loved how brave and "don't give a fuck" it was.

"Sticky And Sweet" was her 00s stadium tour. Coming after "The Confessions Tour" it was always going to be a challenge, but looking back it was still a great show with great energy. Another "fuck you" moment: "I'm 50 but I'm not gonna stop". (Vocal department suffered on that tour, that's true).

Happy 13, HC!

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YESSSS!!! @Prayer this album unfortunately was her last HIT album. Me too I remember hearing 4 Minutes EVERYWHERE!!! & I still remember when Timbaland played small preview at a club earlier in 2008 I was like ?... & yes me too I love the artwork it’s bold, sexy & definitely the best way to celebrate her big 5! ?? I literally can’t find another singer doing what she did at her 50’s! ?

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4 minutes ago, Ayham said:

YESSSS!!! @Prayer this album unfortunately was her last HIT album. Me too I remember hearing 4 Minutes EVERYWHERE!!! & I still remember when Timbaland played small preview at a club earlier in 2008 I was like ?... & yes me too I love the artwork it’s bold, sexy & definitely the best way to celebrate her big 5! ?? I literally can’t find another singer doing what she did at her 50’s! ?

It's almost unreal to think now that she had a worldwide big pop hit at 49. That simply couldn't happen nowadays or at least I can't see that happening with any other female popstar at that age now.

At the time it was like "yeah, Madonna on top again, as usual" but it was such an achievement. Warner did a great, great job promoting the song and making it a big hit for her.

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If the cover artwork for this album (and perhaps title) had been different, I think the it would be viewed differently. Alongside the looming divorce, I think the general public didn't like 'combatitive Madonna'. 

I think it's a shame Give It To Me wasn't the lead single as well, it's more 'Madonna statement song' like Express Yourself and therefore more deserving of the legacy benefits that go with the lead single. 4 Minutes would have still done well as a second single. 

 

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31 minutes ago, Prayer said:

It's almost unreal to think now that she had a worldwide big pop hit at 49. That simply couldn't happen nowadays or at least I can't see that happening with any other female popstar at that age now.

At the time it was like "yeah, Madonna on top again, as usual" but it was such an achievement. Warner did a great, great job promoting the song and making it a big hit for her.

True, she did it & nailed it. Now singers in early 30’s are struggling to have another hit. ? & yes WR did amazing job as usual... I’m just sad they didn’t add another single with video. ? 

releasing an album in late 00’s was so different than today’s shit strategy. It was more about the music, quality, the production.... promo... now it’s all about releasing 100000000 colored vinyls. It’s seriously getting so so ridiculous.

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5 minutes ago, Bjonkers said:. 

I think it's a shame Give It To Me wasn't the lead single as well, it's more 'Madonna statement song' like Express Yourself and therefore more deserving of the legacy benefits that go with the lead single. 4 Minutes would have still done well as a second single. 

 

Nope, I believe 4 Minutes was the prefect choice as the lead single for this album... especially with JT as a featured artist. ??

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The era lacked of good visuals, especially videos (only 2) and Give it 2 me, was a bad one. The record still sounds fresh and I like it. Funny, happy, danceable... 

The tour was amazing, I enjoyed every detail about it, the dvd, the energy... the atmosphere in Barcelona was incredible. 

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Heartbeat is still that song

https://youtu.be/cVbfA2yZ5b4

Discovered this only with the Jaop edition of HC, but Ring My Bell is a great track !

If you wanna talk to me
That's exactly what you're gonna have to do
Talk to me

https://youtu.be/LMaxSGpaNBM

The Top track is still Miles Away tho'

https://youtu.be/N3D2oQNSqUI

You always love me more miles away...

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Honestly I'm not a fan of Hard Candy and I'm not sure about the genre choice and the whole era, too much 'Maddy against the world' for me. Obviously it was for the American market, just like Confessions was for the European one, so I consider it as the American twin of COADF, maybe less elegant and not so on point. It's not bad, tbh, it's just that since 00's European sounds have been more interesting, IMHO. Anyway, it's a matter of taste. 

My favorites tracks are Devil Wouldn't Recognize You, Miles Away and Heartbeat. I'm an hopeless romantic, I know it. 

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1 hour ago, nito84bcn said:

The era lacked of good visuals, especially videos (only 2) and Give it 2 me, was a bad one. The record still sounds fresh and I like it. Funny, happy, danceable... 

The tour was amazing, I enjoyed every detail about it, the dvd, the energy... the atmosphere in Barcelona was incredible. 

Yesss, the whole album is still listenable! ??
 

mannnn that tour is huge actually I can’t get GITG performance out of my head till this day. One word ENERGY. ? unfortunately I didn’t live the experience live. ??

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1 hour ago, OceanBlue said:

Heartbeat is still that song

https://youtu.be/cVbfA2yZ5b4

Discovered this only with the Jaop edition of HC, but Ring My Bell is a great track !

If you wanna talk to me
That's exactly what you're gonna have to do
Talk to me

https://youtu.be/LMaxSGpaNBM

The Top track is still Miles Away tho'

https://youtu.be/N3D2oQNSqUI

You always love me more miles away...

OMG! Ring My Bell is also my favorite. I love her voice in this track. Cool lyrics too!

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14 hours ago, nito84bcn said:

I think it was one of the tours that she loved the most. It was obvious on her face, and the extension of it, and the energy she had. 

2n round in 2009? Definitely, she was glowing there and smiling all the time. But I think the 2008 leg was hard with all the mess in her personal life. Plus Guy not wanting to wait until the end of the 2008 tour and forcing the divorce in the middle of everything. Messy.

What a difference a year makes:

2008:

rio01.jpg

2009:

image.png.d5b947b4975e2db709813c1dfdcea20a.png

I was lucky to attend both legs and being almost the same show, it felt sooo different in 2009, she was happier and the energy was definitely better.

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This is easily one of her worst albums. Even if this was widely accepted as a triumphant album, why is her age such a big deal? She was 49 when it was released - it's not like she was 100 and strapped to an oxygen tank in a nursing home. Now that would've been an achievement.

Nevertheless, this album isn't completely void of good stuff - it has some decent songs on it like: Give It 2 Me, She's Not Me, and, my personal favorite, Devil Wouldn't Recognize You.

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Tbh I've always been bothered by how much hate this album received (and still receives even to this day) in terms of its production. While I personally dislike some of the lyrics including all of Spanish Lesson and the bridges on Give It 2 Me and Heartbeat, I think that the production value on Hard Candy is top notch, and it irks me when people diss Timbaland and Pharrell even though they did their best.

That said, I'm still disappointed over the fact that Animal and Across the Sky didn't make the album, and Ring My Bell deserved a spot on the standard version as well. I personally can't stand Spanish Lesson however, and She's Not Me and Incredible should've been 2 minutes shorter each imo. Other than that, the album is great.

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I feel like this album gets a lot of unnecessary hate. And I think I used to buy into it but now I love it! I feel like I listen to this album so often :drama:  It’s just so fun and silly. A great album to dance to and kinda just let loose. Even though I usually hate Pharrell’s productions I think he did an outstanding job on this album. I used to regard this as one of her worst only above MDNA but now I think it’s a lot higher on the list. I can see why she loves Candy Shop. I feel like this is really her first silly album since the early 80s. Most of her work is pretty serious and I believe that’s why she likes it a lot. It makes her feel free and puts her in a good mood. I’ve been bopping to it for the past 2 days 

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