American Life Single Cliffhanger Problem

[Would You Like To Try 8,355]

So i think the era was rushed to a cut with Love Profusion being last single in december of the same year of release and not Nobody Knows Me being new last single

Rumor says low album sales in US stopped the campaign early and that we were supposed to get more singles

Also the amount of rejected edits of remixes are lot so i think her team cut the single era 

Single run was almost perfect but some promos needed to shine.The L.E.X mix of nobody knows me deserved 

[androiduser 2,482]

Are we sure they wanted to release more singles? 4 is quite usual for an album at that time... sure, maybe they would have released one more if the album had been wildly successful, but I think it was just a situation where they wanted to throw stuff to the wall and see what sticks.

Either way, Nothing Fails is the biggest missed opportunity of Madonna's career. She was sitting on gold. I can't get over it, I'll never get over it, and I hope it becomes a posthumous release one day in the far future.

[Would You Like To Try 8,355]

6 minutes ago, androiduser said:

Are we sure they wanted to release more singles? 4 is quite usual for an album at that time... sure, maybe they would have released one more if the album had been wildly successful, but I think it was just a situation where they wanted to throw stuff to the wall and see what sticks.

Either way, Nothing Fails is the biggest missed opportunity of Madonna's career. She was sitting on gold. I can't get over it, I'll never get over it, and I hope it becomes a posthumous release one day in the far future.

I heard that Nobody Knows Me (Peter Rauhofer Part 2) was planned but cancelled after the sales didnt beat the ones from music or didnt exceed expectations

[Sheridan1980 1,106]

If only Nothing Fails had a music video 🥲

Instead, she preferred doing a song and a video with Britney 🤪🥲🙃

[thegoldencalf 12,587]

16 hours ago, androiduser said:

Are we sure they wanted to release more singles? 4 is quite usual for an album at that time... sure, maybe they would have released one more if the album had been wildly successful, but I think it was just a situation where they wanted to throw stuff to the wall and see what sticks.

Either way, Nothing Fails is the biggest missed opportunity of Madonna's career. She was sitting on gold. I can't get over it, I'll never get over it, and I hope it becomes a posthumous release one day in the far future.

I’m not sure if you were around for that era but there was no gold in terms of chart success. 
Whatever she would have released there was no appetite for anything coming from her and it was an instant flop. 
I think we should be really grateful we got so many amazing remixes and the era wasn’t completely scrapped after Hollywood. 

[Prayer 14,419]

The album had lots of singles for a "flop" album. That's something I always admired of her with "Erotica" and "American Life", that she never abandoned those albums and kept going and trying.

[Drownedboy 1,682]

The singles promo of that era was disastrous from the moment she canceled the american life video and release two great singles at the same time (nothing fails and love profussion) and nothing fails without a video, when they were not playing her anymore. Two amazing and very commercial songs flopping big time. It´s a shame cause great potential was there and overall she tried big with the promo of this one.

[LongIslandTea 1,593]

4 hours ago, Prayer said:

The album had lots of singles for a "flop" album. That's something I always admired of her with "Erotica" and "American Life", that she never abandoned those albums and kept going and trying.

Not to forget she had also released 3 albums full of half baked filler songs in the past decade and yet she keeps going and trying.

[subversive 1,105]

Maybe It was a cliffhanger. I remember that period with a lot of rumours, different tracklists, and eeleases dates. It was a disaster. Maybe they planned to realease 4-5 singles and finally they have to release 3, american life, hollywood and at the same nothing fail/love profusion/nobody knows me. It was a ver confusing time. In addition, the rumour about the 20th annyversary box that never happen. Then we got remixed and revisited, rhe book nobody knows me and the 3 songs releasea in some way

[Pootz333 2,696]

This has always been an unpopular opinion, but I never thought "Nothing Fails", "Love Profusion", or really any tracks from the album had big hit potential in the US. Controversy or no controversy, she was making music that was really different from anything charting at the time. It's forever wild to me that the same  Warner Bros. who didn't want "Impressive Instant" as a single, heard the AL album, saw the video and imagery and thought..."This is a great idea!". Had she released Hard Candy during '03, instead of AL, it would be considered one of her best.

[MikeyK 690]

2 hours ago, Pootz333 said:

This has always been an unpopular opinion, but I never thought "Nothing Fails", "Love Profusion", or really any tracks from the album had big hit potential in the US. Controversy or no controversy, she was making music that was really different from anything charting at the time. It's forever wild to me that the same  Warner Bros. who didn't want "Impressive Instant" as a single, heard the AL album, saw the video and imagery and thought..."This is a great idea!". 

Agree. As bonkers as it seems I can sorta see why they went ahead w/AL as the first single. Rap/r&b/crunk had again pushed pop to the side and was dominating radio. The AL rap is ridiculous, but maybe bc it had a rap they just said, “welp let’s see what happens🤷‍♂️”.

I’ve seen people say many times over the years that Hollywood would have done better but I don’t believe it. Instead of a (small) backlash people would have just rolled their eyes and changed the channel. NF is beautiful but even that wouldn’t have got much traction as a lead single.

Honestly even Don’t Tell Me wouldn’t have done as well as it did had it not followed a massive, obvious hit like Music. What she was doing back then really was challenging for top 40. 

[Pootz333 2,696]

On 10/4/2023 at 4:35 PM, MikeyK said:

Agree. As bonkers as it seems I can sorta see why they went ahead w/AL as the first single. Rap/r&b/crunk had again pushed pop to the side and was dominating radio. The AL rap is ridiculous, but maybe bc it had a rap they just said, “welp let’s see what happens🤷‍♂️”.

I’ve seen people say many times over the years that Hollywood would have done better but I don’t believe it. Instead of a (small) backlash people would have just rolled their eyes and changed the channel. NF is beautiful but even that wouldn’t have got much traction as a lead single.

Honestly even Don’t Tell Me wouldn’t have done as well as it did had it not followed a massive, obvious hit like Music. What she was doing back then really was challenging for top 40. 

Agreed with all of this. Her looks in the Hollywood video are some of her harshest too (I personally love them). And every interview was about how being rich and famous won't bring you happiness. Americans didn't want to hear it then or now. 

[Would You Like To Try 8,355]

I will never forget US for what they did to her during this era

[madgefan 10,152]

I can't picture another pop star from back in the day or current releasing something so unpopular like American Life, flopping hard and having an epic comeback like Confessions On A Dance Floor 2 years later. Madonna can only be compared to herself 

[newguy2001 50]

On 10/4/2023 at 11:27 AM, Pootz333 said:

This has always been an unpopular opinion, but I never thought "Nothing Fails", "Love Profusion", or really any tracks from the album had big hit potential in the US. Controversy or no controversy, she was making music that was really different from anything charting at the time. It's forever wild to me that the same  Warner Bros. who didn't want "Impressive Instant" as a single, heard the AL album, saw the video and imagery and thought..."This is a great idea!". Had she released Hard Candy during '03, instead of AL, it would be considered one of her best.

Intervention and Love Profusion definitely had hit potential,  especially in the US. Maybe not huge hits but definitely top 30 and great radio fodder. Nothing Fails, as beautiful as it is, didn't have hit potential.  It's more of an album track and should've stayed as a hidden gem. It's too "serious" and "mature" for radio. The other two are more instant and "pop". And the title track should've definitely NOT been released as the lead single. If it was up to me, this would have been the singles run (considering DAD was released before): 

1. Hollywood (April 2003)

2. Nobody Knows Me (July 2003)

3. Intervention (with a slight remix, November 2003)

4. Love Profusion (February 2004)

 

Of course, the promotion and the videos would be different too. 

[Starchild 3,081]

I wouldn't change much about this project except the pulling of the original AL video (though I understand her reasoning), and releasing NF instead of LP.

 

[Curtains 13,307]

It's true that the way the singles for this era were released seemed very strange.

2003 American Life

2003 Hollywood

2003 Nobody Knows Me (promo only)

2003 Nothing Fails

2003 Love Profusion

2005 Mother and Father (promo only)

 

It's highly likely that Nobody Knows Me was actually planned to be the third official single from the album, given how many remixes were done for the song. But when the previous singles didn't chart well in the US, they went for more radio-friendly options for the next singles instead and quickly released them in order to try to have a hit as soon as possible. But this failed and is probably one of the reasons why the American Life remix album (where the Mother and Father and Easy Ride remixes were likely going to appear) was cancelled and we got the Remixed & Revisited EP instead.

Love Profusion was probably not planned as a single in the original schedule but seemed like the most radio-friendly song left to release after all the previous singles flopped.

[newguy2001 50]

16 minutes ago, Curtains said:

It's highly likely that Nobody Knows Me was actually planned to be the third official single from the album, given how many remixes were done for the song. But when the previous singles didn't chart well in the US, they went for more radio-friendly options for the next singles instead and quickly released them in order to try to have a hit as soon as possible.

As someone above said, I don't understand how the same label who refused to release "Impressive Instant" from the previous album heard the title track and said "yep, that's the one" to be the lead single! How they thought that was a good idea still blows my mind, it was just a recipe for disaster! A dull and annoying song that goes nowhere with overdone  "quack" sounds and a "rap" sung by mid 40's white woman. I sometimes believe it was Madonna being stubborn and telling her label that it will "change the world" if it's released  

[Honey Little 4,009]

I would have chosen the following singles calendar:

1. Xstatic Process 

2. I’m So Stupid 

3. Easy Ride

4. Mother and Father

5. American Life

[BoyToyMark 346]

This was my first Madonna album and I was very young at the time. In Aus, I remember the Die Another Day and American Life video being played a lot and I really liked both. Hollywood was on high rotation and I used to see it all the time. Love Profusion was played a bit too.

On radio I heard all four singles over from the end of 2002 to the end of 2003. Love Profusion I only heard a couple of times on radio though. 

Nothing Fails and Nobody Knows Me weren't really promoted in Aus. I only remember them off the album.

[Alpha 1,191]

Everything got really messy after Hollywood. IMO they waited waaaaay too long between AL and Hollywood. Once they saw AL was flopping they should've rushed it so we could've at least had Hollywood as a single in May. Allegedly she was originally going to perform NKM at the VMAs but switched it to Hollywood which was already dead at that point. Then a huge gap between Hollywood and NF. Then huge gap again until April for LP yet somehow R&R was released around NF. 

I also remember the rumor of the final single being Mother & Father then the remixes started playing on radio then nothing happened. Once RIT was announced there was then a rumor Easy Ride was going to be the final single then nothing. I think by the time summer 2003 people in america didnt even remember there was a Madonna album out. She totally focused on the children's book and people were so cynical and started labeling her as an old lady and saying they wished the old Madonna was back that she was so quiet and uptight.

[Drownedboy 1,682]

2 hours ago, Alpha said:

Everything got really messy after Hollywood. IMO they waited waaaaay too long between AL and Hollywood. Once they saw AL was flopping they should've rushed it so we could've at least had Hollywood as a single in May. Allegedly she was originally going to perform NKM at the VMAs but switched it to Hollywood which was already dead at that point. Then a huge gap between Hollywood and NF. Then huge gap again until April for LP yet somehow R&R was released around NF. 

I also remember the rumor of the final single being Mother & Father then the remixes started playing on radio then nothing happened. Once RIT was announced there was then a rumor Easy Ride was going to be the final single then nothing. I think by the time summer 2003 people in america didnt even remember there was a Madonna album out. She totally focused on the children's book and people were so cynical and started labeling her as an old lady and saying they wished the old Madonna was back that she was so quiet and uptight.

Since I follor her summer 99, there only two albums that I feel were well promoted and not a mess in the singles and videoclips department were ROL and COADF. The rest a total mess, from Music till Madame x. Lots of wasted good chances and bad options.

[Cyberraga 663]

On 10/6/2023 at 2:28 PM, Would You Like To Try said:

I will never forget US for what they did to her during this era

Americans - the upset children. 

[newguy2001 50]

4 hours ago, Alpha said:

Everything got really messy after Hollywood. IMO they waited waaaaay too long between AL and Hollywood. Once they saw AL was flopping they should've rushed it so we could've at least had Hollywood as a single in May. Allegedly she was originally going to perform NKM at the VMAs but switched it to Hollywood which was already dead at that point.

If this was the case, AL should never have been the lead single. Hollywood would have been the lead instead.  Then NKM as the 2nd single released during the summer for VMA's. Why did her label think it was a good idea to release AL??? I bet it was Madonna tho who wanted it released. 

[Prayer 14,419]

19 minutes ago, newguy2001 said:

Why did her label think it was a good idea to release AL??? I bet it was Madonna tho who wanted it released. 

It's easy to say in retrospective cause we know what ended up happening, but "Die Another Day" had been another big hit all over the world for her just months earlier and it had been on that same electro vein that "American Life" also had (and "Music" before). So it was quite a conservative-don't rock the boat decision, really. Yes, it had the rap, but other than that it was simply an evolution of the same Mirwais sound she had started three years before.

The video was the problem.

Honestly I can't see any other better lead single on that album. Some people said "Nothing Fails" was the one, but I don't agree, launching the album with a ballad... I can't see it. And "Hollywood", while I love it as the second single, doesn't scream lead single material to me.