steady75

In the end you can not make something go viral, it happens organically or not (and "Bye Bye Bye" is the clear winner in this race).
BUT you can have everything ready to help maximize the impact as much as you can. And Team M didn't do that or did it late:
- Merging the two main versions on Spotify.
- Having an upscaled HD 1080p video on YouTube. The "Like A Prayer" video has only grown around 3M in these three weeks since the movie release, meaning it literally has no replay value at all for Marvel fans checking it out - I would also never go back to it with that 480p old quality, honestly. It's 2024.
- Having the movie versions EP released three weeks ago, not now.
- Resetting the UK charts thing for it to chart higher - I can't believe Team Madonna paid Forbes to have a note on a #95 chart re-entry.
But what's done is done. She can enjoy the money from the sync license I guess. The rest has been messy and shown there are not really any up to date music/digital marketing people around her.

I think the long and short of it is Like A Prayer is not having the desired uplift many would want to make it a viral hit. It’s doing better on ITunes than anywhere which we all know is minimal sales. 
luckily she got 3 million for its use (the 30 has got to be a typo.)

Going back to the American Life discussion just because @steady75 was so sweet to share their thoughts about the whole era and the album itself. I never thought about how she had poured out so much negativity and rage towards the lyrics. I mean, yeah, she was upset about politics and that was the main theme during the album release, but I never really applied it to the whole tracklist.
My guess is since Evita Madonna had started experiencing a new hunger for attention. People were seeing her under a positive light instead of tossing her aside as a has-been-grandma, and everyone started acknowledging how poised, serious, religious and intellectual she looked and sounded. That's why during ROL she was annoyingly trashing her past-self and old songs, as if she was just saying what everybody wanted to hear.
And then she married an intellectual, moved to England and more and more people and the press got interested in what this "new Madonna", who was so spiritual and eager to change the world, had to say. The Bush-9/11 incident basically came at the perfect time for her to develop this hyperfocus and be really vocal about something specific and universal, so she tailored the whole album based on this rebellious persona and that's the anti-Madonna era we ended up getting.
I personally have a special place in my heart for AL because it was the first M era I followed as a fan, but it's not amongst my favorites and the way @steady75 described it made perfect sense to me. It's not bad, but it's not the Madonna I wanna listen to when I feel like listening to Madonna.

Why do I think American Life is the Anti - Madonna album?
While I've grown to love the record I think it's a really hard album to digest. The music is spiky uninviting and aggressive. In your face. There's something quite punk about it. It lacks a certain musicality the same way punk music did.  It's her least melodic record for sure but as well as this the album lacks harmonies which I think is intentional as maybe Madonna felt she had none in her life at the time. Go listen again you'll be shocked how little there is even on choruses. There's a couple in the acoustic bit of the title track and Intervention. 
Instead of using traditional harmonies on most tracks, they opt for a quite aggressive double track lead vocal scenario. When you think of harmonising to any song on the album it's hard to think of any natural fits. Even on the acoustic ballad X-Static process. The few selected harmonies are presented almost like other thoughts she is having, happening at the same time as the main melody, rather than an actual harmony. They aren't synced and in one verse all the harmonies even waltz off into different lyrics, making it sound confused or distracted "i'm not myself myself right now"
I say it's the anti Madonna album because here was always a warmth to Madonnas music where it felt like there was a more positive resolution to the songs or record. American Life is so icy and cold and that's seemingly on purpose. It's a pure midlife crisis album and a major turning point in Madonnas career. She's miserable and in some cases moaning on pretty much every track. There's a sadness and bitterness about everything and the listen leaves you a bit depressed rather than uplifted or emboldened. I have always suspected that much of the album was driven by Madonna potentially miscarrying a child around that time, or being unsuccessful at conceiving again ? I don't know if this is true but she clearly wanted more children after Rocco, and David came very quickly afterwards,
There's lots of doom mongering negative language. Nothing Fails, Die / I'm So Stupid / Intervention / Nobody Knows Me / Easy Ride. The miserablism of the title track and Hollywood. There is so much confusion. There was a time I was happy in my life, Do You Think I'm Satisfied, I forgot that I was special too, 
There are so many questions in the lyrics or lines that hedge bets and leave room for failure or the inevitability of pain or loss or failure
Should I lose some weight? Do you think I'm satisfied? This type of modern life, is it for me? This time it's got to be good How could it hurt you when it looks so good? Oh, mother why aren't you here with me? I guess I'll die another day? Jesus Christ will you look at me? Don't know who I am , Don't really know if I should give a damn I'm gonna wake up, yes and no I want to let go of all disappointment, that's waiting for me The use of the word Don't & No. No-body, no-thing, lost and life / living happens often enough. Fear makes a few appearances or is at least a theme.
"Dont want my dreams adding up to nothing" "I lost my memory in hollywood" "And I know, I know, There is nothing to fear".. (the second "I know" almost trying to convince herself) "I lost my reputation bad and good" "I have lost my illusions" "When I get lost in space" "Nothing fails, no more fears" I've climbed the tree of life" "Nobody knows me" I'm just living out the American Dream, and I just realized that nothing is what it seems "I used to live in a funny dream" "I've had so many lives" "I've got to calm him down now, I've got to save his life" "cause I used to live in a tiny bubble" Now I'm gonna try to improve my life" "No ones telling you how to live your life" "say hello to your life now you are living" "Nobody else could ever take the place of you" "What I want is to live forever"  
Mother & Father is talking about the loss of her mother AND as a result of her mother dying she lost her father too. Intervention is about losing herself and sense of identity. Even the love song Nothing Fails is a double negative In its wording. "Makes me wanna pray you'll always be here" gives a sense of foreboding...Something doomed perhaps. The album is her most self reflective and self critical. 
The self reference with the use of the word "I" is phenomenal. Just look at the lyrics. American Life. Nobody Knows Me and Die Another Day pretty much start every line with I. The amount of songs that begin with I. If not the verse the chorus. 
Verse:
I Tried To Be A Boy I Lost My Memory In Hollywood I'm So Stupid I've Had So Many Lives I'm In Love With You You Silly Thing I Got To Save My Baby I'm Not Myself When You're Around I'm Gonna Wake Up Yes And No I Want The Good Life Chorus
I go round and round just like a circle I got to give it up find someone to love me I guess I'll Die Another Day and I know that Love will keep us together I got you under my skin and if it's not "I" it's "Me"
Lots of use of the word "don't" too, another negative phrase.
I don't want, no lies I don't watch TV Dont want my dreams adding up to nothing Don't know who I'm supposed to be Don't really know if I should give a damn Push the button, Don't push the button Don't try to tempt me I dont want an easy ride When you're around I don't know who I am I'm not myself and I don't know how Even the tracks that didn't make the album offer the same similarities as the above tracks
It's So Cool:
Do you realize you pay the price? Do you know the cost of all your vice? Do you really know God's intention? Do you ever ask what it's all for? Isn't this the best thing you ever had? Set The Right:
Don't push me to the left Don't push me to the right I have learned Nothing is for free gather top your dreams just to stay alive Many examples of duality of things. There's also lots of questioning, both sides of the argument, second guessing and evaluation. Analyse this indeed.
Push the button, don't push the button.  I tried to be a boy, I tried to be a girl I tried to be a mess, I tried to be the best I'm not a Christian, I'm not A Jew I've had a million visions bad & good I'm bored with the concept of wright & wrong How can it hurt you when it looks so good adding up to nothing There are too many options, there is no one solution Sometimes it's such a pleasure, sometimes I want to tear it all down I always wish that I could find someone as talented as you, but in the process I forget that I was special too nobody else could ever take the place of you, nobody else could ever hurt me like you did I'm gonna wake up, yes and no I want the good life, but I don't want an easy ride  
Some of these examples hold better than others but my point is it illustrates a picture of negativity. Which Madonna has never been about. She and her music have represented positivity, control, ambition, empowerment, life affirming and inspirational messages. This whole record is none of that. If anything is looking at the dark underbelly or drivers of the positive things in her life through the lens of fear and questions of self worth.
It's also the first time she ever refers to herself as a victim in Mother & Father
"I made a vow that I would never need
Another person ever
Turned my heart into a cage
A victim of a kind of rage"
This is unprecedented and a real insight in the mindset of her as a child and beyond. Madonna would never wish to be seen or to present herself as a victim. In fact for all the comparisons to Marilyn Monroe Madonna was once quoted as saying. 
"Marilyn Monroe was a victim; I’m not" or something to that effect.
 
In summary: If the "absolutely no regrets" //door slam// was the sound of Madonna 1.0 slamming the door (or coffin lid) and walking away from the fearless, bolshy incarnation of herself and first decade of her career (83-93), before her introspective decade (94-04), then American Life is the sound of Madonna exhuming the coffin, looking at the corpse of her former self and having a good think about why she did what she did, where it's bought her, why the fuck she did what she did, and what's next.
American Life is Madonna falling out of the centre of the whirlwind of her career, sitting in the quiet eye of the storm and looking at the madness she has created around her. She's going to war with herself, maybe she's tired of her self. (Army fatigues anyone?). Deconstructing, analysing herself, her past, her present and what she wants her future to look like, and she sits mustering the strength to throw herself back into the whirlwind again, but first  deciding if she even really wants to...but she will, and she does because she doesn't want an Easy Ride.  
Interestingly Easy Ride is the song that closes the album after she decided she'll Die Another Day. A joyless, droll, glitchy funeral march of a song. The sound of a never ending round and round of Madonna's Catholic guilt driving her to keep lashing her own back with a cat'o'nine tails. The female embodiment of Flagellant monk forming mortification of the flesh by whipping their own skin with instruments of penance. Fascinating really. I think she left a lot of herself behind before she jumped back into that Maelstom and for me it was the second death of the Madonna we knew and loved, submitted to record before the commercial backlash. An act of self sabotage?
It's a record that is so opposed to the Madonna brand musically and thematically. And in true ying and yang fashion it's the first album we saw her brand being exploited with the singles all being heavily corporately sponsored. Mini Cooper / Gap / Estee Lauder.
So yeah..that's why, (for me anyway)...it's the anti Madonna album.

MDNA is an album that reflects a divorced woman who has been repressed, and once she is free, she just wants to have fun, enjoy life, and release that pent-up anger, rather than becoming philosophical and deep.

Guy takes over and suddenly she’s leaving Warner and Hard Candy is abandoned? Guy is also in charge of her product and the mastering, quality suddenly changed when he was in charge. It just seems too coincidental to me but maybe you are right. 
Also wasn’t he co manager with Angela Becker til 2008? As soon as he’d seen her off he negotiated Madonna away from Warner into the disastrous live nation 360 deal. Madonna intimately made the decision but you just know it was Guy in her ear suggesting it from the go and he’s have been the one to make her jump. 

Of course everything comes down to her in the end, but manager's work is also convincing the artist why doing something is going to be good for them - and get them to do it.
Quick silly examples: DeMann convincing her to shoot the "Love Don't Live Here Anymore" video in Buenos Aires on her only free day between filming "Evita" or Caresse Henry convincing her to do the "Will & Grace" cameo (OK she wasn't great in this but was good exposure).
The only thing Guy would try to convince her to do are NFTs.
I think she just keep him cause he gets to do the big contract negotiations and she can manage herself in everything else - just the way she likes it.
Poor "MDNA" didn't ever had a chance, she went full into rehearsals for the tour two weeks after the album release?

I personally think Beautiful Killer is over rated by the fanbase. I think it’s testament to how poor the album is in general that a mid track like Beautiful Killer gets flowers.  Zero shade to anyone who loves it, I’m all love here but I just don’t get what the song is all about. It’s superfluous to anything on that record. As is Birthday Song. What were they thinking? At least songs like Best Friend and I Fucked Up relate to the subject matter of her divorce. MDNA was such a smash and grab era. 

If MDNA's lead single had been Love Spent things would have felt so much different.
Listening to the demos its such a mix of Britney and Rihanna. 
I actually love Some Girls.
Love Spent, I'm A Sinner, Some Girls,  would have been a good singles run (possibly Falling Free / Gang Bang double A as a fourth)
With GMALY a Super Bowl exclusive. Masterpiece a standalone single for the film and those two songs included on the deluxe as a bonus. It still wouldn't make the album any better as a whole but at least the best work would have been showcased.

Somethings Coming Over Me being about Ingrid shooting her load over Mothers face was not on my Infinity Bingo Card today but here we are …

Why do I think American Life is the Anti - Madonna album?
While I've grown to love the record I think it's a really hard album to digest. The music is spiky uninviting and aggressive. In your face. There's something quite punk about it. It lacks a certain musicality the same way punk music did.  It's her least melodic record for sure but as well as this the album lacks harmonies which I think is intentional as maybe Madonna felt she had none in her life at the time. Go listen again you'll be shocked how little there is even on choruses. There's a couple in the acoustic bit of the title track and Intervention. 
Instead of using traditional harmonies on most tracks, they opt for a quite aggressive double track lead vocal scenario. When you think of harmonising to any song on the album it's hard to think of any natural fits. Even on the acoustic ballad X-Static process. The few selected harmonies are presented almost like other thoughts she is having, happening at the same time as the main melody, rather than an actual harmony. They aren't synced and in one verse all the harmonies even waltz off into different lyrics, making it sound confused or distracted "i'm not myself myself right now"
I say it's the anti Madonna album because here was always a warmth to Madonnas music where it felt like there was a more positive resolution to the songs or record. American Life is so icy and cold and that's seemingly on purpose. It's a pure midlife crisis album and a major turning point in Madonnas career. She's miserable and in some cases moaning on pretty much every track. There's a sadness and bitterness about everything and the listen leaves you a bit depressed rather than uplifted or emboldened. I have always suspected that much of the album was driven by Madonna potentially miscarrying a child around that time, or being unsuccessful at conceiving again ? I don't know if this is true but she clearly wanted more children after Rocco, and David came very quickly afterwards,
There's lots of doom mongering negative language. Nothing Fails, Die / I'm So Stupid / Intervention / Nobody Knows Me / Easy Ride. The miserablism of the title track and Hollywood. There is so much confusion. There was a time I was happy in my life, Do You Think I'm Satisfied, I forgot that I was special too, 
There are so many questions in the lyrics or lines that hedge bets and leave room for failure or the inevitability of pain or loss or failure
Should I lose some weight? Do you think I'm satisfied? This type of modern life, is it for me? This time it's got to be good How could it hurt you when it looks so good? Oh, mother why aren't you here with me? I guess I'll die another day? Jesus Christ will you look at me? Don't know who I am , Don't really know if I should give a damn I'm gonna wake up, yes and no I want to let go of all disappointment, that's waiting for me The use of the word Don't & No. No-body, no-thing, lost and life / living happens often enough. Fear makes a few appearances or is at least a theme.
"Dont want my dreams adding up to nothing" "I lost my memory in hollywood" "And I know, I know, There is nothing to fear".. (the second "I know" almost trying to convince herself) "I lost my reputation bad and good" "I have lost my illusions" "When I get lost in space" "Nothing fails, no more fears" I've climbed the tree of life" "Nobody knows me" I'm just living out the American Dream, and I just realized that nothing is what it seems "I used to live in a funny dream" "I've had so many lives" "I've got to calm him down now, I've got to save his life" "cause I used to live in a tiny bubble" Now I'm gonna try to improve my life" "No ones telling you how to live your life" "say hello to your life now you are living" "Nobody else could ever take the place of you" "What I want is to live forever"  
Mother & Father is talking about the loss of her mother AND as a result of her mother dying she lost her father too. Intervention is about losing herself and sense of identity. Even the love song Nothing Fails is a double negative In its wording. "Makes me wanna pray you'll always be here" gives a sense of foreboding...Something doomed perhaps. The album is her most self reflective and self critical. 
The self reference with the use of the word "I" is phenomenal. Just look at the lyrics. American Life. Nobody Knows Me and Die Another Day pretty much start every line with I. The amount of songs that begin with I. If not the verse the chorus. 
Verse:
I Tried To Be A Boy I Lost My Memory In Hollywood I'm So Stupid I've Had So Many Lives I'm In Love With You You Silly Thing I Got To Save My Baby I'm Not Myself When You're Around I'm Gonna Wake Up Yes And No I Want The Good Life Chorus
I go round and round just like a circle I got to give it up find someone to love me I guess I'll Die Another Day and I know that Love will keep us together I got you under my skin and if it's not "I" it's "Me"
Lots of use of the word "don't" too, another negative phrase.
I don't want, no lies I don't watch TV Dont want my dreams adding up to nothing Don't know who I'm supposed to be Don't really know if I should give a damn Push the button, Don't push the button Don't try to tempt me I dont want an easy ride When you're around I don't know who I am I'm not myself and I don't know how Even the tracks that didn't make the album offer the same similarities as the above tracks
It's So Cool:
Do you realize you pay the price? Do you know the cost of all your vice? Do you really know God's intention? Do you ever ask what it's all for? Isn't this the best thing you ever had? Set The Right:
Don't push me to the left Don't push me to the right I have learned Nothing is for free gather top your dreams just to stay alive Many examples of duality of things. There's also lots of questioning, both sides of the argument, second guessing and evaluation. Analyse this indeed.
Push the button, don't push the button.  I tried to be a boy, I tried to be a girl I tried to be a mess, I tried to be the best I'm not a Christian, I'm not A Jew I've had a million visions bad & good I'm bored with the concept of wright & wrong How can it hurt you when it looks so good adding up to nothing There are too many options, there is no one solution Sometimes it's such a pleasure, sometimes I want to tear it all down I always wish that I could find someone as talented as you, but in the process I forget that I was special too nobody else could ever take the place of you, nobody else could ever hurt me like you did I'm gonna wake up, yes and no I want the good life, but I don't want an easy ride  
Some of these examples hold better than others but my point is it illustrates a picture of negativity. Which Madonna has never been about. She and her music have represented positivity, control, ambition, empowerment, life affirming and inspirational messages. This whole record is none of that. If anything is looking at the dark underbelly or drivers of the positive things in her life through the lens of fear and questions of self worth.
It's also the first time she ever refers to herself as a victim in Mother & Father
"I made a vow that I would never need
Another person ever
Turned my heart into a cage
A victim of a kind of rage"
This is unprecedented and a real insight in the mindset of her as a child and beyond. Madonna would never wish to be seen or to present herself as a victim. In fact for all the comparisons to Marilyn Monroe Madonna was once quoted as saying. 
"Marilyn Monroe was a victim; I’m not" or something to that effect.
 
In summary: If the "absolutely no regrets" //door slam// was the sound of Madonna 1.0 slamming the door (or coffin lid) and walking away from the fearless, bolshy incarnation of herself and first decade of her career (83-93), before her introspective decade (94-04), then American Life is the sound of Madonna exhuming the coffin, looking at the corpse of her former self and having a good think about why she did what she did, where it's bought her, why the fuck she did what she did, and what's next.
American Life is Madonna falling out of the centre of the whirlwind of her career, sitting in the quiet eye of the storm and looking at the madness she has created around her. She's going to war with herself, maybe she's tired of her self. (Army fatigues anyone?). Deconstructing, analysing herself, her past, her present and what she wants her future to look like, and she sits mustering the strength to throw herself back into the whirlwind again, but first  deciding if she even really wants to...but she will, and she does because she doesn't want an Easy Ride.  
Interestingly Easy Ride is the song that closes the album after she decided she'll Die Another Day. A joyless, droll, glitchy funeral march of a song. The sound of a never ending round and round of Madonna's Catholic guilt driving her to keep lashing her own back with a cat'o'nine tails. The female embodiment of Flagellant monk forming mortification of the flesh by whipping their own skin with instruments of penance. Fascinating really. I think she left a lot of herself behind before she jumped back into that Maelstom and for me it was the second death of the Madonna we knew and loved, submitted to record before the commercial backlash. An act of self sabotage?
It's a record that is so opposed to the Madonna brand musically and thematically. And in true ying and yang fashion it's the first album we saw her brand being exploited with the singles all being heavily corporately sponsored. Mini Cooper / Gap / Estee Lauder.
So yeah..that's why, (for me anyway)...it's the anti Madonna album.

Why do I think American Life is the Anti - Madonna album?
While I've grown to love the record I think it's a really hard album to digest. The music is spiky uninviting and aggressive. In your face. There's something quite punk about it. It lacks a certain musicality the same way punk music did.  It's her least melodic record for sure but as well as this the album lacks harmonies which I think is intentional as maybe Madonna felt she had none in her life at the time. Go listen again you'll be shocked how little there is even on choruses. There's a couple in the acoustic bit of the title track and Intervention. 
Instead of using traditional harmonies on most tracks, they opt for a quite aggressive double track lead vocal scenario. When you think of harmonising to any song on the album it's hard to think of any natural fits. Even on the acoustic ballad X-Static process. The few selected harmonies are presented almost like other thoughts she is having, happening at the same time as the main melody, rather than an actual harmony. They aren't synced and in one verse all the harmonies even waltz off into different lyrics, making it sound confused or distracted "i'm not myself myself right now"
I say it's the anti Madonna album because here was always a warmth to Madonnas music where it felt like there was a more positive resolution to the songs or record. American Life is so icy and cold and that's seemingly on purpose. It's a pure midlife crisis album and a major turning point in Madonnas career. She's miserable and in some cases moaning on pretty much every track. There's a sadness and bitterness about everything and the listen leaves you a bit depressed rather than uplifted or emboldened. I have always suspected that much of the album was driven by Madonna potentially miscarrying a child around that time, or being unsuccessful at conceiving again ? I don't know if this is true but she clearly wanted more children after Rocco, and David came very quickly afterwards,
There's lots of doom mongering negative language. Nothing Fails, Die / I'm So Stupid / Intervention / Nobody Knows Me / Easy Ride. The miserablism of the title track and Hollywood. There is so much confusion. There was a time I was happy in my life, Do You Think I'm Satisfied, I forgot that I was special too, 
There are so many questions in the lyrics or lines that hedge bets and leave room for failure or the inevitability of pain or loss or failure
Should I lose some weight? Do you think I'm satisfied? This type of modern life, is it for me? This time it's got to be good How could it hurt you when it looks so good? Oh, mother why aren't you here with me? I guess I'll die another day? Jesus Christ will you look at me? Don't know who I am , Don't really know if I should give a damn I'm gonna wake up, yes and no I want to let go of all disappointment, that's waiting for me The use of the word Don't & No. No-body, no-thing, lost and life / living happens often enough. Fear makes a few appearances or is at least a theme.
"Dont want my dreams adding up to nothing" "I lost my memory in hollywood" "And I know, I know, There is nothing to fear".. (the second "I know" almost trying to convince herself) "I lost my reputation bad and good" "I have lost my illusions" "When I get lost in space" "Nothing fails, no more fears" I've climbed the tree of life" "Nobody knows me" I'm just living out the American Dream, and I just realized that nothing is what it seems "I used to live in a funny dream" "I've had so many lives" "I've got to calm him down now, I've got to save his life" "cause I used to live in a tiny bubble" Now I'm gonna try to improve my life" "No ones telling you how to live your life" "say hello to your life now you are living" "Nobody else could ever take the place of you" "What I want is to live forever"  
Mother & Father is talking about the loss of her mother AND as a result of her mother dying she lost her father too. Intervention is about losing herself and sense of identity. Even the love song Nothing Fails is a double negative In its wording. "Makes me wanna pray you'll always be here" gives a sense of foreboding...Something doomed perhaps. The album is her most self reflective and self critical. 
The self reference with the use of the word "I" is phenomenal. Just look at the lyrics. American Life. Nobody Knows Me and Die Another Day pretty much start every line with I. The amount of songs that begin with I. If not the verse the chorus. 
Verse:
I Tried To Be A Boy I Lost My Memory In Hollywood I'm So Stupid I've Had So Many Lives I'm In Love With You You Silly Thing I Got To Save My Baby I'm Not Myself When You're Around I'm Gonna Wake Up Yes And No I Want The Good Life Chorus
I go round and round just like a circle I got to give it up find someone to love me I guess I'll Die Another Day and I know that Love will keep us together I got you under my skin and if it's not "I" it's "Me"
Lots of use of the word "don't" too, another negative phrase.
I don't want, no lies I don't watch TV Dont want my dreams adding up to nothing Don't know who I'm supposed to be Don't really know if I should give a damn Push the button, Don't push the button Don't try to tempt me I dont want an easy ride When you're around I don't know who I am I'm not myself and I don't know how Even the tracks that didn't make the album offer the same similarities as the above tracks
It's So Cool:
Do you realize you pay the price? Do you know the cost of all your vice? Do you really know God's intention? Do you ever ask what it's all for? Isn't this the best thing you ever had? Set The Right:
Don't push me to the left Don't push me to the right I have learned Nothing is for free gather top your dreams just to stay alive Many examples of duality of things. There's also lots of questioning, both sides of the argument, second guessing and evaluation. Analyse this indeed.
Push the button, don't push the button.  I tried to be a boy, I tried to be a girl I tried to be a mess, I tried to be the best I'm not a Christian, I'm not A Jew I've had a million visions bad & good I'm bored with the concept of wright & wrong How can it hurt you when it looks so good adding up to nothing There are too many options, there is no one solution Sometimes it's such a pleasure, sometimes I want to tear it all down I always wish that I could find someone as talented as you, but in the process I forget that I was special too nobody else could ever take the place of you, nobody else could ever hurt me like you did I'm gonna wake up, yes and no I want the good life, but I don't want an easy ride  
Some of these examples hold better than others but my point is it illustrates a picture of negativity. Which Madonna has never been about. She and her music have represented positivity, control, ambition, empowerment, life affirming and inspirational messages. This whole record is none of that. If anything is looking at the dark underbelly or drivers of the positive things in her life through the lens of fear and questions of self worth.
It's also the first time she ever refers to herself as a victim in Mother & Father
"I made a vow that I would never need
Another person ever
Turned my heart into a cage
A victim of a kind of rage"
This is unprecedented and a real insight in the mindset of her as a child and beyond. Madonna would never wish to be seen or to present herself as a victim. In fact for all the comparisons to Marilyn Monroe Madonna was once quoted as saying. 
"Marilyn Monroe was a victim; I’m not" or something to that effect.
 
In summary: If the "absolutely no regrets" //door slam// was the sound of Madonna 1.0 slamming the door (or coffin lid) and walking away from the fearless, bolshy incarnation of herself and first decade of her career (83-93), before her introspective decade (94-04), then American Life is the sound of Madonna exhuming the coffin, looking at the corpse of her former self and having a good think about why she did what she did, where it's bought her, why the fuck she did what she did, and what's next.
American Life is Madonna falling out of the centre of the whirlwind of her career, sitting in the quiet eye of the storm and looking at the madness she has created around her. She's going to war with herself, maybe she's tired of her self. (Army fatigues anyone?). Deconstructing, analysing herself, her past, her present and what she wants her future to look like, and she sits mustering the strength to throw herself back into the whirlwind again, but first  deciding if she even really wants to...but she will, and she does because she doesn't want an Easy Ride.  
Interestingly Easy Ride is the song that closes the album after she decided she'll Die Another Day. A joyless, droll, glitchy funeral march of a song. The sound of a never ending round and round of Madonna's Catholic guilt driving her to keep lashing her own back with a cat'o'nine tails. The female embodiment of Flagellant monk forming mortification of the flesh by whipping their own skin with instruments of penance. Fascinating really. I think she left a lot of herself behind before she jumped back into that Maelstom and for me it was the second death of the Madonna we knew and loved, submitted to record before the commercial backlash. An act of self sabotage?
It's a record that is so opposed to the Madonna brand musically and thematically. And in true ying and yang fashion it's the first album we saw her brand being exploited with the singles all being heavily corporately sponsored. Mini Cooper / Gap / Estee Lauder.
So yeah..that's why, (for me anyway)...it's the anti Madonna album.

Guy got very lucky off the back of Abba and Stuart Price at the beginning of his time as M's manager. 
Confessions was brilliant and Madonna was hungry as fuck but none of the eras success is down to Guy. 
What was down to Guy is getting Madonna to move away from Warner which I think was a mistake to this day and is largely why the Confessions singles felt pretty shunted / rushed out after Hung Up. Sorry being Madonnas self proclaimed CHAV video, the monstrous artworks and videos for Get Together & Jump. The era should have been as beautifully presented as Ray Of Light for all its success but Guy obviously wasn't in there fighting hard enough. Even Music and American Life had more expensive videos. I'd say the same for the Hard Candy era which was the true beginning of the demise of her commercial career. While Gaga was DOMINATING the medium. MDNA was an absolute joke with its non traditional promo. The lack of security during the Rebel Heart era that fucked everything up and the frenetic way she was shipped about to work with people which made her loathe the process. "Yes manning" some of her most patchy work. Guy was and is about the money and not the art. He was all about getting corporate deals and quick win minimum effort cash with no real care for her career trajectory in my eyes. I genuinely think he's been absolutely dreadful for her and you can mark the downturn of her career at his arrival in the front passenger seat.  No other era has been as tumultuous and erratic in her career. Even the commercial flops and hate fuelled eras of Erotica and American Life delivered luxurious and considered campaigns. 

Madonna is a fool for not having it on the soundtrack. The algorithms it would have sparked for her and the recommendations in people’s release radar or tailored playlists would have been huge. Especially if the track was after Bye Bye Bye in the playlist. 
Another shot in the foot from her team. Incidental streams work miracles on these platforms. She’s her own worst enemy at times when she thinks she’s being a boss bitch or different. Her Middle aged stubborn streak shows no sign of letting up as she moves into her pension years. 

Somethings Coming Over Me being about Ingrid shooting her load over Mothers face was not on my Infinity Bingo Card today but here we are …

If MDNA's lead single had been Love Spent things would have felt so much different.
Listening to the demos its such a mix of Britney and Rihanna. 
I actually love Some Girls.
Love Spent, I'm A Sinner, Some Girls,  would have been a good singles run (possibly Falling Free / Gang Bang double A as a fourth)
With GMALY a Super Bowl exclusive. Masterpiece a standalone single for the film and those two songs included on the deluxe as a bonus. It still wouldn't make the album any better as a whole but at least the best work would have been showcased.

If MDNA's lead single had been Love Spent things would have felt so much different.
Listening to the demos its such a mix of Britney and Rihanna. 
I actually love Some Girls.
Love Spent, I'm A Sinner, Some Girls,  would have been a good singles run (possibly Falling Free / Gang Bang double A as a fourth)
With GMALY a Super Bowl exclusive. Masterpiece a standalone single for the film and those two songs included on the deluxe as a bonus. It still wouldn't make the album any better as a whole but at least the best work would have been showcased.

If MDNA's lead single had been Love Spent things would have felt so much different.
Listening to the demos its such a mix of Britney and Rihanna. 
I actually love Some Girls.
Love Spent, I'm A Sinner, Some Girls,  would have been a good singles run (possibly Falling Free / Gang Bang double A as a fourth)
With GMALY a Super Bowl exclusive. Masterpiece a standalone single for the film and those two songs included on the deluxe as a bonus. It still wouldn't make the album any better as a whole but at least the best work would have been showcased.

If MDNA's lead single had been Love Spent things would have felt so much different.
Listening to the demos its such a mix of Britney and Rihanna. 
I actually love Some Girls.
Love Spent, I'm A Sinner, Some Girls,  would have been a good singles run (possibly Falling Free / Gang Bang double A as a fourth)
With GMALY a Super Bowl exclusive. Masterpiece a standalone single for the film and those two songs included on the deluxe as a bonus. It still wouldn't make the album any better as a whole but at least the best work would have been showcased.

Why do I think American Life is the Anti - Madonna album?
While I've grown to love the record I think it's a really hard album to digest. The music is spiky uninviting and aggressive. In your face. There's something quite punk about it. It lacks a certain musicality the same way punk music did.  It's her least melodic record for sure but as well as this the album lacks harmonies which I think is intentional as maybe Madonna felt she had none in her life at the time. Go listen again you'll be shocked how little there is even on choruses. There's a couple in the acoustic bit of the title track and Intervention. 
Instead of using traditional harmonies on most tracks, they opt for a quite aggressive double track lead vocal scenario. When you think of harmonising to any song on the album it's hard to think of any natural fits. Even on the acoustic ballad X-Static process. The few selected harmonies are presented almost like other thoughts she is having, happening at the same time as the main melody, rather than an actual harmony. They aren't synced and in one verse all the harmonies even waltz off into different lyrics, making it sound confused or distracted "i'm not myself myself right now"
I say it's the anti Madonna album because here was always a warmth to Madonnas music where it felt like there was a more positive resolution to the songs or record. American Life is so icy and cold and that's seemingly on purpose. It's a pure midlife crisis album and a major turning point in Madonnas career. She's miserable and in some cases moaning on pretty much every track. There's a sadness and bitterness about everything and the listen leaves you a bit depressed rather than uplifted or emboldened. I have always suspected that much of the album was driven by Madonna potentially miscarrying a child around that time, or being unsuccessful at conceiving again ? I don't know if this is true but she clearly wanted more children after Rocco, and David came very quickly afterwards,
There's lots of doom mongering negative language. Nothing Fails, Die / I'm So Stupid / Intervention / Nobody Knows Me / Easy Ride. The miserablism of the title track and Hollywood. There is so much confusion. There was a time I was happy in my life, Do You Think I'm Satisfied, I forgot that I was special too, 
There are so many questions in the lyrics or lines that hedge bets and leave room for failure or the inevitability of pain or loss or failure
Should I lose some weight? Do you think I'm satisfied? This type of modern life, is it for me? This time it's got to be good How could it hurt you when it looks so good? Oh, mother why aren't you here with me? I guess I'll die another day? Jesus Christ will you look at me? Don't know who I am , Don't really know if I should give a damn I'm gonna wake up, yes and no I want to let go of all disappointment, that's waiting for me The use of the word Don't & No. No-body, no-thing, lost and life / living happens often enough. Fear makes a few appearances or is at least a theme.
"Dont want my dreams adding up to nothing" "I lost my memory in hollywood" "And I know, I know, There is nothing to fear".. (the second "I know" almost trying to convince herself) "I lost my reputation bad and good" "I have lost my illusions" "When I get lost in space" "Nothing fails, no more fears" I've climbed the tree of life" "Nobody knows me" I'm just living out the American Dream, and I just realized that nothing is what it seems "I used to live in a funny dream" "I've had so many lives" "I've got to calm him down now, I've got to save his life" "cause I used to live in a tiny bubble" Now I'm gonna try to improve my life" "No ones telling you how to live your life" "say hello to your life now you are living" "Nobody else could ever take the place of you" "What I want is to live forever"  
Mother & Father is talking about the loss of her mother AND as a result of her mother dying she lost her father too. Intervention is about losing herself and sense of identity. Even the love song Nothing Fails is a double negative In its wording. "Makes me wanna pray you'll always be here" gives a sense of foreboding...Something doomed perhaps. The album is her most self reflective and self critical. 
The self reference with the use of the word "I" is phenomenal. Just look at the lyrics. American Life. Nobody Knows Me and Die Another Day pretty much start every line with I. The amount of songs that begin with I. If not the verse the chorus. 
Verse:
I Tried To Be A Boy I Lost My Memory In Hollywood I'm So Stupid I've Had So Many Lives I'm In Love With You You Silly Thing I Got To Save My Baby I'm Not Myself When You're Around I'm Gonna Wake Up Yes And No I Want The Good Life Chorus
I go round and round just like a circle I got to give it up find someone to love me I guess I'll Die Another Day and I know that Love will keep us together I got you under my skin and if it's not "I" it's "Me"
Lots of use of the word "don't" too, another negative phrase.
I don't want, no lies I don't watch TV Dont want my dreams adding up to nothing Don't know who I'm supposed to be Don't really know if I should give a damn Push the button, Don't push the button Don't try to tempt me I dont want an easy ride When you're around I don't know who I am I'm not myself and I don't know how Even the tracks that didn't make the album offer the same similarities as the above tracks
It's So Cool:
Do you realize you pay the price? Do you know the cost of all your vice? Do you really know God's intention? Do you ever ask what it's all for? Isn't this the best thing you ever had? Set The Right:
Don't push me to the left Don't push me to the right I have learned Nothing is for free gather top your dreams just to stay alive Many examples of duality of things. There's also lots of questioning, both sides of the argument, second guessing and evaluation. Analyse this indeed.
Push the button, don't push the button.  I tried to be a boy, I tried to be a girl I tried to be a mess, I tried to be the best I'm not a Christian, I'm not A Jew I've had a million visions bad & good I'm bored with the concept of wright & wrong How can it hurt you when it looks so good adding up to nothing There are too many options, there is no one solution Sometimes it's such a pleasure, sometimes I want to tear it all down I always wish that I could find someone as talented as you, but in the process I forget that I was special too nobody else could ever take the place of you, nobody else could ever hurt me like you did I'm gonna wake up, yes and no I want the good life, but I don't want an easy ride  
Some of these examples hold better than others but my point is it illustrates a picture of negativity. Which Madonna has never been about. She and her music have represented positivity, control, ambition, empowerment, life affirming and inspirational messages. This whole record is none of that. If anything is looking at the dark underbelly or drivers of the positive things in her life through the lens of fear and questions of self worth.
It's also the first time she ever refers to herself as a victim in Mother & Father
"I made a vow that I would never need
Another person ever
Turned my heart into a cage
A victim of a kind of rage"
This is unprecedented and a real insight in the mindset of her as a child and beyond. Madonna would never wish to be seen or to present herself as a victim. In fact for all the comparisons to Marilyn Monroe Madonna was once quoted as saying. 
"Marilyn Monroe was a victim; I’m not" or something to that effect.
 
In summary: If the "absolutely no regrets" //door slam// was the sound of Madonna 1.0 slamming the door (or coffin lid) and walking away from the fearless, bolshy incarnation of herself and first decade of her career (83-93), before her introspective decade (94-04), then American Life is the sound of Madonna exhuming the coffin, looking at the corpse of her former self and having a good think about why she did what she did, where it's bought her, why the fuck she did what she did, and what's next.
American Life is Madonna falling out of the centre of the whirlwind of her career, sitting in the quiet eye of the storm and looking at the madness she has created around her. She's going to war with herself, maybe she's tired of her self. (Army fatigues anyone?). Deconstructing, analysing herself, her past, her present and what she wants her future to look like, and she sits mustering the strength to throw herself back into the whirlwind again, but first  deciding if she even really wants to...but she will, and she does because she doesn't want an Easy Ride.  
Interestingly Easy Ride is the song that closes the album after she decided she'll Die Another Day. A joyless, droll, glitchy funeral march of a song. The sound of a never ending round and round of Madonna's Catholic guilt driving her to keep lashing her own back with a cat'o'nine tails. The female embodiment of Flagellant monk forming mortification of the flesh by whipping their own skin with instruments of penance. Fascinating really. I think she left a lot of herself behind before she jumped back into that Maelstom and for me it was the second death of the Madonna we knew and loved, submitted to record before the commercial backlash. An act of self sabotage?
It's a record that is so opposed to the Madonna brand musically and thematically. And in true ying and yang fashion it's the first album we saw her brand being exploited with the singles all being heavily corporately sponsored. Mini Cooper / Gap / Estee Lauder.
So yeah..that's why, (for me anyway)...it's the anti Madonna album.

Why do I think American Life is the Anti - Madonna album?
While I've grown to love the record I think it's a really hard album to digest. The music is spiky uninviting and aggressive. In your face. There's something quite punk about it. It lacks a certain musicality the same way punk music did.  It's her least melodic record for sure but as well as this the album lacks harmonies which I think is intentional as maybe Madonna felt she had none in her life at the time. Go listen again you'll be shocked how little there is even on choruses. There's a couple in the acoustic bit of the title track and Intervention. 
Instead of using traditional harmonies on most tracks, they opt for a quite aggressive double track lead vocal scenario. When you think of harmonising to any song on the album it's hard to think of any natural fits. Even on the acoustic ballad X-Static process. The few selected harmonies are presented almost like other thoughts she is having, happening at the same time as the main melody, rather than an actual harmony. They aren't synced and in one verse all the harmonies even waltz off into different lyrics, making it sound confused or distracted "i'm not myself myself right now"
I say it's the anti Madonna album because here was always a warmth to Madonnas music where it felt like there was a more positive resolution to the songs or record. American Life is so icy and cold and that's seemingly on purpose. It's a pure midlife crisis album and a major turning point in Madonnas career. She's miserable and in some cases moaning on pretty much every track. There's a sadness and bitterness about everything and the listen leaves you a bit depressed rather than uplifted or emboldened. I have always suspected that much of the album was driven by Madonna potentially miscarrying a child around that time, or being unsuccessful at conceiving again ? I don't know if this is true but she clearly wanted more children after Rocco, and David came very quickly afterwards,
There's lots of doom mongering negative language. Nothing Fails, Die / I'm So Stupid / Intervention / Nobody Knows Me / Easy Ride. The miserablism of the title track and Hollywood. There is so much confusion. There was a time I was happy in my life, Do You Think I'm Satisfied, I forgot that I was special too, 
There are so many questions in the lyrics or lines that hedge bets and leave room for failure or the inevitability of pain or loss or failure
Should I lose some weight? Do you think I'm satisfied? This type of modern life, is it for me? This time it's got to be good How could it hurt you when it looks so good? Oh, mother why aren't you here with me? I guess I'll die another day? Jesus Christ will you look at me? Don't know who I am , Don't really know if I should give a damn I'm gonna wake up, yes and no I want to let go of all disappointment, that's waiting for me The use of the word Don't & No. No-body, no-thing, lost and life / living happens often enough. Fear makes a few appearances or is at least a theme.
"Dont want my dreams adding up to nothing" "I lost my memory in hollywood" "And I know, I know, There is nothing to fear".. (the second "I know" almost trying to convince herself) "I lost my reputation bad and good" "I have lost my illusions" "When I get lost in space" "Nothing fails, no more fears" I've climbed the tree of life" "Nobody knows me" I'm just living out the American Dream, and I just realized that nothing is what it seems "I used to live in a funny dream" "I've had so many lives" "I've got to calm him down now, I've got to save his life" "cause I used to live in a tiny bubble" Now I'm gonna try to improve my life" "No ones telling you how to live your life" "say hello to your life now you are living" "Nobody else could ever take the place of you" "What I want is to live forever"  
Mother & Father is talking about the loss of her mother AND as a result of her mother dying she lost her father too. Intervention is about losing herself and sense of identity. Even the love song Nothing Fails is a double negative In its wording. "Makes me wanna pray you'll always be here" gives a sense of foreboding...Something doomed perhaps. The album is her most self reflective and self critical. 
The self reference with the use of the word "I" is phenomenal. Just look at the lyrics. American Life. Nobody Knows Me and Die Another Day pretty much start every line with I. The amount of songs that begin with I. If not the verse the chorus. 
Verse:
I Tried To Be A Boy I Lost My Memory In Hollywood I'm So Stupid I've Had So Many Lives I'm In Love With You You Silly Thing I Got To Save My Baby I'm Not Myself When You're Around I'm Gonna Wake Up Yes And No I Want The Good Life Chorus
I go round and round just like a circle I got to give it up find someone to love me I guess I'll Die Another Day and I know that Love will keep us together I got you under my skin and if it's not "I" it's "Me"
Lots of use of the word "don't" too, another negative phrase.
I don't want, no lies I don't watch TV Dont want my dreams adding up to nothing Don't know who I'm supposed to be Don't really know if I should give a damn Push the button, Don't push the button Don't try to tempt me I dont want an easy ride When you're around I don't know who I am I'm not myself and I don't know how Even the tracks that didn't make the album offer the same similarities as the above tracks
It's So Cool:
Do you realize you pay the price? Do you know the cost of all your vice? Do you really know God's intention? Do you ever ask what it's all for? Isn't this the best thing you ever had? Set The Right:
Don't push me to the left Don't push me to the right I have learned Nothing is for free gather top your dreams just to stay alive Many examples of duality of things. There's also lots of questioning, both sides of the argument, second guessing and evaluation. Analyse this indeed.
Push the button, don't push the button.  I tried to be a boy, I tried to be a girl I tried to be a mess, I tried to be the best I'm not a Christian, I'm not A Jew I've had a million visions bad & good I'm bored with the concept of wright & wrong How can it hurt you when it looks so good adding up to nothing There are too many options, there is no one solution Sometimes it's such a pleasure, sometimes I want to tear it all down I always wish that I could find someone as talented as you, but in the process I forget that I was special too nobody else could ever take the place of you, nobody else could ever hurt me like you did I'm gonna wake up, yes and no I want the good life, but I don't want an easy ride  
Some of these examples hold better than others but my point is it illustrates a picture of negativity. Which Madonna has never been about. She and her music have represented positivity, control, ambition, empowerment, life affirming and inspirational messages. This whole record is none of that. If anything is looking at the dark underbelly or drivers of the positive things in her life through the lens of fear and questions of self worth.
It's also the first time she ever refers to herself as a victim in Mother & Father
"I made a vow that I would never need
Another person ever
Turned my heart into a cage
A victim of a kind of rage"
This is unprecedented and a real insight in the mindset of her as a child and beyond. Madonna would never wish to be seen or to present herself as a victim. In fact for all the comparisons to Marilyn Monroe Madonna was once quoted as saying. 
"Marilyn Monroe was a victim; I’m not" or something to that effect.
 
In summary: If the "absolutely no regrets" //door slam// was the sound of Madonna 1.0 slamming the door (or coffin lid) and walking away from the fearless, bolshy incarnation of herself and first decade of her career (83-93), before her introspective decade (94-04), then American Life is the sound of Madonna exhuming the coffin, looking at the corpse of her former self and having a good think about why she did what she did, where it's bought her, why the fuck she did what she did, and what's next.
American Life is Madonna falling out of the centre of the whirlwind of her career, sitting in the quiet eye of the storm and looking at the madness she has created around her. She's going to war with herself, maybe she's tired of her self. (Army fatigues anyone?). Deconstructing, analysing herself, her past, her present and what she wants her future to look like, and she sits mustering the strength to throw herself back into the whirlwind again, but first  deciding if she even really wants to...but she will, and she does because she doesn't want an Easy Ride.  
Interestingly Easy Ride is the song that closes the album after she decided she'll Die Another Day. A joyless, droll, glitchy funeral march of a song. The sound of a never ending round and round of Madonna's Catholic guilt driving her to keep lashing her own back with a cat'o'nine tails. The female embodiment of Flagellant monk forming mortification of the flesh by whipping their own skin with instruments of penance. Fascinating really. I think she left a lot of herself behind before she jumped back into that Maelstom and for me it was the second death of the Madonna we knew and loved, submitted to record before the commercial backlash. An act of self sabotage?
It's a record that is so opposed to the Madonna brand musically and thematically. And in true ying and yang fashion it's the first album we saw her brand being exploited with the singles all being heavily corporately sponsored. Mini Cooper / Gap / Estee Lauder.
So yeah..that's why, (for me anyway)...it's the anti Madonna album.

"Ive seen it once I know the cold she gives"
Live To Tell - (The Covid Remix)
 

I personally think Beautiful Killer is over rated by the fanbase. I think it’s testament to how poor the album is in general that a mid track like Beautiful Killer gets flowers.  Zero shade to anyone who loves it, I’m all love here but I just don’t get what the song is all about. It’s superfluous to anything on that record. As is Birthday Song. What were they thinking? At least songs like Best Friend and I Fucked Up relate to the subject matter of her divorce. MDNA was such a smash and grab era. 

Somethings Coming Over Me being about Ingrid shooting her load over Mothers face was not on my Infinity Bingo Card today but here we are …

@steady75 thankyou for that thoughtful and detail analysis of AL. Since its release it immediately became one of my favourite Madonna albums, one that I still love and listen to regularly to this day. I loved it because it did feel like something really different from her, but your analysis clarified a lot of the reasons I like it that I had never fully comprehended, or at least taken the time to attempt to understand why it appeals to me.