Posted on 05/01/2008
Throughout a 25-year career, ten studio albums, and seven massive world tours, Madonna was the trendsetter who defined popular music and dance music aesthetics, paving the way, for better or for worse, for the Britneys of the world. But on her eleventh opus, Madonna decides to step down as the female MJ and plays submissive to the two of the hip-hop world’s best pop producers: Timbaland and Pharrell Williams. The result, Hard Candy, is a bit difficult to swallow because Madonna sounds uncomfortable throughout.

Madonna, the newest member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, has always known how to pen a good dance song but has always lacked substance. Even the slight political and religious references found in the past are absent on Hard Candy, with song lyrics and themes ranging from borderline acceptable to painful. The best examples are the awful “Spanish Lesson,” where she painfully sings in bad Spanish over hokey Latin guitar work and Casio trumpets, and the corny “Candy Shop,” a topic 50 Cent covered two years ago.

Luckily, Madonna’s charisma manages to carry her, despite her newfound dependence on outside help. This is most notable on “4 Minutes,” where Justin Timberlake’s vocals and a subpar synth-brass extravaganza from Timbaland and Danja outshine the veteran.

In general, Timbaland phones in his work, rehashing some of his best work, with mediocre results: the country guitar and beatbox simplicity of the silly “Miles Away” recalls Bubba Sparxxx’s “Deliverance,” while “Devil Wouldn’t Recognize You” is musically and thematically an inferior rehash of Timberlake’s “Cry Me A River” and “What Goes Around.”

Despite Timbaland’s underperformance, his work manages to work well for Madonna. Even though she’s using Hard Candy’s producers as a crutch to garner contemporary mainstream success, they’re the best fit for her considering the influence ‘80s dance music and electropop have on their beats. Pharrell, in particular, shines with some of his most musical and layered work yet.

The highlight is easily the retro-flavored “Beat Goes On,” in which Pharrel’s synth-and-bells disco tune and Kanye West’s cocky rap provide an interesting take on mid-‘80s Madonna. Otherwise, Hard Candy is Timbaland and Pharrell’s best take on vintage Madonna, which will prove its worth in the club setting. Just make sure not to pay too much attention to Madonna herself.

-Adrian Ruhi