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‘Hard Candy’ Turns 10: A Look Back at Madge’s Midlife Meditation


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Madonna’s ‘Hard Candy’ Turns 10: A Look Back at Madge’s Midlife Meditation

By MICHELE YEO. 19 Apr 2018 9:00 AM

http://etcanada.com/photos/318737/madonnas-hard-candy-turns-10-a-look-back-at-madges-midlife-meditation/

Hard Candy, Madonna’s 11th studio album and her final under her longtime contract with Warner Brothers, celebrates its 10th anniversary April 19. The record marks her first collaboration with several superstar producers and preceded a major change in the pop star’s personal life. To commemorate the milestone, here’s a look back at the album Rolling Stone called her “midlife meditation.”

 

https://goo.gl/images/GQvEo6

  • This Wasn't The Original Album Cover

  • 'Hard Candy' was Madonna's first album since 2005's massively successful 'Confessions on a Dance Floor'. The album cover features the pop star in front of a peppermint swirl, clad in a championship belt ready to fight, playing off the dichotomy of being both sweet and strong. The cover was a collaboration with photographer (and frequent collaborator) Steven Klein but it wasn't the first choice. Madonna told Rolling Stone in 2009, "I did a photoshoot with Steven Klein for my last album cover, and I painted my face black, except for red lips and white eyes. It was a play on words. Have you ever heard of the Black Madonna? It has layers of meaning and for a minute, I thought it would be a fun title for my record. Then I thought, 'Twenty-five per cent of the world might get this, probably less, it's not worth it.' It happens all the time, because my references are usually off the Richter scale." Madonna credits longtime manager Guy Oseary with talking her out of the original album cover and honestly, good call, Guy.

  • Madonna At A Milestone

    Just as Madonna's pivotal album 'Ray of Light' was released the same year as she turned 40, 'Hard Candy' was released four months before Madge marked another major milestone -- turning 50 -- which means, as hard as it is to believe, Her Madgesty turns 60 this year.

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  • Madonna Still On Top

    Much ink and cyber space have been devoted to debating the relevancy of Madonna and in 2008, with the pop star approaching her 50th birthday, her relevancy and place in the ever-changing pop culture landscape was up for debate once again. But, as she's known to do, Madonna proved her critics wrong with "Hard Candy" debuting at number one on the Billboard album charts not only in the United States and Canada but in 20 other countries as well.

  • The Album Was Released Just Months Before Her Marriage Fell Apart

    Six months after 'Hard Candy' dropped, Madonna and Guy Ritchie announced they were ending their almost-eight-year marriage. Speculation swirled about the reasons behind the split, but it seems distance doesn't always make the heart grow fonder according to to the "Hard Candy" track, 'Miles Away' which features lyrics like, "you always have the biggest heart when we're six thousand miles apart" and "uncomfortable silence can be so loud. Those three words are never enough when it's long distance love."

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  • Teaming Up With Timberland

    Madonna collaborated heavily with British producer Stuart Price on her previous effort, 'Confessions on a Dance Floor' but when it came to finding producers for 'Hard Candy' Madonna looked to her home and native land, teaming up with Timberland on five tracks.

 

  • She Got JT To Drop Trou

    One of Madonna's Timberland-produced tracks was the dance floor-thumping '4 Minutes,' her duet with frequent Timberland collaborator, Justin Timberlake, who also co-produced 'Hard Candy." And when the pop powerhouses were in studio together the material girl convinced the former Mickey Mouse Club member to drop his pants. As JT recalled during his 2008 speech inducting Madonna into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, he showed up to studio one day feeling under the weather and Madonna offered him a B-12 shot - but not in his arm. "She looks at me with that face," he recalled, "and she says to me, 'drop 'em' I don't know what you say to that so I immediately dropped my pants."

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  • Pharrell Made Her Cry

    Another American super producer with whom Madonna collabed on "Hard Candy" is Pharrell Williams who also appears on the track, 'Give It 2 Me.' While the song is one of the standouts on the album but it didn't come without blood, sweat, and literal tears. Madonna says the Neptunes member reduced her to tears during one of their sessions recalling, "Pharrell made me cry," adding, "You know when you get angry with someone and you're spitting snot. I was in a sensitive mood in the studio and I didn't understand the rhythm he wanted me to sing in, and he was giving me a hard time. I was taken back by how he was talking to me." Pharrell later admitted to the row, saying, “We went upstairs and had our little battle. It was cool and we hugged it out.”

    The two quickly put their differences behind them and focused on making music together. He even joined her on a few stops on her Sticky and Sweet tour supporting the album so no hard (candy) feelings.

 

  • Material Girl Meets The Louis Vuitton Don

    'Hard Candy' marked Madonna's first collaborations with a number of superstars, including Kanye West, who appeared on the track, "Beat Goes On". Apparently the two titans got on well as she later enlisted Yeezy as a producer on her 2015 album, "Rebel Heart." In addition a massive list of hits, Kanye and Madonna also share, how do we put this diplomatically.... healthy egos, but sounds like the duo worked well together with Her Madgesty later boldly declaring "Kanye is the new Madonna. Kanye is the black Madonna." Watch the throne, indeed.

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  • The Supporting Tour Smashed Records

    To support 'Hard Candy' Madonna set out on the 'Sticky and Sweet' concert tour in August of 2008. It would become not only her most successful tour, but the most successful concert tour ever by a solo artist, pulling in more than $400 million during its 80-plus stops around the globe. The tour broke Madonna's own record set previously by her 'Confessions' tour. Bruce Springsteen later broke Madge's record with his 'Wrecking Ball' and 'High Hopes' tours only to have Madonna snatch the title back with her 'Rebel Heart' tour in 2015/2016.

 

  • It Inspired A Fitness Club Franchise

    Among many things, something Madonna is famous for is her rock hard physique and tireless dedication to working on her fitness. So it made sense when, in 2010, Madonna and manager Guy Oseary opened the first of what would be several Hard Candy fitness club in Mexico City. Since then the clubs have popped up in places like Russia, Australia, Germany, Italy, and, for a brief time, Canada. The Toronto location opened to much fanfare in 2014 only to be shuttered two years later and reopened under a different name and with no association to Madonna.

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23 minutes ago, wtg1987 said:

Its all been downhill since this album

giphy.gif

well, u r entitled to YOUR opinion.

In MY opinion, Hard Candy has some really great tunes like 4 Minutes, Give It 2 Me, Heartbeat, Miles Away, She's Not Me, Beat Goes On, Devil or Voices.

But i guess it's hard to live up to the expectations of some nostalgic fans... Sue me.

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That's the problem ? there's nothing really nostalgic about this period ? the image was desperate - she just broke up from Guy, she was working with people pretty much everyone else had already worked with- the S&S tour(Most of it was cringe - rock version of Hung up, humping the stage during ITG and Heartbeat) to me the only good songs from this era were devil(loved the S&S version- simple, beautiful and tasteful), miles away(catchy), dance tonight plus i love the outtake songs(latte, across the sky) way more than most of the album - Incredible(Her worst song ever !) - but like you say its my opinion - if people love it then im happy for them - plus this marked her worst collaboration(Kevin Antunes as MD for her tours) awful director - im sorry - i miss Stuart Price :((

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"The Image was desperate"?  Hmm? To me, Madonna was being Madonna. While this isn't necessarily my favorite album, I do feel this is a solid album. It's actually the last album she's done that is pretty cohesive.  Her next two albums were all over the place.  I'm not saying that is necessarily a bad thing, but HARD CANDY was pretty solid in my eyes. 

So maybe she jumped on the bandwagon a bit too late with Timbaland and Timberlake.  Though, one of my most favorite songs come from their collaboration: "Devil...", and it seems most Madonna fans love this song equally.   Furthermore and interestingly enough, she seemed to be ahead of the curve when it came to the Pharell tracks as he had a resurgence sometime after their work on HARD CANDY.  Those sounds were very popular a couple of years later.

Sticky and Sweet Tour was phenomenal.  It was a highly energetic affair with a lot of variety in the tour.  I thought the performance for "Vogue" was the best she ever had done for that song, aside to the first time she performed it on BAT.  I thought it was pretty bad ass and the "4 Minutes" inclusion was pretty genius. The whole Latin section was pretty damn cool, especially "La Isla Bonita".  Again, one of my most favorite performances of that song. I also thought the whole jumping rope during Into The Groove was fantastic.  Who does that at 50 years old?  She was pretty fierce on that tour.  It's no wonder it became her biggest grossing tour. 

I will agree the album cover is tacky, but we all know that wasn't the original concept.  I'm not sure why she let people talk her out of all the "Give It 2 Me"/Boxing concept.  I know they were avoiding confusion in using that title or "Candy Shop", due to the titles were used for other artists at the time, but I don't think it would have mattered. 

But it was what it was, and I think while the album didn't soar, the era did with the tour and with the lead single being quite popular.  But at this point, I already knew that if Madonna wasn't going to be tied to another popular/younger act, mainstream radio, etc., they wouldn't give her the time of day.   We saw that with her singles with CONFESSIONS... especially in the U.S. 

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3 hours ago, wtg1987 said:

Mmmm............. Its all been downhill since this album, sorry M - one of her worst albums and defo her worst album cover too 

I wouldn't say that it was downhill from this album as both MDNA and RH are slightly better than this, but not much better. But yeah, Hard Candy was a low point in her creativity. Horrid album, horrid over-production, and ugly cover. She has done a lot better

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I’ve always said I never liked the album. But the truth is is didn’t like the ERA, or her image. I wasn’t digging it. Truth be told I really REALLY like a lot of the songs on the album. If I never hear Candy Shop again I’d be okay... but there are other fantastic stand outs on there that I absolutely enjoy. It’s those songs I guess that make this album a stand out. Can’t believe it’s been 10 years...

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18 hours ago, wtg1987 said:

That's the problem ? there's nothing really nostalgic about this period ? the image was desperate - she just broke up from Guy, she was working with people pretty much everyone else had already worked with- the S&S tour(Most of it was cringe - rock version of Hung up, humping the stage during ITG and Heartbeat) to me the only good songs from this era were devil(loved the S&S version- simple, beautiful and tasteful), miles away(catchy), dance tonight plus i love the outtake songs(latte, across the sky) way more than most of the album - Incredible(Her worst song ever !) - but like you say its my opinion - if people love it then im happy for them - plus this marked her worst collaboration(Kevin Antunes as MD for her tours) awful director - im sorry - i miss Stuart Price :((

Couldnt agree more.  Mostly weak album but what pisses me off is that horrible tour.  Its always quoted as her highest grossing tour bla bla,

1 - it was a stadium tour  

2 - it was a long running tour

3 - she charges an arm and a leg

None of the above reasons make a show good.  Horrible outfits, horrible screen imagery, the tacky hair and outfits AND the musical direction - what a dissapointment and very obvious change from Stuart doing her tours.

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Love ‘Devil Wouldn’t Recognize You’ aka ‘Cry Me a River’-Madonna Remix, and I also love ‘Voices’, but the rest is just okay. I don’t hate the album, but the quality of the final product was not really what I had been expecting from those collaborations, especially with Timbaland. Don’t really get the hype for ‘Candy Shop’ (though it makes me smile when she refers to Turkish delight) and I wish ‘Across the Sky’ was also included. Still, I listen to it every now and then.

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6 hours ago, Turuncan said:

Love ‘Devil Wouldn’t Recognize You’ aka ‘Cry Me a River’-Madonna Remix, and I also love ‘Voices’, but the rest is just okay. I don’t hate the album, but the quality of the final product was not really what I had been expecting from those collaborations, especially with Timbaland. Don’t really get the hype for ‘Candy Shop’ (though it makes me smile when she refers to Turkish delight) and I wish ‘Across the Sky’ was also included. Still, I listen to it every now and then.

What "Hype"?  Most fans do not like the song.  I never was a big fan of the song, but I must say, I love the RHT version. 

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18 minutes ago, Andymad said:

OK that new baseline in the RHT version made it killer

Yeah. You're so right.  And I remember when I first heard she was going to bring back the song on tour, I was a bit disappointed because "yes", I would like to see other older songs get some justice on stage.  But ended up being one of the best versions she's ever did on tour. 

I also see it this way.  Madonna is no longer able to get huge hits which in turn could turn into "classics".   So now it's up to Madonna to pick and choose her favorites from these last several albums to be staple songs in the future.  I get that some hate the song.  But to me, it's something pretty trivial at this point being her albums aren't producing top 10 hits anymore. 

In the end, she's had nearly 30 years of huge hits, and she'll always have that catalog to pick from. For the most part, she does still perform a lot of those big classic hits, but she's always been about performing her newer stuff, so I will always think Madonna will choose her newer songs (especially from the current album) to perform over some of her older hits.  When I think of Madonna staple songs she should always perform, it's "Holiday", "Like A Virgin", "Like A Prayer", and "Ray of Light".  Sure there are others, but these are her most universal recognized hits.  So I'll expect one or two of them always to be on tour.

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27 minutes ago, Turuncan said:

I heard many who do. Besides, Madonna herself has included the song in every one of her tours since its release.

Of course, many do.  But not to some large degree that there's much "hype" behind it. I think the inclusion of it in the last tour gave some a new found respect for it.  That said; it's only been three tours.  She may perform it again; she may not, but she's performed "Holiday", and "La Isla Bonita" nearly every tour since the songs release.  I don't see any difference.  "Candy Shop" is obviously a favorite of hers.  I think we can allow a few of her favorites when in the grand scheme of things she still performs a lot of her classics. That said, she can't perform every song we all like.  Sure, she can mix it up from tour to tour (which she pretty much does), but for the most part she still has to perform some of those classics that the general public and fans are wanting to hear over and over. And I'm betting if she really had it her own way, she would just perform pretty much her newer songs only if she knew she could get away with it.  But she doesn't.  She knows she needs to throw in some of the classics to keep people coming to her shows.

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16 minutes ago, Liam said:

Of course, many do.  But not to some large degree that there's much "hype" behind it. I think the inclusion of it in the last tour gave some a new found respect for it.  That said; it's only been three tours.  She may perform it again; she may not, but she's performed "Holiday", and "La Isla Bonita" nearly every tour since the songs release.  I don't see any difference.  "Candy Shop" is obviously a favorite of hers.  I think we can allow a few of her favorites when in the grand scheme of things she still performs a lot of her classics. That said, she can't perform every song we all like.  Sure, she can mix it up from tour to tour (which she pretty much does), but for the most part she still has to perform some of those classics that the general public and fans are wanting to hear over and over. And I'm betting if she really had it her own way, she would just perform pretty much her newer songs only if she knew she could get away with it.  But she doesn't.  She knows she needs to throw in some of the classics to keep people coming to her shows.

Then you may use another term for it, I prefer to see it as a hype, so much for an album track. Comparing the inclusion of this song to that of mega hits just proves my point I’d say. Besides, it has been performed on three tours, shocker, the exact number of the tours she went on since 2008. Well, I also said the same thing. 

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21 minutes ago, Turuncan said:

 

Then you may use another term for it, I prefer to see it as a hype, so much for an album track. Comparing the inclusion of this song to that of mega hits just proves my point I’d say. Besides, it has been performed on three tours, shocker, the exact number of the tours she went on since 2008. Well, I also said the same thing. 

I don't know anyone else who has claim the song has had much "hype".  I just see it as a song Madonna really loves.  It's no secret she wanted it to be a single.  And I'm not really comparing it to the "mega hits", I'm just saying Madonna has the luxury now to pick certain songs from her recent catalog to become staple songs since she no longer doesn't have Hit songs anymore. 

And so what, it was performed on "three tours".   It's not the first time she's performed album songs on more than one tour. One who hates "Like A Virgin" (the song) could say the same regarding it being toured 4 times in a row.  But of course, that is a "hit song", but my point is one could say the "hype" behind that song is a bit much and that could be true since it was a very successful song that had a lot of hype behind it.

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