Casual Candy

Still on the flow of her previous album, I'll spill some confessions about Madonna's new album. Confession #1: I was prone to hate Hard Candy since the start. Yes, that's awful – but as Hip Hop isn't my cup of tea, I decided in advance that bitch it was my job. Confession #2: but in the end, I didn't see why.

I'm a Madge fan for some years now, but I'm not fated to love everything she does. Hard Candy, for instance, has a flaw that should never be on a Madonna work: the lack of Madonna. The Pop Music G-d has always worked with underground producers; obviously she never [re]invented wheels with each project, but the fact that she was releasing that producer would unconciously give a Madonna soul to the whole thing.

For “Candy” she chose The Neptunes, Timbaland and colaborations by Justin Timberlake and Kanye West. All these guys are ultra-mega hyped and have egos as big as hers. So, when you listen to “Candy” you see more Timbal and Pharrell working, than Madonna. Sometimes, it sounds like she's throwing the Rihanna/Beyoncé/Fergie, when SHE is the inventor of those Pop-whores.

However, when you stop to think about these pseudo-intelecutal stuffs, the album is filled with "masterpieces of the beats". “Candy Shop” is a delicious opening, with a Missy Elliott-worthy sass. And while some songs like Give It 2 Me and Dance 2night are those which will boil the dancefloors around the world, there are pearls like Heartbeat and Miles Away, that are sung with a verve that wasn't expected from the almost-50 lady in such a "colde" moment of her career.

My favorite aspect of the songs are the twists. On most of them are moments that everything changes, and you have a new song into the same track. The best one in that matter is, deffinitely, Incredible. The song sheds opinions, but it's the one which best defines the album. Just like "Incredible", Hard Candy has breathtaking moments - like a wild sex night (“sex with you is incredible!”), but with someone that after the orgasm gets up and leaves... not with someone you longtime know. But, as she says on the best track of the album, Beat Goes On: “I'm not telling you something new/There ain't no time to lose/It's time for you to celebrate."

[Song: Incredible - Madonna]