The last time that audiences heard from Madonna, it was for the breakthrough album “Ray of Light.” The 1998 album became one of her most acclaimed albums since “Like a Prayer” and confirmed that she was going to enter the next decade (and millennium) with newfound respect from her critics. After all, she had sung two Oscar-winning songs and managed to evade a previous image as a promiscuous girl in favor of someone more talented. Her experience on Evita (1996) made her voice sound fuller, and the years were piling up since her last tour. There was so much pressure on her 2000 album “Music” to be another phenomenon that, in some ways, was the victory lap that was long overdue.
There were a handful of reasons that “Ray of Light” wasn’t met with another tour. Much like “Bedtime Stories” before, her acting career had gotten in the way. Production on The Next Best Thing (2000) had gotten in the way. While she had recorded the song “Beautiful Stranger” for Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999), she hadn’t released any significant new music at that time. The Next Best Thing would also feature a cover of Don McLean’s “American Pie” that was met with divisiveness, turning the acoustic standard into a dance club track that took out most of the emotion.
That, and she was pregnant with Rocco, her first child with filmmaker Guy Ritchie. Considering that it helped to center her on “Ray of Light,” many presumed that she would be able to use that centered energy for a follow-up. For “Music,” she worked with British and French producers who were big into the dance scene. She worked with Mirwais Ahmadzai because she liked how his music was using pitch-shifting. She wanted to have a more experimental sound. She was looking at the recent crop of young pop stars like Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera and wanted to find ways to be definitive, to stand out. As a result, she decided to make something edgier, weirder, and overall more satisfying as a genuine dance record.
Unlike most of her other albums, Madonna couldn’t recall what the mood was while making the record. She was having too much fun. Everything was much more focused, even if it was borrowing from everything including electronica and house to rock music and even country. When asked why she reinvented herself as a cowgirl, she explained that it was evident on the album and how it was the new frontier. She wanted to make an album that had distinguished futurism to it while having its roots in something more classical. The results were blurred so perfectly that at times there are country guitars remixed in a glitchy way. It was supposed to symbolize how the 21st century was a technological era and that it was more symbolic of where everything was heading. Even then, she recalled inspiration from the likes of Judy Garland and Edith Piaf, showing how diverse her collection went.
When promoting the first single, “Music,” she even released audio about it to create some excitement:
"Hey Mr. DJ, put a record on... Hi, it's Madonna. You've probably been hearing about my new record, Music, for a while. Well, I just wanted to make sure you knew that the single is gonna drop very soon. I worked on it with a French guy named Mirwais, and he is the shit. The album will be released worldwide on September 19, and I hope you like my music."
There were some issues with the release of the song. A demo mix was prematurely released on Napster, causing controversy for the unauthorized song. Even with this issue, the song became a hit when officially released, becoming her latest number one song. She became the first woman since The Supremes to have the fifth most number-ones on the charts with 12 to date. Many critics have gone so far as to argue that it’s one of her best and most significant singles in her entire career.
The rest of the album was no slouch in the quality department. Pound for pound, it is her catchiest, most melodic album in almost a decade. The way that songs like “Impressive Instant” and “Runaway Lover” operate creates a production that is rich with texture and atmosphere, featuring audio glitching, acting like technical difficulties. This is especially effective in “Don’t Tell Me,” her other big hit from this album that finds a guitar riff slowly becoming more distorted as she sings an otherwise conventional pop song. It eventually hails into a more dance-driven vibe that defines the whole album. What’s more impressive is that even in this dance-heavy album, Madonna evokes so much emotion that works to add depth and soul to the album.
One of the most interesting aspects of the album was the music videos. Given that Madonna claimed that she loved to work with weirdos, it made sense that she would want to work with Sacha Baron Cohen. Their paths would overlap several times throughout the success of “Music,” but began with her watching his Christmas special Ali G Innit as his comedic gangster alter ego. She loved him so much that she encouraged her staff to watch his work in order to understand what she wanted to do with his cameo. If it didn’t work out, they were going to use Chris Rock. Luckily, they got it.
One of the cruxes of the music video was that she was heavily pregnant during this time and they wanted to hide it. As a result, they played against gender stereotypes by having her be immobile for most of the video, having characters come to her as a figure of power. It was comedic, and she hid underneath her cowgirl outfit. While not quite her most iconic video, the look would become one of her most recognizable reinventions. The next time that Cohen would cross paths with her would be at the MTV European Video Music Awards where she introduced her as “Maradona,” in reference to Diego Maradona, a football manager.
While not part of the album officially, “American Pie” was included in various editions as a bonus track. Whereas the other 10 songs are largely revered, this song’s reputation hadn’t grown in the months since its release. If you had to ask Madonna how she felt about it, she claims that an executive twisted her arm to put it on, and she regretfully did so.
Everything was coming up Madonna, and it was proven by the success of “Music.” Over the course of its first 10 days, the album internationally sold four million copies. It became the biggest seller in Warner Bros. Records’ history. The reviews were positive and it became her first number one album in some countries since “Like a Prayer” 11 years prior. Given that she would go on to have five Grammy Award nominations, she was bound for a pop music dominance unlike any other. Given that she was an elder statesman at this point, it was all the more incredible how relevant she was. She was still dancing on top of cars during awards shows and doing everything to celebrate her music.
One of the more amusing side stories of this album release was how it overlapped with Ritchie’s own career. The “Music” release party would feature a party that included more than a dozen strippers (in keeping with the music video) and her wearing shirts referencing various other popstars. There were also a few that said “Snatch Coming Soon” in reference to Ritchie’s own film Snatch (2000). Ironically, the filmmaker would be kept out of a V.I.P. party and reportedly got into a fight with the security guard because of it.
He would go on to direct the music video for her song “What It Feels Like to Be a Girl,” which was considered notorious for its use of violent imagery in the video. As a result, it was only allowed to be played during certain hours. All of these years later, and Madonna was still courting controversy nonstop.
Then there was The Drowned World Tour. Whereas it’s guaranteed that any Madonna tour would produce major success, there was something special about this one. For starters, it was her first tour in eight years, since The Girlie World Show. She had totally changed as an artist since that era, and one had to wonder what Madonna as a performer could possibly produce in this age, especially following three highly successful albums in “Bedtime Stories,” “Ray of Light,” and now “Music.” She was at the top of her career yet again, and audiences were ready for a good time.
The show combined a variety of themes, including segments that were designed for punk, geisha, Latin, and ghetto. She would focus on music from her last two albums especially, bringing attention to her growth as an artist. The results were pretty sweet, as the tour earned $75 million and became the highest-grossing concert tour of a solo artist in 2001. She proved that she could still draw a crowd internationally, even if some criticized her cowgirl image as being reflective of white culture’s dominance over music. Still, some things about the show were changed following the September 11, 2001 attacks, making certain aspects of her show seem insensitive otherwise.
When considering that Madonna was on the verge of being in retrograde over the past decade, she had ended on a high note and started the next with another rallying cry of hope. It was an album that ranked among Rolling Stone’s 500 Best Albums of All Time. She was proving that music could be just as invigorating no matter the age, able to compete with stars who likely grew up admiring her. She was still vital, pushing boundaries in ways that were organic and not drawn solely for attention. To be honest, “Music” is a great album because it’s one of the times where she’s not hopping on trends specifically, but trying to find something more authentic inside of it.
Even if she still had (at least) 20 years of a career after this, “Music” feels like her last moment when she was a total success. It’s true that later albums would find her having hits and reinventing herself even further, but she was never the same after this. Her career would keep moving, but she could slide by on being Madonna the icon, whose glory days were behind her. She was still able to push boundaries, but it’s doubtful that it has the same impact that it once did. Her music still was good, but was it her best?
This would be most indicative of her next album. Not satisfied to stay complacent or long, she reinvented herself yet again. In the light of 9/11, she wanted to make a political album. It was one that many still consider a low point in her career, finding her trend-hopping not as essential as it once was. The glory days of “Music” were quickly shut down with the release of “American Life.” It was her biggest flop since “Erotica.” Even then, it’s not even as artistically interesting or accomplished, making it more of a confusing headache in the grand scheme of things.
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