Even I didn't predict this one. I guessed that she would have two solid weeks of sales before starting to slide. I was wrong.

Billboard magazine:
Last week's No. 1 cd,"American Life" (Maverick/Warner Bros.),tumbled to No. 8 as sales of the album slid 62%.

That's what happens when you have a sucky album and a crappy first single.

Raven said:

Kind of upsetting becuase I think the album is good. Even if this album sells under a million, I still don't predict the end of Madonna. She might just suprise us and put out a really commerical album. Bring back Stephen Bray and Patrick Leonard!

I don't think AL is the worst single ever but it doesn't scream hit. Add to that the controversal video. The song begged to be banned from radio, which seems to be plyaing the hello out of "When I'm Gone", a pro-war song (IMO) that is like 6 months old. And they say there isn't a right wing conspriracy! I don't see anyone re questing 3 Doors Down. So why is pop radio playing it?

I also don't think "Hollywood" is a good choice for the second single. If she were smart, she'd release "Nohting Fails" now. It's rumoured to be the 3rd single and may save the album but how many radio stations are going to embrace your 3rd single if the first was a flop? The AL remixes are really good though. Its kind of suprising that the singloe didn't sell that well either (from what I read).

download the American Life remix by Paul Oakenfold-

that track is K I C K I N !! I can't enough of that mix

Sucky leadoff single = bad record sales. Bring on "Hollywood."

Moonbeam said:

But that sucks too!

You know what? I really don't think that this is gonna be one of Madonna's biggest selling albums.The music on this CD is decidedly non-commercial,except for maybe a few songs ("Love Profusion" and "Hollywood").The song lyrics are all deeply personal and most tracks don't have a catchy melody or hook.But that's okay with me.I think the album is brilliant and I would rather that Maddy make the music that *SHE* wants to make,instead of hiring all the "hot" producers and making commercial crap.


As TRON correctly pointed out on another thread,Madonna hasn't really been in "commercial" mode for several years now.She's more interested in experimenting and trying new things.Besides,she has had trememdous success in the past.Every album can't be a blockbuster.Like she says on the title track..."I tried to stay on top,I tried to stay ahead".Clearly,that's not necessarily her goal these days.


And,oddly enough,the album seems to be doing well OUTSIDE the US.It is Number One for the second week in these countries: Sweden,Germany,Canada,Belgium,Austrai and several other countries.In the U.K.,it slips down to Number Three.



[This message was edited Thu May 8 5:58:03 PDT 2003 by DavidEye]

DavidEye said:

Nicely put! The only thing that worries me is that the "failure" of this album might mean we don't get many singles, which will be a disappointment. I was really disappointed with only 3 from "Music" and think this album should get at least 4. If it sells no more copies but has 3 more singles, I'll be happy, but I kind of think subsequent single releases will be dependent on album sales.

Moonbeam said:

Yeah,I see what you mean.We all know that "Hollywood" is the next single,and Madonna herself has hinted that "Nothing Fails" will be the third single.As for 'Music',I was kinda pissed when Maddy ruined the third single ("What It Feels Like For A Girl") by doing that violent video.That song could have been a SMASH hit,it's a powerful song! Considering what happened with the "American Life" single and video,you have to wonder,is Madonna trying to deliberately sabotage her singles?...lol...is there a pattern here?

I'm gonna post this review of the CD from the Boston Phoenix.Out of all the reviews I've read,I think this one perfectly sums up how I feel.It's not entirely positive,the writer (Sean Richardson) has a few problems with the album,but his views are very interesting.Check it out...


"LIVING ANOTHER DAY: ON AMERICAN LIFE,MADONNA CONTINUES TO DO IT" (BOSTON PHOENIX,MAY 6,2003)

BY Sean Richardson



When it comes to promoting a new Madonna album,MTV has never been shy.So it was no surprise when the folks at the network rolled out the red carpet last week to celebrate the release of 'American Life' (Maverick/Warner Bros.),the ninth studio album by the brash superstar who 20 years ago helped put them on the map.They declared last Tuesday "Madonna day",during which they aired an exhaustive music-video retrospective of the star as well as a live performance from MTV's NYC studios.They're playing her new "American Life" video,which was rumored to be controversial until it was edited at the last second "out of sensitivity and respect to the armed forces",and for good measure they've also been airing the video for "Do It With Madonna",the novelty hit by Australian modern-rock upstarts the Androids.But they saved their most progressive marketing strategy for mtv.com,where they began streaming the entire disc free of charge a week before it came out.



It takes a special entertainer to justify that kind of fanfare---and on 'American Life',Madonna once again delivers.Teaming up with producer Mirwais Ahmadzai,who also worked on her previous album,'Music'(Maverick/Warner Bros),she thrusts her body and soul onto the dance floor with typical sass.Her singing is bold and unaffected,and her favorite new toy,the guitar,weaves comfortably in and out of the song's minimalist grooves."American life/I live the American dream/You are the best thing I've seen/You are not just a dream",she sings on the title track,coffeehouse guitar moving to the foreground as the producer's cheery glitch recedes.If anyone lives the American dream,it's Madonna---and if it tool moving to England to make that dream come true,who are we to argue?

With her second husband,filmmaker Guy Ritchie,Madonna may finally have found happiness,but "American Life" makes it clear that getting to that point was no walk in the park."Do I have to change my name/Will it get me far/Should I lose some weight/Am I gonna be a star?" she asks,confronting the fundamental quandaries of show biz over a wacky synth line."Ah,fuck it", she responds,then busts into a hilarious rap about the trappings of celebrity that touches on a couple of her favorite topics,sex and religion."I'm just living out the American dream/And I just realized that nothing is what it seems" she concludes,letting Ahmadzai have the last word with the track's smooth electro fade.



'American Life' is the third phase of Madonna's recent creative comeback,the seeds of which were sown with her Golden Globe-winning performance in the 1996 film 'Evita'.The dance mix of "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" had once again made her a hot property in clubs around the world,and the singing lessons she took while preparing for the role left her voice stronger than ever.On her next album,'Ray Of Light' (Maverick/Warner Bros),she enlisted seminal techno producer William Orbit and made some of the club-friendliest music of her career.The hard-hitting title track boasted an especially powerful vocal performance,and she ended up with her bestselling album of the 1990s and several Grammys.



Orbit and Ahmadzai split production duties on 'Music',which charged out of the gate even harder than its predecessor.Having explored her fascination with Eastern mysticism on 'Ray Of Light',Madonna returned to the disco escapism of her youth on the feverish smash "Music",which said it all in its opening lines: "Hey Mr.DJ,put a record on/I wanna dance with my baby".The album's second biggest hit,"Don't Tell Me",was adapted from a composition by roots-rock maverick Joe Henry (Madonna's brother-in-law);it set a jumbled guitar sample to a pensive trip-hop beat.Released at the peak of the 2000 teen-pop explosion,the disc beat Britney,Justin, and the rest of the dance-pop youth at their own game.



Things have changed on the pop charts since then;in the past two years,Madonna-sanctioned junior divas Britney and Kylie have released brilliant disco-flavored albums of their own to disapointing sales numbers.As for Madonna herself,last year she endured an all-too-familiar professional misstep: the embarassing commercial and critical failure of the film 'Swept Away',which she starred in under the watch of her otherwise successful director husband.She rebounded by performing the hit title track to the James Bond movie 'Die Another Day',her third recent soundtrack success (the other two were "American Pie" and "Beautiful Stranger").But she still seems likely to face an uphill battle on radio and at retail.

Last year wasn't the first time Madonna upstaged one of her own silver-screen roles with a soundtrack hit ;she's been doing that ever since 1987,when 'Who's That Girl' came out.Still,she refuses to use the film industry as a scapegoat on "Hollywood",which,coming after the title track on 'American Life',paints another ambivalent portrait of the American dream."There's something in the air in Hollywood/I tried to leave it but I never could",she sings,slyly acknowledging her checkered past as an actress.Ahmadzai cranks the guitar and ups the tempo,but for a Madonna dance track,it's strangely subdued.



Same goes for the album as a whole: the beats are decidely glitzy,but THE CHORUSES ARE AS UNDERSTATED AS THE MELODIES ARE BROODING.The opening guitar hook on "I'm So Stupid" sounds like a Keith Richards tribute,and give or take the song's playful electronic rhythm track,it wouldn't be out of place on an Aimee Mann album.THOSE COMPARISONS AREN'T AS FRIVOLOUS AS THEY SOUND: MUCH OF 'AMERICAN LIFE' IS DEFIANTLY UNCOMMERCIAL,AND IT ONLY MAKES SENSE THAT MADONNA IS GRAVITATING TOWARD SINGER-SONGWRITER MODE AS SHE APPROACHES 45.There's less of us and more of her on this disc---the sexy adrenaline rush that kicked off 'Music' has been replaced by a mood of jittery self-reflcetion.



The dance-pop highlight is "Nobody Knows Me",the closest thing here to a mainstream club anthem."I don't want no lies/I don't watch TV/I don't waste my time/Won't read a magazine",she rants,her umpteenth indictment of tabloid culture sounding downright giddy atop Ahmadzai's aural ecstasy.She leaves her guitar at home this time,and the song's indignant tension keeps building until the singer stops to give her baby a surprise wink during the chorus: "Nobody knows me/Like you know me".On "Nothing Fails",she gives him the whole song,equating romantic love with spiritual deliverance as a gospel choir joins her for a moving homage to her own "Like A Prayer": "I'm not religious/But I feel such love/Makes me want to pray".For a recovering Catholic,the girl's got a hell of a Pentecostal streak.



God and family have been two of Madonna's favorite themes since,uh,"Papa Don't Preach"---and given their prominent roles in 'American Life',it's no surprise that they account for some of the most compelling moments here."Jesus Christ,will you look at me/Don't know who I'm supposed to be" she sings on the solemn "X-Static Process",blurring the line between the sacred and the profane as craftily as ever.With nothing but a simple fingerstyle-guitar accompaniment to fall back on,she gives a haunting vocal performance that cuts through the darkness.



On the disco-funk workout "Mother and Father",she comes to terms with the death of her mother for the first time in song: "I gotta give it up/Find someone to love me/I gotta give it up/Find someone that I can care for".Halfway through,she launches into a nursery-rhyme breakdown that would be even goofier than the rap on the title track if not for the grave subject matter: "My mother died when I was five/And all I did was sit and cry".Using cheesy dance-pop vernacular to deal with such a serious topic is something Madonna has excelled at for years---this is the most ambitious cut on the disc,and also one of the most memorable.

My only problem with 'American Life' is that she overdoes it on the urbane folk hop she perfected on "Don't Tell Me".Sure,it was cool to see her sling a Les Paul around her neck on her most recent US tour,but the guitars on this album too often signify murky love songs."And I know that love will take us away from here",she sings on "Intervention",a blue-sky reverie with too little spring in it's step.She says she wants a celebration on "Love Profusion",but the song fails to deliver more than a couple of fancy words and a tepid house groove.



Still,there's plenty for dance-floor escapists to celebrate,including the survivalist anthem "Die Another Day",which is making it's first appearance on a Madonna album after climbing the charts last winter.With it's deep bass trmors and a foreboding string accompaniment that could have been lifted from an imaginary nightmare remix of "Papa Don't Preach",the song is at once challenging and infectious.Twenty years after 'Like A Virgin',the same could be said of Madonna's musical legacy.

DavidEye said:

Thing is, American Life isn't really trying new things.
I've finally heard the album and even though I think it's okay it's basically Music part II.

Cloudbuster said:

In my opinion,I don't think "Mother And Father","Die Another Day","Easy Ride" and "X-Static Process" sound like anything she's ever done.It's hard to be totally "unique" these days,but Madonna at least tries.Which is more than can be said for many other pop icons (not mentioning names).



[This message was edited Thu May 8 6:32:20 PDT 2003 by DavidEye]

a while back on another thread i said that i didn't think this cd would sell well...that it would be another bedtime stories (which did poorly in the states). unfortunately that was before i heard the entire disc. i think it's a shame that one of madonna's best disc's (yup, i said it!) is getting ignored. no, it is not commercial...was ray of light? ray of light was a tremendous leap for her and it paid off. i just think peeps are getting tired of this sound from madonna. i like it...hell, it's better than music! maybe a tour would help boost sales and some new videos (quickly, madonna, quickly!). who knows...maybe there will be some kind of mad press tour and surprise appearances and sales will climb again...you can never tell with this woman. i just hope that this is not the fading of another great popstar in order to make room for the newbies.