Madonna – American Life
Then A heavy-handed, “wake up sheeple!” political awakening
Now A brilliantly odd peek behind fame’s velvet rope
Madonna’s ninth album, a dissection of the American dream in light of 9/11 and the buildup to the Iraq war, was hard to love upon its 2003 release. The title track and lead single was hampered by that rap, in which coffee enemas mingled with shoutouts to her Mini Cooper. But beneath the “money and fame don’t make you happy, guys” sloganeering, American Life offers us a tantalising glimpse at the “real”, unadorned Madonna. The gospel-tinged Nothing Fails and the guitar-led Intervention are glorious, unabashed love songs, while the bonkers Mother and Father lays her childhood trauma bare over splintering electro-pop. Her best album? Maybe.
Michael Cragg
Full article at The Guardian
