Madonna
American Life

THE REVIEW

Four years have passed, but I remember everything as if it were last night!

Magazines, television, internet, the whole media world was abuzz with controversy over Madonna's anti-Bush video. The video was for "American Life" and featured a military-style Madonna having fun preaching against the war, dancing among female soldiers, and finally throwing a bomb-shaped lighter at George Bush, oh my, what a scandal! (but what scandal!!), when I think of the "Madonna" brand more than the word "art" what comes to mind is the word "Marketing Genius". Our Ciccone has never had great artistic gifts, mediocre singer and good dancer but nothing more! The genius of this showwoman has been surrounding herself with geniuses of the show business and always being ahead, launching trends, catchphrases, crazes... Madonna puts on cross earrings? Tomorrow everyone with cross earrings! She dresses like a Buddhist nun? Tomorrow everyone dresses like a nun! She is a freaking trendsetter of fashion and cultural phenomena! In this respect, one must absolutely acknowledge her merit! But... artistically... well... things are quite different:

"American Life" has all those flaws that marked the third phase of the pop star's career. Wrong musicians, electronic music, and vocoder-distorted voice! Things I adore but... that are not part of Madonna's world! That is... I don't mind the electronic element in one of her songs... but when it gets too much, it starts to annoy! American Life made headlines for the excessive use of electronics; the album currently on the market is a re-recorded version! The first studio version made such excessive use of distorted computer sound effects that the album was practically unlistenable!! So good old Ciccone had to re-record the album... the current result is that the product still clashes a bit for the slightly out-of-place electronic use. Indeed, annoying are songs like "Nobody Knows Me", "I'm So Stupid", Madonna's robotic voice in the long run really gets on your nerves! The only beautiful electronic song that managed to excite me was "Mother And Father" where thanks to the computer our Madonna churned out her little girly voice again like in "Like a Virgin", lovely minimalist Nintendo 8-bit styled sounds, not bad lyrics and the final sound part is really well done.

11 tracks that try to appeal to the new generation, some beautiful at first but have lost their polish over time (songs destined not to remain), I would still like to open a parenthesis on two really successful episodes, the wonderful "Nothing Fails" that, without exaggeration, represents perhaps one of the most beautiful musical moments of Madonna's entire career! With those Country Pop sonorities, that light guitar, the beautiful voice of the singer, for once not computer-modified, the splendid choral interlude and the grand finale, I really want to say it... "Nothing Fails" is a masterpiece of pop! The only one on the album worthy of Madonna's name. I think Madonna should dedicate herself to more instrumental and melodic tracks like this one, which yes... contains electronic elements but are fused in a homogeneous way with the played instrumental part, really the top. Also, the beautiful "Easy Ride" particularly involved me due to its fusion of sounds... again we have a played beginning and a purely electronic end... this is the Ciccone I prefer. Also noteworthy is "Intervention", relaxing and well sung. Three well-done songs and a few catchy dance rhythms ("Hollywood") are not enough to earn this record a high score.

American Life is a too mechanical and cold album! Madonna lives in pop's Olympus as a queen but... for artistic reasons she will never be able to wear the crown of geniuses like Prince and Michael Jackson (and here now a new polemic will ignite between Ciccone, Jackson, and Prince's fans? Come on guys... I hope not!)

Unfortunately, this record has already been forgotten! But if the songs are forgotten... the performer is not forgotten who... even at 75 will continue to produce successful commercial albums and videos (except perhaps this one, which SOLD ONLY four million copies! ONLY!)! Madonna is a business machine that will never stop! The only one who in this respect... beats everyone!!!!!