Madonna
American Life

THE REVIEW

I wanted to start with this CD... not because it's spectacular, not because I particularly like it, but simply because I was amazed that no one had reviewed it.

I can't hide my passion for Madonna, for her innovations, for the fact that she is an artist full of ideas, who often contradicts herself, who often does very silly things and who is often even irritating, but honestly, that's what makes her beautiful... because she's not perfect and because she often and willingly questions herself.
This American Life is nothing exceptional, nothing to do with Ray Of Light and even less with Bedtime Stories, which has a class enviable to anyone... maybe also because you can feel the influence of producers like Nellee Hooper or even Björk, my first true musical idol... but going back to this CD... Madonna wants to surprise, but in this case, she doesn't really succeed, she blends the harder electronics of Mother And Father with the simpler acoustics of Xstatic Process, personally the only song that really moves me.

Still, Madonna delivers a good product, good arrangements, and electronics that are as always cutting-edge... but I get the feeling she always has the same things to say, family, contrasts with God... and some political hints.

Musically, no song manages to particularly stand out (apart from Xstatic Process) all leave a bit of a bitter taste, because it all seems too precise, unlike the mistakes of the early CDs, the emotional outbursts of Like A Prayer, or the sublime temptations of the albums from the early '90s.
Madonna needs to rediscover that genius that she is rightly perhaps losing; I hope not because I remain and will always remain a big fan of hers...