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Willgregg10
Finally beginning to warm up to this album. Absolutely love the fusion of genres as always. The outlook on life she has taken on this album is so relatable and has aged gracefully.
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poly-chronic
one of her best and her most underrated album. America wasn't ready for this, truly ahead of its time
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britney2007
american life was about disillusionment. about finally obtaining everything that’s presented in (the american) life as the complete package: love, fame, money, family, success. and despite having it all, still being unhappy and unfulfilled. and the inevitable introspection and ego death a person has to go through in order to grasp what really is important to them in life. and coming from madonna, creamy smooth pop icon goddess and the absolute embodiment of the american dream, there was something almost punk rock about it all.
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britney2007
conceptually set against the backdrop of what america and pop culture looked at the time, it’s no wonder why the album stood out so jarringly: we were fresh out into a post 9/11 world, with the western world entrenched in a controversial war and patriotism running high as a result. the archetype of a pop star was being rewritten before our eyes. britney and christina were at their full peak of blockbuster success post transitioning from teen idols into fully commercialized sexually charged pop stars. beyonce had just dropped her solo debut album and 50 cent’s get rich or die tryin had the world in chokehold. reality tv was starting to get it’s roots permeated into the collective media consuming culture with paris hilton effectly morphing the famous for being famous concept before our eyes. tmz and the peak of fame obsessed tabloid culture was only a few years away.
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britney2007
then you had the biggest female pop star the world had ever seen release the first single of her upcoming album. the once and forever branded material girl high off of a critically lauded and commercially successful comeback making music about how the superficiality of modern life and materialism after all really didn’t bring her any closer to true happiness. all of this orchestrated over sparse cold artificial electro-clash synths and blips set against the skeletal warmth of the acoustic guitars carefully sequenced and compressed underneath. seemingly playing into the artificial folk singer/songwriter role she reinvented herself into for the promo art of this new era, a mixture of the infamous picture of patty hearst and the iconic portrait of che guevara morphed into the perfect pop art visual of a commercialized rebel, branding the symbol of a revolutionist into a product.
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britney2007
the first taste of an album named and based conceptually on the american life, recorded while living in england and produced by a french man. backed by a controversial anti-war music video that later had to be pulled due to the political climate of the time. in a way american life was never destined to work for 2003 and yet it was the perfect mirror for the time. the self reflective questions asked about materialism, the disillusionment of the american life and it’s linear path towards fulfillment, and the rise of trivial fame were all precursors for discourse that is more prevalent today. HAPPY 20TH!
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levitheeleo
So many moments on this album prove that she truly is one of the only artists in the list of 'highest selling artists of all time' that take actual risks. Not just a sound pivot, or style switch-up but an actual bold statement that they knew could potentially alienate people from liking them. It's why she's the most important pop artist to me because she's had the exposure to actually challenge the casual top 40 music listener.
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maxcahlesi
graças a deus deu tempo dela ainda estar na ativa e usar esse álbum na Madame X tour em um momento onde as pessoas ENTENDAM ele, com toda a luta por direitos e ativismo atual. É isso que eu chamo de um álbum estar a frente do seu tempo
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maxcahlesi
O estilo de arte desse álbum (capa/encarte) é uma das coisas mais simples e ao mesmo tempo lindas que eu já vi
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achocholko
I never get the hate for this album. I wish Madonna was still making music like this despite the fact that I think this album is still quite clunky in places; a lot of the lyrics and the production seem a bit harsh, but it somehow adds to the overall aesthetic of the work. Obviously it's a real marker in time due to the Iraq war and the divisive state of the Western mindset post 9/11, but one thing this album really does well is mirror war and destruction as this internal conflict and battle within oneself. Madonna bared herself more openly on this album than any other, with all the trappings and selfishness of fame that come with that. I remember buying this the day it came out in the UK and getting the free poster that came with it at HMV. Still, for a superstar to make an album like this with virtually no hooks or hit singles on it was more daring than anything that any pop star is doing today in 2021.
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TyDy94
How is it not? Most if not all of the work Madonna did with Mirwais are similar tropes to hyperpop. Heavy vocoder and autotune, lots of synths that are often shifted, bended and twisted to the point that it sounds robotic and industrial, pitch shifted vocals, stop start "glitch-like" editing etc etc. I'm not saying that this IS hyperpop. But it has elements in it that undoubtedly influenced hyperpop artists.
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