Listening to the title track of Madonna’s 2003 album ‘American Life’ fifteen years after its debut, I still get goosebumps. It’s just as jarring, seering, and provocative as it was when it first premiered, and perhaps even more resonant when one thinks of our country’s state today. Madonna couldn’t have known (could she?) what we were in store for, but the album’s political concerns with consumerism, selfishness, and work ethic holds up even better all these years later. On April 21, 2003, it suffered under the post 9/11 nationalism that spawned one of the worst thought-out wars in our history, but in retrospect Madonna gets the last laugh.
While a fan favorite and semi-critical-darling, the album was widely viewed as disappointing, certainly by Madonna standards, and the absence of a hot lead single (ignoring the soundtrack-throwaway ‘Die Another Day’) did nothing to help that. In a way, this perceived ‘failure’ would lead to even greater things, such as the ‘Confessions on a Dancefloor’ album. But that’s to ignore the intrinsic charms of ‘American Life’ on its own, and its merits are as magnificent as they are mixed.
Back then, the world felt in peril. Our innocence had been robbed. Madonna offered criticism, commentary, and a voice of reflection backed by folk electronica. The juxtaposition of simple folk melodies with the modern electronic flourishes, along with some of Madonna’s most distorted vocal effects combined for a sonic landscape unlike any she’d ever conjured, even in the ‘Music’ album.
‘American Life’ Tracklisting:
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American Life
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Hollywood
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I’m So Stupid
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Love Profusion
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Nobody Knows Me
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Nothing Fails
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Intervention
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X-static Process
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Mother and Father
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Die Another Day
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Easy Ride
Instagram rumor has it that Madonna is once again working with her ‘American Life’ producer Mirwais on her upcoming album. While I enjoy what they have already accomplished together, I do like when she branches out. Still, perhaps returning to this well is a good thing. As she sings in ‘Easy Ride‘, life goes round and round just like a circle…
