Saturday, February 11, 2012

Madonna: Give Me All Your Luvin

The hype was palpable, leading up to Superbowl this year. (The fact that I'm not American and yet can use the term Superbowl halftime show with ease should tell you something.) Madonna. New single. Old classics. Nicki Minaj. MIA. Even LMFAO.

And the hype didn't stop after the performance was done. Between MIA's middle finger, Madonna's eye-shadow and lips being smeared with grounded gold, and God know's what else, this performance - and, conveniently, the single - will be in the news for a while to come.

My verdict on the single:
I've heard better.


Maybe it's the fact that when Madonna performed it, it was part of a medley of her other great hits, and in comparison to Vogue and Like A Prayer, it sounded plastic, synthetic and factory-hashed.
(You can watch the Superbowl Halftime performance on YouTube here.)

Maybe it's the fact that Madonna spends the whole time in the music video trying to act like she's 22 instead 53, and the whole I'm-53-but-I've-got-a-killer-body trick is getting a little old. Or even the fact that compared to her, Nikki Minaj looked and sounded fresh and contemporary.
(You can check out the video on YouTube here.)


Maybe it's just that the song is too pop-esque (in all the wrong ways) for my taste, and I don't hear anything original in it, not even Madonna's style of singing.

Sum total: I'm not a fan.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure the song will be a tremendous commercial success. I'm sure that the more it's piped on the radio, the more it'll get stuck in people's heads and I too will find myself humming it while loathing myself. And I can guarantee that most people I express this opinion to will think me stupid: It's the new Madonna single, man!

But it's not a good song.
It's factory-produced pop at its worst, and it will only sell because Madonna's singing it.

It's not that I have a Madonna bias. I like her, and I'd recommend a lot of her music (Ray of Light was interesting, Music was fun and Confessions on a Dancefloor was killer). Nor am I pop-hater - some of my favourite music in the world is pop. But even the mighty screw up sometimes - look no further than Hard Candy, Madge's forgettable attempt to inroad into hip-hop). And from the looks of it, MDNA isn't looking much brighter.

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