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American Life
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| American Life | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by Madonna | |||||
| Released | April 22, 2003 | ||||
| Recorded | 2002 | ||||
| Genre | Pop, electronica, rock, techno | ||||
| Length | 49:39 | ||||
| Label | Maverick, Warner Bros. | ||||
| Producer | Madonna, Mirwais Ahmadzaï, Mark "Spike" Stent | ||||
| Professional reviews | |||||
| Madonna chronology | |||||
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American Life is the ninth studio album by pop singer Madonna, released on April 22, 2003 by Maverick Records.
Contents |
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American Life is considered by some to be one of Madonna's riskiest albums both artistically and commercially. The songs featured on the album are a mix of acoustic and techno music about the singer coming to terms with her celebrity status and her own life, criticizing the illusion that fame brings and affirming that love is what really brings fulfilment. Some may call it a concept album. Mirwais Ahmadzaï produced American Life alongside Madonna.
Despite the debut single from the album - although not seen by Madonna herself as the debut - "Die Another Day" was a top ten hit, the release of the album started a commercial slump for Madonna in the United States. The album suffered commercially, in part, due to controversy over the first propper single "American Life". The anti-war content of its music video was interpreted as being unpatriotic, what made Madonna withdraw its release for American music channels. She issued a statement saying she did so because she believed it was not appropriate to air it at that time and that she did not wanted to risk offending anyone who would misinterpret its meaning. The video was, however, released in Europe and Latin America, what did not avoided its leak to the internet. Following the video controversy, the song charted at number thirty-seven on the Billboard Hot 100, a relative flop for Madonna. It was, however, very successful in countries which had opposed to the war, such as Canada (where it peaked at number-one). Its success in Europe and Latin America made the single peak at number-one on the United World Chart.
The release of the album was received by mixed reviews and the lowest sales of any Madonna album to date in both the United States and the rest of the world. American Life did, however, debuted at number-one on the Billboard 200; it was the her second consecutive number-one debut, and her fifth number-one overall in the United States. It also peaked at number-one in the United Kingdom, were it shifted 330,000 copies, and at the United World Chart, with 5 million copies shifted.[1][2] American Life may be the least sold studio album of Madonna's career in both the United States and at the rest of the world, but it was the fifth highest selling album of 2003 in the world.[citation needed]
The second single, "Hollywood", failed to chart in the Hot 100, becoming Madonna's first single in twenty years not to do so. Some claim this happened because many American radio stations refused to play Madonna because of the controversy regarding the original video of the previous single. The song was, however, a top-five hit in Argentina, Canada, Italy, United Kingdom and at the United World Chart. The next single, "Nothing Fails", also failed to chart at the United States and also, this time, at the United Kingdom. It peaked at the top-ten in Argentina, Canada, Ireland, Italy and Spain. "Love Profusion", the album's final single, peaked at the top-ten only in Canada, Greece and Italy. It missed the top-ten of the UK Singles Chart for just a position. Beside the flop of all the other singles in the United States, the promotional releases "Nobody Knows Me" and "Mother and Father" became very successful in American night clubs, peaking high at the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart, as well as the other singles.
Beside the fact that only two songs - "Die Another Day" and "American Life" - featured in American Life charted in the Hot 100 chart, the album proved to be a success on the dance charts. It is the only album in history to provide seven top-ten hits on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart.
Despite the fact that American Life posted the lowest sales of a studio album of her career, Madonna has stated that it is one of her favorite records.
| Track | Title | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "American Life" Writer(s): Madonna, Mirwais Ahmadzaï Producers: Madonna and Mirwais Ahmadzaï |
4:58 |
| 2. | "Hollywood" Writer(s): Madonna, Mirwais Ahmadzaï Producers: Madonna and Mirwais Ahmadzaï |
4:24 |
| 3. | "I'm So Stupid" Writer(s): Madonna, Mirwais Ahmadzaï Producers: Madonna and Mirwais Ahmadzaï Additional Production by Mark "Spike" Stent |
4:09 |
| 4. | "Love Profusion" Writer(s): Madonna, Mirwais Ahmadzaï Producers: Madonna and Mirwais Ahmadzaï |
3:38 |
| 5. | "Nobody Knows Me" Writer(s): Madonna, Mirwais Ahmadzaï Producers: Madonna and Mirwais Ahmadzaï |
4:39 |
| 6. | "Nothing Fails" Writer(s): Madonna, Guy Sigsworth, Jem Griffiths Producers: Madonna and Mirwais Ahmadzaï Additional Production by Mark "Spike" Stent |
4:49 |
| 7. | "Intervention" Writer(s): Madonna, Mirwais Ahmadzaï Producers: Madonna and Mirwais Ahmadzaï |
4:54 |
| 8. | "X-Static Process" Writer(s): Madonna, Stuart Price Producers: Madonna and Mirwais Ahmadzaï |
3:50 |
| 9. | "Mother and Father" Writer(s): Madonna, Mirwais Ahmadzaï Producers: Madonna and Mirwais Ahmadzaï |
4:33 |
| 10. | "Die Another Day" Writer(s): Madonna, Mirwais Ahmadzaï Producers: Madonna and Mirwais Ahmadzaï |
4:38 |
| 11. | "Easy Ride" Writer(s): Madonna, Monte Pittman Producers: Madonna and Mirwais Ahmadzaï |
5:05 |
| # | Title | Date |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Die Another Day" | October 2002 |
| 2. | "American Life" | April 2003 |
| 3. | "Hollywood" | July 2003 |
| 4. | "Nothing Fails" | December 2003 |
| 5. | "Love Profusion" | December 2003 (Europe/Australia), March 2004 (North America) |
| # | Title | Date |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Nobody Knows Me" | October 2003 |
| 2. | "Mother and Father" | April 2005 |
Madonna started recording American Life in late 2001 after filming Swept Away with her husband Guy Ritchie in Europe. While recording the album in London, England, Madonna was also working on other projects such as her West-End appearance in the play Up For Grabs, which put the recording of the album on hold from May to July 2002. Madonna also did some more film work, filming her cameo-appearance in 2002 for the James Bond film Die Another Day.
Recording of the album was finished in London and Los Angeles in late 2002. Recording for the album was carried out at Sarm West Studios, Sony Music Studios UK (no longer operating), and Olympic Studios, among others. Mixing took place at Olympic Studios, as well as at studios in the USA.
American Life saw Madonna collaborate again with Music producer Mirwais Ahmadzaï, with whom she co-wrote and produced most of the songs on the album. Ahmadzaï is also credited for doing most of the programming and guitar-play on the album.
Madonna also collaborates again with Guy Sigsworth, with whom she had worked on Music. Madonna co-wrote the track "Nothing Fails" with him and British singer-songwriter Jem Griffiths. Sigsworth previously worked with Madonna on "What It Feels Like For A Girl."
Michel Colombier also collaborated with Madonna, after he previously worked with her on some of the string-arrangements on Music and "Die Another Day." Colombier is responsible for all the string-arrangements on American Life and conducted "Easy Ride", "Nothing Fails" and "Die Another Day".
Two new collaborators also worked on the album. Stuart Price, with whom Madonna would later work in 2005 on her album Confessions on a Dance Floor co-wrote the song "X-Static Process" and Monte Pittman co-wrote "Easy Ride". Both musicians had previously worked with Madonna on her "Drowned World Tour" in 2001.
One of the first rumoured titles of the album was Ein Sof, which Madonna had mentioned in an interview with Larry King in October 2002 during the promotion for Swept Away. "Ein Sof" is Hebrew and means "no end". In early 2003 it was revealed that the working title for the album was Hollywood (a song on the album) until the final title American Life was confirmed on February 10, 2003.
In mid-January 2003 in Los Angeles the photo shoot for the album was done by photographer Craig McDean. McDean had already worked with Madonna for the portfolio for Vanity Fair magazine in October 2002. According to unconfirmed reports the photo shoot cost $415,000. It had a military theme, with Madonna posing in dark greens and blacks, combat boots and with guns. Her hair was dyed dark brown and on the cover of the album Madonna is wearing a beret and is an almost copy of the famous image of revolutionary Che Guevara. Because of the paramilitary theme, the dyed hair and the artistic composition, some see a parallel between the album cover and the infamous news photo of kidnapped newspaper heiress Patty Hearst.
The French design-team M/M Paris were responsible for the artwork of American Life. M/M Paris is a partnership between Michael Amzalag and Mathias Augustyniak. The duo are perhaps best known for their collaborations with Icelandic pop singer Björk.
To counter illegal Internet downloads of the album's songs both before and after the album's release, Madonna's associates created a number of false song-files of similar length and size. Some of these files delivered a brief message from Madonna saying "What the fuck do you think you're doing?" followed by minutes of silence. Other dummy files included Madonna quasi-rapping, "Thought you'd sneak past me, didn't you? Thought you'd get by me, now didn't you?" and an endless loop of the line "I'm drinking a soy latte, I get a double shoté, it goes right through my body and you know I'm satisfied" from the track "American Life".
However, this only served to throw down the gauntlet to some; Madonna's website was hacked, with a message appearing on the front saying "This is what the fuck I think I'm doing...", followed by download links for each of the album's songs.[3]
| Country | Peak position | Certification (if any) | Sales/shipments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | 3 | Platinum[4] | 70,000+ |
| Austria | 1 | 20,000 copies shipped | |
| Belgium | 1 | 25,000 copies shipped | |
| Brazil | 10 | Gold[5] | 50,000+ |
| Canada | 1 | Platinum[6] | 100,000 copies shipped |
| Denmark | 2 | Gold[7] | 30,000 copies shipped |
| Finland | 2 | 5,000 copies shipped | |
| France | 1 | Platinum[8] | 500,000 copies shipped |
| Germany | 1 | Platinum[9] | 250,000 copies shipped |
| Hungary | Gold[10] | 5,000+ | |
| Italy | 1 | Platinum | 150,000 copies shipped |
| Japan | 1 | Gold[11] | 100,000 copies shipped |
| Netherlands | 3 | Gold[12] | 60,000 copies shipped |
| New Zealand | 2 | ||
| Norway | 1 | ||
| Spain | 2 | 75,000+ | |
| Sweden | 1 | Gold[13] | 45,000 copies shipped |
| Switzerland | 1 | Platinum[14] | 40,000+ |
| United Kingdom | 1 | Platinum[15] | 360,000 copies sold |
| United States | 1 | Platinum[16] | 667,000[16] copies sold, 1,000,000 shipped |
|- |Czech Republic |align="center"|9
| Madonna | vocals, guitar |
| Michel Colombier | conductor |
| The London Community Gospel Choir | Backing vocals in "Nothing Fails" |
| Mirwais | acoustic guitar, keyboards, programming, background vocals |
| Stuart Price | piano, synthesizers, keyboards, sequencing, programming |
| Producers | Madonna, Mirwais, Mark "Spike" Stent |
| String engineer | George Foster |
| Assistant engineers | Rob Haggett, Tom Hannen, Jeff Kanan, Tim Lambert, Gabe Sganga, David Treahearn |
| Mastering | Tim Young |
| Programming | Mirwais |
| Choir arrangement | Nicky Brown |
| String arrangements | Michel Colombier |
| Photography | Craig McDean |
| Preceded by Thankful by Kelly Clarkson |
Billboard 200 Number 1 Album May 10, 2003 - May 16, 2003 |
Succeeded by Body Kiss by The Isley Brothers feat. Ronald Isley |