Music

Pretty ostentatious to name your album "music", as if to encompass all music. Also, how does one talk about this album? "Have you heard music?" "yes, of course" "no, I mean Madonna's music" "like a virgin? yes" "no, I mean her album music" "yes she puts her music on albums" "no" All jokes aside this is pretty bog standard pop music. This is probably the worst of the 3 albums by her I've come across on this list (so far?), but it's inoffensive. Except for her cover of American Pie. That shit was a war crime.

Highlights: "Music," "Don't Tell Me" It's ridiculous to justify how awkward this album is and how terribly it's aged by saying any of this was 'experimental' even by the most mainstream US pop standards. Cher's "Believe" had tested the waters for autotune two years before, and NSYNC was having a blast earlier that year running the gamut of gaudy special effects from ring modulation to step filtering to sequencers and ARP. Madonna has always been derivative, and by this time she's just in over her head, too. Do we care about lyrics? Ideas? Because she pretends to. Laughably absurd lyrical bookends to the album: singing about the bourgeoisie and how "selling out is not my thing" when she is literally Madonna. Can't you just do what every honest sellout does and send audiences glum and bitter putzing dispatches on your barbarism of reflection from the barren apex? Whatever. No good songs, but only four I skipped halfway through out of disgust.

I always check the tracklist before listening to an album and omit the bonus tracks or international release tracks from my listen, which is how I avoided the human rights violation that is the Madonna cover of American Pie, which I'm about 60% sure is one of the direct causes of 9/11. Best track: Paradise (Not for Me)

Pretty glad when that one ended. It sounded to me like she was fulling a contractual obligation.

I played this during my morning commute and now I am SO HYPED for writing INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIAL for SOFTWARE

I wanted to like this but I found it formulaic and quite boring actually. A two is being generous

In 2000 I was 10 and really starting to get into music on my own. I remember being younger than this age and liking rock music on the radio, like Nirvana and classic rock, but around this time is when I started to be more aware of music. Her song "Music" I remember hearing and being a real guilty pleasure. Of course to my friends I couldn't like her because she was "pop" and young boys don't listen to pop music they listen to rock music because you don't develop that part of your brain that allows you to not care about silly social conventions like that until you are older (atleast for me until I was in my late teens / early 20's). I think there is really something special for me personally about the general time period of 1998-summer 2001, the music that came out in that time period was so vibrant and I really vividly remember moments of life happening while listening to music from then. I think specifically of these records: Linkin Park - Hybrid Theory Korn - Follow The Leader Kid Rock - Devil Without A Cause Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication Outkast - Stankonia Eminem - Marshall Mathers / Slim Shady Those were really pivotal for me and it was a time period where I was able to more autonomously look for and listen to music on my own. I was 8 to 10 years old! I could listen to what I what when I want. And I did! I remember listening to so much music during those 2.5 years and just doing my thing and loving life- playing sports and hanging out with friends, becoming obsessed with baseball and videogames, and not really having a care in the world. That specific time kind of ended after 9/11 and I think that was the start of puberty / teenager issues / listening to music with more serious sounds and lyrical topics. I do theorize that 9/11 played some part in that transition because up until that point I didn't really have a concept for experiencing the sometimes really terrible parts of the world. I wasn't expecting the start of this review to end up about 9/11 but that's the fun of hearing records that take you to a place in your life. I wouldn't say that this album was as special as those others listed but "Music" was a single from that era. Outside of this track the album isn't that bad. I think it's short of a 4 but higher than a 3, like a 3.3 for me.

6/10 more interesting than i expected, cool beats.

It's hard not to see the influence this album held on the next 7 years of pop music. It feels like a quintessential pop album of the 2000s because it's the first of that kind.

I liked this album back in the day, but it hadn’t stayed with me like Like A Prayer or Ray of Light. I’m glad to have revisited it, because I enjoyed the cool electronic vibe. Driving around Seattle listening to this today felt a little like I was in some kind of Tron universe. 23 years after its release this still feels like the future.

I danced to this when I was three and four years old. I love Madonna.

This was a nice revisit of a CD I had bought when new, but went with the other CDs into a box some time ago. It's been a while. This one really shows how Madonna has been able to successfully reinvent herself so many times. It was a sound that felt very modern at the time and which I think has held up since then. "This is the one with acoustic guitars and robot voices," is probably how I would distinguish it. I loved it, it made me move and groove today.

This album was everything when it came out. Listening to reminds me of good times, I’m just singing my lil heart out. Don’t tell me is soo good. I still love it and I think It’s fucking great!

Meh. Bland, over produced, shiny and expensive. Not her best work. Also includes her cover of American Pie, which is so bad it is virtually a hate crime.

MY FAVOURITE MADONNA ALBUM (and the first one that this generator has generated for me)! I was thinking of this album just earlier today! This album is an excellent exploration of electronic music, building on the experimentation of ‘Ray of Light’ (widely acclaimed as her best). Of course, it contains the monster hit ‘Music’, alongside plenty of deep cuts with important messages, such as ‘What it Feels Like for a Girl’ and ‘I Deserve It’. I’m unsure why there is so much Madonna hate on here. Perfect arrangements and fantastic vocal technique. The influence on every single pop song from the 2000s should not be underestimated. To paraphrase another review, it sounds like the quintessential 2000s album because it influenced plenty of albums from the 2000s, despite this being the third decade of her career. Unpopular opinion: Madonna’s cover of *that* song is better than the original 😘 10/10

Madonna has had one of the most successful, enduring careers in modern music. Music is her eight studio album, and a significant departure from the pop singles that made her famous. This collection of tracks are closer to dance and electronica than her earlier work. This is a surprisingly good album, with memorable tracks like "Don't Tell Me."

I liked vibing to this one. The music was sorta pop/electronic, but also soft enough that I could listen while working without getting distracted.

One of Madonna's most mature albums. Very entertaining, very catchy. I love it.

The 2000 U2 album All That You Can’t Leave Behind feels like it is desperately trying to re-capture former pop-star glory with mixed results. This 2000 disc by Madonna succeeds at that same task (apart from the clunker of an American Pie cover) without the desperation. It also innovates by combining techno and country in a way that hadn’t been done before (and not super-well since).

Vapid and pointless. But wildlly successful, apparently. Once again it's people that are the real problem here.

2 star album, 0 star cover

Whoa. I had no idea. The production has me floored

m u s i c

This has aged much better than I would have guessed. At the time it just sounded like the state of pop radio, because it was the music Madonna was making. But now it sounds inventive and creative, even refreshing. Unfortunately the album takes a nose dive with the last couple songs (I especially don't think the world needed that version of American Pie, which thankfully wasn't on the original release anyway). Take those two out though, and this is a surprising gem of an album.

Very good electronica that I hadn’t heard before.

Good album

Kind of weird use of electric sounds on some songs- but I generally liked it.

This album really surprised me. Much better than I remembered based off the radio singles.

I love this album. Sooo…yep.

Top notch turn of the century production, but the songwriting, particularly the lyricism and melodies were weak for a release for an artist this big.

Not as off-putting as the Yoga-core that Madonna trafficked in on Ray Of Light, “Music”takes its cues from the downtempo and trip-hop of its time. I’m not saying Madonna made an Air record, but…actually, I kind of am saying that, especially now that I hear her singing in French on “Paradise (Not For Me)”.

It has been a long while since I first heard Like a Prayer. I honestly forget Madonna exists sometime. But if you go back and look at that review, I didn’t not enjoy that album one bit. Safe to say those feelings were not a one time thing. I just don’t get it. And I could say that for a lot of albums I’ve heard over the last 191 days. But Madonna just doesn’t make sense to me. I’m going to say the same thing I said back then, because it still stands the test of time. Her music ellicits zero emotional response within me. Absolutely nothing. I feel lifeless when I listen to her music. What is the purpose of listening to music if that’s all I am able to take away from it? This is some of the most boring, bland, derivative and lackluster 2000’s pop music I’ve ever heard. What is she doing here than everybody else before her, and better at that? Even if this was considered “ahead of its time”, it would not be deserving of that title by any means. The autotune over her vocals on Nobody’s Perfect is enough to just throw the whole album out. Or the way the guitar is spliced up on Don’t Tell Me? Genuinely pissed me off a little bit. Such strange choices with the production and instruments that lack substance and stand as nothing but overly glossy and gimmicky pop trash. Keep Madonna far away from me. Rating: 3/10

I loved the mix of genres on this album. It is one of my favourites from Madonna and showed at the time how she could reinvent her sound and remain on top of charts as the Queen of Pop.

01) Music - 10,0 02) Impressive Instant - 8,5 03) Runaway Lover - 8,5 04) I Deserve It - 8,0 05) Amazing - 9,5 06) Nobody's Perfect - 8,5 07) Don't Tell Me - 10,0 08) What It Feels Like for a Girl - 10,0 09) Paradise (Not for Me) - 9,5 10) Gone - 8,5 TOTAL: 9,10 (91/100) Current ranking: 40/449 Finally some good pop after all that country, psychedelic rock, singer-songwriter bullshit I've been enduring for the past few weeks. Madonna really comes in like a ray of light... You either love pop or you don't. If you don't, you'll spit on this album and give it an average rating of 2.67. But if you like pop, this will easily be a 5 stars!

Overall, an album consistent with pop trends of the late 90s, and yet another testament to Madonna's talent for picking the right producers who are guaranteed to make hits, which was on-point since the beginning of her career. Technically speaking, the production is very solid, although a bit muddy from track to track, and the vocals feel supressed from time to time.

Ahh yes, 2000's Madonna, brings back some memories. Overall, I enjoyed this album. I wouldn't listen to it regularly, but I can appreciate the music. Favorite Tracks: Music, Amazing, and Don't Tell Me. Awful Track: Nobodys Perfect. Shit 2000's auto tune (thanks Cher) and horribly grating noises that don't resemble good songs.

Actually really liked the album, apart from the aptly named "Nobody's Perfect" which is a good summation for the song itself because it's an overly autotuned piece of poop. The overall tone of the album feels like a mish mash of random directions but I don't really mind that, it provides relief from the norm of some albums to bore me to death with the same sounding songs.

I had never listened to this album until today. I haven't listened to many of Madonna's albums. I guess that I am not a huge fan. I enjoyed it.

I know it sounds a bit bad but I'd like to know how much of this she really had a hand in? Maybe the lyrics? Yeah I can see that, but I don't think she produced it REALLY did she? I genuinely like Ray of Light and can hear Orbit in this as well. Whilst I applaud her intentions to push boundaries and put herself on the line this is at the end of the day just dancey Pop.

I wish the whole album was in the same vein as the two great songs “Music” and “Don’t Tell Me”, I think that would have been awesome. Unfortunately the rest of the album is mostly low energy dance tunes mired in an autotune muck. Mostly uninteresting save for a couple of high notes.

Madonna trying to be modern but what's lost here are any good songs. Best song is a cover of a song that's 30 years old

Typically like Madonna and this is right in the middle of her re-invention when I think she's perhaps a little too comfortable - she's at her best when working with up and coming producers and bringing outside influences to the mainstream, which I guess is being tried here mixing electronica with country. However as a listen it's not anywhere near her best "I deserve it" stand out tune. 3

Weirdest country album I’ve ever heard. Haha just kidding Production was really good. Very late 90s french electronica. Madonna was the weakest part of the album; is she good or just super hot? Will have to listen to more of her lesser known work.

Nobody's Perfect might be the worst song I've ever heard in my life. A loss for women.

Oh, fuck off. Are you sure the book this site derived its list from wasn’t titled “1001 albums to avoid like the plague if you want to retain even a shred of optimism about human potential or the value of existence over nothingness.”? Ray of Light is the only half decent Madonna album. Throw this and the rest on the metaphorical fire.

Iconicc

Vraiment cool, l'instru un peu expérimentale / glitchée est trop stylée

I like this album of Madonna Electronica, although some of the arrangements are a bit strange. A couple of times I thought my headphones were playing up. But that merely knocks it down from a hypothetical seven stars to a real five stars.

I really like this album. I think this was a great part of Madonna's career when she was making new, interesting, different music. She wasn't trying to recapture her old music or just bash out crap like she has done recently. I wished she'd stayed on this line.

Of all the albums in Madonna’s massive catalog, it’s been interesting to see what was chosen for this list. Neither, so far, have been my favorites, or her most influential. But this record does have her best track of all time: What It Feels Like for a Girl. Both the song and the video (directed by her then-husband Guy Ritchie) are the best she has ever produced. And for the artist with probably the most memorable, generation-defining records and videos, that’s really saying something. But this one is hands down the best. That said, the mixed media video for the title track did introduce the world to Sasha Baron Cohen. So there’s that, too. You can’t say shit to me about Madonna. It’s unreasonable, and I don’t care, but she’s gets 5s every time.

Ooh she is an under-appreciated diva.

Nostalgia is a powerful drug. This was one of the car CDs of family holidays and also my feminist awakening

Pop at its best

You can literally just hear however many millions they spent on this. The production is incredible, and it hides some of the cracks on the weaker tracks. "Music" is just so perfectly arranged, "Don't Tell Me" is, I think, my favorite Madonna song, and the cover of "American Pie" is just hilariously weird and doing its own thing, such a brilliant little oddity.

Her final epic album

Excelent album. Cant believe i never listened more of it

horrid lyrics on some tracks

I honestly didn't go in with high expectations, but I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this album. A solid listen!

I’ve hated the title track of this album my entire life so I imagine my surprise when I really liked the rest of it (minus that terrible American pie cover).

I only knew Madonna the way you know her by growing up during the 90s, ie occasionally listening to her songs on radio. I never made an effort to seek out and listen to full albums of hers, however. So I have to say that this came as quite a surprise, because it‘s *nothing * like I expected. „Music“ is strangely experimental, continuously trying out new things. Not all of them work well (the notorious last track for example), but I really enjoyed the many facets of this album and that it wasn’t ashamed to leave the beaten path. Also: Am I going crazy or was there a Daft Punk influence in there? Anyway, not the best album ever but a surprising and enjoyable one nonetheless. I would give 3.5 stars if I could, so let’s round up.

She’s a legend but she’s not my cup of tea. Nevertheless, this was a good album. Her early stuff was good because it was new. Some of her later stuff is tired and overblown. This album is better! I like it and I will listen again.

So 2000’s but it works.

So, I remember this as one of my first ever albums to listen to, thanks to the fact that my mom had it on tape! I loved it so much as a kid, but I'll be honest, I didn't expect to see it on this list. That's not to say that I didn't have a great time with it again, though. This felt nostalgic, retro-techno, and fun. I really loved a lot of the auto-tune, which is not usually what I like, but I think it felt more honest here since I know Madonna can sing so well without it that there was no question that it's an esthetic choice for the album. Not every song was a hit, but it bought me back to riding around in Mom's old golden 2001 Chevy Malibu listening to Music again and again. Favorite songs: Music Impressive Instant I Deserve It Don't Tell Me

I remember when this released and all the talk about Madonna yet again changing styles with the time and how well she does it. The album has some really good songs and some that just pass by without making an impression. All and all its a good album with some stand out moments.

Madonna!

me gustó, nunca le había prestado atención a Madonna y me sorprendió. No sabía que había incursionado asi en el dance y la electrónica

Why do so many of the top reviews for this album mention 9/11?? Anyway, “Music” made me dance like I was out clubbing, so therefore it’s a perfect album. I like to boogie woogie as Madonna says, I suppose.

That American Pie cover did not need to swap that HARD

We all know Madonna for her 80s hits and maybe some of the 90s ones, but I never tried listening to one of her albums or too many songs on purpose so I was interested to see what 2000s Madonna after Ray of Light and before American Life would have done and... I'd be surprised if this album doesn't have a reappraisal in the future because this album is so good, barring a few slow songs that just don't quite work for me (Nobody's Perfect and Paradise) the rest are just greatly produced and well written pop songs that just hit all the right places for me aesthetically, the sort of glitchy, chilled-out and electronic type of stuff that was so common then and elevated by a good singer. This is great, I should go back and check Ray of Light too while I'm at it

A surprisingly crafted pop album. American Pie seems completely unnecessary.

Love this one. Remember it from the day. 4 *

Surprisingly good

I have to assume this album is the pioneer of 2000’s pop. At the time of its conception, music production began transitioning to a more digital production process and its on full display here. This album is likely the reason ddr music exists. And without 2000’s ddr (and daft punk), we don’t get Virtual Self + Porter Robinson. The influence here is incredible. The soft, overly processed female vocals, the "cringe-y" lyrics, the simplistic drum patterns... A few tracks I outright despised, but I can’t deny its impact on the modern genres I love. The tail end of the album is quite nice. Favorite Tracks: Nobody’s Perfect What it Feels Like For A Girl

No idea what I expected from this Other than a couple of weird ones, really enjoyed

Madonna could always reinvent herself

Oddly enough, “Music” was the first Madonna song I remember hearing. I’m 37 but grew up in a pretty conservative home, so Madonna wasn’t exactly played frequently. I snuck some MTV in in the late 90’s, and the video for this song was frequent. Honestly revisiting this shows it’s a pretty good album that holds up better than I expected. The title track is great, as is Don’t Tell Me. I Deserve It was another pleasant surprise.

cool

7.5/10. This isn't Madonna's best work, but it's still a fun album. :)

8/10 It’s easy to forget, with the direction that pop music took (so much came to sound like this) but Madonna was ahead of the mainstream curve here, and deep in her phase of working with very credible electronic producers. I was a fan of the Mirwais album earlier that year, was surprised to see him doing the biggest pop album, but it worked. In fact, his production is the best thing here. The other aspects are interesting to good, except for some of the songwriting being not quite up to the beats. But the hard, funky disco techno goes hard. Best: Paradise

This is not one of her best works, but I liked it nonetheless. She tried a new approach and did it quite well.

I would have imagined Ray Of Light would be the mid-period Madonna this list would have chosen (maybe that's here too?). Hadn't listened to this in its entirety before, and was pleasantly surprised. It may not seem to be super groundbreaking now, but in part that's because it was heavily copied.

I put it on at night, before going to bed. What a mistake.

Solid

this album feels crazy ahead of its time. like no one else was doing it like her in 2000 i had loved what it feels like a girl for a long time but my fav song besides that was gone

I haven’t explored Madonna’s discography as deeply as I’d like, so this project was a great starting point. I was already familiar with the title track—it plays constantly at my job—and after hearing it almost every day for the past three years, I can’t say it’s my favorite. That said, I really enjoyed the rest of the album. A standout for me was What It Feels Like for a Girl—I think Addison Rae would do a great cover of it.

Madonna as an adult. It's a good sound.

I love her but this wasn't her best album imo

Interesting electronically album by Madonna

Light, pleasant songs. After all these hip-hop albums and unpleasant experiments, Madonna's voice and music feel like a balm to the soul. 7.5 out of 10.

Great album, sound is dated to its era but still some really great up beat tracks. Not the biggest Madonna fan but this was a good listen. Would have gone 5 stars if it weren’t for the autotune ballad and snoozy back half

Out and out Pop of the highest level. I found myself dancing along while cooking lunch. Like any artist with a huge catalogue Madonna has had her ups and downs. This is definitely an up.

1. music: electronic beat and effects, simple and fun 2. impressive instant: weird vocal effect, strange 3. runaway lover: better vocals and beat 4. i deserve it: acoustic guitar intro, nice vocals, calm ballad, repetitive 5. amazing: eerie intro with strings, nice vocals, catchy chorus, cool song 6. nobodys perfect: asmr intro, goofy vocal effects, interesting synth solo, acoustic bridge, cool song 7. dont tell me: weird stuttering acoustic intro, nice strings, piercing electronic beat, cool outro 8. what it feels like for a girl: british girl talking intro, chill beat, nice vocals, kinda repetitive, cool 9. paradise (not for me): chill intro with whispering, strong synths, beautiful strings, emotionally psychedelic, cool song 10. gone: nice acoustic intro, nice chorus, cool overall: grew on me throughout the album, great production and vocals, cool effects and synths rating: 8/10

Only slightly worse Cher, which is huge praise. I really don't care for Madonna's voice, but all the sounds around it are magnificent.

3.5 - Good

Not as good as the previous albums we covered here, but I am impressed by these later albums. She has a sense of how new music is working, but layers more into the lyrics than, say, Britney. The song 'Gone' is really great and I liked the other slower one earlier in the album. It almost went to 3 for losing points for American Pie (even though a bonus), I just dislike that interminable song. But, calling it a 3.5 and actually going up to:

Not gonna lie, this album fucks.

I am surprised how many genres Madonna had on this album. I expected the pop/disco, but not the beautiful ballads, the tech/world beat, nor the latin influenced conclusion. Truly a great album, even if it wouldn't make my personal top 50.

Well, I was about to say I'm not a fan. A lot of songs on this are .. not to my liking. And I actually stopped after number 5 (Amazing), but started again for Nobody's Perfect, which wasn't bad. I made it to Paradise (Not for Me), and loved it. Gone wan't bad either. But I actually added Paradise to my liked list. Giving it 4 stars just for that one song.

This one has a lot of hits!

Madonna did the cowgirl thing before Beyoncé.