Nelly Furtado reminds us all how great Madonna’s ‘American Life’ is

Nelly Furtado has impeccable taste. She recently beat Katy and Britney to the punch by plugging Psy’s “Gangnam Style” in the early stages of its current mammoth success, and earlier today, she tweeted her love for Madonna‘s American Life album.

American Life is still stands as Madge’s most underrated album, just above Erotica (I’d like to say Hard Candy too, but don’t wanna be scalped in the comments section). Receiving mixed-reviews upon its release in 2003 and selling less than a third of the amount of its 15-million-plus-selling predecessors, Ray of Light and Music, the album has since gone on to amass a niche following and become a fan favorite.

While American Life is certainly a self-indulgent, narcissistic, and even hypocritical record, those flaws only help to sell Madonna’s mad introspection as genuine. It’s enticing and strangely fascinating in a completely pretentious kind of way, which pretty much sums up Madge to a T.

American Life may not have yielded the glossy mega-hits we’ve come to expect from the Queen of Pop (pre-MDNA, at least), but there’s it’s got a lot to offer for anybody with the patience to actually look. “I’m So Stupid” is Madge at her most brutally honest; “Love Profusion” and “Nothing Fails” are two of the best love songs of her entire career; the genre-bending innovation of “Die Another Day” is still a trip to listen to 10 years after its initial release; and while I still haven’t quite figured out if  the album’s title track was a somewhat tongue-in-cheek attempt at irony that nobody got or just an all-round hot mess, Madge’s soy latte rap makes it an instant trash-pop hall of famer.

And if none of that impresses you, then just remember that Madge was promoting American Life’s twisty second single “Hollywood” when she kissed Britney and Christina at the VMAs and cemented their on stage ménage à trois as the most memorable moment in MTV history.

American Life is actually the album that officially turned me from a casual Madonna observer into a bona fide fan. I still remember laying on my father’s lounge room floor, chin resting in my hands and eyes glued to the TV as the “Hollywood” video played; my dad walked past on his way to have a smoke outside, looked at the screen for five seconds and said, “So, basically all Madonna can do now is spread her legs?”

If I had been able to see into the future at the time, I would’ve responded, “No dad. This album is good. You’re thinking of MDNA.” Instead, I ignored him and made a mental note to pick up a copy of Madge’s spread eagle masterpiece as soon as I could.

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 9th, 2012 at 4:18 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • http://twitter.com/_elehciM_ Michele

    Masterpiece. I felt in love with her thanks to this album. Now it’s my fave only behind Ray Of Light. It’s a shame that after this flop she got so scared and now look at her. I miss this madonna.

  • http://www.facebook.com/TDM90 Tim Konings

    Hard candy & American life are definitly underrated.

  • http://twitter.com/StopItLuke Luke

    I don’t actually own a Madonna album (WTF) but I’m a big fan, I remember when this album came out I loved every single especially “Love profusion” and “Hollywood”…
    Gaga wishes she had come up with a song / video like “Hollywood” lol

  • Synchorotical

    Don’t worry Proph, youre not alone, I think Hard Candy is underrated aswell.

  • luckycharms

    the fact that nelly furtado has such a good taste just shows how amazing the spirit indestructible will be tbh!!

  • Lorraine Star

    BEDTIME STORIES IS MADONNA’S BEST ALBUM ALONGSIDE RAY OF LIGHT X

  • vitaamine

    Nothing Fails is one of her most beautiful songs with Frozen IMO. Oh and Hard Candy is definitely underrated, I dont know why everyone seems to hate it, it wasn’t “ahead” of its times as she usually is, but it has great pop/rnb-ish songs (and Kanye & JT featuring? yes please!). This album still shits on this whole MDNA mess.

  • TFC

    nelly furtado’s new album will turn out as what was ‘american life’ for madonna’s career #NoShadeIntended

  • http://www.twitter.com/themusicprophet The Music Prophet

    ‘American Life’ is highly under-appreciated. ‘Intervention’ and ‘X Static Process’ are absolutely flawless. ‘Nobody Knows Me’ was my jam. This albUm ranked top ten of the decade for me. Hands down. Probably top 5

  • http://www.twitter.com/themusicprophet The Music Prophet

    Agreed. ‘MDNA’ really isn’t a total mess though. The singles were odd choices, especially ‘Luvin’… But the album as a whole is a lyrical gem. It boasts some of M’s most personal lyrics… Unfortunately it falls hard off of the Nicki Minaj features :/
    I recently went through a bad breakup though and I found that album helped me a lot. ‘Gang Bang’ is so dark and writhing with M’s anger and angst … Then there’s the songs for gettin over the anger like ‘Girl Gone Wild’, and ‘Turn Up the Radio’. There’s songs about being in a bad relationship… ‘I Fucked Up’, and ‘Im Addicted’… Even the empowering ones like ‘I Don’t Give A’ and ‘Some Girls’… It even has songs that encourage finding love again… Like ‘Superstar’. There’s something for the entire breakup/move on phase of life. MDNA may not be up to snuff or edgy enough for someone who’s released so many masterpiece albums… But buried in its modern production and generic vibes are some of the Queen’s most private, personal words…

  • shamelesskclarkstan

    omg love profusion. yessss. preach!
    seriously proph, best post of the summer – incredible writing! “If I had been able to see into the future at that time….” that entire paragraph… you kill me / I can’t with you right now. cub hug,

  • XF

    “X-Static Process. No auto-tune, no big production, no pretenses, just her and a guitar. And she absolutely nails it.
    So raw-sounding it almost feels like a demo, ‘Process’, more than any of her other songs, defines Madonna as an artist.”

  • Britney Lover

    American Life is my first Madonna album and it’s still one of my favs from her…definitely underrated…and I wish you will feel the same about ‘MDNA’ a few years from now.

  • Britney Lover

    I’m in love with “I Fucked Up”. It somehow shows how vulnerable-yet still strong-Madonna after the big divorce. Achingly beautiful…

  • Britney Lover

    Oh and the banned “American Life” video is FLAWLESS!!!!!!!

  • Popblock

    I did not properly get into this album until a year ago, and I regret wasting so much time. Although it has it’s share of “fluff”, the fact remains that this record was way ahead of it’s time and should have continued the legacy she built with “Ray of Light” and “Music”.. instead it forced her into a creative downturn. She was able to pull it off thanks to the high production with “Confessions” but after that it’s been clear her inspiration has dissolved. I can’t imagine what it felt like to be at your artistic high, only for it to crash down on you in an instant because of poor reception.

  • http://www.facebook.com/lucaswoodstock Lucas Oliveira Dantas

    i totally agree with the beauty of x-static process. but i think it’s an exaggeration to say it defines madonna as an artist when she NEVER promoted herself like that before or after american life – apart from during the AL promotions madonna’s been always a BANG FLASHY artist; even on the “re-invention tour” the accoustic performances were never about being acoustic but about making a spectable about it. i’m not condemning i actually love how such a lovely poser she is – but that’s what defines her as an artist: the pose, VOGUING.

  • Purple Crush

    the rap on American Life is comical and legendary. Proph, we’ve launched a lil project called MadonnaWannaBe to help fund ourselves to see her live for the first time. we’re making an EP of cover songs, the next one is dropping this week; been considering doing one off American Life to surprise people, but now Nelly has aired that album out! check out the video and how cute my husband is http://www.indiegogo.com/MadonnaWannaBe

  • Sean

    I have to agree with all of you. This album also turned me from a casual listener into a fan. I was going through a weird time in highschool about to enter college reflecting on life and this album had so many great songs to make you think and a dance a little. I’m a sucker for deep, reflective lyrics and very few ppl can pull it off without sounding cheesy. Madonna’s AL did that — can’t say the same for MDNA but AL was the shit and still is.

    Nothing Fails and X-static Process are probably her best songs in the entire catalog behind Power of Goodbye and Frozen. s

  • http://twitter.com/KidGeorge92 MíηŁ• ™

    ..Why was the “American Life” video banned?

  • http://twitter.com/souzaYan Yan Souza

    “Nothing fails” ♥

  • joanee

    allegedly because of the scence where she throws a grenade. it was back then when the us/iraq war was very prominent (in the media)

  • Britney Lover

    And Madonna herself pulled the video in the very last minute, that’s why we only got the very simple Madonna-in-front-of-flags as the official vid. She felt that it might be too sensitive and offensive for some people who didn’t get the whole idea. I know this doesn’t sound like Madonna at all haha but that’s what I know…

  • http://www.facebook.com/lucaswoodstock Lucas Oliveira Dantas

    i love love american life! it’s funny because it was also the album that turned me into a fan and put madonna on the top of my altar; i think it is has very honest moments – even if it’s easy to think they’re all manipulation. but from the get go i loved the title track and loved the fact madonna was doing whatever she wanted in spite of what people expect of her (even with the confusing promotions).

    what i most love about american life is the ironic aftermath of its release; how a few months to a year later everyone was saying the same things she said, dealing with the same themes she did and, even better, mixing the acoustic scenarios with electronic beats and samples.

    i remember reading an article somewhere in which the author actually apologises for misjudging an album and her speeches that turned out to be very thoughtful some time after the iraq war, the downfall of bush’s north-american popularity and the increasing of anti-americanism around the world.

    people take madonna for granted as an artist just because she is a pop star. and it’s not only the big time critics of her work or the haters, but also her fanbase. i remember people hating her because she was talking about things and not only making addictive pop/dance hits. i think that’s even worse than the haters.

  • http://www.twitter.com/themusicprophet The Music Prophet

    I completely agree. MDNA is an album I didn’t understand or really give a chance until my own breakup. I turned to this album for mindless background music and it was weird how somehow I wound up gettin something so deep out of it… People judge this album way to harshly

  • http://twitter.com/nickynacker nicky

    Flawless album. I love every song. OK, except the title track. I can’t even sit through it.

  • anon

    I was never a Madonna fan but this album caught my attention because I thought it was interesting and at the time no pop star was doing anything this introspective. However I think the main problem was Madonna came off as preachy and self-righteous.

  • anon

    I think MDNA’s main flaw was Madonna’s delivery on all the songs. She just sounded a bit to disengaged.

  • anon

    Well more specifically its because she threw a grenade at someone who looked like George Bush.

  • http://twitter.com/StopItLuke Luke

    Same… I hate when she does those “talk” songs… When she actually sings you can tell it’s an album she gives a fuck about and things turn out well.

  • Tom

    Talking about Madonna´s Erotica phase; Why is rihanna looking Rain-ish a la Madonna, the clothes and haircut

  • http://www.twitter.com/themusicprophet The Music Prophet

    I’ll give you that one … It definitely did come off rushed and not very sincere in several spots

  • BJ

    Her best album, for me, because it’s the most raw and emotional she’s sounded. And also the songs are real and sparse, but it’s still highly produced pop. Never understood why it’s so underrated.

  • http://davidsask.wordpress.com/ DavidSask

    Love this CD and love that your father is current with his barbs!!!

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Trevor-Szuba-Schneider/100000290157462 Trevor Szuba-Schneider

    I think X-Static Process is the best from this album with the title track. completely diff but completely wonderful.

  • XF

    When you think about it, even when Madonna strips it down and bares her soul (LAP, ROL, AL) it’s always just a part of the reinvention. That’s one quality you have to admire about her – she knows how to play her cards.

    I’ll have to agree with you though, the one thing that’s always been constant in her career are the shows. At the end of the day, legends like Madonna and Michael Jackson are all about the spectacle. And we wouldn’t have it any other way.

  • theprophetblog

    Bad breakup?Who dumped u oppa?

  • Jensen

    I like that you used the flawless Nelly’s tweet to basically review the unfairly forgotten American Life as if it was a fresh release. Great blogging!

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  • bobs

    Crazy!! Ive been listening to this album nonstop since it popped up on shuffle 2 weeka ago. It is her best. And way ahead of its time. All the way down to the kesha style rapping. INTERVENTON is my fave. ApMither an

  • nobody cares

    zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

  • nobody cares

    wow so many deluded stans in one post it’s almost too much to take in
    american life remains one of the worst pop records of the 2000s
    nelly furtado remains a mess
    all is right with the world

  • bobs

    American Life album came up on shuffle 2 weeks ago and has been on repeat. I’ve always loved it, and always considered it her best album. So strange this post is coinciding w/ my latest outing w/ it. I love INTERVENTION – but have to say I have total new appreciation for MOTHER AND FATHER, which I hated before. That song in particular was very much ahead of its time. Too bad the Bush-Era Sept 11th psychotic patriotism brought this album down in flames. I’ve always wanted some level of re-release. Why can’t she make albums like this anymore?

  • bobs

    Go get your Flo Rida, gorl…

  • vitaamine

    I think the real problem on this album was the production, maybe too minimalist or electronic, I dont know… Girls Gone Wild still gets me dancing though, and the acoustic version of Love Spent? Gorgeous!

  • http://www.twitter.com/themusicprophet The Music Prophet

    Completely agree. Frankly, i’ll take any Madonna record and find the beauty/relevance in it, so there’s nothing I’d say negative about MDNA. There’s definitely moments. plenty of them.

  • http://www.joey-nation.blogspot.com/ Joey

    Since you posted this Proph I’ve gotten really into American Life and you’re right, it’s genius. It’s some of her best music lyrically and really speaks of what was going on in her head at the time. Seems like the last “honest” album she’s had before just sticking to mainstream & what’s hot, though I guess Confessions wasn’t exactly mainstream. Hard Candy was a sad attempt, as was MDNA. (all albums obviously have their good tracks, but for the most part not masterpiece albums)