Madonna still shows no signs of slowing down

At a time when most people her age should be watching the sugar in their diet or totally eschewing it, Madonna chooses to serve up an album titled Hard Candy. And there is indeed candy galore, raw, hard, lollipop, Turkish delight, sticky and sweet and plenty to eat in her new CD. This is her follow-up to Confessions on a Dance Floor from three years ago and it is also the 11th studio album of her entire career.

The Material Girl turned 50 last year. Her birthday is on Aug. 15. Forty was once considered middle-aged and 50 was old. It was once the signal to accept the growing paunch and the onset of arthritic joints, to stop buying hip RTW and to go to dressmakers instead, or to move from the dance floor to the bar. But the rock and roll generation changed all that and more. The trend now is to stay young and rock forever.

Nobody does staying young better than Madonna. She is a cultural icon who writes children books, directs and produces documentary films and conceptualizes her dazzling stage performances and trend-setting videos, not to mention her wardrobe which continues to affect fashion trends worldwide. If you now see girls with their bra straps out or wearing something, your mother once said was underwear, it is all because of Madonna.

She is a multi-Grammy winning singer, songwriter and producer. She has sold over 200 million albums in the past 25 years and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last March. To top it all, she is now a wife, mother of two and chatelaine of an English country estate. Not bad for a kid who once roamed New York’s clubs dancing in search of a record deal and who turned out to be a marketing genius the moment she got that break.

This talent for making her every move an event and for reinventing herself keeps Madonna in the news. So as in the past, there was a great deal of anticipation as to what she has devised to make Hard Candy another milestone. First off, she unleashed a duet with the hottest male star of our times, Justin Timberlake. Their 4 Minutes is a gem that initially seems nondescript but grows on the listener. Then when the CD finally came out, it was discovered that Hard Candy is nothing at all like Confessions. In fact, it is an interesting mix of current sounds and early Madonna club tracks.

Given this girl’s flair for irony, I can almost hear her telling the new dance divas: “Hey, you think what you’re doing is new? Think again. I did all that before and only I can make it better.” Better in this case is the hip-hop sounds that producers Timbaland, Pharrell Williams and others have given the album. There are also no philosophical or religious musings in this one and the closest she comes to saving the world is in the frenetic warnings she dishes out with JT in 4 Minutes.

There is a great deal of nostalgic introspection in Incredible and Pharrell really went to town with a production I would term symphonic hip-hop. But for the most part, Hard Candy is simple, poppy and fun. As she says in the opening track, Madonna is in a Candy Shop and selling candy. Other titles included are Give It 2 Me, Heartbeat, Miles Away, She’s Not Me, Beat Goes On featuring Kanye West, Dance 2 Night, Spanish Lesson, Devil Wouldn’t Recognize You and Voices.

Fans who want to have Madonna and JT on their mobile phones and are Smart subscribers can now download 4 Minutes and win prizes. Also available for downloading are Madonna hits from the ‘80s like Like a Virgin, Burning Up, La Isla Bonita, Lucky Star, Open Your Heart, Into the Groove, Ray of Light and others. Text MADONNA to 209 for the menu of available downloads.

Take note that each Madonna download entitles subscribers to raffle entries for a chance to win a Gucci bag and up to P1-M worth of luxury goods. Subscribers can check their total raffle entries earned by sending POINTS to 209. The promo runs until July 19 as per DTI-NCR Permit No. 1764.