vibes
since Hung Up in 2005. It is the
hard
candy
European Vibe is delighted to bring you an interview with arguably the biggest
star in the world. We catch up with Madonna, who talks about her need to make
music and the big names she collaborated with to produce her new record.
WORDS by Luc Ciotkowski Photos by Steven Klein Styling by Gina Brooke using Shu Uemura and Andy Lecompte of SOLO Artists
S
he has had more top ten
hits on the US Billboard
chart than any other artist
(beating Elvis Presley into
second place). She was inducted
into the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame earlier this year and she
is listed as the “World’s most
successful female musician”
by Guinness World Records.
Hard Candy is her eleventh
studio album in her 26 years
in the music industry, but she
still looks fantastic and sounds
amazing.
We have all grown up with
Madonna. Anyone under the
8 may 08
age of 40 has been hearing
Madonna’s music for most of
their lives. The 80s fashions she
inspired might have gone out,
come back and gone out again,
but the words ‘reinvention’ and
‘reincarnation’ are so closely
linked to her that it’s rare to
see an article about Madonna
without at least one of them
appearing somewhere. I don’t
want to say that Madonna is
fashion, it’s more like she is to
pop music fashion what each
season's 'new black' is to clothes
fashion.
The other thing that no one
can help mentioning in any
article about Madonna is the
fact that she turns 50 this year.
It’s true that we would make far
less of it if she were a man, but
it’s hard not to be impressed
that she doesn’t look out of
place in the slightest alongside
Justin Timberlake, a man half
her age, in the video for her
current single. 4 Minutes has
been number one in the charts
in 12 countries (at the time
of writing), including the UK
Singles Chart, and has reached
number two in the US Billboard
Pop 100 (number three on the
Hot 100); it’s her first major hit
www.europeanvibe.com
first single from her new album,
Hard Candy, which enters the
charts as we
speak.
As well
as Justin
Timberlake,
Madonna
has enlisted
Pharrell
Williams,
Timbaland
and Danja
to help produce her latest
record. Their influence is easily
detected, but there is also a
clear movement back towards
the sweet pop of 80s Madonna
(well, it is called Hard Candy).
Some critics will complain
and have complained that
the record is not adventurous
enough. I have to agree that
if you don’t normally like
Madonna much, but enjoyed
the more adventurous tracks
off the likes of Confessions on a
Dance Floor and other albums
over the last ten years, then
you might think the record
lacks an edge. However, if you
own a copy of The Immaculate
Collection, if you like JT, Pharrell
or Timbaland, or if you are just a
big Madonna fan, you’ll love this
album.
So! Here is the interview with
Madonna:
You have so much going on
now with films and the album
and various other things. Is
music still the foundation,
central part of your creative
existence?
Hmm. Is it the central part of
my creative existence? I mean,
the thing about me is, in terms
of creativity, the first place that I
started expressing myself as an
artist was through dance, and
that’s completely and utterly
connected to music. So for me,
becoming a songwriter and a
singer and a performer was a
perfect segue from dancing. And I
think that even when I get involved
in film projects, I always think of
them in a very musical way.
I think about what music’s gonna
be scoring the scene. Music
inspires me to write a scene. I feel
like music is still very much an
integral part of every aspect of my
creativity. Yeah.
You couldn’t imagine just
>>
going a long time without
making music?
continued on page 10
vibes
No, no. I’m always gonna wanna
write music and I just feel like
And after I made Confessions On
A Dance Floor, I was scratching
my head,
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music speaks to people in a way them? Yeah. And I did.
that no other art form can. And
it is, in my opinion, um, the most Your video has some Japanese
accessible art form. So, yeah, you dancers. How was that
could say it’s my first love. Yes. experience working with
(laughs) them?

Each time now, each time They were amazing. They’re

you make an album it seems
to have a new facet, a new
territory that you’re going
into. With this one, did you
have a very clear idea at the
beginning before you started
as to what you wanted to
speak about?
When I made the decision to
work with Pharrell and Justin
and Timbaland, it was really just
a matter of I loved their records.
called Hamutsun Serve and, uh, I
discovered them on YouTube and
I thought they were incredibly
unique and special. And I was
really happy when they said
they’d fly over from Japan to
London and, and be in the video.
And I’d love to work with them
again. So that was great, yeah.
Check out Hamutsun Serve and our
BLOG “Immaculate Record” of Madonna
statistics on our blog:
www.europeanvibeblog.com