The Madonna/Kylie camp missed you, Eric. It's good to see you. There hasn't been a lot to smile about over the past 18 months, but you are a smile-generator, so thank you. x
I guess it's important to remember that this album was created at a crossroads in her life - she was turning 50, she was leaving her record company after 27 years, and she was about to get divorced. there's a lot of resilience and references to time in the lyrics. it was also the first time since Bedtime Stories that she went for a contemporary/top 40 American sound which threw a lot of fans off
This was such a fun reaction Eric! To me Hard Candy is a very unique Madonna album. It’s the first time Madonna really fully embraces an already well established mainstream sound, at least to this degree. At the time of it’s release, she mentioned that for inspiration, she simply asked her self, what music do I enjoy listening to… The answer to which was Justin Timberlake’s then latest album and stuff by Timbaland and Pharrell. But she definitely makes the sound her own as usual, which I love. I also think it’s a very fun album and particularly well suited for a live set. The Sticky and Sweet tour still remains the highest grossing tour by a female artist and is Madonna at her most energetic ever. Truly an incredible feast for the senses. Also on a fun little side note, Candy Shop will probably go down as one of madonna’s personal favourite songs she’s ever recorded. It’s been included on the set list of all the tours since it’s release (except for madame X) which is surprising for a non single. And I my self hope she continues that trend because she always slays it live. It’s definitely become a fun little Madonna fan in joke. But thanks for another incredible reaction Eric! As always your analysis highlighted so many small details and insights I had never thought of before.
I love this album, especially the songs where Madonna shows us her emotional rather than carnal side. You look good as always and are very kind to enjoy the not-so-great songs on the album. Greetings from Bolivia.
I get why this is a lot of people's least favorite Madonna album (it's messy and sounds cheap on surfing late the 2006 Timbaland wave), but I can't help to find most of these tracks 100% bops! Great video as always, Eric!
Devil Wouldn't Recognize You is my favorite song of that album and one of her best songs in general in my opinion. I love that album, it's really fun. And the concert is a must-watch!
Miles Away and Devil Wouldn't Recognize You are easily my two favorites. Miles Away reminds me of "out of sight, out of mind" vs 'absence makes the heart grow fonder" which are so closely associated and it's really up to the person to miss someone or be happy they're gone. Always great to see you in my feed Eric! XD
11:20 you hit the nail in the head. Her then husband did suggest that she'd slow down / stop, and become more of a home maker, citing that she'd already achieved so much in her career she should be able to give it up.
Loved your reaction. As always. This is such an underrated album. It is definitely one of my absolute favorites from the second half of Madonna's career.
Thanks for you analysis as always. Hard Candy is a complicated album and opinions are divided. But, I appreciate your honesty in this reaction. BTW, nice beard. You look yo dapper 👍
You did an excellent analysis of the meaning of the songs, the lyrics' context, and the possible meanings. I have to say that I love your facial expressions, how you enjoyed the music, and your beautiful smile 😊 🥰😍 greetings from Mexico.
👍🏼 Yay welcome back! Faves for me are 4 Minutes, Heartbeat, Beat Goes On and Dance2Night for upbeat/fun. Miles Away and Devil… for more serious. My Skips: Candy Shop, She’s Not Me, Incredible, Spanish Lesson and Voices.
Thanks for your reaction a nd analysis. I really love this underrated album. Many fans hate Dance 2Night but it's one of my favorite tracks here. Heartbeat is such a beautiful track. I don't understand why Madonna didn't make it a single. Beat Goes On was a huge radio hit in my country
I really like Heartbeat and Miles Away. Thank you Eric for make me smile as you always do with your Madonna reactions, I've had a rough couple of days.
You were very nice in your analysis with her probably worst album. Besides "4 Minutes" and "Miles Away" this album was so bad. "Spanish lesson" is almost an offense to spanish language. Love you beard. Marry me.
Eric! First I wanna thank you for all the Madonna videos you’ve done! I loved every bit of them and enjoyed them so much. This video have so much facial expressions and comments that made me LOL! You’re amazing! Dancing and lip-syncing to “4 Minutes” made my whole week! I swear you could be my little brother! Haha
Phenomenal as always Eric. I think you’d really enjoy Lily Allen’s It’s Not Me, It’s You album, in particular the social commentary (Drugs, Sex, Love, God, George Bush) - I’d also love the opportunity for your subscribers who weren’t aware of her to get the opportunity to hear it. Keep up the great work ❤️
I enjoy Madonna’s music so much; that’s why I love hearing your take, even if it seems you don’t like a lot of her songs that I love. That’s ok though. You’re extremely intelligent and in tune with what she’s trying to say. Keep it up.
Nice analysis as always, Eric! This album to me is where Madonna sort of ceased setting new music trends, and rather went along with what was already popular. Or perhaps she wanted to reframe her 80s, more simplistic, style of music in a new “urban” context - but I’m just not sure it entirely worked. And considering that this came after the masterpiece that is Confessions it had a particularly tough act to follow. There are some gems of songs that I still enjoy today (4 Minutes - though I wish it was actually 4 minutes long, Miles Away, Dance 2Night, and Devil), but the rest seemed to be filler. I, like you, also never understood the artwork choices she made - and it’s probably my least favorite out of all her albums. Overall though, since it’s a Madonna album, the music is still very much quality! I hope you’re also staying safe and healthy, Eric - and nice beard btw :)
Not my favorite Madonna album by a long shot but Devil, Voices, Heatbeat, and Miles away absolutely save it for me,. Those songs are as good as anything she’s ever done, I just adore them. Great reaction and loving the scruff, your such a cutie and I love your enthusiasm!! Thanks for spending time with Queen Madonna!!
G'day it's Steven from Down Under It's been a while but I'm back and have enjoyed your analysis and insight again. Actually you're looking different and mature I must say. Certainly not my favourite album, however I have enjoyed most of the tracks on this album. My favourites are : Four Minutes Give it to Me Miles Away Beat goes On Keep up the great work Eric
Hard Candy s🍭unds to me like a funky strawberry and choc🍩late hip hop version of C🌐nfessions On a Dance Floor that mixes carbohydrate and sweetness in the dough, lots of protein and energy in the filling, a slight dose of melancholy and resilience in the dough. the frost. It combines the sound and instrumental quality with Confessions, lavishes on bold arrangements, but surpasses it in Madonna's alternating organic mids and highs and especially in the lyrics that are a little more truly philosophical, critical, deep and honest. HC is one of my favorite albums, the one I hear-see-smell the most and don't skip a single track. It's on the same list as American Life and Rebel Heart. 👑❤
Was really looking forward to this one, and you didn't disappoint! I was pleasantly surprised that you seemed to enjoy it as much as you did, because so many people love to talk about how horrible this album supposedly is.
Beat Goes On sums up the whole Hard Candy album. I think this should be the opening track or one the singles released. Either way, I'm glad it's in the album. The live performance of Beat Goes On in Sticky & Sweet Tour 2008 complimented the song itself.
My favorite song on Hard Candy is The Devil Wouldn't Recognize You. I also love Voices very much, just like Give It To Me and Miles Away. A lot of Madonna fans didn't like her venture into R'n'B but I thought it was pretty successful and I liked it a lot. Even though Timberlake & Timbaland are not my cup of tea. But thankfully i think that the songs I mentionned are typical Madonna sounding songs. Whether Madonna is produced by Timbaland or by someone else, Madonna always sounds like Madonna in most of her songs. And that's what's great about her.
Honestly, this album is enjoyable. All of her songs from this album are so fun and catchy. However, even though I love this album, I can understand why a lot of people hates it. First and foremost, people consider that this album is where Madonna stopped trying to set trends and started following what was trending at the time (considering that prior to this era, Madonna was known for being a trendsetter and for pushing the envelope) since the sound of this album is very similar to other albums that were released at that time such as Blackout by Britney Spears, Future Sex/LoveSounds by Justin Timberlake, Loose by Nelly Furtado and The Sweet Escape by Gwen Stefani, especially since the producers of all of these albums (Danja, Pharrell Williams, Timbaland, and Justin Timberlake) were heavily involved in the production of Hard Candy. Second, those who grew up in the 80s and 90s prefer her earlier albums more than Hard Candy since this album tends to be more appealing for the younger generations. And third, considering how ICONIC was her Confessions On A Dancefloor era, the fact that this album was released right after Confessions On A Dancefloor might seem like a disappointment for long time Madonna fans. Therefore, since I grew up in the 2000s, that might explain why I love this album so much but if I would have grown up in the 80s or 90s, maybe I wouldn't love this album the way I do. Some people might consider that this album sounds dated but for me, it doesn't sound dated at all. Overall, this is a very solid record.
Μadonna's BEST album together with EROTICA. It pisses on Confessions which is safer and samey. I LOVE how the rnb is infused with club music.The productions of Timbaland and Pharrell are a MASTERCLASS! Its a much more sad and personal album that you'd expect because at the time her marriage to Guy Richie, whom shed had fallen head over heels in love with, was falling APART. HARD CANDY DESERVES MORE PRAISE
Devil Wouldn't Recognize You is the only ballad in Hard Candy. It's probably the updated version (or part 2) of Power Of Good-bye from Ray Of Light. Justin Timberlake's vocals featured in this song was the icing of the cake.
You should react to some of Madonna's Tours like Confessions Tour, Sticky & Sweet and MDNA Tour. Mostly because of its visual productions and the messages in its backgrounds
Voices is such a great song about narcissists and how they manipulate you and control you, but how at the same time they are slaves of their own sickness. This album is about Guy Ritchie, they actually divorced during the tour. She said in an interview that being on tour and si busy saved her from going crazy during this hard time. Miles Away, Incredible, Devil...and Voices are about him. And there are two performances from that tour that you'll find very meaningful, Heartbeat and She's Not Me. She really gave a whole deeper layer of meaning to those songs on stage.
Hard Candy easily isn't the best Madonna album. It's her first time to really surrender to what the current trendy sound was at the time, which is fine, but when her adaptation of that sound isn't as good as her inspiration, that's the problem. It still makes for a fun overall listen, to an extent. The album was still able to reveal something about Madonna, and that's the cracks in her marriage back then. The only real big missteps in the album are the messy Incredible and especially the horrid Spanish Lesson, which would have been better replaced by the bonus track, Ring My Bell.
@@israelcarmona3139 nah, 'She' Not Me' wasn't about Lady Gaga. The song was written in 2007 & even the performance in Sticky & Sweet Tour 2008 has got nothing to do with Lady Gaga & plus, the idea of the lyrics was from Pharrell Williams. Madonna only sang Lady Gaga's part (Born This Way) in Express Yourself in MDNA Tour 2012.
This album gets a bad wrap but one of my fav and perhaps most played. I think people viewed this as not Madonna’s sound. Who cares….it’s fun. Get up and dance
To me it's a throw back to her debut... upfront r&b/disco fushion dressed up in modern production...dont understand the negative response from fans it sometimes gets, it delivers on the promises confessions made. It's 🔥
This was a strange time to be a madonna fan. One of the first times you felt she was chasing the trend rather than creating it. She felt disconnected from her own album. With that said , listening all these years later there are some good songs. Great review as always 🤩
Been watching your videos for 3 hours now, I'm hooked with your channel, please react to Shakira's - She Wolf album, I wanna see how you react to those lyrics, it is also a Pharell/Shakira produced album
Thanks, Eric! I enjoy RU-vid reviews on music! This album for me was a letdown and I’m a huge Madonna fan. Madonna really hit her peak in 2005 with Confessions on a Dance Floor. I never thought I’d see her topping the charts and award shows like that since the 90s. Everyone was expecting a fresh new sound and there were a lot of promos on this album. MTV and other platforms put her into the icon category around this time. I remember that I purchased Kylie Minogue’s X, Janet Jackson’s Discipline, and Robyn Dancing on My Own. Britney also had a big comeback with Gimme More at the college clubs. Lady Gaga was just starting. I expected Madonna to deliver the same freshness that Janet Jackson served (Janet had a comeback-BET and MTV played her videos and they were all over HipHop radio. Janet was also getting back into movies-Tyler Perry from what I remembered). This album was a disappointment. Madonna never had collaborated or given a collaboration that much shine on her new video and single. I felt it was just a Timberland track with JT. I was shocked! I gave the album a full listen, and I found it to be weak for her catalog. I did enjoy Miles Away and Give It to Me with Kanye and Pharrell. These two songs should have been promoted more. When I started to see the new Madonna video with Give It to Me at the gym. I was excited, but I don’t remember it being on the radio and in clubs. It was mostly on MTV U. I remember that Mariah had a big comeback and surprised everyone with touch my body. I remember Madonna and Nick Cannon praising that album. I think promotion for the stronger tracks, and not really putting herself out there with the lead single really hurt Hard Candy. I did really enjoy her Celebration album, and I bought it. This was a great review! Keep up the work! These are fun!
This album is very sonically dated, but still is one I enjoy listening from beginning to end. Some people say is her worst, but I think it aged so much better than MDNA, for example. I would exchange the whole MDNA for the Hard Candy singles alone. I think this album receive a lot of hate because it was a very open attemp to be a hit by lining up with very mainstream producers like Pharrell and Timbaland, and so, It's not considered as artsy as others. It's definitely not even close to her best, but is still fun and cool if not taken too seriously. My favourites are the singles and I appreciate She's Not Me and Dance 2night a lot. But I can literally listen to the whole album without skipping. I also have an emotional attachment to this era since Sticky and Sweet was my first live concert. ❤️😀
MDNA over this. MDNA has some very average songs for her standard but the highs are so much better. Hard candy doesn’t have the same highs or lows for me. It’s just there. It’s a good album. Big Madonna is never jsut good
@@Mysicalgreenunicorn03 Girl Gone Wild and Gang Bang, really?! Those songs, are better than the whole Hard Candy album except maybe 4 minutes excluded. I am a hardcore Madonna fan and when I listened to MDNA, i felt like I was hearing my early-90s Madonna again, it was a spiritual experience. Hard Candy, while there are a few nice tracks, was 'Miles Away' from MDNA :)
This was her Divorce album. It was pretty much overlooked lyrics-wise back then. It was very personal for her. Plus, she was turning 50, and for most women that number has quite a negative connotation because of well...chauvinist society. And especially for such a famous woman like her who had been fighting ageism since 1989 basically. I guess this is why the theme of TIME is so prominent. Remember songs like "easy ride" in which she states "what I want is to live forever." I think songs like Incredible and Miles Away really show where she was during this time.
Devil, Voices, and Miles Away are about (her now ex husband) Guy Ritchie... the union was falling apart and those songs are the first hints. Not my favorite album but there are a lot of gems!
I remember enjoying the album at the time but admittedly hasn’t held up for me. I still think it’s not a bad album but it could’ve used some editing. Heartbeat & Spanish Lesson could’ve been omitted altogether and She’s Not Me & Incredible should’ve been 2 minutes shorter. As always, an intelligent and insightful reaction from you. And I must say u keep getting handsomer and handsomer. Stop it! 😜
One of her very best albums, misunderstood and unfairly criticised as 'behind the times', even though that's the whole point of it - a throwback album mixed with modern (at the time) sounds.
An underrated album in my opinion. Not her best but there are some real gems on here. I love incredible but should have been edited by about 2 minutes. Dance tonight is my favourite track 🕺
It’s been ages since I listened to this album of Madonna’s. It was the first (and only) album of hers that didn’t work for me. It was the last album she had to do for Warner who wanted her to appeal to a younger audience by working with lots of popular artists of the time. Madonna was always the trend setter so it was odd to have her working with Pharrell and others, who were producing for just about everyone in the music industry already. The music was nothing original or new but rather came off as overproduced pop. It came off as fulfilling an obligation to her contract.
Thanks for the review but this was the beginning of the end for Madonnas artistic relevance. From Hard Candy on she turned into a follower instead of a leader. I have to take into consideration that ALL producers and genres that she involved in her productions, had already the peak of heir artistic and critically acclaimed work far behind them. There is no point in working with Pharrelle AFTER he co/produced the bestselling albums for Nelly Kelis, Gwen Stephanie and later Daftpunk. Also Kanye (he wouldn't even meet her to produce with her and sends her files, looses stems and doesn't call her back while IN PRODUCTION), Timberland (his peak was Aaliyah and Missys productions both many years ago before he worked with Madonna beside there is no Timberland album that can top Nelly's pop banger Loose!!!!!! ), Justin (no comment), EDM (how can she seriously believe she could produce a more progressive and yet mainstream EDM album better than Kelis Fleshtone?) were all a waste of time. I was the biggest Madonna fan imaginable but I am afraid after 5 catastrophic irrelevant albums I have to accept the she is ruining her own legacy. I wish she would disappear for a few years.
