Madonna’s ‘Hard Candy’ Turns 5: Stan & Deliver

Name: Alex Nagorski | Location: New York, NY | Twitter: @alexnagorski

3. 4 Minutes (feat. Justin Timberlake): There was a time when superheroes were just the stuff of literature and fantasy. That is until there was Madonna. With her bulging steel biceps, constantly evolving wardrobe of spandex and Boy Scout uniforms, British aliases and a gallery of rogues ranging from Elton John to Mother Monster herself, the Queen of Pop has defeated such contemporary evils as hydrangeas and box office success.

With nearly every Madonna album, the legendary performer has reinvented and expanded upon her signature sound. And following the release of her 2005 electro-pop masterpiece, Confessions on a Dance Floor, Madge decided that in order to keep things fresh, it was time to inject her music with a little hip-hop flavor.

The pressure, then, for Hard Candy’s lead single was on. A collaboration with hit-making duo Justin Timberlake and Timbaland, “4 Minutes” introduced listeners to the new urban-influenced Madonna. The song’s marching-band-meets-Michael-Jackson vibe immediately attracted mainstream radio, and “4 Minutes” went on to peak at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 (and earn Madonna her 37th top ten hit, breaking Elvis’ record as the artist with the largest amount of top ten singles).

Inspired by Madonna’s activism for social change and equality, “4 Minutes” served as a rallying cry for people to give back to the world we live in — and to remind them that they can have fun while doing so.

As for that four-minute time-constraint to save the world? “I don’t think it’s important to take it too literally,” Madonna explained to MTV in a 2009 interview. “I think the song more than anything is about having a sense of urgency; about how we are, you know, living on borrowed time essentially, and people are becoming much more aware of the environment and how we’re destroying the planet. We can’t just keep distracting ourselves. We have to educate ourselves and wake up and do something about it, you know?”

The blend of hip-hop, bhangra beats, uptempo dance music, and playful lyrics in “4 Minutes” perfectly represents the overall structure and aesthetic of Hard Candy, making it a smart and obvious choice for the album’s kick-off single. And while the Grammy-nominated song may not be one of Madonna’s strongest, it’s certainly a necessary one in her diverse and expansive repertoire.