all about Madonna

Madonna’s new album, Hard Candy (* * * 1/2 out of four), reminds us of the power of a grown woman who knows what she wants and how to get it.

Sure, the singer enlisted support from leading hip-hop savants such as Pharrell Williams and Timbaland – as well as Timbaland’s regular client Justin Timberlake, who appears on the single 4 Minutes – for this groove-driven collection, a more fully realized, forward-thinking sequel to 2005’s Confessions on a Dance Floor. But there’s no doubt who’s in charge on numbers such as the breathless Give It 2 Me and the thumping, bittersweet Miles Away.

Sex is always lurking — but not just where you bump and grind it. It’s a form of self-expression and liberation, like dancing, which “makes me feel like the only one the light shines on” in the percolating Heartbeat. It’s a feeling that every woman aspires to in some way, but few get to experience on a regular basis.

With Hard Candy, Madonna at least lets us sample the sweet sound of success.

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