More than ten years later and Madonna's eleventh studio album #Hard #Candy remains embedded in my head as an insanely catchy ear-worm and undeniable guilty pleasure. Aspects of her personality leak into many of her tracks, displaying the tough and sweet female international star she is. In its entirety, Hard Candy revolves around #dance and #sex to satisfy your #sweet tooth and dirty mind, pushing the envelope even further with singles like "Candy Shop" and "Incredible." #Madonna wants beads of sweat dripping down your back as you listen to each track that she has worked tirelessly to perfect.
To note, this album is absent in consisting of bad tracks, however, songs such as "Devil Wouldn't Recognize You" and "Voices" feel somewhat isolated. They are melancholic, leading them to trail at the bottom of the track listing and hang onto the coattails of the other groovy bunch. Evidently, the album loses focus and blindly proceeds towards the bittersweet end. These last two tracks are rather dark and belong elsewhere, suitably with her previous and legendary single "Frozen," for their messages run too deep to be placed beside other songs parading with an energetic L.A. production gloss.
Hard Candy underlines itself with intertwining dance-pop and hip-hop into the bare-naked and heated R&B mix. To stir the pot into a more peppermint-swirl brew, Madonna collaborates with her top inspirations of the early 2000s, including Justin Timberlake, Timbaland, The Neptunes, Kanye West, and Nate "Danja" Hills. Altogether, they amplify Hard Candy with Timbaland's bhangra beats in "4 Minutes," Pharrell Williams's funky bass-line in "Give It 2 Me," Kanye West's fresh rap interlude in "Beat Goes On," and Justin Timberlake's smooth, polished vocals finessing their way into both "4 Minutes" and "Dance 2Night."
This album was indeed Madonna's farewell to her long-time record label Warner Bros. Records, but also turned out to reflect her debut album circa 1980s, specifically her smashing hits "Holiday," "Lucky Star" and "Like a Virgin." Overall, Madonna's trademark voice carries out a youthful, spicy and breathy tone that continues to intrigue and excite us all.