American Life [Enhanced] [Explicit Lyrics]

If you are expecting a "Ray of Light" or "Music" Album then you will have a surprise. This album is a more personal style of lyrics with sounds, beats, and pop styles not at all comparable to high tech trance club sounds yet very impacting to soften even the hardest of hearts. Collector's will find this to be a similar style as "Like A Prayer" as Madonna opens up and reveals more of her fears, visions, experiences, and love for her life, family and world.

Songs sure to be of great impact in my view would be "Love Profusion", "Nothing Fails", and "Mother and Father" as all 3 have messages that have shown how Madonna has learned to deal with certain issues of her life as well as valued what is important which is love and not material things. It is apparent that her learnings of the Kabbalah have had a way to impact her enough to have them in her songs.

The second single with video, or so it seems "Hollywood" has a faster paced tempo and a catchy type music that is sure to become a hit. "Nobody Knows Me" has a very techno electronic introduction as Madonna sings through the lyrics of how nobody knows her. Unfair critics as well as jealous people would probably fall into this category. I like that song for the empowerment it portrays since it shows confidence, power, and control are still strong in Madonna.

On the same techno/electronica style, "Die Another Day" is more likely to make any listener feel an energized feeling of wanting to move, dance, or just sing along. It may seem to some that this song was out of place from the others but I feel it was a very nice compliment in it's effect to have very cool sounding enhanced vocals which create a different mood for the average listener.

It may take some Madonna fans or listeners a while to adjust to the constant changes of Madonna but isn't that what makes her such a success? You never know what's next, nobody knows her, not really.

As Madonna continues to conquer the world like a Falcon and with a hunger so strong it is obvious she only gets better with time. It is apparent her life events and experiences will help the world be a better place for others to feel love in their hearts, be more spiritual, and put God in the center of their lives rather than the passing material things of this life. For the American Life is not what it seems and Madonna has shown by living it that the key is LOVE.

The lead single and title track seems to have divided opinion even amongst Madonna devotees, although why the same people who embraced 'Music' should detest 'American Life' (the song) is a mystery to me. It may be defiantly uncommercial, but I find it's aggressive beats far more enticing, and the rap parody (yes, you ignorant humour-free critics, it is CLEARLY a parody, not an "unintentional" joke) is simply brilliant. However, for all those people who hated the single, don't despair - it's far from representative of the album's contents.

Until you reach the halfway point in the album, however, you may have lingering doubts. The second track, 'Hollywood' is apparently favourite to be the follow-up single, but it's actually one of the least impressive cuts. Jangly guitar with a humming electronic beat and not terribly original lyrics about how appealing and yet unpleasant Tinseltown can be. Next up is 'I'm So Stupid', which I hated on first listen but which has grown on me since then. It's the wig-out rock track, with Madonna's voice coming over all rough and growl-y, and has an excellent chorus but poor verses. Shortly after comes the worst track on the album, the only one with no redeeming features: 'Nobody Knows Me'. It's just a horrible bleepy whine all the way through without any tune whatsoever. So far, so unremarkable.

Suddenly, things begin to look brighter. 'Love Profusion' is the first sign of what's to come. It's a fairly gentle accoustic strum with - hurrah - the album's first great hook: the sweet melody of it's undeniably catchy chorus. Then comes the Big Ballad, 'Nothing Fails', and you know everything's going to be alright, because Madge has clearly not lost her touch. It starts off as a straightforward love song with just a guitar accompanying the vocal, then the strings set in, and finally a gospel choir. It's sweeping and tender and just...incredible.

There isn't another poor song on the album from this moment on. 'Intervention' is another country-esque song with a sweet chorus and impressive harmonies (Madonna's voice sounds stronger and more accomplished on this album than it ever has before). 'Mother and Father', despite it's confessional subject matter, is actually the closest thing to a disco track on the album, with a dancefloor beat straight out of the late '70s and a surprising, oriental-style vocal. There's 'Die Another Day' and finally 'Easy Ride', another string-laden ballad to round things off.

Finally I can see why Madonna holds Mirwais in such high regard; their songwriting partnership has born fruit at last. The once-beloved vocorder is largely absent; the electronic effects are far more subtle this time around, or perhaps they are just blended into the accoustic elements with more finesse.It's the accoustic that dominates here - the melodies are everything; electronica is just the icing on the cake rather than forming the basis of songs as it did on 'Music'. In fact, my favourite track features nothing but a guitar and Madonna's vocal harmonies. 'X-static Process' is perhaps the simplest song she's ever recorded, but it's also one of the most beautiful and affecting. The lyrics deal with Madonna's somewhat ambivalent attitude to religion (the 'X' or 'cross' of the title refers to the crucifix, apparently) and appears to bring her to some kind of healthy resolution, in spite of the painful struggle endured to reach it. It is moments of sheer brilliance like this which remind you why you loved Madonna in the first place.

So, despite a couple of weak moments early on, 'American Life' grows into a work fit to stand amongst the very best of Madonna's output. She still reigns supreme.

The tracks I just couldn't get enough of on the previous album e.g. 'Runaway Lover', 'Amazing' and 'Paradise (not for me)' are reproduced here to some extent in songs like "I'm So Stupid" and "Love Profusion" with the same gorgeously inexplicable melodies and refreshingly simple meanings. But again, while familiar, these songs are pure pop and only improve with repeated listens. And one of the most daring Bond themes in a long time (while still retaining many of the trademark sounds and effects of the franchise) "Die Another Day" with its bitty lyrics and techno beat punctuated with the traditional violinist's accompaniment is a great addition to the C.D.

Although new territory for Madonna, it's certainly not ground-breaking in pop terms, but even if this is just another stepping-stone before her next completely revelatory offering ('Ray of Light' styley)..."American Life" is still classy and addictive pop.