American Life

Infobox Album |
Name = American Life
Type = Album
Artist = Madonna


Released = April 22, 2003
Recorded = 2002
Genre = Pop, Electronica, Techno, Dance, Folk, Alternative.
Length = 49:39
Label = Maverick, Warner Bros.
Producer = Madonna, Mirwais Ahmadzaï, Mark "Spike" Stent
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|2.5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:dbv1z88a4yvo link]
*"Entertainment Weekly" Rating|3.5|5 [http://www.entertainment.ie/reviews/review.asp?ID=2654&subcat=CD link]
*Robert Christgau Rating-Christgau|hm2 [http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=madonna link]
*"Rolling Stone" Rating|3|5 [http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/_/id/273997/rid/6067443/ link]
*"Slant Magazine" Rating|3.5|5 [http://www.slantmagazine.com/music/music_review.asp?ID=1430 link]
Last album = ""
(2001)
This album = "American Life"
(2003)
Next album = "Remixed & Revisited"
(2003)Singles
Name = American Life
Type = studio
single 1 = Die Another Day
single 1 date = October 22, 2002
single 2 = American Life
single 2 date = April 8, 2003 (US)
April 14, 2003 (Non-US)
single 3 = Hollywood
single 3 date = July 3, 2003 (Europe)
July 8, 2003 (US)
single 4 = Nobody Knows Me
single 4 date = October 15, 2003
single 5 = Nothing Fails
single 5 date = November 21, 2003 (Europe)
single 6 = Love Profusion
single 6 date = December 8, 2003 (Europe and Australia)
March 16, 2004 (North American)
single 7 = X-Static Process
single 7 date = December 27, 2003 Australian Radio
single 8 = Mother and Father
single 8 date = March 8, 2005

"American Life" is the ninth studio album by American singer-songwriter Madonna, released on April 22, 2003 by Maverick Records. The RIAA certified it Gold &
platinum on July 7, 2003, in recognition of one million shipments throughout the United States. Worldwide, the album has sold four million copies. It was her last studio album to be released under her contract with Maverick.

Album information

"American Life" was mostly composed and entirely produced by Madonna and Mirwais Ahmadzaï. The two had previously collaborated together on the studio album "Music" (2000). Other songwriting collaborators on the album were Monte Pittman, Stuart Price, British singer-songwriter Jem Griffiths and Guy Sigsworth, who had previously worked on the song, "What It Feels Like for a Girl," from the "Music" album. Composer Michel Colombier, who previously worked on some of the string-arrangements on "Music" also contributed. Colombier is responsible for all the string-arrangements on "American Life", and conducted "Easy Ride," "Nothing Fails," and "Die Another Day."

Madonna started recording the album in 2002, after filming the movie "Swept Away". While recording the album in London, England, she also worked on other projects, such as her West-End appearance in the play, "Up For Grabs", and filming her cameo-appearance in the James Bond film "Die Another Day". Recording of the album was finished in London and Los Angeles in late 2002.

Madonna later promoted the album with the remix EP, "Remixed & Revisited", and the 2004 Re-Invention World Tour.

Title, cover and direction

One of the first rumoured titles of the album was "Ein Sof", which Madonna had mentioned in an interview with Larry King in October 2002, during the promotion for "Swept Away". "Ein Sof" is Hebrew, and means "no end." In early 2003, it was revealed that the working title for the album was "Hollywood" (a song on the album), until the final title, "American Life" was confirmed on February 10, 2003.

In mid-January 2003, in Los Angeles, the photo shoot for the album was done by photographer Craig McDean. McDean had already worked with Madonna for the portfolio for "Vanity Fair" magazine in October 2002. According to unconfirmed reports, the photo shoot cost $415,000. It had a military theme, with Madonna posing in dark greens and blacks, combat boots, and holding guns. Her hair was dyed dark brown, and on the cover of the album, Madonna is wearing a beret and is almost a copy of the famous image of revolutionary Che Guevara. Because of the paramilitary theme, the dyed hair and the artistic composition, some see a parallel between the album cover and the infamous news photo of kidnapped newspaper heiress Patty Hearst.

French design-team M/M Paris were responsible for the artwork of "American Life". M/M Paris is a partnership between Michael Amzalag and Mathias Augustyniak. The duo are perhaps best known for their collaborations with Icelandic musician, Björk.

Downloads and website hack

To counter illegal Internet downloads of the album's songs both before and after the album's release, Madonna's associates created a number of false song files of similar length and size. Some of these files delivered a brief message from Madonna saying "What the fuck do you think you're doing?" followed by minutes of silence. Other dummy files included Madonna quasi-rapping, "Thought you'd sneak past me, didn't you? Thought you'd get by me, now didn't you?" and an endless loop of the line "I'm drinking a soy latte, I get a double shoté, it goes right through my body and you know I'm satisfied" from the track "American Life."

Madonna's website was hacked, with a message appearing on the front, saying "This is what the fuck I think I'm doing...," followed by download links for each of the album's songs. [ [http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/madonnasplash1.html The Smoking Gun: Archive ] ]

American novelty band Beatallica sampled some of Madonna's false song files on their song "Leper Madonna," a mash-up of Metallica's "Leper Messiah" and The Beatles' "Lady Madonna."

Track listing

Certifications, peaks & sales

References

succession box
before = "Thankful" by Kelly Clarkson
title = "Billboard" 200 number-one album
years = May 4, 2003 – May 10, 2003
after = "Get Rich or Die Tryin'" by 50 Centsuccession box
before = "A Rush of Blood to the Head" by Coldplay
title = UK number one album
years = May 3, 2003 – May 9, 2003
after = "Justified" by Justin Timberlake