Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Madonna's new single: A play-by-play analysis

Give Me Your Love, the new single from Madonna, leaked online yesterday - first as a 15 second clip, then as a full-length demo. With more bubbles than an aero, the song is disarmingly naive - a thoroughbred pop song, as disposable as a used condom.

The audio is below but, in case it gets yanked off the internet by lawyers, here's what to expect.

00:00 - 00:07 It starts with a chant "L.-U- V Madonna / Y-O-U You wanna?". Try not to imagine Madonna looking all sinewy and wizened in a cheerleader's outfit at this point.

00:08 - 00:10 A chugga-chugga bassline kicks in. Madonna sings, "I see you coming and I don't wanna know your name". We are in pop cliché territory, folks, and there's no turning back.

00:28 - 00:32 "Maybe you'll be fine, as long as you don't lie to me". Lying is a recurring lyrical theme in Madonna's recent output - see also Sorry and She's Not Me.

00:34 - 00:39 This bit sounds just like Beautiful Stranger.

00:41 - 00:45 "Every record sounds the same," sings Madonna, over a backing track that sounds just like Hello by Martin Solveig (who produced this).

00:49 - 00:55 THE CHORUS - If this doesn't gain a large dollop of synth handclaps in the final mix, there is no justice in this world.

01:08 - 01:22 Second verse, same as the first

01:22 - 01:24 "You can be my lucky star". Metatext alert.

01:25 - 01:28 "We can drink some wine, Burgundy is fine, let's drink the bottle every drop". Actually Madonna, I prefer a Sancerre. But if you're buying....

02:00 - 02:13 Nice middle eight section with sampled lyrics and Street Fighter II sound effects.

02:15 - 02:40 SOUND THE DUBSTEP WARNING KLAXON. This is just a demo, so all we have are some squelchy fart noises and a slow drum beat, but if this doesn't become a WUB WUB dubstep breakdown I will eat my hat, and a conical bra for dessert.

02:41 - 02:53 Final bridge sung over acoustic guitar. Sounds exactly like Secret.

02:53 - 03:24 Climactic chorus (needs work). Song ends abruptly instead of fading out which is how it should be. Fade-outs are for wimps.

All told, Give Me Your Love is probably the strongest Madonna single, melodically-speaking, since Don't Tell Me 11 years ago. Like many of her recent records it deliberately references her hits from the 1980s and 1990s - whether this is clever writing or a lack of inspiration is up for debate.

Still, this is 100% better than anything on the appallingly bland Hard Candy - and William Orbit is allegedly back on production duties for the album - so hopes are high for 2012.

Madonna - Give Me All Your Love


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