"Music" is a song recorded by American singer Madonna for her eighth studio album of the same title (2000). Inspired by a Sting concert Madonna attended, she wrote and produced the song with Mirwais Ahmadzaï. It is an electropop, disco, electro-funk and dance-pop song in a static key of G minor. Madonna's vocals are electronically manipulated on the track, with the lyrics having political and social undertones and reiterating the uniting power of music. The song was released as the lead single from Music on August 1, 2000, by Maverick Records and Warner Bros. Records.
Before its official release, "Music" leaked onto the internet and was put up for listening in websites like Napster, which prompted Madonna's team to issue a statement threatening legal action. The track had different release formats with a number of remixes commissioned for the song. Music critics praised the track's production, catchiness and club-friendly nature, and compared it with Madonna's previous releases. It charted at number one in Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. "Music" was also the longest running number-one song on the US Dance Club Play chart, spending a total of five weeks at the top. It has been included in many critic lists for Madonna's top singles and is often ranked as one of the best songs of the 2000s.
The song's accompanying music video, directed by Jonas Åkerlund, portrayed Madonna and her friends enjoying themselves, while traveling in a limousine driven by comedian Sacha Baron Cohen as Ali G. Academics noted the use of American imagery in the clip, especially Madonna's cowboy garb and her popularizing of cowboy fashion. In order to promote its parent album, Madonna performed "Music" at the 2000 MTV Europe Music Awards and at the 43rd Annual Grammy Awards the following year, where it was nominated in the categories of Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Additionally, the song has been a regular staple in the set list of five of Madonna's concert tours, the last being the Rebel Heart Tour (2015–2016).
Background and writing
After the critical and commercial success of her seventh studio album, Ray of Light (1998), Madonna intended to embark on a new concert tour in 1999, but due to the delay of her film, The Next Best Thing, it was cancelled. By 2000, Madonna was dating director Guy Ritchie, and was pregnant with their child. Wanting to distract herself from the media frenzy surrounding the pregnancy, she concentrated on the development of her eighth studio album, Music. Ray of Lights success had made Madonna keen to go into a recording studio and she was introduced to French DJ and producer Mirwais Ahmadzaï through photographer Stéphane Sednaoui.
In an interview with CNN, Madonna recalled that her Maverick Records company partner Guy Oseary "was given a demo by a French artist called Mirwais [Ahmadzaï]". He wanted Madonna's opinion on whether Ahmadzaï could be signed to Maverick, as he was still largely unknown in the United States. Ahmadzaï had always preferred taking musical risks and hence he wanted the collaborations with Madonna to get the best out of her. "The challenge was to make something current appear, something hidden in her personality. Everybody knows [Madonna] as a chameleon, as a businesswoman. I wanted to show her potential as a musician," he said.
Following the introspective mood on Ray of Light, Madonna was ready to be energetic with the new album, and for the title track she wanted something that would make her "feel like an animal, ready to sprung". Madonna said that the inspiration behind "Music" came from a Sting concert that she had attended at New York City's Beacon Theatre in November 1999. There, the audience was well-behaved until Sting began playing old hits by his band, The Police. The lights were dimmed and everyone came closer to the stage to listen to Sting. "Suddenly, people lost their inhibition and their politeness, and everyone was practically holding hands... I mean, it really moved me," she told Rolling Stones Jancee Dunn. "And I thought, 'That's what music does to people'". This experience inspired Madonna to write the primary hook of the song, "Music makes people come together / Music, mix the bourgeoisie and the rebel".
Recording and composition
Recording sessions for Music began in September 1999 at Sarm West Studios in West London. An energetic Madonna wanted to make the title track a party song and a statement about love. Together with Ahmadzaï she started writing down the different parts of the song, picking up chords on guitar and lyrics. Following the completion of the song "Paradise (Not For Me)", they started experimenting with electro funk for "Music" and created the primary base of the track. "It's not experimental", Ahmadzaï recalled "but its not completely easy. It was a small victory for underground music". According to Madonna, writing and producing "Music" with Ahmadzaï set the tone of the rest of the parent album. But she faced communication problems with Ahmadzaï since he barely spoke English. "The first couple of days we were recording, I wanted to rip my hair out," Madonna recalled. She asked his manager to step in as translator.
"Music" begins with Madonna's androgynous voice uttering the line "Hey Mr. DJ, put a record on, I wanna dance with my baby". After that lyric, her electronically manipulated voice asks "Do you like to boogie woogie?". The producer used an EMS 2000 vocoder to twist the vocals and described to Ernie Rideout of Keyboard as an effect of going "in fits and starts". Mark "Spike" Stent recorded the song on a SSL 9000J console using a Sony 3348 HR and a BASF 931 tape. He mixed it at London's Olympic Studios using SSL G Series Quantegy magnetic tapes. Tim Young mastered the track at Metropolis Studio at Chiswick, London. According to Rikky Rooksby, author of Madonna: The Complete Guide to her Music, the whole production has a dry sound with heavy usage of equalization which created contrast in the vocal, continuing till the first chorus. Guitar flicks can be heard with keyboard chords on the bridge. The music travels from right to left and vice versa when heard on a headphone. Musician Stuart Price, who worked the song for Madonna's 2001 Drowned World Tour, added that the rhythmic structure of "Music" was inspired from Kraftwerk's 1977 single, "Trans-Europe Express".
Harmonically, "Music" has a time signature of common time, and its composition is based on a static key of G minor with a moderate tempo of 120 beats per minute. Madonna's vocals range from G3 to two-lined note of D5, with a basic sequence of Gm–F–Gm–F as its chord progression. According to the book Madonna's Drowned Worlds, written by Santiago Fouz-Hernández and Freya Jarman-Ivens, "Music" is a "disco anthem, and the beat commands [the people] to get up and dance". The authors noted that the music was the central identification for the song, with its "splashes of electronica and production tricks" from reverse cymbal crescendo, and "tightly quantized" pitch and sounds from a Hammond organ. Madonna sang with her mouth close to the recording microphone, which Fouz-Hernández found gave the track a natural sound. Barry Walters from Billboard found the composition to also contain a blend of French electronica and 1970s electro funk, while Richard S. He of the same publication described the record as "postmodern, escapist dance-pop". Another Billboard writer, Jason Lipshutz said the song was an "electro-pop euphoria". The instrumental riff in the track is created by a 1970s analogue Moog synthesizer, which ultimately leads to the song fading out. The production in "Music" not only referenced disco and funk, but was also campy in nature as noted by Jarman-Ivens.
Lyrically the song reiterates the uniting power of music. The primary hook was deemed as having political implications, with Madonna renouncing the bourgeoisie. Fouz-Hernández believed that the line "I wanna dance with my baby" reinforced a connection with gay listeners because of its "casual, campy style". He compared the track to Madonna's first single, "Everybody" (1982), because in both songs she declares that music "has the power to overcome divisions of race, gender, and sexuality". It also recalled Madonna's early days of being carefree and living alone in New York, while being a staple in the city's night-club scene. According to Billboard, Madonna's vocals "binds a mind-blowing melange of hyperactive beats, grooves, and stinging percussive elements" in the track. The magazine adds that the song is also "saturated" with the influence of Cameo, Herbie Hancock, Nitzer Ebb and Roger Troutman.
Release detail and leaks
On June 2, 2000, an unauthorized incomplete demo of the song leaked onto the internet. Snippets of the tracks, ranging from 30 seconds to almost three minutes were circulated through fan websites and music download site, Napster. Madonna's spokeswoman Caresse Norman said that it was an unfinished version. Warner Bros. Records also issued another statement threatening legal actions against Napster lest the song was removed and added their expectation for "the owners who have included this material on their site will comply immediately with our legitimate request that they cease permitting unauthorized downloads of this song." Madonna was disappointed, publishing a letter about the leak on Icon, the magazine released quarterly for her official fanclub. The threatened lawsuit against the leak was reported in the media as Madonna being against Napster, which Madonna clarified was contrary and she "found it a great way for listeners to access music".
Warner Bros. Records initially targeted the single to be released to radio in July 2000, but it was pushed back to August 1, with the commercial release for the CD single taking place on August 21. A new website called madonnamusic.com was created for the single's release with Madonna releasing a message to her fans: "You've probably been hearing about my new record 'Music' for a while, but I just wanted to make sure that you know the single is going to drop very soon. I worked on this track with a French guy called Mirwais and he is the shit."
The CD and the B-side of the "Music" cassette single featured the track "Cyberraga", a collaboration with Talvin Singh. "Music" was remixed by Groove Armada, Deep Dish, Victor Calderone, Hex Hector, and Tracy Young; all of them were handpicked by Madonna since it was "more important to [her] that my records get played in the clubs. That's where I got my start, and that's where I will probably always feel most at home". Contemporary club music was inspiration behind the remixes with Calderone adding tribal beats and synths around Madonna's vocals. A house beat and bassline was used in Deep Dish's remix, while Hector utilized electro-skewed beats, guitar licks and breakbeat. Young's 13 minute remix used ambient interludes, house music rhythms, trance and 1970s music with Madonna's singing sounding fresh. Club DJs received the promotional remixes on August 2, 8 and 15, while they were released to retailers on August 22 in maxi-CD and double vinyl formats.
Critical reception