Her digital reworking of guilty pleasures was bang on trend. After the failed profundity of American Life, Madonna wanted to make us dance again and the whole first half of the album is a day-glo, disco-savvy delight. Her bold exploration of darker, more experimental sounds and difficult emotions is balanced by tender ballad, Rain. “Give it up, do what I say/ Give it up and let me have my way…” orders Madonna’s dominatrix alter-ego Mistress Dita on the album released alongside her Sex book. Human Nature addressed the controversy around her recent book with a cheeky: “Did I say something wrong?/Oops, I didn’t know I couldn’t talk about sex.” Madonna hums, purrs and sighs through this seductive set of urban soul songs – including a title song written by Bjork and swirling single Secret. “I poured a beer into my shoe and got my freak on” she sings. Hurrah! A return to form as after the trend-chasing sounds of Hard Candy and MDNA Madonna sounds like she cares again – and not about what anybody else is doing either. The glorious Vogue was sexy, smart and irresistably danceable. But the standout single had no connection with the movie. Madonna took up smoking to achieve a suitably breathless voice on the jazzy film soundtrack. Warped on other songs, her vocals were clear and true against the guitar loop of “Don’t Tell Me” written by her brother-in-law. DJ, put a record on, I want to dance with my baby.” commanded Queen Madge, feeling playful again after the serious trance of Ray of Light. She saved the world with Justin Timberlake and sang that sex with Guy Ritchie was “metaphysical” though he would soon be “miles away”. The signature booming bass and brass of her producers dominates so much of this album that, at times, Madonna sounds like a guest at her own party. Though she admits to “feeling super-dooper” while driving her mini cooper, she suspects world peace might, on balance, prove more satisfying in the long run. For which the Material Girl yanked on a black beret and hoisted her guitar aloft to break the shocking news that fame and money don’t make people happy.
More album filler than dancefloor killer. On which Euro house artists like the Benassi Bros help Madonna onto the sweaty electronica bandwagon but – despite peppy contributions from Nikki Minaj and MIA and a reunion with William Orbit – she fails to make an emotional connection.