| "American Life" | |||||||||
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| Single by Madonna | |||||||||
| from the album American Life | |||||||||
| B-side | "Die Another Day" Calderone & Quayle Afterlife Mix | ||||||||
| Released | March 24, 2003 (digital download) April 8, 2003 (US) April 14, 2003 (Europe) |
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| Format | Digital download CD single Vinyl single |
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| Recorded | London, England | ||||||||
| Genre | Pop rap, electropop | ||||||||
| Length | 4:58 | ||||||||
| Label | Maverick, Warner Bros. | ||||||||
| Writer(s) | Madonna Mirwais Ahmadzaï |
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| Producer | Madonna Mirwais Ahmadzaï |
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| Certification | Gold (ARIA) | ||||||||
| Madonna singles chronology | |||||||||
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"American Life" is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Madonna. It was the first single from her 2003 studio album American Life and was released on April 8, 2003 by Maverick Records.
The song was a worldwide success as it reached number one in Canada, Denmark, Italy, Japan, Switzerland, and the top ten in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Germany, Finland, Poland, the Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Spain, Sweden. In the United Kingdom it peaked at number two. The song performed poorly in the United States, peaking at thirty-seventh place.[1]
Contents |
The song was written and produced by Madonna and Mirwais Ahmadzaï. It was first released on April 8, 2003 in the U.S. and on April 14 in Europe. The song premiered on radio worldwide on March 24, the same day that it was sent out as an official digital single by mail to American fans who purchased the MP3 on Madonna's official website. The song received remixes by Missy Elliott, Peter Rauhofer, Felix da Housecat and Paul Oakenfold.
The single cover that was released on April 8 was different from the original cover artwork. Initially, an image of the single was released to the media showing Madonna holding a machine gun. The doctored single cover featured the same picture, but minus Madonna holding the gun. The single cover includes a "Parental Advisory" sticker.
Madonna performed "American Life" during the American Life Promo Tour which included an MTV special, "On Stage And On Record". She also performed it on the 2004 Re-Invention World Tour. She also briefly performed a few lines of the song on her North American leg of the Sticky & Sweet Tour in Boston, during the request segment of the show.
Reviews of the song were mostly negative. In 2004, Blender magazine listed the song at #9 on the list of the 50 Worst Songs Ever, stating that Madonna "updates the 'Material Girl'-era satire of commercialism and spiritual emptiness... with what is hands-down the most embarrassing rap ever recorded. Nervous and choppy, she makes Debbie Harry sound as smooth as Jay-Z." The worst moment comes when, "[a]fter rapping, Madonna sings, 'Nothing is what it seeeems,' in a manner drained of all profundity."[2] Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine labeled it a "trite, self-aggrandizing and often awkward song about privilege" and a "dour and robotic" track.[3] Stylus Magazine commented negatively: "When one of the world's richest women complains about commercialism and the emptiness of entertainment culture ... it just comes across as hypocritical rather than insightful; here, she's raging against the life she herself is leading."[4] Alexis Petridis from The Guardian was disappointed by the lyrics saying: "What on earth might her extreme point of view involve? That the world is ruled by a shadowy cabal of super-intelligent lizards? ... Sadly not. Her extreme point of view turns out to be that money can't buy you happiness and that fame isn't all it's cracked up to be."[5] Entertainment Weekly called the song "a yammered list of celeb perks: trainer, butler, assistant, three nannies, a bodyguard or five - seems, at first, not like the clever self-twitting she clearly intended, but rather a facile confirmation of her haters' most knee-jerk conviction: that middle-aged Madge does not have a worldview beyond her next Pilates appointment."[6] Stephen Thompson of The A.V. Club considered the song to be "jittery, tuneless, and shallow to the point of self-parody".[7]
Most recently, in 2010, Matthew Wilkening of AOL Radio labeled the song at #58 on the list of the 100 Worst Songs Ever, stating that "Madonna tries to get serious by pairing her stiffest beat ever with a high-school-level political rant."[8]
The controversial music video was shot on February 6–7, 2003 at Los Angeles Center Studios in Los Angeles, California by Swedish director Jonas Åkerlund, who worked with Madonna in her videos for "Ray of Light" and "Music". It involves a military-influenced Madonna and several male and female legion troops at a fashion show. Madonna had made many controversial videos with themes such as sex and religion in the 1980s and 1990s before incorporating violent images in her videos such as Die Another Day and What It Feels Like for a Girl in the 2000s. For "American Life", she took it to a different level by focusing on war, politics and the then-upcoming invasion of Iraq.
The video begins with several male and female models dressed as soldiers on a fashion runway, inter-cut with scenes of Madonna singing in front of a black background. During the second verse, she is shown in a restroom with four women, each aggressively preparing to enter the fashion show. In the second chorus, middle-eastern children are seen walking on the runway, and being bullied by the soldier models. During the bridge, Madonna and her group are angrily walking down a hallway, then seen dancing in front of surveillance cameras. When the rap section starts, Madonna is seen crashing into the show driving a Mini Cooper, then rapping and dancing on top of the car with her gang, after-which she starts spraying water on the audience and numerous paparazzi using a water cannon, inter-cut with scenes of injured and maimed soldier-models, war scenes, footage of poverty, hunger, death and explosions. Nearing the end of video, Madonna frantically drives out of the runway into the amused audience, and throws a hand grenade. In the original cut, the grenade lands in George Bush's hand, and the video ends with him using it to light up his cigar. Director's cut showed the grenade landing on an empty patch of the runway, and ended with a close-up of the grenade hitting the stage and Madonna's image on the big screen putting her hands on her ears.
In the heat of the attention surrounding the video, Madonna issued the following statement: "I feel lucky to be an American citizen for many reasons - one of which is the right to express myself freely, especially in my work. I understand that there have been reports about my upcoming video "American Life" in the media - much of which is inaccurate. I am not Anti-Bush. I am not pro-Iraq. I am pro Peace. I have written a song and created a video which expresses my feelings about our culture and values and the illusions of what many people believe is the American dream - the perfect life. As an artist, I hope that this provokes thought and dialogue. I don't expect everyone to agree with my point of view. I am grateful to have the freedom to express these feelings and that's how I honor my country".[9]
Due to the political climate of the country at the time, most notably the backlash on the Dixie Chicks after they made some anti-war comments, Madonna later changed her mind on that "freedom of speech". On April 1, 2003 one day after the video was first shown on a few European and Latin American music channels, and on a prime time special on the Nine Network in Australia, Madonna pulled the video and released a statement explaining why: "I have decided not to release my new video. It was filmed before the war started and I do not believe it is appropriate to air it at this time. Due to the volatile state of the world and out of sensitivity and respect to the armed forces, who I support and pray for, I do not want to risk offending anyone who might misinterpret the meaning of this video."[10]
A director's cut of the video has surfaced in recent years. It maintains most of the footage in the original but the ending is different and more graphic. In the middle of the scenes in the fashion show where Madonna hoses down the paparazzi, numerous war-injured models are carried on-stage by groups of nurses, their clothes soaked with blood. In the midst of these scenes are fast-moving war images and scenes of the crowd at the show reacting to the sights. At the very end, Madonna throws the grenade likes she does, but instead of landing in George Bush's hand like the original, the crowd gasps as the grenade lands on an empty part of the catwalk. The director's cut ends with a close-up of the grenade hitting the stage and Madonna's image on the big screen putting her hands on her ears.
In 2010, Slant Magazine placed the director's cut of the original video on the 19th place of decade's fifty best music videos list, stating: "It isn’t like either the video’s message about viewing war as a form of popular entertainment or its striking, loaded images leave much room for misinterpretation. Prescient? Yes. Relevant? Surely. Subtle? Not so much."[11]
After pulling the original video, Madonna then released an edited version that premiered on April 16, 2003 on VH1. This version features Madonna singing in front of a backdrop of ever-changing flags of different countries.
| Remix/Version | Run Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Album Version | 4:57 | |
| Clean Album Version | 4:57 | |
| Radio Edit | 4:27 | |
| Radio Edit without Rap | 4:06 | |
| Live | 5:21 | Live in Paris from The Re-Invention Tour 2004 available on I'm Going To Tell You A Secret |
| Felix DaHouseCat Devin Dazzle Club | 6:10 | |
| Felix DaHouseCat Devin Dazzle Radio Mix | 3:22 | |
| Felix DaHouseCat Devin Dazzle Radio Mix (Without Rap) | 3:22 | In place of the rap, lyrics from the second verse and the chorus are used. These are not present in the full Club version. |
| Headcleanr Rock Mix | 4:01 | |
| Missy Elliott's American Dream Mix | 4:44 | |
| Missy Elliott's American Dream Mix (Clean Edit) | 4:37 | |
| Missy Elliott American Dream Instrumental Remix | 4:33 | |
| Oakenfold Downtempo Mix/Remix | 5:32 | |
| Oakenfold Radio Edit | 4:01 | |
| Oakenfold Radio Edit (Without Rap) | 3:16 | |
| Peter Rauhofer American Anthem Part 1 | 10:44 | 2 variations of this mix exist. The version on the UK CD3/UK Maxi single is essentially the same mix in structure but contains additional vocals from the second verse and more vocals from the chorus throughout |
| Peter Rauhofer American Anthem Part 2 | 9:06 | |
| Peter Rauhofer Radio Edit | 3:50 |
Charts
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Year-end charts
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| Country | Certifications |
|---|---|
| Australia | Gold[35] |
| France | Silver[36] |
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| Preceded by "Love Is a Crime" by Anastacia |
Billboard Hot Dance Club Play number-one single May 31, 2003 |
Succeeded by "Rock Your Body" by Justin Timberlake |
| Preceded by "Gocce di Memoria" by Giorgia |
Italian FIMI Singles Chart number-one single April 11, 2003 |
Succeeded by "Gocce di Memoria" by Giorgia |
| Preceded by "I Drove All Night" by Céline Dion |
Canadian Singles Chart number-one single April 26, 2003 – May 3, 2003 |
Succeeded by "In da Club" by 50 Cent |
| Preceded by "Take Me Tonight" by Alexander |
Swiss Singles Chart number-one single April 27, 2003 |
For charts and certifications:
For official versions:
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