Hard Candy

Hard Candy is a let-down after 2005's triumphant "Confessions on a Dancefloor." Still, your disappointment is tempered by the certainty that there'll be another Madonna album along in a bit, and it would be a foolish man who wrote off her chances of scaling the heights again.

Overall, Hard Candy sounds a bit too much like Madonna’s trying to catch up with the American R&B princesses. Having said that, she holds her own for the most part, and when her own voice shines through, she reminds us why she’s outlasted so many.

Hard Candy is the sound of pop's ultimate superbrand consolidating her success. [June 2008, p.134]

Flowing with an easy energy, it's the last track on an album that shows Madonna still firmly on the dancefloor, but with her eyes now turning to the USA. [June 2008, p.106]

Hard Candy is a serviceable and sometimes very good pop album that also happens to be a confusing and even dismal Madonna album.

Timbaland's productions are the weaker links on this frustratingly ordinary album.

This time, Madonna is just another singer drawing on the chart appeal of Timbaland, Timberlake and Pharrell, which makes this particular piece of candy taste like a sour ball: It's appealing to fans, but it's not for everyone.

So yes, a solid enough album by the standards of most pop tarts, but from the mistress of innovation? Pretty mediocre.

It is overpopulated with recycled pop that is indistinguishable and artificial, something Madonna’s soothing arpeggiating vocals cannot alleviate.

Hard Candy is as a rare thing: a lifeless Madonna album.

Overall, Hard Candy lacks subtlety and is overworked and overproduced.

Quite evidently her attempt to court an urban audience after the disco leanings of this record’s immediate predecessor-–whatever 'urban' actually means nowadays-–Madonna’s sidestepping outside of her shimmer-pop comfort zone has resulted in a well-intentioned failure of an album that will be a commercial success regardless of any critical indifference.