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"4 Minutes To Save The World" has leaked. (NEW: HI-Q LINK.)

Wow...I like it. It's absolutely credible as a Top 40/urban song—unlike some of her awkward attempts on Bedtime Stories. Because it's so instantly catchy, and because I know I'll have another 11 or 12 (if you buy the Japanese!) songs that should have more of it, I can forgive that it's not more Madonna-driven.

I think, based on this, she just might pull off the urban experiment and have a great, big hit out of it.

Comments

[dário nemésio]

Yes! Good "urban" sound. Yes, M!

[joe to hell]

i cant believe i am saying this....let alone typing it and meaning it - its a FUCKING LOAD OF CRAP.

i think this is the end of the road for me and her.

its average and common. and it reeks of desparation. i am so disappointed. its my biggest fear realized

ech

[david]

joe to hell: i think you probably just don't like current pop trends if you think this is a "fucking load of crap"...

this is an anthem! it's excellent... in HQ it's only going to sound better, and i have to say it feels very Madonna. the lyrics are clearly hers, and its really melodic. the production is stellar and very NOW.

love. love. love.

[Dashus]

Amen David Amen. I LOVE it!

[daryl d]

This is her most "anthem" song since "Ray of Light." The ONLY disappointment is that there is too much Justin on it and not enough Madonna. But I hear Madonna is featured more where the song was cut off. Still, Justin's over presence doesn't take away the quality of the song one bit. Nice work to the two Ts and Madonna.

[John Logsdon]

Who is this Madonna woman I keep hearing so much about? This song rocks...I think she'll go far!! ;)

[joe to hell]

no - i dont like the current pop music trends - you are right

but i never hard to - madonna always took me in a different direction or added variety to the pop mix. not anymore

im not sayin gits a bad song....its not. its a bad MADONNA song. big difference.

i dont need madonna to blend into the pop landscape. i look to her to define it....

[daryl d]

well, Joe. I didn't like "Die Another Day" but I never said I was through with her cause I didn't like it. If I were you, I'd just wait for the next album. After she gets the "I need a commercial hit" bug out of her, she'll go back to making revolutionary music. I know this isn't revolutionary, but it is still banging and I've listened to it more than 30 times. I can't wait for the hq leak.

[lala]

jt is way to prominent why isn't she singing the chorus? is her voice totally gone or something?

[Bears Are Fat]

I think the song is OK but it's hard to tell because of the low quality of the rip. Actually, I mostly responded to how cheesy the French DJ is -- the French have cheesy radio too!

[Matthew Rettenmund]

Joe: Sorry you hate it! Being as objective a possible, I kinda liked "Candy Store" and "The Beat Goes On," but I could understand the complaints, too. On this song, while she does not take command of it the way Justin does with his "only got 4 minutes to save the world," I don't mind that while at the same time I can also see why some would regret that she's not more dominant. But I love this. It's catchy, fresh and fun without feeling stupid. I really think this is a triumph. Will it be a hit? I think so. I see it selling well and getting at least the same if not better airplay as "Hung Up." As for the desperate part, I don't know...I see what you mean, but she could just as easily have been called desperate for doing (the fab) Confessions, since it was such a marked retreat back to her safety zone. This song (and the ones we've heard) could be called desperate because she's working with those who allegedly hold the keys to Top 40 radio. However, if Madonna wants a big, fat hit, I don't think aggressively venturing into hip-hop is the safest way to go about that. This song turned out great, but as we saw with "Candy Store," that kind of move threatens to alienate long-time fans while not wowing new fans thanks to her age and her image. If "American Pie," going on the French version of American Idol and "American Life"'s rap didn't turn you off Madonna for good, you should be able to weather this! [Unless you meant more like this could be your breaking point for caring about her future output to the extent you have so far? I have those feelings from time to time. Things that have made me question if I'd care much longer included: Truth Or Dare (loved it, but loved it so much it made me feel idiotic for being a "fan"), Kabbalah, plastic surgery and when she praised Eminem. But I got over it.]

[joe to hell]

i survived britney, the AL rap, the films, missy elliott, etc etc etc - all because they were moments, and not full eras. this is about to be a new era....so this hiphop foray will last for the entire cycle. its not a moment that will soon pass.

i do not like seeing her resort to commonality. she could have and shoudl have pulled a ray of light trick out of her ass - something unexepcted and different. this is different, but it IS expected of everyone in pop today.

she is going for the mass appeal here - and thats a marked departure. usually mass appeal followed her.now she follows it and hopes to ride the train.

i dont want my madonna riding the train. i want her driving it. or conducting it - hatever it is called. and those days are long over.

[Tomi Luka]

Here's a link to the same clip with the announcer's voice removed.

http://gueywatcher.blogspot.com/2008/03/madonna-leaks.html

[daryl d]

Eric Bradley - music director and friend of mine (I worked at B96 in the early nineties) who hates everything Madonna post 1992 told me this is the most promising thing she has done in years. He thinks it is a sure fire number one hit in the USA. In terms of the rest of the album, he has mixed feelings. He says the production is top notch and Madonna's voice has a lot of soul in it. BUT it doesn't sound like a Madonna album - in the way Bedtime Stories didn't and he thinks some of her hard core fans may be alienated. Oh well, we shall see.

[Tomi Luka]

Here's a link to the same clip with the announcer's voice removed.

http://gueywatcher.blogspot.com/2008/03/madonna-leaks.html

[Matthew Rettenmund]

That's insane that you know Erik Bradley of B96...I do, too, from when he ran a boy group. I can't believe anyone could not like everything post-92...there is such a tremendous variety in that hunk of her career, and there's just no excuse for hating Ray Of Light, among many other examples ("Secret" "Music" "Hung Up"...). But very interesting. I was holding off on saying "#1" too fast, but it would not shock me. The alienation thing doesn't matter. The longer you exist, you're going to alienate fans depending on what you do unless you always do the same thing...but they're alienated if you do that, too.

[Ben]

Um...I'm going to reserve final analysis. I had 2 versions of the rip but couldn't make much out of either...except that Justin is better served in the mix (vocally) than Madonna. I can't believe she'd do a track and let him sound better than her!!!!

So we shall see. The beats are ok. Typical Timba. The lyrics are not as ridiculous as Candy Shop/Candy Store and Beat Goes On. Unlike Perez Hilton, I like the horn loops, but the chorus is week! Madonna should be singing the Four minutes part....

[Matthew Rettenmund]

Ben: It's unfortunate that a "tastemaker" like Perez is not into the song (or is it unfortunate that he is a tastemaker???)—doubtless it does not help to have millions of people hearing the song sucks before hearing the song. But my immediate, genuine reaction was, "I love it!" and that hasn't diminished as I've played it. Thanks, Tomi—I was getting attached to the French DJ on there!

[mikemoderndancer]

Hey guys,
For those of you who are upset at Maddy for 'jumping on the train, instead of being the conductor' (for once in her career)
let's get real. US Radio won't play her music and keep giving her the excuse that her sound "doesn't fit the musical genre that's popular now", etc. They've come up with one excuse after another for not playing her music. To me, this is her way of saying "Okay Motherf*ckers, I'm going to put out a musically relevant album that's exactly what's popular right now.
Now give me a f*cking excuse for why you won't play my music and thus, I won't have a top 10 hit for the rest of my career because of it"...
If they won't play this, we'll know just how controlled our US radio/media system is.
I totally agree that it's disappointing that Madonna has to
resort to following a current trend, but honestly, this is the only way she's going to get any
radio airplay and put her in the mainstream again. And I might add, this song is WAY better than half of the crap that's on the radio right now. It's brilliant.
All hail to the QUEEN!

[daryl d]

Perez is such an idiot for posting a review of a lq mono leak. It's as if the "lambs" are giving him money. Warner must be pissed about this.

[Tomi Luka]

Well, being realistic, Perez is not so much as an opinion makes as one might think he is. A lot of people don't know or care who he is. Plus, buzz on the track so far is positive and deservedly, I love the song, way more than TBGO and Candy Store.

One thing I can derive from the track... Madonna is one impatient, time-sensitive woman. In how many songs is she going to use the word 'Waiting'? Not to mention rhyming it with 'hesitating.' This is going from a lyrical motif to plain Rain Man. I'm just saying.

And I agree with Mike, if they don't give airplay to this song she's made with the very people that dominate the charts, then it's just ludicrous, and it'd make sense that her decision to work with this people has to do with it -- just don't expect her to admit it. Just be grateful that of all the hitmakers she chose the most talented ones. At least is not Fergie's people.

-t-

p.s. Sorry for the duplicated comment, technical mistake.

[ventura]

utterly dreadful song
I cant believe ppl actually like it! she has sacrificed quality for commercial appeal, and unfortunatley, i doubt it will do good on radio, which what she was hoping for by collaborating with tired producers such as Timbaland and Pharrel.

I love and will always love Madonna, sadly, i think this is the worst of her material i have heard.

Fuck the american airwaves, stick to what u do good.

[Bears are Fat]

I have been a huge Timbaland fan for years and years, since SWV, Ginuwine, Nicole, Aaliyah, etc, back in the mid-90s -- for years he has been an incredibly inventive presence in pop and hip-hop; I strongly suspect that he might be 'family'. And of course I love Madonna, and JT too. I think this collaboration is fine. A lot depends I think on the whole album and how it sounds in relation to the rest of it.

I also think that this song is probably not the 'best' or most bankable song on the album. Madonna often releases a 1st single that enunciates a musical theme or direction, but I think it is the second single that usually kills it: e.g., Frozen v. Ray of Light; Secret v. Take a Bow; Music would be an exception I think.

I will be very surprised if this is a big hit on US radio. I agree with Perez actually, I don't love this immediately.

And why are so many people here pretending that Madonna is some kind of trailblazing experimental artist? She's always been commercial pop.

[Matthew Rettenmund]

Bears: I think it will be a radio hit, but if it's not, she should just forget even caring about radio. It feels like she's saying, "You're saying it's not me, it's my material. So here is the kind of material you want—with my lyrical signature on it—if you don't play it, it's ME."

As for being innovative, she's not like a Bjork who follows the beat of her own pink elephant, but she's led musical trends rather than following them (at least, rather than following them once they're very mainstream already)—"Vogue," "Justify My Love" and the RAY OF LIGHT album come to mind. But you're right, for every "Secret" there is a "You'll See," for every "Music" there's a "Hung Up"—I like them all, but only some are inventive, and some are more like big presents that don't ask for any kind of a stretch from the listener.

I was thinking "4" reminds me a lot of "Music" in that we heard bits of it low-q before it came out and fans were very uncertain, people didn't jump on it until it officially hit radio and looked like a winning hit. Now, it's hard to think of "Music" as being unusual, but the sound was way out there at the time. I know plenty of fans who never warmed up to it, and yet it's one of her anthems.

I think "4" misses being an anthem because her true anthems are a lot less specific—"Holiday," "Music," "Ray Of Light"—but "4" does have, IMO, an extremely catchy, uplifting party vibe that propels the listener.

I guess it could bomb, but my instinct is it feels like a hit. If it's not, like I said, it's HER that radio is rejecting for being too old.

[jp]

oh it will be a hit for sure, c'mon, justin timberlake is on it. justin is like the abba sample on hung up, she's a very clever girl.

but I think candy shop is more perfect-pop and could have been the first single, it would work well for her. hope it's second single.

as for the song, sounds great to me but what kills it is the fact that justin is singing more than madonna really is, and that's WEIRD! I'll reserve final judgement when I hear the high quality mp3 of the full song.

jp