Madonna has seen her fair share of leakage in her day, but this weekend has truly been a full-fledged torrent of leakage–from the 1983 demo of “Holiday” all the way to the Celebration sessions with Oakenfold.
While I don’t care to get into every song in detail (Hard Candy Music did an incredible job keeping up being the faithful Madge devotees they are!), there is one track that requires some serious attention: “Animal.”
The track, originally recorded during the Hard Candy sessions, finds Madge toying with a much smarter, snapping beat than any of the recycled hip-hop fodder that littered much of her misguided 2008 effort.
Like a mainstream interpretation of the whips-and-chains S&M play of Erotica, “Animal” has the stomping beat of a solid synth-pop scorcher, yet snarls with the bite of something much more sinister: “Might be hard to hear you with my bit in your mouth / If it starts to hurt, then you’ll have to scream out,” she declares. Good to know she’s still making good use of that riding crop.
Dark, smart, and dare I say forward thinking (especially if this were released two years ago), “Animal” is everything “Revolver” tried to be, but without a trace of that desperate aftertaste.
Are you listening, Guy Oseary? This should have been a hit.