It took quite a long time to create ’Hard Candy’ (which is due for release soon) which is not the norm for Madonna’s albums. ‘It wasn’t done in one long stretch of time. It was very broken up ’cause the people that I work with Pharrell, Justin and Timbaland are all very busy. They work with lots of different artists. They’re on tour. They’re in movies, etcetera, etcetera. So they were very hard to schedule. ‘So I ended up doing the album in sort of two-week stints, and another wait a couple of weeks and another two week stint and wait another couple of weeks, another two week stint.
It took much longer than I usually take to make a record just ’cause there was so much space in between. I think it, it was hard for all of us to make our schedules co-ordinate and that was the biggest challenge. When we actually got in the studio and stated making music, it was actually quite simple.’
‘When I made the decision to work with Pharrell, Justin and Timbaland, it was really just a matter of I loved their records. And after I made ‘Confessions On A Dance Floor’, I was scratching my head, thinking, well, what do I want to do next? What kind of music do I want to do next? And so I asked myself, well, whose music do I love right now? Who am I listening to? What records am I buying? What makes me excited? What am I excited about right now musically? And it was those three. So I thought, well, why don’t I work with them? Yeah. And I did.’ S: ‘What was the first thing you did together?’ M: ‘The first song I wrote with Pharrell was Candy – We can’t decide whether it’s called ‘Candy Store’ or ‘Candy Shop’. I think it’s called ‘Candy Shop’ now, yes. What’s the difference, right? And the first song that I wrote with Justin and, and Timbaland was ‘Miles Away’.
‘It’s not my normal way of, of working because I don’t usually work with other artists who are also performers. Like Pharrell, he makes his own records. He goes on tour. He’s a singer himself. So is Justin and Timbaland. They were all on tour when I was working with them. So it was a little bit of a different energy working with other performers. I’m used to being the diva in the room and the person I am with is much more of a support system for me. ‘So I had to adjust to, you know, sharing diva space which was fun and sometimes there were fireworks, but it made for something interesting because everybody was very opinionated.’ S: ‘Go ahead and tell us. Who was the biggest diva?’M: ‘I’m not gonna tell you. I think we all, depending on the week, won that sweepstake.‘
*newsonline.co.za
Madonna – 4 Minutes To Save The World feat. JT & Timbaland
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-2fFTSE44s&fmt=18[/youtube]