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American Life (song)

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This article is about the song by Madonna. For the song by Primus, see Sailing the Seas of Cheese.

"American Life"
Faraway image of a bust of Madonna wearing a black beret and a black jacket half-open. Behind her, multiple lines in red and black can be seen.
Single by Madonna
from the album American Life
B-side"Die Another Day"
ReleasedMarch 22, 2003 (2003-03-22)
Recorded2002
StudioOlympic (Barnes, London)
Genre
Length4:57
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
  • Madonna
  • Mirwais Ahmadzaï
Madonna singles chronology
"Die Another Day"
(2002) 		"American Life"
(2003) 		"Hollywood"
(2003)
Music videos

"American Life" is a song by American singer Madonna from her ninth studio album of the same name (2003). Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Madonna began working on the album with producer Mirwais Ahmadzaï. They wrote and produced the title track, an experimental folktronica song with lyrics that criticize the so-called American Dream under the presidency of George W. Bush, and denounce Madonna's past "shallow" behavior. One part has the singer rapping. Official remixes were created by Felix da Housecat, Missy Elliott, Paul Oakenfold, and Peter Rauhofer.

"American Life" was released as the parent album's lead single on March 22, 2003. Upon release, critics reacted negatively towards the song, with many panning its lyrics and the rap; Blender magazine named it the ninth worst song of all time. Retrospective reviews have been more positive, with critics deeming it an underrated and brave single. In the United States, it became the first song ever to enter Billboard's Hot Singles Sales chart based on internet sales alone, and peaked at number 37 on the Hot 100. "American Life" became Madonna's 29th number one on the Hot Dance Club Play chart. In Europe, it reached the second spot in the United Kingdom, and the top-ten of multiple countries.

The music video was directed by Jonas Åkerlund. It shows Madonna crashing a military-themed fashion show, throwing a grenade at a Bush look-alike, which he uses to light a cigar. Prior to its release, the video caused controversy regarding its political "anti-Bush" implications, leading Madonna to release a statement explaining its concept. After the invasion of Iraq started, and due to the country's political climate at the time, Madonna decided to cancel the release of the video. An alternate version, showing her performing in front of a backdrop of flags, was released instead. Madonna sang "American Life" on her Re-Invention (2004) and Madame X (2019―2020) concert tours. She also sang it on the promotional concerts offered for the parent album in March and April 2003, the Miami stop of her 2016 Tears of a Clown show, and on her set at Stonewall 50 – WorldPride NYC 2019.

Background and development

[edit]
Mirwais Ahmadzaï (pictured in 2023) co-wrote and co-produced "American Life" alongside Madonna.

Following 2001's Drowned World Tour and the September 11 attacks, Madonna began working on her ninth studio album alongside French producer Mirwais Ahmadzaï, with whom she'd worked on her previous record, Music (2000).[1] 9/11 had a profound effect on American society, including Madonna, who fell into a period of introspection and began questioning American culture and the concept of the American Dream.[2] Feeling "let down" by the country's priorities and preoccupations, she reflected on what she referred to as her "imature past self", obsessed with things like celebrity, wealth and general superficiality. She'd go on to explain in an interview with NBC News' Matt Lauer: "I didn’t really give a shit what's going on in the rest of the world. I just didn’t. I just wanted to focus on me, me, me, my career, my life, just me".[3][2][4]

By late 2002 and early 2003, Madonna and Ahmadzaï were wrapping up recording sessions for the album, titled American Life. The album continued the same "cyber folk" sound as Music, but dealt with deeper issues such as American culture, the death of the singer's mother, her love for then husband, British film director Guy Ritchie, and the "hollowness of celebrity ―the very thing [she herself] epitomized".[3][2][4] For the title track, the singer took inspiration from, "everything I've accomplished and all the things I once valued and all the things that were important to me. What is my perspective now? I've fought for so many things, I've tried so hard to be number one and to stay on top, to look good, to be the best. And I realized that a lot of things that last and the things that matter are none of those things".[5]

It began as a demo called "Modern Life"; Ahmadzaï came up with the first verse and refrain. It took him and Madonna a year and a half to complete it.[1] She'd be inspired to write by "different things ―I could be having a guitar lesson and something would just come to me. Or [Mirwais] [would] send me over music-rough stuff that doesn't have an arrangement basic chord progressions".[6]

Recording and composition

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'American Life'
29-second sample of "American Life". Madonna complains about modern-day life and questions if she has to change her name and, Am I gonna be a star?[7]
Problems playing this file? See media help.

"American Life" was written and produced by Madonna and Ahmadzaï. Recording sessions for the the parent album took place at London's Olympic Studios.[8] Mark "Spike" Stent and Tim Young were in charge of mastering.[8] The singer was convinced by Ahmadzaï to rap on the song: "[W]e had recorded ["American Life"] and we had this instrumental thing at the end and [he] was like, 'You know what, you have to go and do a rap'. [...] [He] just told me to do stream-of-consciousness, whatever I was thinking. Because I was always drinking soy lattes, and I drive my Mini Cooper to the studio, I was just like, 'OK, let me just talk about the things that I like'. [...] I went and it was just total improv".[5] The producer wanted the rap to be "stiff and robotic [...] a mockery of the music clichés of the time".[1]

Musically, "American Life" has been noted an experimental folktronica song.[9][10] According to the sheet music published by Alfred Publishing Inc., it is written in the time signature of common time with a moderate tempo of 102 beats per minute.[11] Composed in the key of A major, Madonna's vocals span from C♯3 to B4.[11] The song follows a sequence of F♯m–F♯m5–C♯–Bm during the verses, and F♯m–C♯m–C♯m2–Bm–Bm2 during the refrain as its chord progression.[11] The lyrics find the singer lashing out at the "shallowness" of modern life, the American Dream under the conservative Bush administration, stardom and the things that once were important to her.[12][5] She explained herself: "[it's] me wanting to shout from the rooftops that we have all been living in a dream. [...] and we have to wake up to reality".[13]

It begins with Madonna's multitracked voice asking whether she'll become famous, and sarcastically whether she should lose some weight.[7] She sings in a high-pitched "little-girl" voice over a "punchy" octave synth figure synchronized with the bass drum beat.[14][7] There's a repeated acoustic guitar riff that adds "a touch of pathos" to the song, as noted by author Rikky Rooksby.[7] In one part, Madonna mentions how she tried being "the best", ultimately realizing she was in the wrong, indicating that getting other people's approval is "not a goal to have in life".[4] I live the American Dream, she bemoans "provocatively" on the refrain.[15] At the three-minute mark, Madonna raps about doing yoga, pilates, having a jet pilot, a personal trainer, butler, personal assistant, three nannies, a "bodyguard of five", yet still feeling unsatisfied.[5][7][16][2] Madonna then announces how she would like to "express [my] extreme point of view.[14]

Release and remixes

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"American Life" was released as the parent album's lead single on March 22, 2003.[17] That day, Madonna's website began offering digital purchases for $1.49. The downloads would be sent to consumers two days later;[18] however, following a leak, they were sent out a day earlier, March 23.[19] Physical releases were first issued on Australia and most European countries on April 7th.[a] The CD and 7-inch singles were made available in the US the following day.[18] On April 12, "American Life" was put on sale through digital services Liquid Audio, RioPort, and through Madonna's website in MP3 format.[20] Finally, the single was issued on 12-inch and CD maxi formats more than two weeks later, on April 29.[21]

Official remixes were created by Felix da Housecat, Missy Elliott, Paul Oakenfold, and Peter Rauhofer.[21] Michael Paoletta from Billboard singled out Felix and Elliot's remixes, which he noted as presenting "Erasure-hued synth patterns and Strafe-inflected percussion".[21] Elliot's mix has "salacious ad-libs", as well as guest vocals from singer Tweet. While Rauhofer's remix leans towards Progressive house, Oakenfold's is a rock-take on the original, with "big" downtempo beats, "cinematic" ornaments and "alt-leaning" nuances.[21] Felix da Housecat's Devin Dazzle Club Mix "softens the edges" of the original by heavily relying on the line modern life is not for me, and was included on Finally Enough Love: 50 Number Ones (2022), Madonna's third remix album.[22] A metal-inspired remix, known as the "Headcleanr Rock Mix", can be found on the singer's second remix album, Remixed & Revisited.[23]

Critical reception

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Initial critical reviews towards "American Life" were mostly negative. In one positive review, the staff of Music Week magazine placed it among the best songs from the parent album.[24] Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine deemed it a, "trite, self-aggrandizing, often awkward [...] dour and robotic" song about privilege.[25] Ed Howard from Stylus Magazine felt it was hypocritical that a wealthy female celebrity would complain about "the life she herself is leading [...] commercialism and the emptiness of entertainment culture".[26] Similarly, Ken Tucker from Entertainment Weekly concluded it wasn't "the clever self-twitting [Madonna] clearly intended, but rather a facile confirmation of her haters' most knee-jerk conviction: that [she] does not have a worldview beyond her next Pilates appointment".[16] Alexis Petridis from The Guardian panned the lyric I like to express my extreme point of view, adding: "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".[14]

"Madonna rapping? She really shouldn't have. Really. But that's just one of the missteps sabotaging [her] new single, a blurry snarl of style and composition that sounds more like a disjointed medley than a song. [...] This 'American Life' should be hastily deported".

— Negative review from Billboard's Chuck Taylor.[20]

Stephen Thompson from The A.V. Club referred to "American Life" as, "jittery, tuneless, and shallow to the point of self-parody".[27] Its sound was criticized by Chuck Taylor from Billboard: "Substituting electronic blips for melody may have worked well on 'Music' and sufficed on 'Die Another Day'. But the novelty effect is well-worn and just plain grating [now]".[20] Also from Billboard, Jon O'Brien felt that, "while most previous [Madonna] lead singles signaled an exciting new direction, the lackluster folktronica of 'American Life' resembled an outtake from Music".[9] The rap was widely panned. Thompson said it sounded like a parody "Weird Al" Yankovic would make of a Madonna song, Chuck Taylor called it "soulless [and] positively atrocious", and Instinct's Samuel Murrian compared it to chalkboard scraping.[27][20][28] From NME, Johnny Davis said it was a failed attempt at self-depriciation.[29] The staff of Blender magazine deemed it, "the most embarrassing rap ever recorded. Nervous and choppy, [Madonna] makes Debbie Harry sound as smooth as Jay-Z".[30] Writing for Rolling Stone, Ben Ratlif was slightly less harsh: "[She] raps about her daily accouterments [...] Even if she’s embracing it while criticizing it — which I believe she is — it is an embarrassment. But it’s at least an honest way to embarrass [yourself]".[15] The "banal" song earned Madonna a place in GQ India's list of the worst rappers of all time.[31] Blender placed "American Life" on the ninth spot of their ranking of the "50 Worst Songs Ever".[30]

Retrospective reviews towards the song have been more positive. Paul Schrodt from Slant Magazine wrote: "If you can forget that 'American Life' contains possibly the worst white-girl rap of all time, it's actually an admirably gutsy lead single from an album that would effectively end Madonna's reign on the U.S. pop charts".[32] Joe Lynch felt that despite not being a "creative homerun", it's "one of the most fascinating detours in pop-diva history, [and] when taken as kitsch, the rap is strangely magnetic".[33] Gay Times' Sam Damshenas and Daniel Megarry concluded that, "once seemingly unforgivable, [the rap] has since gained iconic status".[34] For The Guardian, Jude Rogers referred to "American Life" as a "genuinely interesting" song.[10] Writing for PinkNews, Nayer Missim considered it a "wilfully experimental" track that, "sums up everything right and wrong with the album at the same time".[35] Matthew Jacobs from HuffPost deemed it underrated.[36]

Chart performance

[edit]

On the week of March 22, "American Life" debuted on the fourth spot of Billboard's Hot Singles Sales chart. With 4,000 paid downloads, it marked the first time a song charted based on internet sales alone.[37][19] On April 5, after only two days of airplay and 8.8 million listener impressions, the song entered the Hot 100 at number 90.[19] With 11,000 physical sales, the continued download sales, and an audience tally of 23 million radio listeners, the song had one of the biggest Hot 100 leaps at the time, peaking at number 37 almost one month later.[38][39] The remixes reached the first spot of both Billboard's Dance Club Songs and Dance Singles Sales charts.[40][41] "American Life" gave Madonna her 29th number-one song on the Dance Club Songs chart, the most for an artist.[42] It is also one of four Madonna songs that have charted on Billboard's Hot Latin Songs, the others being "You'll See" (1995), "Celebration" (2009), and "Medellín (2019).[43] "American Life" came in at numbers 36 and 8 on the Billboard year-end Dance Club Songs and Dance Singles Sales charts, respectively.[44][45] The song reached the first spot of the Canadian singles chart.[46]

In the United Kingdom, "American Life" debuted and peaked on the second spot of the singles chart on April 26, 2003, with first-week sales of 30,000 copies.[47] It was kept off the first position by Room 5's "Make Luv", and was 2003's 100th best-selling single in the country.[48][49] According to Music Week magazine, over 72,260 copies of the single have been sold in the United Kingdom as of 2008.[50] "American Life" was successful across Europe. It peaked within the first three spots of multiple countries, such as Italy,[51] Portugal,[52] Scotland,[53] Spain,[54] Sweden and Switzerland.[55][55] In other places such as Austria,[56] Flanders Belgium,[57] France and Germany,[58][59] it reached the charts' top-ten. The single was certified Silver by France's Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique (SNEP) for shipping of 250,000 copies.[60] "American Life" reached the second spot of the European Hot 100 Singles chart.[52] In Australia, "American Life" debuted and peaked at number seven, on the week of April 24.[61] It was certified Gold by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA).[62] It was less successful in New Zealand, where it peaked at number 33, and remained one week on the chart.[63]

Music video

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Background and development

[edit]
Jonas Åkerlund directed the music video for "American Life".

The music video for "American Life" was directed by Jonas Åkerlund ―who'd worked with Madonna on the videos for "Ray of Light" (1998) and "Music" (2000)― and filmed at the Los Angeles Center Studios the first week of February 2003, under the production of Nicola Doring.[64][1] Wardrobe was provided by Arianne Phillips, while Jamie King was in charge of the choreography.[1] Conceived just as the Iraq War was breaking out, Madonna and Åkerlund wanted to do a "mini movie" that was both anti-war and anti-fashion, and would get people to "join the [anti-war] cause".[5][3] Åkerlund explained that while his and Madonna's goals aren't always to generate controversy, it was "very much the intention" with "American Life"; "it was a whole plan" ―recalled the director― "we're gonna wake people up with [the video]".[3] They settled on a war-themed fashion show, based on the "absurdity of war, and the idea of 'revolutionary fashion' and catwalks being so untouchable and elitist".[1] The singer additionally wanted to make three points with the video: Her stance on the Bush adminsitration, the superficiality of materialism, and that conventional ideas of beauty are "flawed and even damaging".[65]

In January, the crew met at the Maverick offices, where the singer had them listen to the song and explained the video's concept. A casting call went out, seeking models to represent "archetypes from everyday American life", including a man from Eastern Europe, ten "good-looking" long-haired soldiers, and two "bimbo type" pin-up girls.[1] For the dancers, the mandate was to find a group of "badass, fierce female warriors and rebels" of all shapes and sizes who could play the singer's troupe and represent "all women".[1] Look-alikes were hired to portray celebrities and public figures: Donatella Versace, Anna Wintour, Jack Nicholson, Paris and Nicky Hilton, then president of the United States George W. Bush, and Muammar Gaddafi.[1] Phillips contacted designer Jeremy Scott to create the clothes the models of the fashion show wear. Madonna wore two main costumes: The first was a U.S. Woodland camouflage ensemble with leather bondage pieces, and the other was an Army-inspired suit created by the singer's friend Stella McCartney.[1]

Filming lasted three days. According to the director, it was a very "ambitious" shoot. The crew and extras had to check in their phones before being allowed into the studio to avoid the song being recorded and leaking.[1] Several endings were filmed; in all of them, Madonna tosses a grenade. The official one has the Bush look-alike coolly picking it up to reveal that it's actually a novelty lighter, and uses it to light a cigar. In another ending, the grenade lands on the catwalk, and Madonna puts her hands over her ears as a bomb ticks down. The third one shows Bush seen sharing the cigar with a Saddam Hussein double before planting a kiss on his cheek.[3][1] Madonna recalled that the original cut was over 10 minutes long, with "lots of stops in the music and lots of car chases and conversations with people, and it kept going on in the end. And we realized we were getting a little carried away".[65] It had to be trimmed down to a reasonable lenght, in a way that was "entertaining, thought provoking and didn't compromise [Madonna's] artistic integrity", according to MTV News.[65]

Synopsis

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Screenshot of the original"American Life" video, showing Madonna crashing the fashion runway while riding on a Mini Cooper.

The video begins with soldiers getting ready for battle, intercut with scenes of Madonna singing on three screens above a cross-shaped catwalk. Backstage, models are being hurried onto the runway by a designer ―played by Scott himself. The models wear haute-couture army fatigues, and weapons as accessories; one wears a crop-top emblazoned with the words "Fashion Victim", while another wears a thong and the upper half of a translucent, camouflage burqa.[1] As the models walk the runway, they are followed by a Middle East child draped in ammunition, and several covered Muslim women.[66] Madonna and her female troupe, meanwhile, are getting ready in a public bathroom. In one part, she uses a knife to carve the words "Protect Me" on the wall of one of the stalls.[67] As they make their way to a camouflage Mini Cooper with a license plate that reads "Hell on Wheels", the singer and women perform a gymnastic "Rhythm Nation-like" choreography.[1][66]

They get into the car and drive straight through a wall, crashing the fashion show. After climbing through the vehicle's sunroof, Madonna tosses a soy latte over her shoulder and slides down the hood. She then grabs a hose and blasts the crowd of laughing paparazzi and celebrities. What follow next are scenes of mutilated soldiers being dragged down the catwalk by medics, intercut with actual news footage from war-torn countries, bloody children laying on stretchers, fighter jets dropping missiles, a toddler holding an assault rifle, and mothers carrying babies out of demolished homes. A woman in a headscarf runs down the catwalk engulfed in flames as bombs detonate, sending more mutilated soldiers flying. Madonna accelerates the car through the audience and uses her teeth to pull the pin on a hand grenade, throwing it into the crowd, laughing maniacally as she she does it. The grenade is caught by a man resembling Bush, who uses it to light up a cigar.[1]

Release and reception

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The video was set to premiere on April 4 on MuchMusic and VH1.[67] A February 9 press release explained it would be, "the most shocking anti-war, anti-Bush statement yet to come from the showbusiness industry [...] [a] mad frenzy depicting the catastrophic repercussion and horror of war".[68] The singer was accused of being "un-American", propping her to issue a 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".[64] She further insisted that she wasn't "anti-Bush" or "pro-Iraq", but "pro-peace" and critical of the "perception many people have of what it means to be an American".[64]

"The first time in Madonna’s career where she voluntarily self-censored her work... The backlash suffered at the time likely would have made the proverbial whipping she endured for her Sex book seem like harmless roleplay, but the video turned an awkward, self-aggrandizing song about privilege into a startling comment on the obscenity of war and materialism —one that [should've] undoubtedly been looked back on as brave".

— Sal Cinquemani commenting on the video.[69].

Madonna ultimately decided not to release the video. On April 1st, she posted a statement on her website explaining her last minute decision. Pointing out it was filmed before the war started, she said it wasn't "appropriate to air at this time", further adding she did not want to "risk offending anyone who might misinterpret [the video's meaning]".[70][67] The singer's choice was criticised by both Alexis Petridis and Heather Havrilesky, who felt it was a "disingenuous" and "empty" attempt to generate publicity, controversy and "draw attention to herself".[14][66] Colombian singer Shakira was also critical, expecting "a little more backbone" from Madonna, adding that, "good pop music [should] always [be] political in times of crisis".[71] By his part, Åkerlund understood and respected Madonna's choice: "I was totally against it [...] Then when I traveled to America [...] I understood it. [...] The decision [to back down] was very unlike her [...] but in this specific case, it actually made sense".[1] Despite this, the video aired on Germany and European television.[3][72] There were talks of a commercial release in the US, but nothing was ever confirmed.[72]

Two years later, Madonna would tell Spanish newspaper El País that she was motivated by the safety of her children's lives and a potential negative impact on Ritchie's film career. "I was ready to fight, but there came a time when I remembered that I had a family", she explained.[1] Lauer and El País both suggested the backlash faced by the Dixie Chicks following their remarks about Bush influenced the singer's choice, but she vehemently denied it.[73][4]

A "drastically edited" alternate video premiered on April 16, following a VH1 special called Madonna Speaks.[13][1] Released as the official video in the US, it shows Madonna in the Stella McCartney suit performing in front of a backdrop of changing flags.[1][3] Åkerlund recalled: "We needed [a video] fast... and we didn’t want to lose the momentum, so I remember doing that video in a day or two".[3] On April 27, 2023 ―to commemorate the album's 20th anniversary and prior to kicking off her retrospective Celebration Tour― Madonna uploaded the original video to her official YouTube channel.[74] Released in a 4k remastered "Director's Cut", it ommited the ending with the Bush look-alike catching the grenade.[75]

Writing for Salon, Havrilesky expressed disappointment with the original visual, deeming it, "patently predictable at a time when 'disturbing' images of war fill every channel, and 'controversial' is a word that describes any [video] or song that isn't merely about partying or wearing incredibly expensive jewelry".[66] Petridis felt that, "a lot of fuss [was] made over nothing".[14] In 2010, Slant Magazine deemed it the 19th best of the 2000s. Jonathan Keefe said it came across as a "damning indictment of the reactionary groupthink that gripped [the US] in the early days of the Iraq War", but criticized its lack of subtlety.[76] In 2022, the same publication named it Madonna's 22nd greatest music video.[69] The "bad-ass" video was named the singer's 32nd best by TheBacklot's Louis Virtel.[77] "American Life" was considered one of Madonna's most controversial music videos by Sal Cinquemani ―writing for Billboard― and HuffPost's Daniel Welsh.[78][79]

The alternate version received negative reviews. Åkerlund himself admitted it wasn't "terribly impressive on its own".[3] Encyclopedia Madonnica author Matthew Rettenmund chastised the singer for replacing her "most daring" video with "one of her worst".[3] Nick Bond from news.com.au said it was "the worst thing a Madonna video can be: Boring".[74] Gary Grimes from Rolling Stone added that, "it left most people shocked, not for its brutal imagery or insensitivity but instead for its uncharacteristic simplicity".[1]

Live performances

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Madonna playing guitar as she sings "American Life" during her set at Stonewall 50 – WorldPride NYC 2019.

On April 22, 2003, Madonna sang "American Life" on the MTV special On Stage & On the Record.[80] One day later, she did a special appearance at a New York Tower Records store and sang the track in both an acoustic version and its original form.[81] The next month, she sang it at a London HMV store, and the BBC One's Friday Night with Jonathan Ross and Top of the Pops.[82][83][84] "American Life" was also sung during a small private concert offered at Paris' Cantine du Faubourg.[85]

The song's performance on 2004's Re-Invention World Tour began with the sound of dropping bombs.[86] Imagery of helicopters, bombed-out villages, war-ravaged children and "general death and destruction" flashed on the backdrop screens, as dancers onstage dressed as soldiers crawled on their bellies and did push-ups.[87][88] Then, Madonna appeared on top of a stack of television sets, donning military fatigues and a black beret.[87][88][89] In the number, there were soldiers attacking religious figures such as a pregnant nun and a rabbi, and men in cages.[90][91] At one point, the singer and dancers walked on top of a V-shaped catwalk that descended from the ceiling and extended right out into the audience.[87] The original music video ―with the Bush and Hussein ending― played on the screens.[92] Angela Pacienza from Yahoo! News opined Madonna's "button-pusher attitude was let loose" during the performance, which Jane Stevenson from the Toronto Sun considered to be the night's "biggest production".[90][93] A performance of "American Life" from this tour was included on Madonna's first live album, I'm Going to Tell You a Secret (2006).[94]

On October 15, 2008 ―one of the Boston stops of the Sticky & Sweet Tour― Madonna did an a capella rendition of "American Life" per the crowd's request.[95] Eight years later, she sang the track on the Miami concert of her Tears of a Clown show. Before singing, Madonna ―who wore a pink clown costume― repeteadly attacked president Donald Trump, reflected on the 2016 elections, the turmoils of the Native Americans, and the Dakota Access Pipeline protests; "It just really makes me feel ashamed – ashamed to be an American", she said.[96][97]

Madonna did a guitar-led rendition of "American Life" during her 30-minute concert at the Stonewall 50 – WorldPride NYC 2019 on June 30. She wore a black leather jacket and a sparkling patch over her left eye, and was surrounded by dancers dressed as spies.[98] Joel Lynch from Billboard opined that, "the message [of 'American Life'] has only grown more timely in the 16 years since its release".[99] A similar performance was done on that year's Madame X Tour. Wearing her eye-patch, Madonna sang and played guitar as torn uniforms fell from above the stage, and dancers dressed as soldiers dragged a coffin covered with a flag.[100][101] While Las Vegas Weekly's Josh Bell said it was one of the numbers that, "fit best with the [concert's] theme of defiance", Paper magazine's Bradley Stern saw it as a "minimized" rendition of the Re-Invention performance.[102][101] The song was included on both the film that chronicled the tour and its accompanying live album.[103][104]

Formats and track listings

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Credits and personnel

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Credits adapted from the liner notes of the American Life album.[8]

Charts

[edit]

Certifications and sales

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Certifications and sales for "American Life"
Region Certification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[62] Gold 35,000^
France (SNEP)[60] Gold 250,000*

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Release history

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Release dates and formats for "American Life"
Region Date Format(s) Label Ref.
United States March 24, 2003
Warner Bros.
[141]
April 8, 2003 CD single
[142]
Australia April 14, 2003
[143]
United Kingdom
[24]
Japan April 23, 2003 Warner Music Japan
[144]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ See sources cited on "Weekly charts" section

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Grimes, Gary (April 14, 2023). "Madonna at War: An oral history of the 'American Life' video". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on April 14, 2023. Retrieved April 13, 2025.(subscription required)
  2. ^ a b c d O'Brien 2008, pp. 366–368
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Urbanek, Sydney; Unterberger, Andrew (April 11, 2023). "'Maybe we're wrong': When Madonna got cold feet over her 'American Life' video". Billboard. Archived from the original on April 11, 2023. Retrieved April 13, 2025.
  4. ^ a b c d Lauer, Matt (April 29, 2003). "Madonna: An American Life". NBC News. Archived from the original on October 22, 2021. Retrieved April 17, 2025.
  5. ^ a b c d e Norris, John. "Madonna: Her American Life". MTV. Archived from the original on June 5, 2003. Retrieved April 14, 2025.
  6. ^ Rees, Paul (February 2003). "Listen very carefully, I will only say this once". Q. p. 2. Archived from the original on February 24, 2014. Retrieved April 18, 2025.
  7. ^ a b c d e Rooksby 2004, pp. 61–62
  8. ^ a b c Madonna (2003). American Life (LP, Vinyl, CD). Maverick. Warner Bros. 48439-2.
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Bibliography

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