# Hard Candy (Madonna album)
**Hard Candy** is the eleventh studio album by the American singer Madonna, released by Warner Bros. Records on April 28, 2008 (globally) and April 29, 2008 (in the United States).[1](https://www.madonna.com/blogs/news/hard-candy-official-press-release) It was her final studio album recorded for Warner Bros. before she moved to a new touring and recording deal, and it paired her for the first time in a decade with American hitmakers, chiefly [Timbaland](https://www.edgepedia.org/timbaland), Justin Timberlake, and Pharrell Williams of The Neptunes.[2](https://www.rhino.com/article/once-upon-a-time-in-the-top-spot-madonna-hard-candy) • [3](https://www.classicpopmag.com/features/album-by-album-madonna/) The album reached number one on the album charts in both the United States and the United Kingdom.[2](https://www.rhino.com/article/once-upon-a-time-in-the-top-spot-madonna-hard-candy)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Artist and label | Madonna, Warner Bros. Records; her 11th studio album[1](https://www.madonna.com/blogs/news/hard-candy-official-press-release) |
| Release | April 28, 2008 (global), April 29, 2008 (US)[1](https://www.madonna.com/blogs/news/hard-candy-official-press-release) |
| Length | 56:12[4](https://www.allmusic.com/album/hard-candy-mw0000782718) |
| Principal collaborators | Timbaland, Justin Timberlake, Pharrell Williams, Kanye West, Nate "Danja" Hills[1](https://www.madonna.com/blogs/news/hard-candy-official-press-release) |
| Singles | "4 Minutes" (first single, top-5 US, #1 UK), "Give It 2 Me" (#7 UK)[2](https://www.rhino.com/article/once-upon-a-time-in-the-top-spot-madonna-hard-candy) |
| Chart result | #1 album on both sides of the Atlantic[2](https://www.rhino.com/article/once-upon-a-time-in-the-top-spot-madonna-hard-candy) |
| Significance | Madonna's last new studio album recorded for Warner Bros.[2](https://www.rhino.com/article/once-upon-a-time-in-the-top-spot-madonna-hard-candy) |
## Background and recording
Work on the album began in early 2007. The idea of working with [Justin Timberlake](https://www.edgepedia.org/justin-timberlake) came from Madonna's enthusiasm for his 2006 album *FutureSex/LoveSounds*, after which Timberlake and his producer Timbaland developed songs for her record.[2](https://www.rhino.com/article/once-upon-a-time-in-the-top-spot-madonna-hard-candy) Asked why she chose these collaborators, she told MTV: "Because they're good, and I like their shit."[2](https://www.rhino.com/article/once-upon-a-time-in-the-top-spot-madonna-hard-candy) She later said the first song she wrote with Timberlake and Timbaland was "Miles Away", and that the album was made in repeated two-week stints with waits between them, which she described as unusual for her.[5](https://theneptunes.org/2008/04/madonna-speaks-frankly-about-hard-candy/)
The collaboration marked a change of direction. For the previous three albums Madonna had worked with producers drawn from European club culture, such as Mirwais, William Orbit, and Stuart Price; *Hard Candy* was her first time working with proven American hitmakers since *[Bedtime Stories](https://www.edgepedia.org/bedtime-stories-madonna-album)*, producing a harder, groove-based sound drawing on contemporary R&B.[3](https://www.classicpopmag.com/features/album-by-album-madonna/) • [6](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/11453-hard-candy/) Recording took place at Sarm Studios in London and The Record Plant in Los Angeles.[4](https://www.allmusic.com/album/hard-candy-mw0000782718)
Madonna gave the title her own explanation in the label's press release: "The title is a juxtaposition of tough and sweetness... kind of like I'm gonna kick your ass but it's going to make you feel good. And of course, I love candy."[1](https://www.madonna.com/blogs/news/hard-candy-official-press-release)
## Songs and production
The album's 12 tracks are, in order: "Candy Shop", "4 Minutes", "Give It 2 Me", "Heartbeat", "Miles Away", "She's Not Me", "Incredible", "Beat Goes On", "Dance 2night", "Spanish Lesson", "Devil Wouldn't Recognize You", and "Voices".[7](https://www.madonna.com/products/hard-candy) The production split between two teams: five songs with Timbaland and Justin Timberlake, six with [Pharrell Williams](https://www.edgepedia.org/pharrell-williams), and one, "Beat Goes On", with Williams and [Kanye West](https://www.edgepedia.org/kanye-west), who also raps on it. Seven tracks were produced by [The Neptunes](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-neptunes) and co-written by Pharrell.[6](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/11453-hard-candy/) • [2](https://www.rhino.com/article/once-upon-a-time-in-the-top-spot-madonna-hard-candy)
"4 Minutes", the lead single released at the end of March 2008, is built on a marching-band rhythm-riff that Timbaland's strongest idea on the record.[1](https://www.madonna.com/blogs/news/hard-candy-official-press-release) • [6](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/11453-hard-candy/) The Independent highlighted the "Devil Wouldn't Recognize You" and its Beach Boys-style harmony cascade as among the album's most ambitious offerings, alongside "4 Minutes" and "Give It 2 Me".[8](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/album-madonna-hard-candy-warner-brothers-807609.html) The Guardian's review singled out three Pharrell collaborations, "She's Not Me", "Incredible", and "Spanish Lessons", as the songs where Madonna forges a genuine connection with her collaborator; Pitchfork called "She's Not Me", a prowling mix of Chic-era disco and modern pop-house, the album's most emotionally compelling moment.[9](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/apr/20/popandrock.madonna) • [6](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/11453-hard-candy/)
## Commercial performance
The album was a commercial success. It reached number one on both the US and UK album charts, giving Madonna a chart-topping album on both sides of the Atlantic at the end of her Warner Bros. tenure.[2](https://www.rhino.com/article/once-upon-a-time-in-the-top-spot-madonna-hard-candy) "4 Minutes" was a top-5 hit in the United States and a number-one single in the United Kingdom, and the second single "Give It 2 Me" reached number seven in the UK.[2](https://www.rhino.com/article/once-upon-a-time-in-the-top-spot-madonna-hard-candy) By the time of release, the album's lead single had already topped charts internationally.[10](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-madonna24apr24-story.html)
## Critical reception
Reviews in 2008 were mixed, and the album became one of Madonna's more divisive records.[11](https://madonnaunderground.com/still-sticky-sweet-madonnas-hard-candy-era/) Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic judged the productions of The Neptunes and Timbaland a couple of years old at best and described the album as a "relentlessly mercenary collection of cold beats and chilly innuendo" pitched at her club-conscious core audience; he also noted that the album was the last she would make for Warner before moving to Live Nation.[4](https://www.allmusic.com/album/hard-candy-mw0000782718) Andy Gill of The Independent read the title as a self-congratulatory pun but also heard a record that had ossified into "functional dance-pop", saved by its most ambitious songs.[8](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/album-madonna-hard-candy-warner-brothers-807609.html) The Guardian's review was more positive, writing that whenever the album threatened to get boring, something happened to recapture interest.[9](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/apr/20/popandrock.madonna) A Metacritic-sourced review called it "a serviceable and sometimes very good pop album that also happens to be a confusing and even dismal Madonna album".[12](https://www.metacritic.com/music/hard-candy/madonna/critic-reviews)
A recurring critical theme was that the producers, who had built their reputations partly updating the sound of younger female artists such as [Britney Spears](https://www.edgepedia.org/britney-spears) and [Nelly Furtado](https://www.edgepedia.org/nelly-furtado), made the record sound more like their own work than Madonna's; the Los Angeles Times critic Ann Powers described the album as a "coldly effective show of prowess" and noted that its twelve cuts unfold as a battle between the rival production teams.[4](https://www.allmusic.com/album/hard-candy-mw0000782718) • [10](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-madonna24apr24-story.html)
## Aftermath and reassessment
The album closed Madonna's Warner Bros. studio career; she subsequently signed with Live Nation, and her next studio album, *[MDNA](https://www.edgepedia.org/mdna-album)* (2012), was released elsewhere.[4](https://www.allmusic.com/album/hard-candy-mw0000782718) Later commentary has often framed *Hard Candy* as a commercial pivot that was criticized more harshly than its quality warranted: a 2015 Time review of *Rebel Heart* argued that Madonna received criticism disproportionate to the quality of *Hard Candy* and *MDNA* when she tried to rejoin the contemporary pop mainstream, and it cited *Hard Candy*'s "She's Not Me" as a good song doomed to relative obscurity by the surrounding narrative.[13](https://time.com/3735645/review-madonna-rebel-heart/)
## References
1. ["Hard Candy" Official Press Release, Icon Community (madonna.com)](https://www.madonna.com/blogs/news/hard-candy-official-press-release)
2. [Once Upon a Time in the Top Spot: Madonna, Hard Candy, Rhino Entertainment (2016)](https://www.rhino.com/article/once-upon-a-time-in-the-top-spot-madonna-hard-candy)
3. [The Albums of Madonna, Classic Pop Magazine](https://www.classicpopmag.com/features/album-by-album-madonna/)
4. [Hard Candy Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine, AllMusic](https://www.allmusic.com/album/hard-candy-mw0000782718)
5. [Madonna Speaks Frankly About "Hard Candy", The Neptunes #1 Fan Site (2008)](https://theneptunes.org/2008/04/madonna-speaks-frankly-about-hard-candy/)
6. [Madonna: Hard Candy Album Review by Tom Ewing, Pitchfork (April 28, 2008)](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/11453-hard-candy/)
7. [Hard Candy, track list and lyrics, Icon Community (madonna.com)](https://www.madonna.com/products/hard-candy)
8. [Album: Madonna, Hard Candy (Warner Brothers) by Andy Gill, The Independent (April 11, 2008)](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/album-madonna-hard-candy-warner-brothers-807609.html)
9. [Madonna, Hard Candy by Ben Thompson, The Guardian / The Observer (April 20, 2008)](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/apr/20/popandrock.madonna)
10. [Review: Madonna's 'Hard Candy' by Ann Powers, Los Angeles Times (April 24, 2008)](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-madonna24apr24-story.html)
11. [Still Sticky & Sweet! Madonna's 'Hard Candy' Era, Madonna Underground](https://madonnaunderground.com/still-sticky-sweet-madonnas-hard-candy-era/)
12. [Critic Reviews for Hard Candy, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/music/hard-candy/madonna/critic-reviews)
13. [Review: Rebel Heart Is Madonna's Most Consistent Album in a Decade, Time (2015)](https://time.com/3735645/review-madonna-rebel-heart/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musical works and recordings › Albums and recorded releases › Studio albums › Pop albums › 2000s albums*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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