4 Minutes
"4 Minutes" is a song by American singer-songwriter Madonna from her eleventh studio album Hard Candy (2008), featuring vocals by American singer-songwriter Justin Timberlake and American producer Timbaland. It was released as the lead single from the album on March 17, 2008, by Warner Bros. Records. It marked the first time in Madonna's 25-year career that another artist was featured in a single.[1] According to Madonna, the song is about saving the environment and "having a good time while we are doing it". She also cited the song as the inspiration for the documentary I Am Because We Are (2008).
For other uses, see 4 Minutes (disambiguation)."4 Minutes"
March 17, 2008
2007
- Sarm West Studios (London)
- The Hit Factory (New York)
- 4:04 (album)
- 3:10 (radio)
- Madonna
- Tim Mosley
- Justin Timberlake
- Nate Hills
- Timbaland
- Justin Timberlake
- Danja
The song was recorded at Sarm West Studios, in London, while the mixing of the track was finished at The Hit Factory studio, in New York City. Sound engineer Demo Castellon first worked on the vocals and then on the beats, while the synths were composed by Timbaland and Danja. An uptempo dance-pop song with an urban and hip hop style, "4 Minutes" incorporates Timbaland's characteristic bhangra beats and the instrumentation used in the song includes brass, foghorns and cowbells. The lyrics carry a message of social awareness, inspired by Madonna's visit to Africa and the human suffering she witnessed.
"4 Minutes" received positive reviews from music critics, who called it a busy dance track and complimented its music, which was compared to that of a marching band. Some reviewers, however, felt that Madonna sounded like a featured artist on her own song. The song peaked at number three on the US Billboard Hot 100, giving Madonna her 37th top-ten single, breaking the record previously held by Elvis Presley, as the artist with most top-ten hits. Internationally, "4 Minutes" topped the charts in 21 countries, including Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom. "4 Minutes" has sold over three million copies in the United States and a total of five million copies worldwide.
The music video shows Madonna and Timberlake singing and running away from a giant black screen that devours everything in its path. "4 Minutes" was performed by Madonna on the promotional tour for Hard Candy and during the rave segment of the 2008–2009 Sticky & Sweet Tour. The song received two Grammy Award nominations for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals and Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical at the 2009 ceremony.
Composition[edit]
"4 Minutes" is an uptempo dance-pop song,[8] composed in an urban, hip hop style.[9] It incorporates the effect of a marching band,[2][5] a clanging beat and instrumentation from a brass that is played in a "scale-like riff", as described by Caryn Ganz from Rolling Stone.[5] Other musical instruments used are foghorns and cow bells.[10] In "4 Minutes", Madonna and Timberlake sing and trade verses,[5] the rhythm moves towards a hard clanging beat as Madonna sings the lines that the "road to hell is paved with good intentions." Madonna and Timberlake start singing the chorus with Timberlake singing the line of "We've only got four minutes to save the world".[5] The track continues in the same momentum in the second verse and second chorus whence the track ends where every beat ceases except for Timbaland's characteristic bhangra beats, the brass riffs and Madonna singing the words "tick-tock" repeatedly, after which it ends.[5]
According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by Alfred Publishing, the song is written in the key of G minor and is set in time signature of common time with a tempo of 115 beats per minute.[11] Timbaland's bhangra beats are featured at the start and the end of the song. Madonna and Timberlake's vocal range spans two octaves, from F3 to Bb5.[11] The song has a sequence of D–G–C–F–B♭–D in the verses and E♭5–D5–C5–D5 in the chorus, as its chord progression.[11] The lyrics of "4 Minutes" carry a message of social awareness, inspired by Madonna's visit to Africa and the human suffering she witnessed.[2] Jon Pareles of The New York Times stated that "[h]owever, the song sounds as if four minutes is the time taken for a song to be a guaranteed pop hit or the time required for a quickie; in reality it is the only song from Hard Candy album which contains a message of social awareness in it." The sound of a clock ticking away emphasizes this message further.[12] Madonna explained in New York magazine that the line "The road to hell is paved with good intentions" did not relate to her charity work. Instead it was her question to herself: "Do I understand this opinion that I've adopted or this Zeitgeist that I've allowed myself to be swept up in? Because you could have the best intentions but not have enough information and make huge mistakes."[13] Regarding the line "Sometimes I feel what I need is a you intervention", Madonna explained, "[y]eah, meaning, sometimes I think you need to save me."[2]
Critical reception[edit]
Caryn Ganz of Rolling Stone called it "a loud, busy, energetic track", and commented that Timberlake did "his best Michael Jackson impression".[5] Freedom du Lac of The Washington Post complimented the song for being busy and brassy. She commented: "[P]ropelled by a detonative marching-band beat [...] it's one of the most thrilling things Madonna has done in this decade."[14] Billboard music reviewer and editor Chuck Taylor said that "There's an awful lot going on in the busy dance track [...] but the trade-off chorus between Madge and Justin of 'We've only got four minutes to save the world' is hooky enough unto itself to sell the song." He added that the song "qualifies as an event record between superpowers [Madonna and Timberlake] who not only share equal billing, but sound gangbusters together."[10] Chris Williams of Entertainment Weekly called it a "flirty duet".[15] Also from Entertainment Weekly, Chuck Arnold felt that "['4 Minutes'] tries a little too hard — sounding more like a Timberlake-Timbaland joint than a Madonna song", but pointing its "all-star magnetism".[16]
According to Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine, the song is an "advertisement for the rest of the album."[17] Joey Guerra of Houston Chronicle compared the track to the work of Nelly Furtado and felt that the composition was "a bid for radio play."[18] Andy Gill of The Independent called "4 Minutes" one of Hard Candy's saviors. He noted that "the Mardi Gras marching-band bumping rambunctiously along", is one of the album's "most ambitious offerings."[19] Mark Savage of BBC described the sound as "so futuristic it could realistically have been beamed in from the end of the world."[20] Ben Thompson of The Guardian said: "It has a hard to escape sense that all concerned are going through the motions [of life] – effortlessly, sometimes brilliantly."[21] Joan Anderman of The Boston Globe believed that the song is "chart-topper for its sheer star power as well as instant musical allure, and on the eve of Madonna's 50th birthday [...] '4 Minutes' feels a lot like an icon's can't-miss gift to herself." However, she noticed that the "shift in the power structure [is nowhere] more blatant than on '4 Minutes', where Madonna sounds like a featured guest trying to keep pace with Timbaland's colossal beats and Timberlake's nimble melody."[22]
Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic praised the melodic and rhythmic hook, but was disappointed that Madonna's voice is "drowned out by Timbaland's farting four-note synth – which might not have been so bad if the tracks were fresher and if the whole enterprise didn't feel quite so joylessly mechanical."[23] At the 51st Grammy Awards, "4 Minutes" garnered Madonna, Timberlake and Timbaland a nomination in the Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals category. Dutch musician Junkie XL also earned a nomination in the Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical category for his remix of the song.[24][25] While ranking Madonna's singles in honor of her 60th birthday, The Guardian's Jude Rogers placed "4 Minutes" at number 35, writing that "Timbaland’s synth-brass intro here is fantastic, and the song’s end-of-the-world grandeur still sounds razor-sharp", but stating that it would be "better without Timberlake".[26]
Chart performance[edit]
In the United States, "4 Minutes" debuted at number 68 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for the issue dated April 5, 2008, based solely on airplay.[27] Within a week, the song had jumped 65 places, reaching number three on the chart. This leap was spurred by first-week digital sales of 217,000, enabling the song to enter Billboard's Digital chart at number two, behind Mariah Carey's single "Touch My Body". The song became Madonna's first top-ten single since "Hung Up" (2005), and was her 37th Hot 100 top-ten hit, breaking the record previously held by Elvis Presley.[28] "4 Minutes" was also her highest-charting single on the Hot 100 since "Music" reached the top of the chart in 2000. For Timberlake, "4 Minutes" became his ninth top-ten hit.[29] On the Pop 100 chart, the song reached a peak of two.[30] "4 Minutes" was a success on Billboard's dance charts, topping both the Hot Dance Club Play and the Hot Dance Airplay charts.[31][32] Almost five months after its release, "4 Minutes" was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sales of two million paid digital downloads.[33] "4 Minutes" was the tenth most downloaded song in the United States in 2008 with sales of 2.37 million, according to Nielsen SoundScan,[34][35] and has sold over 3.1 million copies as of December 2016.[36]
In Canada, Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems (BDS) confirmed that "4 Minutes" debuted at the top of the Canadian Contemporary Hit Radio chart. This marked the first time any song entered at the top of the CHR chart in BDS history.[37] The song debuted at number 27 on the Canadian Hot 100 on March 27, 2008,[38] and topped the chart the next week.[39] By the end of the year, "4 Minutes" was the fifth best selling digital song in Canada with sales of 143,000 copies, and ranked fourth on the year-end tabulation of the Canadian Hot 100.[40][41]
"4 Minutes" was also a success in Australia and New Zealand. The song debuted at number three on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart, and ascended to the number-one position two weeks later, where it stayed for three consecutive weeks.[42] "4 Minutes" was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for the shipment of 70,000 copies.[43] In New Zealand, "4 Minutes" made its debut at number 14 on the New Zealand Singles Chart, and ascended to the top ten, finally peaking at number three.[44] The song has been certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ) for shipment of 7,500 copies.[45]
In the United Kingdom, "4 Minutes" debuted on the UK Singles Chart at number seven. The song became Madonna's 60th UK top-ten single.[46] It debuted on the airplay charts at number 19, with first week tallies of 564 plays and 27.10 million listeners.[47] The song rose to the top of the chart on April 20, 2008 (for the week ending date April 26, 2008), with sales of 40,634 copies, thus giving Madonna her 13th British number-one single and gave both Timberlake and Timbaland their third number one. It remained at the top for four weeks.[48][49][50] According to the Official Charts Company, it was the ninth best-selling song of 2008 and has sold 627,000 copies there as of April 2019, being certified Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).[51][52] "4 Minutes" was also number one on Billboard's European Hot 100 Singles for four weeks.[53] Overall, "4 Minutes" reached number one in 21 countries,[54] and sold over five million copies worldwide.[55]
Music video[edit]
Background[edit]
The music video was directed by French duo Jonas & François and filmed at Black Island Studios in London from January 31 to February 2, 2008.[5][56] It featured choreography by Jamie King, who worked on Madonna's Confessions, Re-Invention and Drowned World tours as well as her video for the single "Sorry" (2006).[5] Japanese hip hop dancing duo Hamutsun Serve also made an appearance in the video.[57] Before its release, Rolling Stone said that in the video Madonna and Timberlake act as if they were "superheroes" while they evade multiple obstacles.[5] In the video, Madonna wore a cream colored corset, glistening black boots and styled her hair in platinum blond waves while Timberlake wore mainly denims and a scarf around his neck.[9] Regarding the idea behind the music video, Madonna said that "it was conceptualistic". She explained that the video was shot like a march past; "It's a movement, and we want to take everybody with us."[2] About the idea of a black screen devouring everything, Madonna said,
Credits and personnel are adapted from the Hard Candy album liner notes.[4]