Hung Up - Music Structure and Lyrics

Music Structure and Lyrics

Musically, "Hung Up" attempts to revive 1980s pop music. According to The New York Times, the song has vaguely familiar hooks, sustained overlays of the string arrangement and acoustic guitar enfolding the music to create a haze like sound. Billboard described the music as frothy, nonsensical and joyous. The instant familiarity of the sampled music is changed by Stuart Price and Madonna by adding a chugging groove and a chorus which singles it out as an independent song. Besides the ABBA sample, Rolling Stone said that the song also incorporated Madonna's older songs like "Like a Prayer" and "Holiday" and features fleeting quotes from bands like S.O.S. and the Tom Tom Club. Set in common time, it has a moderate dance beat tempo with a metronome of 120 beats per minute. The key of the song is in D minor with Madonna's vocal range spanning from G₃ to B♭₄. The song progresses in the following chord progressions of Dm-F-C-Dm in the verses and Dm-F–Am–Dm–Dm–F–Am–Dm in the chorus, and changes to B♭–F–A–Dm-B♭–F–A–Dm for the bridge. "Hung Up" uses the sound of a ticking clock to symbolize fear of wasted time, which was incorporated by composer Stuart Price, from the remix of Gwen Stefani's 2004 single "What You Waiting For?". According to Slant Magazine, the song embodies some of Madonna's old hits, incorporating them into the song's pitched-upward vocals while presenting an archetypical key change/tonicization during the bridge.

Lyrically, the song is written from the perspective of a girl who once had nothing and the theme centers around love. About.com compared the lyrics of "Hung Up" and another song "I Love New York" from the Confessions on a Dance Floor album, to the style of the songs in Madonna's American Life album. According to About.com, the song is written as a very traditional dance number which is rooted in relationship issues. Also present in the lyrics is Madonna's enduring embrace of strong, independent women.