Release and Artwork
Hard Candy was released on April 25, 2008, in the European countries of Germany, Ireland, Austria and Netherlands. On April 28, the album was released in the United Kingdom, Brazil and throughout the rest of Europe, and on April 29, in the United States, Mexico and Canada. Billboard reported that the title of the album was Licorice, as announced on the Sirius Satellite Radio programme OutQ. In an interview with MTV Australia, Madonna explained that a prominent theme of the Hard Candy album was about incorporating the image of a boxer, an idea which has been repeated within the song "Give It 2 Me". According to her, " is basically . I'm not, 'give me all you got', so it's quite a sort of tough stance." Hence, initially Madonna decided that the title of the song was to be used for the then-unnamed album. This was changed following the release of a similarly named song by Timbaland. After that, Madonna decided to call the album Black Madonna, and even shot a photograph for the cover art, wearing blackface make-up with white eyes. In a 2009 interview with Rolling Stone Madonna commented:
"I did a photoshoot with Steven Klein for my last album cover, and I painted my face black, except for red lips and white eyes. It was a play on words. Have you ever heard of the Black Madonna? It has layers of meaning and for a minute, I thought it would be a fun title for my record. Then I thought, 'Twenty-five per cent of the world might get this, probably less, it's not worth it.' It happens all the time, because my references are usually off the Richter scale."
The title of the album was finally confirmed by MTV as Hard Candy. Madonna's representative Liz Rosenberg told Entertainment Weekly: "She loves candy, about the juxtaposition of tough and sweetness, or as Madonna so eloquently expressed: 'I'm gonna kick your ass, but it's going to make you feel good." The album cover art was also released at the same time and featured Madonna with short cropped hair in a black leotard with a boxing title belt across her waist. The belt includes the inscription "Give It to Me", the original title of the album. The backdrop displayed pink peppermint swirls. The photo was taken during a photoshoot with Klein for Interview magazine's April 2008 issue.
Read more about this topic: Hard Candy (Madonna Album)
Famous quotes containing the words release and and/or release:
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