Music (Madonna Album) - Singles

Singles

"Music" was released as the lead single from the album on August 21, 2000 by Warner Bros. Records. "Music" has been praised by many contemporary critics. Some compared it with Madonna's older songs, as "Into the Groove (1985) and "Holiday" (1982). "Music" achieved international success by topping the charts in 25 countries worldwide. It became Madonna's 12th number-one single on the US Billboard Hot 100, making Madonna as the second artist to achieve number one hits in the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s in the chart. In the United Kingdom, "Music" peaked at number one on the UK Singles Chart. In the song's accompanying music video, comedian Sacha Baron Cohen appeared in the music video as his alter-ego Ali G. The song received two Grammy nominations in the Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance categories.

"Don't Tell Me" was released on November 21, 2000 by Warner Bros. Records as the second single from the album. The song was written by Joe Henry, Madonna's brother-in-law. He performed and released the track, originally named "Stop", on his 2001 album Scar. His wife Melanie sent a demo of the track to her sister, who liked it and recorded her version. The song received positive reviews from contemporary critics. It reached at number four and spent eight weeks in the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100. The song topped the music charts in the Canada, Italy and New Zealand and attained top-ten positions on the charts of many other European nations. The music video features Madonna walking down an automated treadmill walkway in front of a projection screen, while cowboys dance and play on the sand in the video played on the screen behind her, and was directed by Jean-Baptiste Mondino. In 2005, the song was placed at number 285 on Blender magazine's "The 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born".

"What It Feels Like for a Girl" was released as the third and final single from the album, on April 17, 2001. It received positive appreciation from contemporary critics. The song lost the top-twenty on the official chart of the United States, but it was a success on the US dance charts. The music video, directed by Guy Ritchie, portrays Madonna as an angry woman on a crime spree. Throughout the video, she is shown stealing money, driving dangerously, damaging property and setting fire to a gas station. It also has shots of pill containers and alcohol in the motel, several driving licences and Madonna putting on body armour. The final shot in the video is the car driving into a pole at full speed. Critics criticized the video for being overly violent and graphic. Madonna's spokesperson said that there was a lot of violence because it tells the story of a woman who had probably been abused. Madonna also explained that her character was acting out a "fantasy and doing things that girls are not allowed to do." The video was banned from most North American and European video stations including MTV and VH1, receiving only early hours play.

"Impressive Instant" was released as a club promo only single with remixes by Peter Rauhofer on September 18, 2001. It went to number one on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart where it stayed for two weeks. Madonna originally wanted to release it as the fourth single, but Warner Bros. wanted "Amazing" as the next single. Madonna felt the catchiness and sound of "Amazing" was too similar to "Beautiful Stranger" and wanted "Impressive Instant". Warner Bros. then planned to move forward with the release of "Amazing" without Madonna's help since she was too busy to film a music video due to prepping for her next tour. However, only a promotional CD single of "Amazing" was released in Europe and Germany as a promo single.