Madonna - Music

Madonna's Music sends pop's great reinventor back to the dance floor, a 2000 album built with French producer Mirwais and longtime collaborator William Orbit.

Coming two years after Ray of Light, the record swapped that album's spiritual glow for something funkier, glitchier and more playful, wrapped in a cowboy-hat image that nobody saw coming. Mirwais brought a jagged, cut-up electronic style that pushed Madonna into new territory, while Orbit's lush textures kept a thread of continuity with her previous work.

The title track is the obvious opener and the obvious hit, all bubbling synth bass, vocoder effects and a hook that refuses to leave. "Don't Tell Me" stutters on a chopped-up acoustic guitar that sounds like the record is skipping on purpose, while "What It Feels Like for a Girl" opens with a spoken sample of Charlotte Gainsbourg before settling into a cool, wistful glide. "Impressive Instant" goes full electro, squelchy and gleefully silly.

Underneath the gloss, there is real heart, especially on the album's quieter, folkier closing stretch, where the beats fall away and her voice takes center stage.

More than two decades later, Music still sounds sharp and ahead of the curve, proof that Madonna's instinct for the next big sound was as finely tuned as ever.