Did Madonna sabotage Me Against The Music?

[Cancer]

I believe this song was supposed to have originally been a solo song with just Britney, a bit more reminiscient of the Rishi Rich's Desi Kulcha Remix? 

What we got sounded plain, repetitive and boring. Britney's vocals are charismatic but they're marred by Madonna's ominious droning and that totally spoils the track for me.

Britney is great in the music video with slick choreography and a Jacksony look, but Madonna spoils it again by leering at her throughout the whole video, brandishing her cane like a James Bond villian and creating an uncomfortable atmosphere. 

Some of the lyrics are gross too. "Hey Britney, you say you wanna lose control? Come over here I got something to show ya!" sounds like a bloody threat.

Is there an official version without Madonna? Honestly I swear she tried to sabotage the song and bring Britney down with the way she destroyed the track and video.

[Kaitlyn Johnson]

Her weakest lead single IMO. They were just looking to ride the publicity wave from the vma kiss. I much prefer the version without Madonna. 

[Agyness]

No girl, don't touch that wonderful collaboration 

[Kletus]

Madonna Dahmer scares the sh.t out of me 

[aoki.loid]

2 hours ago, Agyness said:

No girl, don't touch that wonderful collaboration 

RIGHT LIKE IDK HOW PEOPLE CANT LIKE IT 😓

 

[Emil87]

Madonna doesn’t add anything to the song, if anything she takes away from it. It doesn’t fit her voice at all. A collab between the queen and princess of pop shoulda been next level. Not saying the song is bad but there were much stronger contenders for the 1st single imo. 

[GlitterRain]

It’s great as it is. Leave it be 

[Cheshire-B]

I love this song but I think it as not enough for this iconic collaboration. I get they must have no time to create something 100% new but I would liked for them to create a song together instead of just having Madonna jumping on Britney's solo track ! 

Anyway, the performance of me against the music at the Circus tour is my favorite performance ever ! I loved the remix and I loved the costumes and how she dances with her dancers ! I wish Madonna would have come for a show for this one !

[Tar_isa]

I don't get why people don't like MATM, I absolutely love the song and I get mad every time fans diss it. That said, Madonna (who I often like) doesn't add much and I really wish we had a solo version. The NFL performance was fire.

[HIM]

Honestly if the song didn’t have a fire choreo I couldn’t care less about it 

[Kiss my]

The song would’ve been basic with or without Floponna

[IsraeliMatt]

11 hours ago, Cancer said:

Some of the lyrics are gross too. "Hey Britney, you say you wanna lose control? Come over here I got something to show ya!" sounds like a bloody threat.

 Never thought about it that way! 

I love the video. The choreography, oh my god! Decent song...not great. I don't think I'd call it lead single material, especially if it were without Madonna as she certainly added some marketing appeal at the time, not that Britney needed duets to have hits. As a fan, I definitely appreciate this song for the video's highlights more than anything. I'm happy she had a song with Madonna. I can think of a lot of Madonna collabs I like better though like 'Crave' with Swae Lee. 

I strongly disagree that Madonna tried to sabotage it. Madonna has a huge ego and wants her projects to succeed, especially she she was in the video. If everyone hated it, it would be embarrassing for her. 

[LeglessJamie]

I personally think MATM was great until the chorus. I LOVE the build-up pre-chorus that almost sounds like a rap. It gives soooo much energy and her dance moves during that part slays.

However, the song doesn't carry that same energy during the chorus and the chorus falls kinda flat in my opinion. I just think the chorus of MATM is one of the weakest chorusses her songs until then had.

Madonna also didn't bring much into it except from the video, which honestly is iconic on its own.

But yeah, I think it was her worst leadsingle choice even beating Make Me. Toxic should have been the leadsingle. The fact Toxic was the first song to perform during the Onyx Hotel kinda proves to me, Britney felt the same way. It was and still is the better opener.

Britney barely performed the original MATM anyway. Only during POM she did but even on the Onyx and Circus Tour, the song was heavily remixed while Toxic on both tours was relatively kept as the original apart from an extended dance break. Which, again, proves at least somebody thought the original MATM was too soft and flat.

I wonder how ITZ would have done if Toxic was released first. Not that it did bad or anything but I am 100% sure that in that pre-streaming era, sales would have been even better with Toxic as the lead.

So let's just I don't hate MATM and I don't think it sabotaged the era but I do think it was the weaker choice.

 

 

 

Then again...Britney had to fight for Toxic. Imagine a world where I Got That Boom Boom was released. Yikes! 

Spoiler

Which is the only song I ALWAYS skip on the album!!

 

[IsraeliMatt]

3 minutes ago, Midnights said:

I personally think MATM was great until the chorus. I LOVE the build-up pre-chorus that almost sounds like a rap. It gives soooo much energy and her dance moves during that part slays.

However, the song doesn't carry that same energy during the chorus and the chorus falls kinda flat in my opinion.

 I don't know why I never quite realized this is what didn't work for me in this song. 100% accurate. Verses that sounded unique for her body of work with so much attitude...and then the chorus just deflates. The video can make up for that with the choreography, but the song itself has a weak chorus. 

[Politik]

Your review of the song reminded me of the MadTV skit of MATM. 
 

 

[IsraeliMatt]

8 minutes ago, Politik said:

Your review of the song reminded me of the MadTV skit of MATM. 
 

 

OMG  I liked this more than I expected. The actress looked like Kesha in a few shots! 

[Kiss my]

1 hour ago, Politik said:

Your review of the song reminded me of the MadTV skit of MATM. 
 

 

This skit is perfect - and the only version of the song I can appreciate 

[rednaldeirf]

Britney had achieved so much success by that point. Imagine how she felt getting to release a single with one of her inspirations… it’s a great song, it’s a great video. Whether it resonated with the world or not doesn’t take away from the impact Britney and Madonna have had. My two cents 🤷🏻‍♂️

[MissSpearsSaysSo]

I disagree but there is something to it that feels a bit flat in my ears.. It’s a great song and collaboration but the single was made without Her being a part of it, so the producers just put her into the song after the fact. If the two of them actually had a song that was organically theirs, them recording and making magic in the studio, that would be fire! But MATM slays, it’s kinda Perfect.. it only makes sense in Britney’s music & story.

I  C  O  N  I  C

💅🏻✨✨⭐️

[BlackoutITZ]