American Life - Critical Reception

Critical Reception

Aggregator site Metacritic scored the album as having an averaged score of 60 out of 100, indicating mixed reviews from critics. E! Online gave the album a generally positive review claiming the album featured "warmer sounds and earthy touches" responding well to the track "Nothing Fails" commenting on the "acoustic guitars and a choir that comes from nowhere" featured in the track. Uncut also responded well calling it a "21st century version" of the Love album Forever Changes saying " it does a similarly eerie ambivalence with its fusion of mind-altering sonics and mellow acoustics". Billboard's Michael Paoletta noted the lyrical differences from past albums such as Ray of Light positively saying "American Life relies less on spiritual introspection and more on woman-in-the-mirror confrontation." Entertainment Weekly generally responded well making comments such as "At its best, her new album offers blunt, questing, decisive music at a chaotic time" but also produced less positive statements such as "At its weakest, she sounds like a gal who's grown content with hubby and kids and the hard-earned privilege of hiring the help to keep herself at tip-top tautness". Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine magazine gave the album a mixed review comparing it to the success of album Erotica "American Life isn't the masterpiece that Erotica so quickly revealed itself to be. It's frequently self-indulgent, misguided, unpleasant, difficult to listen to, silly yet somehow humorless" however Cinquemani also stated "it's also consistent, uncompromising and unapologetic." and that it also "stands as the last time Madonna seemed to make music without the primary objective of scoring a hit". In an earlier review Cinquemani concluded "After years of flip-flopping between sub-genres and finally finding a comfortable niche in electronica, then teasing us with her electric guitar-wielding rock goddess persona during 2001's Drowned World Tour, and now showing promise as a folk-rock songstress, the only thing left for Madonna to do is plug in and make a full-blown rock album".

Generally critics responses were average as shown in Allmusic's review as they stated "Overall, American Life is better for what it promises than what it delivers, and it's better in theory than practice" with Q magazine calling it "a record about being Madonna". Alex Petridis of The Guardian responded well to parts of the record saying "American Life's best tracks make a mockery of virtually all other current pop music" however his conclusive point in the review was "The album's problem has nothing to do with controversy or extreme points of view. This time, there just aren't enough good songs." James Hannaham from Spin compared the album's introspective themes to that of her previous albums; Ray of Light and Music but also noted "Madonna spends much of American Life bemoaning the emptiness of celebrity culture.It's a dramatic gesture from an artist who's synonymous with American glamour, but instead of lashing out at the system that created her, she castigates herself." Ed Howard from Stylus gave the album a negative review calling the album "about Madonna" instead of American culture explaining "it's Madonna who, surprisingly, has simply run out of things to say."