Hung Up
"Hung Up" is a song by American singer Madonna from her tenth studio album Confessions on a Dance Floor. Initially used in a number of television advertisements and serials, the song was released as the album's lead single on October 17, 2005. Written and produced by Madonna in collaboration with Stuart Price, "Hung Up" prominently features a sample from an instrumental section of ABBA's "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! ", for which Madonna personally sought permission from its songwriters, Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus. This is one of the few times Andersson and Ulvaeus have given permission to sample one of their songs, following "Rumble in the Jungle" by the Fugees and "Fly with Me" by 98 Degrees.
Musically, the song is influenced by pop music from the 1980s, with a chugging groove and chorus and a background element of a ticking clock that suggests the fear of wasting time. Lyrically, the song is written as a traditional dance number about a strong, independent woman who has relationship troubles. "Hung Up" received critical praise from reviewers, who considered it among Madonna's best dance tracks and believed that the track would restore her popularity, which had diminished following the release of her 2003 album American Life. "Hung Up" became a global commercial success, peaking atop the charts of 41 countries and earning a place in the Guinness Book of World Records. It was Madonna's 36th top ten single on the Billboard Hot 100, tying her with Elvis Presley as the artist with most top ten entries. It also became the most successful dance song of the decade in the United States. "Hung Up" has sold over five million copies worldwide.
The music video is a tribute to John Travolta and his movies, and to dancing in general. Directed by Johan Renck, the clip starts with Madonna clad in a pink leotard dancing alone in a ballet studio and concludes at a gaming parlor where she dances with her backup troupe. Interspersed are scenes of people displaying their dancing skills in a variety of settings, including a Los Angeles residential neighborhood, a small restaurant, the London Underground and a London nightclub. Madonna has performed the song in a number of live appearances, including as the final number of 2006's Confessions Tour, and heavy metal-inspired arrangement in the 2008 leg of the Sticky & Sweet Tour. The MDNA Tour of 2012 saw the singer performing the song while slacklining, while during the Celebration Tour of 2023–2024, it was remixed with "Hung Up on Tokischa" and performed amid topless dancers.
Background and release
In 2004, after the release of her ninth studio album American Life, Madonna began working on two different musicals: one tentatively called Hello Suckers and another one with Luc Besson, who previously directed the music video for her single "Love Profusion", which would portray her as a woman on her deathbed looking back on her life. Madonna collaborated with Patrick Leonard, Mirwais Ahmadzaï and Stuart Price to write new songs, and told Price to pen disco songs that sound like "ABBA on drugs". However, Madonna found herself dissatisfied with the script written by Besson and scrapped it. When she began composing Confessions on a Dance Floor, she decided to rework "Hung Up" and include it in her record."Hung Up" was one of the first songs written for the album, along with "Sorry" and "Future Lovers". It was inspired by aspects of the 1970s disco era, including the music of ABBA and Giorgio Moroder and the film Saturday Night Fever. Madonna imagined it to be a cross between the music played at Danceteria, the New York City night club she frequented in her early days, and the music of ABBA. Their 1979 song "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! " formed the basis of the song. Songwriters Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus generally do not allow anyone to sample any of their tracks, an exception being Fugees, who sampled their song "The Name of the Game" for their single "Rumble in the Jungle". In order to gain the rights to sample "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!", Madonna had to send her emissary to Stockholm with a letter which begged them to allow her to sample the song and also telling how much she loved their music. To the BBC she explained: "hey never let anyone sample their music. Thank God they didn't say no. They had to think about it, Benny and Björn. They didn't say yes straight away." The pair agreed to let Madonna use the sample only after making a copyright agreement that entitled them to a significant share of the royalties from subsequent sales and airplay. Andersson, in an interview with The Daily Telegraph in October 2005, declared "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!" to be the essence of "Hung Up" while joking that it was his favorite Madonna song thus far. He further said:
"We get so many requests from people wanting to use our tracks but we normally say 'no'. This is only the second time we have given permission. We said 'yes' this time because we admire Madonna so much and always have done. She has got guts and has been around for 21 years. That is not bad going."
The song premiered in September 2005, during a television advertisement for Motorola's ROKR mobile phone. The advertisement featured Madonna and other artists jammed in a phone booth. On October 17, 2005, the song made its premiere during a live ten-minute radio interview between Ryan Seacrest and Madonna. It was also made available as a master ringtone with various mobile service providers. "Hung Up" was sent to mainstream radio in the United States on October 18. The song was added to episodes of CSI: Miami and CSI: NY on November 7 and 9, 2005, respectively. While promoting Confessions on a Dance Floor, Madonna played both "Hung Up" and the next single "Sorry" at Luke & Leroy's nightclub in Greenwich Village, where she was invited by Junior Sanchez to perform briefly as the DJ, mixing the two songs. Regarding her decision to release the song for digital download, Madonna said: "I'm a businesswoman. The music industry has changed. There's a lot of competition, and the market is glutted with new releases – and new 'thises and thats'. You must join forces with other brands and corporations. You're an idiot if you don't."
Music structure and lyrics
Musically, "Hung Up" is a dance-pop, disco, nu-disco and electro song. According to The New York Times, the song has vaguely familiar hooks, sustained overlays of the string arrangement and acoustic guitar enfolding the music to create a haze-like sound. Billboard described the music as frothy, nonsensical and joyous. The instant familiarity of the sampled music is changed by Stuart Price and Madonna by adding a chugging groove and a chorus which singles it out as an independent song. Alongside the ABBA sample, Rolling Stone said that the song also incorporates elements of Madonna's older songs like "Like a Prayer" and "Holiday" and features fleeting quotes from bands like S.O.S. and the Tom Tom Club.According to the sheet music that is on Musicnotes.com, "Hung Up" is set in common time, and has a moderate dance-beat tempo of 120 beats per minute, and the key of D minor with Madonna's vocal range spanning from the low note of G3 to the high note of B4. The song progresses in the following chord progressions of Dm–F–C–Dm in the verses and Dm–F–Am–Dm in the chorus, and changes to B–F–A–Dm for the bridge. "Hung Up" uses the sound of a ticking clock to symbolize fear of wasted time, which was incorporated by composer Stuart Price, from his remix of Gwen Stefani's 2004 single "What You Waiting For?". According to Slant Magazine, the song embodies some of Madonna's old singles, incorporating them into the song's pitched-upward vocals while presenting an archetypical key change/tonicization during the bridge.
Lyrically, the song is written from the perspective of a girl who once had nothing and the theme centers around love. About.com compared the lyrics of "Hung Up" and another song "I Love New York" from the Confessions on a Dance Floor album, to the style of the songs in Madonna's American Life album. According to About.com, the song is written as a very traditional dance number which is rooted in relationship issues. Also present in the lyrics is Madonna's enduring embrace of strong, independent women. The song's hook, "Time goes by so slowly for those who wait," is taken from Madonna's 1989 collaboration with Prince, "Love Song", as is the line "Those who run seem to have all the fun."
Critical reception
"Hung Up" received critical acclaim. Keith Caulfield from Billboard, while reviewing Confessions on a Dance Floor, called the song "a fluffier cut", while Chris Tucker from the same magazine explained that "Madonna returns with a song that will restore faith among her minions, fans of pop music and radio programmers", in a separate review for the single. Jon Pareles of The New York Times said that Madonna kept her pop touch in "Hung Up" and called it a love song which is both happy as well as sad. Alan Light from Rolling Stone called the song candy coated. David Browne from Entertainment Weekly was impressed by the song and said "'Hung Up' shows how effortlessly she can tap into her petulant inner teen". Also impressed, Caryn Ganz of Spin classified it as a "killer single". Peter Robinson from The Observer commented that "Hung Up" is Madonna's "most wonderfully commercial single since the mid Eighties". Alexis Petridis from The Guardian called the track a "joyous...single that could theoretically have been more camp, but only with the addition of Liza Minnelli on backing vocals and lyrics about Larry Grayson's friend Everard."On Pitchfork, Stephen M. Deusner named the track an "impressive and enjoyable single, strong enough to have everyone trying to figure out if it's her best since 'Ray of Light' or since 'Like a Prayer'", and complimented how the ABBA sample was used in such a way that it resembles a "brilliant mash-up rather than a lazy sample". Het Nieuwsblads Mark Coppens considered "Hung Up" a good choice for first single as it was "irresistible", observing "Madonna has done a good job" at sampling ABBA; he concluded saying that "the song swings from beginning to the end". Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine compared the song to the remix of Gwen Stefani's 2004 single "What You Waiting For?". Ed Gonzalez from the same magazine called the song the "biggest hit" of her career. Margaret Moser from The Austin Chronicle said that the song strobes and pulses along with another album track "Forbidden Love". David Byrne from RTÉ said "it opens the album like no other track could". Dave White of The Advocate classified it as a "winner", noting the "giddy, gimmicky ABBA loop".
Ben Williams from New York magazine described the song as sounding both throbbing as well as wistful. Christian John Wikane from PopMatters called the song a propulsive track. Alan Braidwood of BBC Music noted of the track: "full-on dance, dark, disco, fun, big" and compared it to other Madonna songs like "Vogue", "Deeper and Deeper" and "Ray of Light". Tom Bishop from BBC News commented that Madonna has either reinvigorated her career or she is "merely throwing one final dance party for her long-term fans before settling down to record more sedate material". According to Camille Paglia, writing for Salon, the track was one of the "two truly strong songs" on the album, along with "Jump". Matt Cappiello from the Daily Nexus called it "amazing" and "mind-numbing", and elaborated that "it should be frozen in a capsule and sent out into space. Martians need to know the wonders of our civilization, as expressed in the delicate form of bubblegum pop." Peter S. Scholtes of City Pages considered the song a "vast improvement" over the original ABBA song. Thomas Inskeep of Stylus Magazine declared that "Hung Up" and the next single "Sorry" might not have the same sleaze as Madonna's older songs like "Physical Attraction" or "Burning Up", but have the same modus operandi of being designed for "sweaty up-all-night dancing". Rob Harvilla from The Village Voice called the song a "triumphant jazzercise single".