Hung Up

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 (1977). 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! (A Man After Midnight)" 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: "[T]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."

Music structure and lyrics

Musically, "Hung Up" is a dance-pop, disco, nu-disco, electro and Hi-NRG song, with a fluffy, candy-coated aesthetic and tone. 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. 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.

Billboard described the music as frothy, nonsensical and joyous. Alexis Petridis from The Guardian, who also called the song "joyous", wrote it "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."

The dance music sound of the song was described as a combination of pulsing and wistful, its genre variably called "full-on dance, dark, disco, fun, big" and "triumphant jazzercise". 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. Thomas Inskeep of Stylus Magazine wrote it had the same modus operandi of being designed for "sweaty up-all-night dancing", but without the sleeve of "Physical Attraction" or "Burning Up".

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 B♭4. 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, "Hung Up" is a bittersweet love song written from the perspective of a girl who once had nothing. 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

Upon its release, critics called "Hung Up" a "killer" and "irresistible" lead single and the artist's "most wonderfully commercial single since the mid Eighties". Chris Tucker from Billboard explained in a single review that "Madonna returns with a song that will restore faith among her minions, fans of pop music and radio programmers". Pitchfork's 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'". Reviewing the album, David Byrne from RTÉ said "it opens the album like no other track could". According to Camille Paglia, writing for Salon, the track was one of the "two truly strong songs" on the album, along with "Jump". Praise was given towards the usage of the ABBA sample, with Deusner arguing it represents a "brilliant mash-up rather than a lazy sample".

Peter S. Scholtes of City Pages considered the song a "vast improvement" over the original ABBA song. David Browne from Entertainment Weekly argued, "'Hung Up' shows how effortlessly she [Madonna] can tap into her petulant inner teen." 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". 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."

Recognition

"Hung Up" was ranked at number 76 on Rolling Stone's 100 Best Songs of the 2000s list, calling it "One of her [Madonna's] most captivating hits ever — and thanks to those deceptively hard-hitting lyrics, one of her most personal." NME placed it at number 39 on their list of the best tracks of 2005. Slant Magazine listed the song at number 36 on their list of Best of the Aughts: Singles, saying: "'Hung Up' employs a ticking clock to represent fear of wasted time, but Madonna isn't singing about aging or saving the world—she's talking about love. It had been years since Madge sounded this vapid. With its pitched-upward vocals, infectious arpeggio sample from ABBA's 'Gimme Gimme Gimme (A Man After Midnight),' and the bridge's unironic, archetypical key change, the track decidedly points to the past, and it proved that, 20 years into her career, Madonna was still the one and only Dancing Queen". The song was also named the 26th best single of 2005 by Pitchfork. Stylus Magazine included "Hung Up" on their ranking of the best singles from 2005 at number 11. In 2016, "Hung Up" was named in the online poll by Digital Spy as "The Biggest Pop Song of the 21st Century".

Chart performance

"Hung Up" was a worldwide commercial success, peaking at number one in charts of 41 countries and earning a place in the 2007 Guinness Book of World Records, as the song topping the charts in most countries. The song has sold over 5 million copies worldwide. In the United States, "Hung Up" debuted at twenty on the Billboard Hot 100 on the issue dated November 5, 2005. It became her highest opening position since "Ray of Light" entered the chart at five in 1998. The same week the song entered the Hot Digital Songs chart at number six and became the highest debuting single of the week on the Pop 100 Airplay, where it debuted at number 38. On the issue dated December 3, 2005, the song reached a peak of number seven on the Billboard Hot 100, jumping from number 14 from previous week. The song became the chart's greatest digital gainer for that week and claimed the top position on the Hot Digital Songs chart. It also tied Madonna with Elvis Presley for 36 top ten entries, which was subsequently broken by Madonna's 2008 song "4 Minutes", which peaked at number three on the Hot 100. "Hung Up" debuted at numbers 25 and 10 on the Hot Dance Club Play and Hot Dance Airplay charts respectively ultimately reaching the top of both. It became the most successful dance song of the 2000s in the United States, by topping the Dance/Club Play Songs Decade-end tally. The song also reached a peak of seven on the Pop 100 chart. In 2008, the single was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for selling at least a million copies in paid digital downloads. As of December 2016, the song has sold 1.4 million digital units in the United States.

"Hung Up" became the fastest rising single on radio in Canada, according to Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems. On the second week itself, the song reached the top of the Contemporary Hit Radio chart of Canada, while reaching the top five of the Adult Contemporary and Canadian Airplay charts. Paul Tuch from Nielsen clarified that "Hung Up" achieved this feat within 10 days only. Consequently, "Hung Up" also peaked atop the Canadian Singles Chart for 14 non-consecutive weeks, and was certified double platinum by Music Canada for sales of 40,000 copies. In Australia, the song debuted atop the ARIA Singles Chart on November 20, 2005, breaking her tie with Kylie Minogue as the female artist with most number-one singles in Australian chart history. It was present within the top 50 of the chart for 23 weeks. The song was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for shipment of 70,000 copies. "Hung Up" debuted at number 67 in the French singles chart and jumped to the top next week, remaining there for five non-consecutive weeks. It received a gold certification from Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique (SNEP) for sales of 150,000 copies. "Hung Up" reached a peak position of number two in New Zealand.

Music video

Conception

The music video for "Hung Up" was directed by Johan Renck and filmed in October 2005. Madonna's scenes were filmed in London from October 8–11, with Pineapple Dance Studios being used for the dance studio scenes and the Trocadero being used for the games arcade scenes. Though some scenes in the video feature cities like London, Paris, New York, Los Angeles, Shanghai and Tokyo, in reality the actual sets were constructed in Los Angeles and London only. A London suburb was made to look like a Parisian one, where the routine for Parkour takes place, whereas a restaurant in London's Chinatown was used for the Shanghai sequence and Compton stood in for the Bronx. Originally the video for "Hung Up" was to be directed by photographer David LaChapelle. He wanted the video to have a "documentary"-style look, much like that of his 2005 film, Rize, in which five of the dancers from the "Hung Up" video appeared. LaChapelle and Madonna disagreed on the concept, prompting the project to be reassigned to Renck, who worked with Madonna in her video for "Nothing Really Matters" (1999). According to an interview with MTV, Renck was directing Kate Moss for a H&M commercial when he received a phone call from Madonna who desperately wanted to work with him. The next day he went to Los Angeles to meet the stylist and the choreographer hired by Madonna, who e-mailed him with her ideas for the video. The director explained that he "kind of liked that we didn't have time to over-think this and be too clever, I like being out on a limb and not know what we're doing and why. Just deal with it, the mayhem, you know?"

Madonna wanted to use a few performers from her tour, such as Daniel "Cloud" Campos, Miss Prissy from LaChapelle's Rize crew and traceur Sebastien Foucan, a practitioner of Parkour, a philosophical French sport. Renck said that "It's not about the music, but the bodily expression, [...] We wanted to show the whole spectrum, be it krumping, breakdancing, jazz or disco." Since they could not shoot all over the world, Madonna wanted the video to have an "omnipresent feel", with the middle section of the song generating a sense of congregation. Renck suggested that they include a boombox, used as a means of uniting everyone and everything since it was through listening to songs on a boombox that street dancing started.

Madonna clarified that the video was a tribute to John Travolta and to dance in general. Her dance moves for the video, which were inspired by Travolta's movies like Saturday Night Fever (1977), Grease (1978) and Perfect (1985) took three hours to shoot. Madonna had broken eight bones in a horseback-riding accident a few weeks before shooting the video and faced difficulty doing the steps devised by choreographer Jamie King. Renck said,

Synopsis and reception

The video starts with Madonna entering and turning the lights on in a ballet studio carrying a boombox. She presses the play button on the boombox as the clock ticking sound of the music starts. Wearing a pink leotard, Madonna starts gyrating to the music while doing warm up exercises. The scene interchanges with a group of people on a rooftop who start dancing to the music while listening to a similar boombox. They also display aspects of the physical discipline Parkour, while climbing over buildings and jumping from staircases. As the song starts, Madonna dances to the music in the ballet studio. The second verse shows her continuing dancing while the people from the street take their boombox and board a taxi. Scenes are interspersed with people dancing in a Chinese restaurant and Parisian streets. In the meantime, Madonna finishes her dances in the ballet studio, drops her towel, changes her clothes and comes out on the street. The people in the taxi, exit the cab and take the Underground instead. After another round of dancing in the train, the intermediate music starts. Madonna is shown hugging, dancing, and conversing with choreographers on a deserted alleyway and riding on a boombox. As the song starts again, Madonna and the people from the street, who act as her background dancers, all dance on a Dancing Stage machine in a gaming parlor. The video ends showing Madonna lying on the ballet studio floor. The video was nominated for five awards at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards including Best Female Video, Dance Video, Pop Video, Best Choreography and the Video of the Year award although it did not win any of them. In 2009, the video was included on Madonna's compilation, Celebration: The Video Collection.

Live performances

On November 4, 2005, Madonna opened the 2005 MTV Europe Music Awards at the Pavilhão Atlântico in Lisbon, Portugal with her first performance of "Hung Up". She emerged from a glitterball to perform the song while wearing a purple leotard and matching leather boots. During next days, Madonna performed "Hung Up" on TV shows such as Wetten, dass..? in Germany, Parkinson in England and Star Academy in France, as well as on the Children in Need 2005 telethon in London. She opened her concerts at Koko and G-A-Y nightclubs in London with "Hung Up", respectively on November 15 and 19. In December Madonna travelled to Tokyo, Japan, where "Hung Up" was performed on TV show SMAP×SMAP and her concert at Studio Coast. On February 8, 2006, Madonna opened the 48th Annual Grammy Awards at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. She sang the song by pairing up with the fictional animated band Gorillaz. The band appeared on the stage via a three dimensional technique which projected their holograms on the stage. They performed their song "Feel Good Inc." while rappers De La Soul made a guest appearance. Madonna then appeared on the stage and started performing the song while interchanging places with the hologram figures of the band. She was later joined by her own group of dancers and the performance was finished on the main stage rather than the virtual screen. Another performance of "Hung Up" came on April 30, 2006, during the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California.

The song was performed as the last song of her 2006 Confessions Tour. It was performed at the last "disco fever" segment of the tour. During the performance, her dancers displayed the Parkour routine all over the stadium as the familiar ABBA sample played. Madonna changed her aerobics costume for a purple leotard. As the music progressed, she and her dancers appeared on the center stage and she started singing. During the second verse, she left her sunglasses and jacket and proceeded towards the front of the stage. A boombox appeared in the center with Madonna playing with it. The song starts again as balloons fall on the crowd from the top. The finale had Madonna engaging the audience to sing-along with her to the song while making a contest as to which side of the stadium can sing the loudest. Madonna then uttering the line "I'm tired of waiting for you" while the backdrop showed the phrase "Have You Confessed?". The New York Times' Ginia Belafonte compared this performance with that of Ethel Merman. Slant Magazine commented that the performance reminded Madonna's ability to encapsulate the audience as a part of her performance. On July 7, 2007, Madonna closed her set during the Live Earth concert at the Wembley Stadium in London with "Hung Up".

Remix version

In 2022, Madonna recorded a dembow remix of "Hung Up" with Dominican rapper Tokischa, newly titled "Hung Up on Tokischa". It features samples of Madonna's vocals from the original version in addition to new Spanish language verses written by Tokischa. It was released by Warner Records for digital download and streaming on September 16, 2022. Madonna and Tokischa first performed the song in June 2022 at Terminal 5 during the New York City Pride.

The song's accompanying music video was directed by Sasha Kasiuha and filmed on Labor Day, September 5, 2022, in Washington Heights in New York City. It pictures Madonna and Tokischa performing the song at a street party with a crowd gathered around them on the corner of West 175th Street and Audubon Avenue. It was reported that police interrupted the outdoor shoot due to complaints about the noise from neighbors. The video also includes scenes of Tokischa performing her verses at a local convenience store, and indoor scenes of Madonna and Tokischa caressing each other in suggestive positions of perreando style in front of an altar.

Rachel Kiley from Pride.com described it as a "raunchy romp" that leaves "very little to the imagination". The song was nominated at the 2023 Premios Juventud in the category Girl Power.

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the album's liner notes.

Madonna – lead vocals, songwriter, producer

Stuart Price – songwriter, producer

Benny Andersson – songwriter

Björn Ulvaeus – songwriter

Giovanni Bianco – cover artwork

Lorenzo Irico – digital imaging

Steven Klein – photography

Andy LeCompte – hair and makeup