Howdy do, and welcome to yet more forgotten pop archiving via a little series called Pop Essays. Quite a timely one this week too, as an album we mention in this piece is about to receive a vinyl reissue – and it just so happens to feature this week’s featured song from an all time pop legend and icon…
- Artist: Madonna
- Song: Miles Away
- Released: 24/11/2008
- Writers / Producers: Madonna / Timbaland / Justin Timberlake / Nate Hills / Danja
- Highest UK Chart Position: #39
- Chart Run: 39 – 68
When you are a globally recognised pop cultural icon, entertainer and artist with a career spanning decades, there is very little of your life or work that is done by halves, and which is not watched with interest. And that is certainly true of Madonna.
The Queen of Pop was at an interesting pivot in her career in the mid to late 00s. She was fast approaching the 25th anniversary of her debut album release. And after a return to both a critical and commercial zenith that kicked off her second imperial phase, with 1998’s Ray Of Light and 2000’s Music, what followed was a challenging release in the shape of 2003’s American Life, which, although another number one album, was ultimately met with a mixed reception, with singles from it performing poorly over on the Billboard Hot 100 in the States.
Which made the glorious success of her next album, the Stuart Price helmed floorfiller, Confessions On A Dance Floor in 2005, led by the number one smash and ABBA sampling “Hung Up”, all the more illuminating, as it went onto sell over 10 million copies worldwide. Alas, as the 00s rolled on towards the 2010s, it was arguably to be the last time where she made having such a universal level of acclaim across the board look so easy.
If there is one element of Madonna’s career that has been analysed and discussed with such interest in the last 40+ years, then her chameleon like ability to shift with the changing music landscape and her identity as being a leader with an ear and eye to the future, is it.
Which is why her eleventh studio album, Hard Candy, in 2008, represented something of a shift in this perception. Not least because it also marked her final studio album with Warner Bros after a quarter of a century together before she moved onto pastures new with Live Nation. This was the album that she collaborated on with, amongst others, Timbaland, Justin Timberlake, Nate “Danja” Hills, and The Neptunes.
You probably need not telling exactly what songs and albums all of that roll call had produced and or released collectively since the start of the 21st century to know that they were big business. Indeed, Timbaland was at the centre of the zeitgeist himself at this point, with his sound and production having crossed over from underground hip hop and R&B to dominate the chart soundscape for a good solid two years.
Initially, this had been thanks to his work with artists like Aaliyah and Missy Elliott earlier in his career, but more recently to that point, it was on Nelly Furtado’s Loose album, Justin Timberlake’s Justified and FutureSex / LoveSounds albums, and his own Timbaland presents… Shock Value album, which had produced massive chart topping hits with the likes of the former two artists (“Give It To Me”), Keri Hilson (“The Way I Are”) and OneRepublic (“Apologize”).
In fact, both he and Timberlake were featured artists on the first single from Hard Candy, “4 Minutes”, which had given Madge her thirteenth UK number one smash that April, topping the charts for four weeks and finishing 2008 as the ninth best selling single of that year. The Hard Candy album followed it to the top of the charts, making her one of the few artists in UK chart history to have as many as ten number one albums.
But whilst it was a hit, there was a general feeling in the air that this was the first time Madonna had sought out and was working with already established producers and songwriters; that she was following a sound and not leading with a sound. It was a perception which was ultimately to give the latter part of the album campaign a shakier ending than it had started off with; and nowhere was this more evident than on arguably its strongest track being released as the third single.
“Miles Away” was another track borne out of her sessions with Timbaland and Justin Timberlake, and was inspired by her then husband, Guy Ritchie. Asked about its concept and inspiration in an interview with MTV ahead of the album’s release, she said: “In “Miles Away” I’m tapping into the global consciousness of people who have intimacy problems … So many people have to deal with long-distance relationships. It’s not easy. You have to work hard to make it work.”
Indeed, it proved to be more autobiographical than anyone realised, when they separated after just shy of eight years of marriage later that year. Suddenly, for better or worse, “Miles Away” became something of an unofficial soundtrack to this moment. We would argue, however, that one of the reasons it works so well, is not necessarily because of the external personal circumstances around it at the time.
We believe it works because this is one of those songs where Madonna taps into and reveals a more vulnerable, exposed side of herself, and it’s one of those situations where the music mirrors that perfectly, with a looped acoustic guitar riff and Timbaland’s shuffling, bubbling beats the perfect soundtrack to a strained relationship meeting its end: “I just woke up from a fuzzy dream / You never would believe the things that I have seen / I looked in the mirror and I saw your face / You looked right through me, you were miles away / All my dreams they fade away, I’ll never be the same / If you could see me the way you see yourself / I can’t pretend to be someone else”.
There’s a sense of wistfulness here, one of those best emotions in pop music, where you feel reflective listening to it, maybe even a little moved, but can’t explain why. This is particularly evident in the post chorus refrain where she sings “So far away / So far away” like a ricochet over and over, and also in the middle 8, which is up there with Agnetha from ABBA’s in “The Winner Takes It All” for emotional delivery: “I’m alright, don’t be sorry, but it’s true / When I’m gone you’ll realise / That I’m the best thing that happened to you”.
It seems strange then, that a track as strong as “Miles Away” came so far into the album cycle as a single, for by the time it was released, she was still in the middle of her global Sticky and Sweet Tour, and thus there was little of the momentum that had been there airplay and exposure wise at the start of the campaign. Even so, it came as something of a shock when it became her lowest charting single in this country, ending a run of 63 consecutive UK top 20 hits when it debuted and peaked at #39 in November, dropping out two weeks later.
Her 25 years with Warner Bros was capped off the following year in 2009 with a commemorative best of package, Celebration. Surprisingly, along with “4 Minutes”, this single was the only other track to represent the Hard Candy era of her career on the two disc package, and not her Pharrell Williams collaboration and second single, “Give It 2 Me”, which had done far better and been well played on TV and radio, and a top 10 smash hit.
As the past decade and a bit since has proved with the change in audiences and methods of consumption, Madonna and the singles chart have, with a few exceptions, proved to have grown ever elusive of each other overall. Her most challenging or divisive albums will always be the intense subject of scrutiny and debate, but as with “Miles Away”, that’s not to say they’re without some of the finest examples of her career contained within them.
Don’t forget to follow our Pop Essays playlist on Spotify, which includes this and all the songs we’ve written about. What are your memories of this week’s featured song or band? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below or message us on our Instagram.
The Niche Reference 