I always associate Nothing Fails with Thanksgiving of 2010. Normally for Thanksgiving we went to my grandma's house, but by that time my mom was too ill to make the trip (only two and a half hours each way, but just getting in the car was a struggle for her), so that year we stayed home. I was just on the brink of getting into Madonna, and listening to samples on iTunes on my phone. I distinctly remember pulling up the Jason Nevins mix of Nothing Fails as I was standing on the stairs, about to go set up my computer to record Kylie in the Macy's parade. And though I was expecting to hear a pop bop, based on his Slayline and Clarko remixes, instead I got this rocky mix with Madge singing, "When I get lost in space I can return to this place, 'cause you're the one. Nothing fails, no more fears. Nothing fails, you've washed away my tears." It was so totally in keeping with what I was feeling, and what I needed to hear affirmed, at the time.
As I said, my mom died only a few weeks later, a week before Christmas. Nothing Fails was really the song that kept me going through all my grieving, and though Intervention is now my go-to Madonna song when I need encouragement, Nothing Fails still runs through my head sometimes. It's funny, because as I've discussed before, I grew up extremely religious, which was totally because of my mom. But now I haven't been to church in years, except for Christmas, and a couple times I went with my extended family, in both cases doing it just for the social bond. Yet when I was near suicidal a couple weeks ago, my impulse was to go to a church and pray. So "I'm not religious, but I feel so moved, makes me wanna pray, pray you'll always be here" is spot on for me, giving me that link between my present and my past, and the loss of my mom.
Then there's the first verse. About a year after losing my mom, I was head over heels in love with one of my best friends, who didn't feel the same way - and for a long time didn't even notice. "I'm in love with you, you silly thing, anyone can see" was so accurate, and I remember recalling it frequently as I walked around campus, trying to put her out of my head. It's kind of disconnected from the rest of the song, but it's important to me, albeit for a totally different reason.
So that's why I love Nothing Fails so much. It has a stronger musicality than most of the American Life album (much as I adore it), and fantastic lyrics. It really is one of Madonna's finest songs.
For a long time, I considered Nothing Fails my favorite Madonna song. But as I was doing my scores for the Madonna rate, I realized that for as much as Nothing Fails has meant to me, Intervention has passed it.
The first Madonna CD I ever bought was True Blue, in December (maybe late November?) of 2010. Only a couple of weeks later, my mom went to the hospital after my dad and I couldn't wake her from her sleep of over 20 hours. And five days after that, she died, nearly two years after being diagnosed with cancer.
Now, growing up I was forbidden to listen to Madonna because she was too sexed-up - my mom was a very hard-line Catholic who thought everything from wearing a crop top to driving a gas guzzler was a sin. (My dad was a horrible hypocrite who confiscated my Kathy Reichs books for having sex scenes and F-bombs while he was hiding a porn addiction.) And so it was in the back of the superstitious part of my mind that maybe Madonna really was a horrible person, and by listening to her I'd somehow hastened my mom's death. But I remember going into the hospital that first day with I'll Remember running through my head (I'd bought Something to Remember by that time too). So I'd already begun to associate Madonna with comfort and grieving.
And she kind of gave me something to live for through the next several months - I had to cope with my mom's death, my first year of college, and a lot of other shit too, and having someone new to stan for was a welcome distraction.
Among that "other shit" was that when my mom died, the buffer she created for me disappeared, and my dad became emotionally abusive. He also decided to sell our house, the only house I could remember living in, which was also the house my mom and her siblings had grown up in. Add in that my mental disorders (depression, social anxiety, generalized anxiety, OCD, avoidant personality disorder, and borderline tendencies) were as yet undiagnosed and untreated, and you see... I was in a very painful, deeply unhappy period of my life.
And in the midst of that, the American Life album. It quickly became one of the three central albums of my life, the other two being Shakespears Sister's Hormonally Yours and Jenny Berggren's My Story. And though I still love the other two, they've lost some of their meaning for me, but American Life hasn't - it's still huge for me. No wonder it's my highest-rated album in any PJ rate. But anyway, at the time, I remember reading Crescent by Diana Abu-Jaber, my assignment for my Literature of American Minorities course, and listening to My Story followed by American Life, and falling apart crying, because all of it was hitting home for me so hard.
The thing I found with the album was that no matter why I was upset - abuse, grieving, depression, career anxiety, academic stress - it had something to say to me. So I got in the habit of putting it on whenever I was having a hard time. For obvious reasons, the Nothing Fails / Intervention / X-Static Process trilogy struck a chord for me, big-time. For a long time, Nothing Fails was the big one for me, for reasons I'll explain when the time comes. But over the years, Intervention has overtaken it, I think because it's an even more universal message, and one that's really beautiful and powerful in its simplicity.
Right now, I'm going through an incredibly painful breakup - one that I hoped and thought I would never have to go through - and I originally turned to Love Spent as an expression of my anger, but now I'm listening to Intervention and crying at the lyrics. "I know the road seems lonely, but that's just Satan's game"... what a powerful sentiment, especially now as I struggle with being single again, but it's one that's empowered me for a long time. Because of my SA and AvPD, and to a lesser extent my BPD, I have a tremendously difficult time making friends and forming relationships and spent - still spend - a great deal of time feeling friendless and wondering what's wrong with me. That lyric has been a great comfort to me, a reminder that sometimes love is hidden, not absent, and that even when it's not enough, better love may be coming up for me, further down that road.
Intervention has given me so much comfort over the years, and at times it's even felt like a message from my mom herself. Through so many situations that I needed to escape, it's the one I've come back to, even more than the rest of the album - and literally every song on the album except for Easy Ride is one that's taken on a lot of importance for me at some point.
I know, I know, there is nothing to fear, and I know that love will take us away from here.
First Thoughts: This could be really good or really bad. I don't really remember what I thought about most of these songs, aside from hating "Isaac." It's never been among my favorite Madonna albums, so you'll probably all hate me since I think most people on here worship it.
Purchase: A couple years ago at FYE, about halfway through my trek through Madonna's discography.
Playthrough: Hung Up is more fun than I remembered it being. I knew it was good, but it's actually really great.
Get Together is also way better than I remember. I've always liked it, but listening to it now, it's fucking IMMENSE! Maybe this album is finally clicking for me?
Sorry isn't doing that much for me. It's a bit of a jam and - I'm probably going to say this a lot in this thread - good driving music, but it doesn't scream "I AM A GREAT SONG AND YOU SHOULD LISTEN TO ME OVER AND OVER" like the first two do. Well, I guess Hung Up doesn't really do that either, but it comes closer.
Future Lovers is okay. It's not a choon, but the "in the evidence of its brilliance" bit gets stuck in my head once in a while, and it's good fun.
I Love New York! DIS MY JAM! I actually forgot this was on the album, or I wouldn't have been so fearful of not liking it when I started. The first (and only) time I've been to New York, I listened to this as we went over the George Washington Bridge, so that's what I always think of now when I hear it. But on its own merits, it's one of my favorites from the album, if not the favorite. It's kind of stupid, but I love it anyway. It's a bop. And "If you don't like my attitude, then you can eff off! / Just go to Texas, isn't that where they golf?" is one of my favorite Madonna lyrics. So shady. (Would've been better if she actually said "fuck," though. "Eff" just sounds out of place.)
Let It Will Be is a little nothingy, but it has a good beat.
Forbidden Love is nice enough, but I don't recognize it at all, so I probably won't remember it after this play-through, either. The most boring song on the album so far for sure, but not a bad one for that. Most of the time, I've been paying attention to the synth line from Jump running throughout the song and waiting for the transition to that. My God, this song drags on, doesn't it? Seems way longer than just over four minutes!
Okay, finally I'm on to Jump. This is the most Madonna-ish song on the album in my opinion - sounds kind of like a cross between Keep It Together and Lucky Star, and I'd rank it between those two in quality level (Lucky Star being the best, obviously). It sounds like it belongs on a movie soundtrack, so I'm surprised that, according to Wikipedia, it hasn't been used in anything but an episode of Ugly Betty. (Which reminds me, I've got the first two seasons of Ugly Betty on DVD and I really, really need to watch them, but that's beside the point.) Jump is a good song, but actually not as good as I remembered it being, the opposite of almost everything else thus far. It's making me subconsciously tap my toes, though!
How High is a bit shit, isn't it?
Isaac. Oh my fucking God. One of the most irritating Madonna songs ever.
Push is all right but awfully basic. Definitely sounds like a generic Stuart Price track.
Like It or Not is really cool. Reminds me of Kylie's Slow somehow, but much slower (ha) and, frankly, way, way better. It just kind of slinks along. I only started appreciating it after Madge quoted it while giving Anderson Cooper a GLAAD award, but I should have done so earlier.
Verdict: I still don't think this is the great Madonna album, as so many people seem to, but I think better of it now than before I began. Mostly the lesson I take from it is that I've vastly underrated Get Together.
