Madonna's hit 'Hung Up' stemmed from a sample heard on the radio, leading to a creative evolution with Stuart Price.
Collaborative process between Madonna and Stuart Price in an unconventional attic studio resulted in the energetic tone of 'Hung Up'.
Deep dives
Cansion Exploder: Bringing Spanish Language Stories of Creativity to Listeners
Cansion Exploder, a Spanish language version of Song Exploder, was launched to cater to the Spanish-speaking audience, featuring interviews with artists like Bomba Estéreo and José González. Martina Castro hosts the show and collaborates with the producer to share stories of creativity in Latin music, providing a diverse range of insights and experiences for the listeners.
The Making of 'Hung Up' and Madonna's Collaboration with Stuart Price
Madonna shares the story behind 'Hung Up,' a hit song from her album 'Confessions on a Dance Floor,' co-produced with Stuart Price. Their collaboration began during a tour where they spent extensive time together, leading to spontaneous music creation even before entering the studio. The song's inspiration stemmed from a sample Madonna heard on the radio and evolved through organic discussions and creative exchanges.
Unconventional Work Environment and Creative Process in Music Production
Madonna and Stuart Price worked in an unconventional studio setting in Price's attic, where they focused solely on music production without distractions. Their collaborative process involved experimenting with samples and mixing techniques to create the energetic and urgent tone of 'Hung Up.' Madonna's openness to new ideas and Price's musical instincts combined to capture both the excitement and melancholy of the song's theme of falling in and out of love.
Madonna is the best-selling female recording artist of all time. She has twelve albums that have gone multi-platinum. She’s won seven Grammys, and has had fifty songs reach number 1 on the Billboard Dance chart. That’s more number 1s than anyone in any category, ever. In this episode, she talks about one of those number 1s: “Hung Up,” from her 2005 album Confessions on a Dance Floor. The song and that album were co-produced by Stuart Price, an electronic musician, producer, and DJ from the UK. “Hung Up” began in part because Madonna was working on a film with director Luc Besson (whose films include The Fifth Element and Taken). But the song also grew out of Stuart’s DJ sets.
Madonna has a new career-spanning album out, called Finally Enough Love: 50 Number Ones, and in honor of its release, Madonna and Stuart Price told me the story of how their collaboration and partnership led to one of Madonna’s biggest hits.