Of the less-than-stellar tracks I just listed, Madonna went with the title track as the kick-off single. Therein lies the second blunder with the project. Personally, I love this song. It's actually a track I thought was great in concert, and definitely have it on my iPod playlist. But, this is a very tough song for the masses to relate to…and in order to have a successful album, you need to have a killer kick-off single (or, at least, a single that the general public can connect to).

"American Life", as a song, finds Madonna exploring her life in the "American Dream" context. She states that fame, fortune, and glory are not what she expected them to be. She states that "this type of modern life is not for me", and ultimately doesn't make her happy. Considering that much of Madonna's career has been built on notoriety and attention which she herself courted, the song can easily confuse the public. One could imagine a listener scratching their heads asking themselves what her intentions were with the track. Is she criticizing America? Is she trying to make a political statement? Is she saying she doesn't want to be famous? Is she being another uber-rich celebrity whining about money not bringing you happiness?
Although Madonna wasn't trying to be hypocritical, the song can come off that way. Part of what she says is that she isn't happy with fame and fortune, that there is more to life than riches and the world at your feet---yet, she also prides herself on singing about having her own personal chef, nanny, etc. Do I understand what she's trying to say with the track? Most of it, yes. Would the casual listener be able to think about it enough to "get it"? Doubtful. The track easily turns the casual listener off. And, whether we like it or not, the casual listener (aka, the mainstream music market) is what is going to help determine the success of an album.

The third blunder was with the cancellation of the original video for "American Life". The original video for the kick-off single was absolutely brilliant. In it, Madonna is ballsy, brave, political, defiant, and rebellious. She explores several themes and metaphors in the video. She compares the highly questionable reasons the U.S. launched the Iraqi war with the exploitation of Iraqi culture on a fashion runway. In other words, she is saying to the U.S.: "You say you're doing this for the good of the world, yet, look at the horror and tragedy you are inflicting on the Iraqi people. Look at the destruction you are causing to their homes and foundation. You are treating them just like fashion runway models---objects with no history, no future, and no relevance. To you, they are just there for you to enforce Western culture on---creatures for show and tell---nothing more." Issues regarding what beauty means, what it means to be protected by the government, and what war means on cultural scale are some of the other topics she explores with the video.

Confusing? Yes. Thought provoking? Yes. Controversial? Yes.
All the qualities that make a Madonna video great were prominent for "American Life". Yet, it only aired a few times before being pulled by Madonna and Warner Brothers. Madonna made a statement that she pulled it out of respect for the U.S. troops. There was also a strong rumor that she had received death threats towards her family because of the video, and that was another reason she pulled it. Whatever the reasons were, it seemed to the public (as well as myself) that for the first time Madonna couldn't handle the heat from her own creation, and that my friends was something I, nor the public, could've ever thought possible.

The final reason why "American Life" didn't work was the political climate at the time the album was released in the United States. The album wasn't successful worldwide either (save for a few exceptions, France and Canada most notably), but in the U.S. (which, for better or worse, helps determine the success of a Madonna album) it was an absolute shipwreck. The U.S. was in the throes of uber-patriotism when "American Life" debuted. Most of the public had faith that President Bush had made the right choice by launching the Iraqi War (umm…no), and the American public basically called any sentiments going against the grain anti-American (umm…no again). Madonna, the epitome of liberalism to most Americans, launched the "American Life" project as an anti-war statement. All of the interviews, artwork, and promotion for the album portrayed Madonna as the anti-war pop culture hero. Madonna was a necessary and powerful voice at a time when the U.S. public had its head in the sand, but she came at the wrong time. Instead of the public allowing Madonna to have her say and bring about some much needed conversation RE: the war, she was immediately demonized and labeled as anti-American. U.S. radio stations (whom are mainly owned by Clear Channel now, a Republican/Conservative-owned corporation) hardly played the kick-off single (very questionable considering the strong success of Madonna's previous two albums) in the beginning, and soon thereafter didn't play the single at all.