Pitchfork

The same week Madonna broke Elvis' record for most top 10 singles, with her 37th, she's got a new video for the record-breaker, "4 Minutes", featuring the only current star who comes close to Elvis' broad level of appeal. And it's... un-fucking-comfortable, though the song is at least catchy. Timbaland's beats are his now-standard sinuous bump 'n' clatter (chikka, chikka yeah!), and I can even see counting on the 'roid-sculpted producer to save the world (look what he did for Justin Timberlake), but who thought we'd want to watch him talk about it in front of a glowing "4:00" sign? The same people who thought we'd want to see the Material Girl and Timberlake dancing seductively in each other's general direction, while a young couple makes out between them like they're on an MTV awards show (you be Britney I'll be Madge). Madonna, wearing either a flesh-colored get-up or about one-third of her "Human Nature" suit, and Timberlake, looking more casual in jeans, prance on top of cars, through supermarkets, and into bathrooms. "Time is waiting/ We only got four minutes to save the world/ No hesitating/ Grab a boy and grab a girl," they sing to each other, trading lines. "Breakdown!" "Tick-tock, tick-tock." And time expires, with six seconds of video to go.


[from Hard Candy; out 4/29/08 on Warner]