Madonna (Madonna album)
Madonna (retitled Madonna: The First Album for the 1985 re-release) is the debut album by American singer Madonna, released on July 27, 1983 by Sire Records. After having established herself as a singer in downtown New York City, Madonna was signed by Sire president Seymour Stein, due to the success of her debut single, "Everybody" (1982). She became the sole writer for most of the album's tracks, and chose Reggie Lucas as its primary producer. Unhappy with Lucas's production outputs, she invited John "Jellybean" Benitez to complete the album, who remixed three tracks and produced "Holiday".
Madonna (entertainer)
Following "Die Another Day", Madonna collaborated with fashion photographer Steven Klein in 2003 for an exhibition installation named X-STaTIC Pro=CeSS. It included photography from a photo shoot in "W" magazine, and seven video segments. The installation ran from March to May in New York's Deitch Projects gallery and also traveled the world in an edited form. The same year, Madonna released her ninth studio album, "American Life", which was based on her observations of American society. She explained that the record was "like a trip down memory lane, looking back at everything I've accomplished and all the things I once valued and all the things that were important to me." Larry Flick from "The Advocate" felt that ""American Life" is an album that is among her most adventurous and lyrically intelligent" while condemning it as "a lazy, half-arsed effort to sound and take her seriously." The title song peaked at number 37 on the Hot 100. Its original music video was canceled as Madonna thought that the clip, featuring violence and war imagery, would be deemed unpatriotic since America was then at war with Iraq. With four million copies sold worldwide, "American Life" was the lowest-selling album of her career at that point.
Madonna gave another provocative performance later that year at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards, when she kissed singers Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera while singing the track "Hollywood". In October 2003, she provided guest vocals on Spears' single "Me Against the Music". It was followed with the release of "Remixed & Revisited". The EP contained remixed versions of songs from "American Life" and included "Your Honesty", a previously unreleased track from the "Bedtime Stories" recording sessions. Madonna also signed a contract with Callaway Arts & Entertainment to be the author of five children's books. The first of these books, titled "The English Roses", was published in September 2003. The story was about four English schoolgirls and their envy and jealousy of each other. The book debuted at the top of "The New York Times" Best Seller list and became the fastest-selling children's picture book of all time.