On January 3 2003, Madonna.com announced: “Madonna’s next album is scheduled to be released in April, and there is no title as of yet. The video for the first single will be shot in February and will be directed by Jonas Akerlund. The album cover will be shot next week by Craig McDean (he also did the Vanity Fair Madonna cover).”
On December 27 2003, Nothing Fails peaked at #1 on Billboard’s Hot Singles Sales chart.
Unfortunately this chart position owed more to the disappearing physical singles market in the U.S. at the time than it did to the song’s overall popularity. Despite the remixes being relatively well-received (the maxi-single included club mixes of Nobody Knows Me), with no accompanying music video and a complete lack of radio support Nothing Fails failed to crack the Hot 100 singles chart. This marked the first time in Billboard’s history that a single topped the Singles Sales chart in the U.S. without making an appearance on the Hot 100.
In more reassuring chart news, Billboard announced in the same issue that Madonna was being crowned Top Dance Singles Sales Artist for 2003. Madonna had previously achieved this honour in 1985 and 1987, and held the runner-up position in 2000 and 2001.
On August 23 2003, the Hollywood remixes hit number-one on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart in the US. It was her 30th single to reach the top of the dance charts.
On July 30 2003, GAP premiered its latest commercial starring Madonna and Missy Elliot. The commercial, featured a mash-up of Madonna’s Into The Groove + Hollywood = Into The Hollywood Groove, featuring Missy Elliot.
Watch the short version here:
Or the long version here:
Please let us know if you have a link to a better version of this video (either version), thanks!
On July 22 2003, the first photos from the GAP jeans campaign featuring Madonna and Missy Elliot were released.
On July 14 2003, Madonna’s Hollywood was released as the second single (excluding Die Another Day, which was released as a single from the soundtrack of the same name) from the American Life album. The song was written and produced by Madonna and Mirwais Ahmadzaï.
On June 2 2003, Madonna began filming the Hollywood music video in Los Angeles, California. The music video was directed by Jean-Baptiste Mondino, and portrays Madonna highlighting the highs and lows of Hollywood.
Jean-Baptiste Mondino said this about the concept of the video:
“Some kind of artifice that Hollywood can provide, that is so wide and has a graphic story-line about it as well as some humour about it, and to show the beauty, the scariness, the sexiness and the loneliness that one’s success can be, ’cause everybody’s dreaming about Hollywood, no matter what. The expectation can be very dangerous, and maybe for somebody like Madonna, who might be at a point, to realize that to be on the top is maybe not that important. That’s what I feel about the video.”
Today In Madonna History 