"'I used to live in a tiny bubble/ And I wanted to be/ Like all the pretty people that were all around me/ But now I know for sure that I was stupid,' she sings in "I'm So Stupid." It is part of an opening trilogy of tracks that assesses what is important to a 44-year-old mother who has done it all in the pop business and almost always on her own terms.
The opening song of the trilogy, the single "American Life," is even more specific: 'I got a lawyer and a manager, an agent and a chef/ Three nannies, an assistant, and a driver and a jet/ A trainer, a butler, and bodyguard or five/ A gardener and a stylist/ Do you think I'm satisfied' She adds: 'I tried to be a boy, I tried to be a girl/ I tried to be a mess/ I tried to be the best/ I guess I did it wrong/ That's why I wrote this song.'"
"I'm so Stupid?" Try "I'm so Wealthy." Seriously, that is just too much. I love Madonna just as much as the next person, but I also remember her interviews from the 80's and early 90's vividly. At the end of the day she's laughing all the way to the bank.
Though I am extremely impressed that she was able to sort out exactly how many people are on her personal payroll in those lyrics! I wonder if her trainer is that same one that's the father of her first kid...