Hung Up

and samples their 1979 song "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)". In 2004, after the release of her ninth studio album American Life, Madonna began working on two different musicals: one tentatively called Hello Suckers and another one with Luc Besson, who previously directed the music video for her single "Love Profusion", which would portray her as a woman on her deathbed looking back on her life. Madonna collaborated with Patrick Leonard, Mirwais Ahmadzaï and Stuart Price to write new songs, and told Price to pen disco songs that sound like "ABBA on drugs". However, Madonna found herself dissatisfied with the script written by Besson and scrapped it. Madonna imagined it to be a cross between the music played at Danceteria, the New York City night club she frequented in her early days, and the music of ABBA. In order to gain the rights to sample "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!", Madonna had to send her emissary to Stockholm with a letter which begged them to allow her to sample the song and also telling how much she loved their music. Andersson, in an interview with The Daily Telegraph in October 2005, declared "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!" to be the essence of "Hung Up" while joking that it was his favorite Madonna song thus far. On October 17, 2005, the song made its premiere during a live ten-minute radio interview between Ryan Seacrest and Madonna. It was also made available as a master ringtone with various mobile service providers. The song was added to episodes of CSI: Miami and CSI: NY on November 7 and 9, 2005, respectively. Regarding her decision to release the song for digital download, Madonna said: "I'm a businesswoman. The music industry has changed. There's a lot of competition, and the market is glutted with new releases – and new 'thises and thats'. You must join forces with other brands and corporations. You're an idiot if you don't." == Music structure and lyrics ==

Musically, "Hung Up" is a dance-pop, disco, nu-disco, electro and Hi-NRG song, with a fluffy, candy-coated aesthetic and tone. According to The New York Times, the song has vaguely familiar hooks, sustained overlays of the string arrangement and acoustic guitar enfolding the music to create a haze-like sound. The dance music sound of the song was described as a combination of pulsing and wistful, its genre variably called "full-on dance, dark, disco, fun, big" and "triumphant jazzercise". Alongside the ABBA sample, Rolling Stone said that the song also incorporates elements of Madonna's older songs like "Like a Prayer" and "Holiday" and features fleeting quotes from bands like S.O.S. and the Tom Tom Club. According to the sheet music that is on Musicnotes.com, "Hung Up" is set in common time, and has a moderate dance-beat tempo of 120 beats per minute, and the key of D minor with Madonna's vocal range spanning from the low note of G3 to the high note of B4. Lyrically, "Hung Up" is a bittersweet love song written from the perspective of a girl who once had nothing. According to About.com, the song is written as a very traditional dance number which is rooted in relationship issues. Also present in the lyrics is Madonna's enduring embrace of strong, independent women. The song's hook, "Time goes by so slowly for those who wait," is taken from Madonna's 1989 collaboration with Prince, "Love Song", as is the line "Those who run seem to have all the fun." == Critical reception ==

Upon its release, critics called "Hung Up" a "killer" and "irresistible" lead single and the artist's "most wonderfully commercial single since the mid Eighties". Chris Tucker from Billboard explained in a single review that "Madonna returns with a song that will restore faith among her minions, fans of pop music and radio programmers". Pitchforks Stephen M. Deusner named the track an "impressive and enjoyable single, strong enough to have everyone trying to figure out if it's her best since 'Ray of Light' or since 'Like a Prayer'". According to Camille Paglia, writing for Salon, the track was one of the "two truly strong songs" on the album, along with "Jump". Praise was given towards the usage of the ABBA sample, with Deusner arguing it represents a "brilliant mash-up rather than a lazy sample". Peter S. Scholtes of City Pages considered the song a "vast improvement" over the original ABBA song. David Browne from Entertainment Weekly argued, "'Hung Up' shows how effortlessly she [Madonna] can tap into her petulant inner teen." Tom Bishop from BBC News commented that Madonna has either reinvigorated her career or she is "merely throwing one final dance party for her long-term fans before settling down to record more sedate material". Matt Cappiello from the Daily Nexus called it "amazing" and "mind-numbing", and elaborated that "it should be frozen in a capsule and sent out into space. Martians need to know the wonders of our civilization, as expressed in the delicate form of bubblegum pop." == Recognition ==

"Hung Up" was ranked at number 76 on Rolling Stones 100 Best Songs of the 2000s list, calling it "One of her [Madonna's] most captivating hits ever — and thanks to those deceptively hard-hitting lyrics, one of her most personal." NME placed it at number 39 on their list of the best tracks of 2005. Slant Magazine listed the song at number 36 on their list of Best of the Aughts: Singles, saying: "'Hung Up' employs a ticking clock to represent fear of wasted time, but Madonna isn't singing about aging or saving the world—she's talking about love. It had been years since Madge sounded this vapid. With its pitched-upward vocals, infectious arpeggio sample from ABBA's 'Gimme Gimme Gimme (A Man After Midnight),' and the bridge's unironic, archetypical key change, the track decidedly points to the past, and it proved that, 20 years into her career, Madonna was still the one and only Dancing Queen". The song was also named the 26th best single of 2005 by Pitchfork. Stylus Magazine included "Hung Up" on their ranking of the best singles from 2005 at number 11. In 2016, "Hung Up" was named in the online poll by Digital Spy as "The Biggest Pop Song of the 21st Century". == Chart performance ==

"Hung Up" was a worldwide commercial success, peaking at number one in charts of 41 countries and earning a place in the 2007 Guinness Book of World Records, as the song topping the charts in most countries. The song has sold over 5 million copies worldwide. In the United States, "Hung Up" debuted at twenty on the Billboard Hot 100 on the issue dated November 5, 2005. It became her highest opening position since "Ray of Light" entered the chart at five in 1998. The same week the song entered the Hot Digital Songs chart at number six and became the highest debuting single of the week on the Pop 100 Airplay, where it debuted at number 38. On the issue dated December 3, 2005, the song reached a peak of number seven on the Billboard Hot 100, jumping from number 14 from previous week. The song became the chart's greatest digital gainer for that week and claimed the top position on the Hot Digital Songs chart. It also tied Madonna with Elvis Presley for 36 top ten entries, which was subsequently broken by Madonna's 2008 song "4 Minutes", which peaked at number three on the Hot 100. "Hung Up" debuted at numbers 25 and 10 on the Hot Dance Club Play and Hot Dance Airplay charts respectively ultimately reaching the top of both. It became the most successful dance song of the 2000s in the United States, by topping the Dance/Club Play Songs Decade-end tally. The song also reached a peak of seven on the Pop 100 chart. "Hung Up" became the fastest rising single on radio in Canada, according to Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems. On the second week itself, the song reached the top of the Contemporary Hit Radio chart of Canada, while reaching the top five of the Adult Contemporary and Canadian Airplay charts. Paul Tuch from Nielsen clarified that "Hung Up" achieved this feat within 10 days only. It was present within the top 50 of the chart for 23 weeks. It sold 105,619 copies becoming the first single to sell more than 100,000 copies in a week since Crazy Frog's "Axel F" did it 23 weeks earlier. The first week sales of "Hung Up" were a little lower than Madonna's last UK number one, "Music" (2000), which opened with 114,925 sales, but exceeded her last single "Love Profusion", which debuted at number 11 with 15,361 sales in December 2003. The next week the single had a decline in sales of 43% to 59,969 copies, but remained on the top as Confessions on a Dance Floor debuted atop the UK Albums Chart. It remained at the top position for three weeks and a total of 40 weeks on the Singles Chart. It was certified Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) and has sold over 730,000 copies in the UK to date. By November 2021, "Hung Up" became her second-most streamed track in the UK, and accumulated sales of 899,000 units including streaming figures according to the Official Charts Company. In Ireland, the song debuted at number two on the chart dated November 10, 2005 becoming the highest debut of the week. == Music video ==

Conception while dancing in the ballet studio in the John Travolta and retro inspired "Hung Up" video The music video for "Hung Up" was directed by Johan Renck and filmed in October 2005. Madonna's scenes were filmed in London from October 8–11, with Pineapple Dance Studios being used for the dance studio scenes and the Trocadero being used for the games arcade scenes. Though some scenes in the video feature cities like London, Paris, New York, Los Angeles, Shanghai and Tokyo, in reality the actual sets were constructed in Los Angeles and London only. A London suburb was made to look like a Parisian one, where the routine for Parkour takes place, whereas a restaurant in London's Chinatown was used for the Shanghai sequence and Compton stood in for the Bronx. LaChapelle and Madonna disagreed on the concept, prompting the project to be reassigned to Renck, who worked with Madonna in her video for "Nothing Really Matters" (1999). According to an interview with MTV, Renck was directing Kate Moss for a H&M commercial when he received a phone call from Madonna who desperately wanted to work with him. Wearing a pink leotard, Madonna starts gyrating to the music while doing warm up exercises. The scene interchanges with a group of people on a rooftop who start dancing to the music while listening to a similar boombox. In 2009, the video was included on Madonna's compilation, Celebration: The Video Collection. == Live performances ==

On November 4, 2005, Madonna opened the 2005 MTV Europe Music Awards at the Pavilhão Atlântico in Lisbon, Portugal with her first performance of "Hung Up". She emerged from a glitterball to perform the song while wearing a purple leotard and matching leather boots. During next days, Madonna performed "Hung Up" on TV shows such as Wetten, dass..? in Germany, Parkinson in England and Star Academy in France, as well as on the Children in Need 2005 telethon in London. She opened her concerts at Koko and G-A-Y nightclubs in London with "Hung Up", respectively on November 15 and 19. In December Madonna travelled to Tokyo, Japan, where "Hung Up" was performed on TV show SMAP×SMAP and her concert at Studio Coast. On February 8, 2006, Madonna opened the 48th Annual Grammy Awards at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. She sang the song by pairing up with the fictional animated band Gorillaz. The band appeared on the stage via a three dimensional technique which projected their holograms on the stage. Madonna then appeared on the stage and started performing the song while interchanging places with the hologram figures of the band. She was later joined by her own group of dancers and the performance was finished on the main stage rather than the virtual screen. The song was performed as the last song of her 2006 Confessions Tour. It was performed at the last "disco fever" segment of the tour. During the performance, her dancers displayed the Parkour routine all over the stadium as the familiar ABBA sample played. Madonna changed her aerobics costume for a purple leotard. As the music progressed, she and her dancers appeared on the center stage and she started singing. During the second verse, she left her sunglasses and jacket and proceeded towards the front of the stage. A boombox appeared in the center with Madonna playing with it. The song starts again as balloons fall on the crowd from the top. The song was the fourth track of the Hard Candy promo tour set list in 2008. Madonna wore a shiny black outfit with black tails, Adidas track pants and high-heeled, lace-up boots. Madonna dedicated the performance to all the people who had waited outside in the queue to watch the show. She declared that the "noisy, metallic guitar breakdown" symbolised her brain during a long waiting. Madonna wore a futuristic robotic outfit designed by Heatherette, with plates on her shoulder and a wig with long curled hair. The similar heavy-metal version of "Hung Up" was performed but it later gave way to the ABBA music. Before starting the performance, she played a capella versions of her older songs on audience demand, mostly "Express Yourself" and "Like a Virgin". However, after that, the electric guitar was played to make noises, which Madonna dedicated to Republican vice-presidential nominee for the 2008 election, Sarah Palin. She said, "I'd like to express myself to Sarah Palin right now. [Playing a screeching note on her guitar] This is the sound of Sarah Palin thinking. [...] Sarah Palin can't come to my party. Sarah Palin can't come to my show. It's nothing personal." The performance ended with Madonna playing the guitar riff of "A New Level" by heavy-metal band Pantera. during the performance of "Hung Up" on 2012's The MDNA Tour For The MDNA Tour of 2012, "Hung Up" was added to the setlist as part of the opening segment, known as Transgression. After performing a fragment of "Papa Don't Preach", several dancers wearing tribal masks, surrounded Madonna, tied her up and proceeded to carry her to the center of the main stage just as the song's opening riffs, underpinned by the dramatic sound of church bells with vocoder vocals, started to play in the background. Dressed in a black skintight outfit with an ample cleavage, gloves of the same color and heeled boots, Madonna and her dancers performed the song while at the same time slacklining on some ropes held on the middle of the stage. As Madonna sang the song, her dancers slid under the ropes. This performance received generally mixed reviews, Jon Pareles from The New York Times believed that changing the composition of the song in lieu of the theme for the segment made it "ominous and obsessive", while making it "a memory of distant innocence". Jim Farber from the Daily News felt that the introduction of slacklining gave the whole tour "some needed bounce". Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine was negative on his review of the performance, as he felt it was out of place on the show's segment, and compared it negatively to the performance of the Sticky & Sweet Tour, concluding that the song "should never be performed in any way other than its original form." The performance of the song at the November 19–20, 2012 shows in Miami, at the American Airlines Arena, were recorded and released in Madonna's fourth live album, MDNA World Tour. On April 13, 2015, Madonna made a surprise appearance at the Coachella Festival and performed a medley of her 1994 song "Human Nature" and "Hung Up" during Drake's act, sporting thigh-high boots and a tank top that read "Big as Madonna". She then went on to kiss Drake, whose shocked expression went viral on the Internet. The rapper then revealed that he actually enjoyed the kiss, posting a picture of the moment to his Instagram account which read: "Don't misinterpret my shock!! I got to make out with the queen Madonna and I feel 100 about that forever". The singer also performed an a cappella version of the song on her Rebel Heart Tour in Hong Kong on 17 February 2016. On June 24, 2021, the singer made a surprise appearance at a pride party at the Boom Boom Room of New York's The Standard hotel and performed the song on top of the lounge's bar; she wore a see-through mesh top, leather shorts, a vintage Jean Paul Gaultier corset, a blue wig and long pink fingerless gloves. In June 2022, to accompany the remix album release, Finally Enough Love: 50 Number Ones, Madonna performed at Pride at the Women of the World Party in New York City. She performed a dembow, house-infused remix of "Hung Up", sharing a French kiss with Tokischa, in a similar fashion to her kiss with Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards. During the Celebration Tour of 2023–24, a mash-up of "Hung Up" and its remix, "Hung Up on Tokischa", was performed by Madonna amid topless dancers; Tokischa made an appearance on video. == Remix version ==

In 2022, Madonna recorded a dembow remix of "Hung Up" with Dominican rapper Tokischa, newly titled "Hung Up on Tokischa". It features samples of Madonna's vocals from the original version in addition to new Spanish language verses written by Tokischa. It was released by Warner Records for digital download and streaming on September 16, 2022. Madonna and Tokischa first performed the song in June 2022 at Terminal 5 during the New York City Pride. The song's accompanying music video was directed by Sasha Kasiuha and filmed on Labor Day, September 5, 2022, in Washington Heights in New York City. It pictures Madonna and Tokischa performing the song at a street party with a crowd gathered around them on the corner of West 175th Street and Audubon Avenue. It was reported that police interrupted the outdoor shoot due to complaints about the noise from neighbors. The video also includes scenes of Tokischa performing her verses at a local convenience store, and indoor scences of Madonna and Tokischa caressing each other in suggestive positions of perreando style in front of an altar. Rachel Kiley from Pride.com described it as a "raunchy romp" that leaves "very little to the imagination". == Formats and track listings ==

• Benelux and French 2-track CD single; UK 2-track single CD1 • "Hung Up" (Radio Version) – 3:23 • "Hung Up" (Tracy Young's Get Up and Dance Groove Edit) – 4:16 • Asian, Argentine, Australian, European, French, Japanese, South African CD maxi-single; UK maxi-single CD2 • "Hung Up" (Radio Version) – 3:23 • "Hung Up" (Tracy Young's Get Up and Dance Groove Edit) – 4:16 • "Hung Up" (SDP Extended Vocal) – 7:57 • Canadian, European and US CD maxi-single • "Hung Up" (Radio Version) – 3:23 • "Hung Up" (SDP Extended Vocal) – 7:57 • "Hung Up" (Tracy Young's Get Up and Dance Groove Edit) – 4:15 • "Hung Up" (Bill Hamel Remix) – 6:58 • "Hung Up" (Chus & Ceballos Remix) – 10:21 • "Hung Up" (SDP Extended Dub) – 7:57 • European and UK 12-inch vinyl single • "Hung Up" (Album Version) – 5:38 • "Hung Up" (SDP Extended Dub) – 7:57 • "Hung Up" (SDP Extended Vocal) – 7:57 • "Hung Up" (Tracy Young's Get Up and Dance Groove Edit) – 4:15 • European and US 2×12-inch vinyl • "Hung Up" (Album Version) – 5:38 • "Hung Up" (SDP Extended Vocal) – 7:57 • "Hung Up" (Bill Hamel Remix) – 6:58 • "Hung Up" (SDP Extended Dub) – 7:57 • "Hung Up" (DJ Chus & Ceballos Remix) – 10:21 • "Hung Up" (Tracy Young's Get Up and Dance Groove) – 9:03 • Digital single • "Hung Up" (Radio Version) – 3:23 • Digital 3-track single • "Hung Up" (Radio Version) – 3:23 • "Hung Up" (Tracy Young's Get Up and Dance Groove Edit) – 4:16 • "Hung Up" (SDP Extended Vocal) – 7:57 • Digital EP 1 • "Hung Up" (SDP Extended Vocal Edit) – 5:58 • "Hung Up" (Tracy Young's Get Up and Dance Groove Edit) – 4:16 • "Hung Up" (Bill Hamel Remix Edit) – 5:00 • "Hung Up" (Chus & Ceballos Remix Edit) – 5:01 • Digital EP 2 (DJ version) • "Hung Up" (SDP Extended Vocal) – 7:57 • "Hung Up" (Tracy Young's Get Up and Dance Groove) – 9:03 • "Hung Up" (Bill Hamel Remix) – 6:59 • "Hung Up" (Chus & Ceballos Remix) – 9:41 • "Hung Up" (SDP Extended Dub) – 7:57 • '''Digital download – Free on Madonna's official mailing list, March 2006''' • "Hung Up" (Archigram Remix) – 6:59 • Digital single – 2022 remix • "Hung Up on Tokischa" (with Tokischa) – 3:21 == Credits and personnel ==

Credits adapted from the album's liner notes. • Madonna – lead vocals, songwriter, producer • Stuart Price – songwriter, producer • Benny Andersson – songwriter • Björn Ulvaeus – songwriter • Giovanni Bianco – cover artwork • Lorenzo Irico – digital imaging • Steven Klein – photography • Andy LeCompte – hair and makeup == Charts ==

Weekly charts Hung Up on Tokischa Year-end charts Decade-end charts All-time charts == Certifications ==