Fridae

"The song I wrote for the Bond film is about destroying your ego, and it's juxtaposing the metaphor of, you know, the fight against good and bad, and it's set inside the whole universe of Bond."
- Madonna getting into a deep philosophical reverie when discussing her single with Genre Magazine.

Since the day the news leaked out that Queen Ciccone herself would be doing the title track to MGM's forthcoming James Bond movie starring Pierce Brosnan and the tawny vixen Halle Berry, Ms Scary has been beside herself with heady anticipation.

With the release of the new single, Ms Scary's fervent prayers have finally been answered! The first new single from the Material Mom since What It Feels Like For A Girl, Die Another Day is co-written and co-produced by Madonna and Mirwais who worked with the superstar on her 2000 multi-million selling album Music.

Like her more recent hits, Die Another Day is a sonic soundscape replete with savvy electronic flourishes, orchestral arrangements from Michel Colombier and a suspenseful vibe which has become a characteristic trademark of all 007 soundtracks.

Add thumping percussive beats to the aural mix and you have a dance floor smash that is guaranteed to get gay and lesbian butts a-grooving in clubs everywhere. In fact, club aficionados would be glad to know that the CD release of the single features club friendly remixes such as the Dirty Vegas Main Mix, Thee RetroLectro Mix, Thunderpuss Club Mix, Deepsky Remix and Brother Brown's Bond-Age Club Mix.

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With her latest collaboration with the movie screen's second sexiest secret agent (the sexiest being Vin Diesel in TripleX), Madonna has joined the ranks of superstar acts with 007 related hits such as Duran Duran (View To A Kill, 1985), Sheena Easton (For Your Eyes Only, 1981) and Shirley Bassey (Goldfinger, 1964).

And if the hype emanating from her scorching new single is not enough, wait till you catch her music video for Die Another Day. Directed by Traktor, the video is pure visual candy with hyper-violent images that Quentin Tarantino would have been proud of.

Set in a world of intrigue and espionage, Madonna plays a secret agent who finds herself confronted with situation after situation of the death-defying sort. Cutting back and forth between a torture sequence in which goons beat up the singer (probably after having to endure the pop diva's wretched acting in Swept Away), the music video is a pastiche of memorable movie moments culled from past 007 films.

In one scene, she faces certain death by electrocution. In another scene, she is subjected to death by drowning courtesy of two evil agents. And in yet another scene, she has deadly bowler hats flung at her by the nephew of Harold Sakata (aka the Oddjob character from Goldfinger) just as his uncle did to Sean Connery back in 1964. And finally, there is a memorable scene where a "good" Madonna dressed in white goes head-to-head with the only credible foe in the entire video - a "bad" Doppelganger of herself dressed in black.

So having heard the single and watched the video, what's Ms Scary's verdict?

Die Another Day is classic Madonna. And simply to die for.