Inside the London sessions

Inside the London sessions for her new disc with Timberlake and Timbaland By Evan Serpick L AST SPRING, JUSTIN TIM’ berlake, Timbaland and Nate “Danja” Hills jetted to London to TV & Video help craft a new sound for Madonna, who was , beginning work on her eleventh studio album. “She wanted up¬tempo, dance, club music, and for everything to have a hip-hop underlining,” says Danja, who co-produced four tracks on the still-untitled album, out April 29th. “It’s a different sound for her.” The first single, “Four Minutes to Save the World,” pairs menac¬ing marching-band horns with glitchy synth drums – and features Madonna and Timberlake trad¬ing verses MP3 Players about an impending apocalypse, a la Prince’s “1999.” A special-effects-laden video for the song, directed by French duo Jonas and Francois (who created the live-action animation clip for Justice’s “D.A.N.C.E.”), is due out in March. In it, Madonna and Timberlake star as super-heroes dancing and trying to avert global disaster. Madonna asked Timbaland and Danja to lay the foundation for the new album – her first since 2005′s Confessions on a Dance-floor – after being impressed with the work they did on Tim-berlake’s 2006 disc FutureSex/ LoveSounds. “She loved Justin’s album,” says Danja. In the stu¬dio, the producers would bounce beats off each other while Ma¬donna and Timberlake, who co-wrote several cuts on the album, worked on lyrics and melodies. “She would come in, sit in her chair in the corner and just vibe with us,” says Danja. “We just banged out a beat, and she would go with something she was feel¬ing and start writing.” Pharrell Williams also pro¬duced several tracks for the album, including “Give It to Me” and the seductive “Candy Store.” “Give It to Me,” an epic track built for the clubs and the runner-up for first single, has a thumping house beat and techno synth stabs that climax with a freaked-out break over which Madonna chants, “Get stupid.” “It was cool,” says Danja – who is also working on new albums for Mariah Carey, Missy Elliott and Usher – of the sessions. “She was very down-to-earth, very cool person, very easy.” HOU LIST ROLLING STONE EDITORS’ FAVORITE ALBUMS. SINGLES AND VIDEOS “Flashing Lights” video We love Kanve But for some reason, our favorite of his videos is the one for this Euro-synth-y stomper – which happens to end with him being beaten to deatn with a shove! by a lingerie model. On the Record: Rockers for Obama MAN MAN . L* _ J — _

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