American Life was the rare stumble in
Madonna's career, an album that garnered neither sales nor critical acclaim and failed to generate a hit single. Disarmed by its lack of success,
Madonna scrambled to revive the success, first appearing in a Gap commercial with
Missy Elliott, then causing a commotion at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards by French kissing
Britney Spears and
Christina Aguilera as a prelude to a performance of her failed single "Hollywood," which did more for
Britney than
Madge, and then finally offering Remixed & Revisited for the 2003 holiday season. This contained four remixes of songs from American Life, the VMA performance of "Like a Virgin/Hollywood" with
Britney,
Xtina, and
Missy, the Gap ad "Into the Groove"/"Hollywood" fusion "Into the Hollywood Groove," and finally and inexplicably, the
Bedtime Stories outtake "Your Honesty." Even if the beats are a little dated, this latter track is the best song here, since it has both a strong hook and a strong sense of fun, something that was entirely missing from the somber American Life. The approaches of the remixers are as subtle as a jackhammer, whether it's on the metallic-flaked "American Life" by Headcleanr or the '90s-retro
Nevins mix of "Nothing Fails." The VMA performance includes
Britney sounding exactly like early
Madonna and
Christina sounding exactly like
Cher, with
Missy Elliott on the "Hollywood" segment of the medley. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine