Following the success of her previous album Ray of Light (1998), Madonna found herself in a music scene increasingly influenced by a younger generation of singers such as Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera.

[3] As part of the film's soundtrack, she recorded a cover version of Don McLean's "American Pie" (1971) at request of her co-star Rupert Everett, which garnered mixed reactions from critics and the public.

From the first day onward, Madonna and Sigsworth chose to retain all the musical noises from the demo; this required the producer to creatively reconfigure her vocals around the segments, utilizing Pro Tools on a SSL 9000 J console.

Sonically, Music is predominantly a pop, dance-pop, and electronica album,[21][32][33] containing influences of a wide array of genres such as funk, house, techno, rock, country, folk, and R&B.

[38] Shaad D'Souza of Pitchfork viewed the record as "an album designed to unite the disparate tastes of America and Europe, to act as a bridge between teen pop and sophisti-pop, the mainstream and the underground.

"[21] For Slant Magazine's Sal Cinquemani, Madonna took a "more experimental direction" with the album,[39] whereas David Browne of Entertainment Weekly thought that the folktronica style of Ahmadzaï was the "dominant musical force" on six of the songs.

[31][22] The singer characterized Music as a record made to bridge the gap between the impersonal experience of living in an era of advanced technology, with the "warmth, "compassion, and a sense of humor" of human connection.

[42] The song begins with Madonna's a cappella, slightly lowered and vocodered voice uttering "Hey, Mr. DJ, put a record on; I wanna dance with my baby".

[35][33] The song is an acoustic-framed track supported by a folk and hip-hop inflected groove, featuring double-tracked guitar, which Madonna plays herself, and a three-chord sequence, G-C-D (with an F-chord in the chorus).

[22] It transforms into a 60s-inspired, rock-tinged pop track with a dreamy, soaraway chorus, featuring a rhythm-section Sixties beat topped off with gruff electric guitar arpeggios in stereo.

[53] Some international editions of Music include "American Pie" from The Next Best Thing soundtrack as a bonus track; the production combines futuristic electro-pop elements with rock from the 1970s decade.

[65] Maverick and Warner Bros. Records first published it on September 18, 2000, in regions including Australia, Japan, and the United Kingdom, containing two bonus tracks, "American Pie" and "Cyber-raga", in the first two countries.

[70] Additionally, the international version included "American Pie" as a bonus track, a decision Madonna later regretted, explaining it was "something a certain record company executive twisted my arm into doing".

[69] The edition released in Mexico contains as bonus tracks the Spanish version of "What It Feels Like for a Girl", titled "Lo Que Siente la Mujer", and a remix of the song by Above & Beyond.

The singer emerged from the back seat of the car in a full-length fur coat and a hat, quickly removing the clothes to reveal a tight leather jacket and jeans.

[87] The costumes and set were designed by Dolce & Gabbana and reflected Madonna's cowgirl persona, with the stage decked as a neo-Western wonderland, with bales of hay, yellow-lit horseshoes and silver cacti throughout the lobby and entrance.

[116][121] Madonna had planned for the song to be the fourth official single from Music, but her record label intended to release "Amazing" instead, issuing promos and test pressings for the track.

"[131] Vibe's Dimitri Ehrlich complimented the record's "brilliantly arranged keyboards, futuristic drums, and electronica dressings" and felt it was a "weird and fresh-sounding album".

[103] Alex Pappademas from Spin said that the album is "a much-needed breath of fresh VapoRub", and noted that it is "the first Madonna record in years that feels as effortless as the dance-pop of her Ciccone youth".

[34] Billboard's Michael Paoletta noted how "much of the set is vibrant and uplifting in tone" and although the project is "decidedly steeped in youth culture", it "rarely courts the teens that seemingly control the charts".

[46] John Hand of the BBC News said that the melancholic tone of Ray of Light had been replaced by "real energy and a renewed sense of fun" on Music, and wrote that "the production may be breathtaking thanks to Orbit and Mirwais but at the centre of it all is Madonna, resolutely doing it her way".

"[127] In the same vein, Greg Kot from Chicago Tribune called Music the "groove-happiest" Madonna had been since The Immaculate Collection (1990), and said it was more dance-friendly in contrast to the "highly introspective" Ray of Light.

[52] In a review for Rolling Stone, Barry Walters also compared Music to Ray of Light, stating that the former was a rough and improvised version of the latter, but lauded that Madonna had chosen to make a more "instinctive" record than her previous endeavours.

[55] In a review for Slant Magazine, Sal Cinquemani criticized Madonna's collaborations with Orbit, calling them repetitive and uninteresting, despite being catchy; he also felt the record seemed "more like a collection of songs than a cohesive album".

[39] David Browne was less enthusiastic in Entertainment Weekly, calling it "her most patchwork record since the Sean Penn years" and "frustratingly inconsistent", which "feels like a collection of sounds – clever, intriguing ones, to be sure – that seek to compensate for ordinary melodies and Madonna's stoic delivery.

[144][145] The album experienced success in Latin America, topping the charts in Argentina and receiving a two times platinum certification by the Argentine Chamber of Phonograms and Videograms Producers (CAPIF).

In his review, he added examples such as "thudding big-room" electro-house, "aggressive" vocal manipulation, "ecstatic" lyrical meaninglessness, acoustic guitars chopped up and refracted into unrecognizable shapes, joyous hedonism, robot voices, and the embrace of cowboy kitsch.

[174] Writing for the Grammy Awards' official website, Zel McCarthy called the album "a reminder of a less complicated time and a blueprint for our future", noting that Madonna could be analog and digital, acoustic or electronic.

[175] Lynch praised the album's utilization of dance-pop despite its decline in the United States at the dawn of the new millennium, in contrast to teen pop or hip-hop-flavored R&B styles that were more popular at the time.

It was described as a "phenomenal week at retail" and helped push "Music" to the number one at the Billboard Hot 100, giving Madonna her best one-week sales total of the Nielsen SoundScan era for a single at that time with 62,000 units.