4 Minutes

"4 Minutes"
Single by Madonna featuring Justin Timberlake and Timbaland
from the album Hard Candy
B-side	"Ring My Bell"
Released	March 17, 2008 (2008-03-17)
Recorded	2007
Studio	Sarm West Studios (London) The Hit Factory (New York)
Genre	Dance-pop
Length	4:04 (album) 3:10 (radio)
Label	Warner Bros.
Songwriter(s)	Madonna Tim Mosley Justin Timberlake Nate Hills
Producer(s)	Timbaland Justin Timberlake Danja
Madonna singles chronology
"Hey You" (2007) "4 Minutes" (2008) "Give It 2 Me" (2008)
Justin Timberlake singles chronology
"The Only Promise That Remains" (2007) "4 Minutes" (2008) "Dead and Gone" (2009)
Timbaland singles chronology
"Elevator" (2008) "4 Minutes" (2008) "Dangerous" (2008)
Music video
"4 Minutes" on YouTube

"4 Minutes" is a song by American singer-songwriter Madonna from her eleventh studio album Hard Candy (2008), featuring vocals by fellow American singer-songwriter Justin Timberlake and American producer Timbaland. It was released as the lead single from the album on March 17, 2008, by Warner Bros. Records. It marked the first time in Madonna's 25-year career that another artist was featured in a single.^[1] According to Madonna, the song is about saving the environment and "having a good time while we are doing it". She also cited the song as the inspiration for the documentary I Am Because We Are (2008).

The song was recorded at Sarm West Studios, in London, while the mixing of the track was finished at The Hit Factory studio, in New York City. Sound engineer Demo Castellon first worked on the vocals and then on the beats, while the synths were composed by Timbaland and Danja. An uptempo dance-pop song with an urban and hip hop style, "4 Minutes" incorporates Timbaland's characteristic bhangra beats and the instrumentation used in the song includes brass, foghorns and cowbells. The lyrics carry a message of social awareness, inspired by Madonna's visit to Africa and the human suffering she witnessed.

"4 Minutes" received positive reviews from music critics, who called it a busy dance track and complimented its music, which was compared to that of a marching band. Some reviewers, however, felt that Madonna sounded like a featured artist on her own song. The song peaked at number three on the US Billboard Hot 100, giving Madonna her 37th top-ten single, breaking the record previously held by Elvis Presley, as the artist with most top-ten hits. Internationally, "4 Minutes" topped the charts in 21 countries, including Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom. "4 Minutes" has sold over three million copies in the United States and a total of five million copies worldwide.

The music video shows Madonna and Timberlake singing and running away from a giant black screen that devours everything in its path. "4 Minutes" was performed by Madonna on the promotional tour for Hard Candy and during the rave segment of the 2008–2009 Sticky & Sweet Tour. The song received two Grammy Award nominations for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals and Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical at the 2009 ceremony.