Desperate to secure her status as the hippest old lady under the strobe light, Madonna works overtime to prove she’s still into the groove. “Don’t need to catch my breath / I can go on and on,” she pants on “Give It 2 Me,” one of Hard Candy’s seemingly countless songs about her prowess on the dance floor (and presumably, in bed). Rather than seeming effortless, however, the boasts come off like shameless attempts to convince the TRL generation that she’s actually relevant.

The bragfest isn’t entirely unwarranted, though. Assisted by Timbaland and Pharrell, Madonna’s disco gets an invigorating hip-hop makeover on soulful struts like “Beat Goes On” and “Dance 2night.” But while only the Gwen-biting “Spanish Lesson” and “Candy Shop” fall flat, her collaborators’ overly familiar sounds and her own lyrical preoccupations make for a frustratingly repetitive CD. Madonna isn’t so much into the groove as stuck in a rut.