FEATURE:
Madonna at Sixty-Six
IN THIS PHOTO: Madonna during her Celebration Tour (2023)/PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images
Why the Icon Can Never Be Replaced As the Queen of Pop
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BECAUSE we celebrate…
IN THIS PHOTO: Madonna in 1986/PHOTO CREDIT: Herb Ritts
Madonna’s sixty-sixth birthday on 16th August, I have been writing about her. This is my third and final feature. I think about how Madonna came through strong on her debut album and, with each album after that, built on her reputation and name. Starting out as this original and fascinating artist, it would only be a few short years before she was the confirmed Queen of Pop. Solidified and undeniable by 1989’s Like a Prayer, even some critical and press backlash and attack for 1992’s Erotica and 1994’s Bedtime Stories could not dent her reputation. The innovation and impact of those albums showed she was in a league of her own. I think some critics took against her for her work in the early and mid-1990s is because it wasn’t what they were expecting. Always evolving and creating new sides and personas, you only have to look around in the years since to see how albums like Erotica have actually influenced so many other artists. Not only has Madonna forged her own career on her terms and given us so many timeless and pioneering albums: she has had to face so much criticism and sexism. Rising through the 1980s in a landscape that was male-dominated and championed Rock bands and men who were open about their sexuality and desires, when Madonna did the same, she was judged and attacked. In spite of all it all, Madonna stood strong and defiant! She is someone who has always had this loyal and loving fanbase and a media who have not exactly been consistent or kind. You cannot doubt her popularity and success. It seems heartbreaking and angering that, for so many years, Madonna had to face so much poison and offence.
Through the '00s, she still managed to keep her music fresh. Moving with the times and working with a range of collaborators, there has not been this loss of momentum through the past couple of decades. An artist always at the forefront. One might say that artists since Madonna are more relevant and worthy. You can look at modern-day artists like Dua Lipa. Charli XCX, Sabrina Carpenter and Taylor Swift. In terms of the modern Pop scene, you can trace lines from nearly every artist to Madonna. Whether they consciously acknowledge her or not. I don’t think anyone will live to see the day when another artist takes that crown. There can never be another Queen of Pop! A few days shy of her sixty-sixth birthday, Madonna sits commandingly in a modern Pop scene she helped to forge. Despite there being so much ageism hurled at her, the recent Celebration Tour shows that she is unstoppable and at the top of her game. Creating a spectacle up their with her finest tours, the stamina she displayed lets us know that we will see her perform for a while yet. There may be a new album soon enough. What we do know is a long-awaited biopic is in the works. All of this activity and promise means Madonna is not only a legacy artist or someone trading on the past. She is very much driving the modern Pop conversation. Even though this feature was published in 2011, Rolling Stone collated votes as to who the Queen of Pop was. Madonna won quite convincingly:
“To say that Madonna won this poll in a landslide would be like saying that she was a kind of popular pop singer in the 1980s. It wouldn't even begin to explain the scope of the situation. She received five times as many votes as Lady Gaga, who landed in second place by a very comfortable margin. The only persistent criticism that Gaga has dealt with in recent years is that she's too much like Madonna. It's a hard shadow to escape. Madonna is a musical icon without peer. Her run of hits over the past 30 years is simply astounding, and when she hits the road, tickets sell like it's a Led Zeppelin reunion tour. Sure, her last few albums didn't match up to the classics. Nobody cares. She's Madonna. Lady Gaga has accomplished more in recent years than any artist of her era, but she's still got a long climb until she reaches Madonna level. It's very likely that no other artist will ever reach it though. Her manager Guy Oseary recently tweeted that she's started recording her 12th studio album, so clearly she has no intention of slowing down anytime soon”.
One might say a decade on and things have changed. Sure, Taylor Swift is more of a modern icon. Someone being compared to Madonna, even though their music is very different. You still get articles that are half-hearted. Those accusing Madonna or ruining her legacy with occasional controversy or unwise comments. It seems that there is always this scrutiny around her. There always seems to be this issue around her age. Articles like this asking if she should act her age. Whether she needs to be edgy to prove herself. The thing is, Madonna is authentic. If an older woman dares to act bold and true to herself and not ‘act her age’, she is dismissed and ridiculed. These rolled eyes ands disgusted faces. Why should someone in their sixties not have the same verve and desire as a younger woman?! She is giving so much strength to women of her age in the industry. Those who also have faced ageism. Last year, ahead of her sixty-fifth birthday, Sky News celebrated a warrior, genius and icon:
“Rihanna, Britney Spears, Katy Perry and Lady Gaga have all recognised her influence on their careers, with Beyonce hailing her a "masterpiece genius".
She's had more top 10 hits than Elvis, sung a Bond song, met Queen Elizabeth and performed at Super Bowl half time. There's even part of an academic discipline devoted to her - Madonna studies.
But now, following news of a stint in intensive care following a "serious bacterial infection", fans have been left scrabbling for positive news around the pop icon's health, not to mention the ticket-holders for her now-on-pause tour which had been due to kick off next month.
While the star is understood to be home and recovering, the media frenzy around her illness is just a small sign of the impact Madonna has had on the world, transcending the music industry to become one of the most recognisable faces of the 20th and 21st centuries - a post-modern icon playing the game by her own rules.
The best-selling female recording artist of all time, her sparkling four-decade career has earned her multiple awards and a place in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
A master of reinvention, those of a certain age who have followed her over the years have been treated to numerous musical styles, as well as a succession of colourful personas.
Unsurprisingly, as a woman at the top of her game and in financial control of her art, her business acumen has led to the Grammy, Brit and Ivor Novello-winning singer being labelled a "control freak".
However, Madonna insists she values collaboration, saying in a 2012 interview: "I can't work on my own… I need to hear what people think all the time."
Battling her way in the industry years before the #MeToo movement, she reportedly rejected the advances of Harvey Weinstein (whose then company Miramax produced her 1991 documentary Truth Or Dare) telling him: "Get away from me, you smell like a f****** ashtray."
Her more recent criticism of ageism and sexism in both the music industry and society, has received widespread media coverage..
An early adopter of the hands-free headset microphone, the piece of kit has since been informally named in her honour, dubbed the "Madonna mic".
One constant in her career has been her ferocious work ethic. An exercise lover, she has at times worked out for five-hours per day as well as following a strict macrobiotic diet. It's a dedication which has allowed her to maintain a peak level of fitness and tour into her 60s.
Madonna has previously called cancelling gigs a "punishment", and at the time of her Madame X cancellations told fans that despite considering herself to be "a warrior I never quit, I never give in", she had been forced to stop performing "so that I don't inflict further and irreversible damage to my body".
Despite the setbacks, her tour record as highest-grossing female performer of all time was only broken last year, when she was overtaken by Taylor Swift's The Eras tour.
Perhaps the last word should go to the curatorial director of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Howard Kramer, who said: "Madonna and the career she carved out for herself made possible virtually every other female pop singer to follow... She certainly raised the standards of all of them... She re-defined what the parameters were for female performers."
A re-inventor, a re-definer and a role-model - Madonna may be briefly out, but as her history proves - she's unlikely to stay down for long”.
Think of everything she has gone through and all that she achieved. The way she pathed the way for so many others. Changing the face of Pop music forever. It is great that there are artists that are compared to her. Those influenced by Madonna. I don’t think that a lack of albums, ageing or a new breed of Pop artists coming through can change the order and displace Madonna. Her legacy is too strong. In terms of the record-breaking feats, the sold-out tours and albums that feature in lists of the best of all time. Also, in a music scene more dominated by men and less open to women like her, her passion, determination and fortitude is not something we have had to see in recent years. To come out the other end and continue to make phenomenal music and stay true. If some feel her Instagram videos and posts are a bit too much, you can’t deny that she has earned the right to be who she is and do what she wants! There is still so much in Madonna’s future. It is remarkable she is still with us and still so strong and vital. An artist whose influence you can feel right through modern Pop. That will never change! How could any artist, regardless of streaming numbers and massive tours, achieve what she has accomplished?! It is clear that there will…
NEVER be another Madonna.