FEATURE:
Take a Bow
IN THIS PHOTO: Madonna captured by Deborah Feingold in 1983
Madonna the Icon
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THE reasons why I wanted to write a feature…
IN THIS PHOTO: Madonna in a promotional photo for Madame X (2019)/PHOTO CREDIT: Steven Klein
about Madonna is because, a) she recently departed the record label Interscope for Warner. One suspects that Warner better understand Madonna, and they can take her career to the next stage. I am not one who delves too deep when artists switch labels, as it is difficult to understand the true reasons why it happens and what benefits the artist experiences from the switch. Madonna’s latest album, 2018’s Madame X, is one of the best of her later career, and I am interested to see where she heads next and whether there are already plans in place for her fifteenth studio album. The main reason for me revisiting Madonna – I have written about her a lot through the years – is that it is her birthday on 16th August. Although Madonna gets a lot of stick from the press and some people – she has been on the receiving of abuse and judgement her whole career! -, I have always admired her and consider her one of the last living icons. I will move onto the idea of an icon now but, when you think about the artists living, how many rank alongside Madonna in terms of their power and influence? Prince and David Bowie died in 2016, and maybe the likes of Paul McCartney are comparable in terms of their impact on music. As she is about to turn sixty-two, there is no slowing Madonna!
No IG, Twitter or Tik Tok either! 🚀🚀🚀 pic.twitter.com/srJ2WNN56p
— Madonna (@Madonna) August 7, 2020
Madonna is one of those artists who attracts fans from all corners of the musical spectrum. No matter who you are, what you believe and how you live your life, she brings people together and her music translates across all borders and boundaries. Maybe she has put her foot in mouth a few times in recent years because of what she has said online and her beliefs, but Madonna cannot be censored and is someone who is not being told what to say by the record label – maybe Interscope were clamping down or trying to reign her in. I look at a lot of today’s artists and, with social media, it must be very hard to authentic and be who you are: there is always someone directing what an artist says and just how much they can get away with. Even now, in 2020, Madonna seems as bold and real as she did back in the 1980s! My first taste of her music was when I was about six or seven. I think the first song of hers I encountered was Material Girl – it is from her 1984 album, Like a Virgin. I was instantly hooked by Madonna, as it was not just the music that stuck in the mind. Madonna is famous for her changing styles and, whilst fashion is not especially important to me, I was intrigued by someone who was not your average chart start – someone who seemed like a clone and does not display much personality.
Madonna’s chameleon-like ability to change her looks and persona between albums kept me invested, and my second real wave of affection for her came when I was in high school and, in 1998, she released the sensational Ray of Light. Compare that album to her 1983 eponymous debut, and it shows just how far she had come! I love that idea of Madonna having $35 in her pocket at the start and making it from there. There is this myth surrounding some legends regarding the fact they had very little in their pocket and became a star when they had nothing to their name. Some are exaggerated but, with Madonna, you can feel she had to struggle and work hard. On her sixtieth birthday in 2018, The Independent wrote an article and talked about her start and why she was so determined:
“Born in Michigan in 1958, Madonna Louise Ciccone was the third of six children in a working-class Italian-American family. No one could have guessed that this little girl would become renowned the world over by a single name. But the history books will say that she did.
Perhaps it was the death of her mother when she was just five years old which lit the fuse of her determination, or a desire to break out of a provincial town and a big family. Maybe she was simply a born show-off. Whatever the motivation, after 60 years, Madonna is the wealthiest woman in the music business and one of its most radical icons.
Madonna’s journey from the American suburbs to the American Dream began in 1978, when she arrived in New York with nothing but a winter coat and $35 – “The bravest thing,” she once said, “I have ever done.” In 1983, after years of hard grit, she appeared before the world fully formed”.
IN THIS PHOTO: Madonna in 1992
With the inspiring and iconic comes the more controversial side. Through her career, Madonna has never held back her sexuality and physicality. Perhaps 1992’s Erotica was the moment when she found herself receiving a lot of negative attention from the press. This was compounding with the release of her Sex book at the same time:
“When topless photos from Madonna’s younger years leaked in 1985, they quickly found themselves in sell-out issues of Penthouse and Playboy. But in 1992, when she photographed herself completely naked for her own coffee table book, opprobrium rained down on her from all sides.
Here, she proved a crucial double standard around women’s bodies and sexuality. It was all fun and games for men to enjoy, so long as they were in control. Once women took charge themselves, their sexuality was deemed unacceptable.
In her defiance of the patriarchy, Madonna also garnered adoration from millions of gay men, who saw her reaching out a hand to them through her music, her imagery, and her vocal activism. For many, she was the accepting mother they never had”.
I would recommend great books like Madonna: Like an Icon to get a bigger sense of where she came from and why she is so inspiring, but I have been following her music for over three decades, and the fact Madonna is still at the forefront and influencing artists shows how indelible and potent her music is! Taylor Swift is in the news at the moment because her surprise album, folklore, was recently released, and it is breaking sales records.
Madonna herself knows that modern stars like Swift and Lady Gaga for instance rely a lot on the power and universality of social media. It is a powerful marketing machine, and I often feel like it is a bit of an unfair leg-up for major stars. Madonna was utilising radio and music television early in her career, but I think the reach of social media is bigger than radio back in the 1980s and 1990s, and it can be a bit of a crutch. Not that Madonna worked from the bottom and did everything herself. She has had the help of record labels and other writers/producers, but I think it was harder than to make a name and sustain compared to things now. People will contend that, but I feel the idea of an icon today is very different. I have a lot of respect for big Pop artists of today, but it is hard to see beyond the lure and ubiquitous nature of social media and discern how much of today’s stars are where they are because of talent or Internet popularity. To me, Madonna is still the biggest icon in Pop, even if there are a lot of younger artists who are creating records and getting everyone talking. The fact we do not really have music T.V. anymore is a disadvantage for many modern stars.
A lot of Madonna’s appeal and legacy comes from her amazing videos. From the rather cutesy Material Girl, through to the epic Like a Prayer (1989), and the extraordinary Frozen (1998), we see this artist embody different guises and worlds! Now, I think digital sales and social media is more important and influential than videos and the depth of songs. That is my opinions, but I also think it is harder to get noticed in modern music, so I guess there is more to it. Regardless, there is no doubt that Madonna is one of the most important artists ever, and she has released at least five iconic albums – her 1983 debut, Like a Virgin, Like a Prayer, Erotica, and Ray of Light. I have as very soft spot for 1994’s Bedtime Stories as it contains my favourite-ever Madonna song, Take a Bow. That song shows the versality of Madonna – a tender and heartfelt song where Madonna puts her heart out there is a world away from songs like Holiday (from 1984’s Like a Virgin), and La Isla Bonita from 1986’s True Blue! From her role as a fashion icon, to the role she played in connecting with the L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ community (tracks like Vogue are especially powerful when we think about that), to her continued evolution and musical curiosity, there is nobody in music like her!
I tend not to take big chunks from Wikipedia but, when it comes to her legacy, I could not resist but to quote the following:
“According to Tony Sclafani from MSNBC, "It's worth noting that before Madonna, most music mega-stars were guy rockers; after her, almost all would be female singers ... When the Beatles hit America, they changed the paradigm of performer from solo act to band. Madonna changed it back—with an emphasis on the female."[377] Howard Kramer, curatorial director of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, asserted that "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 redefined what the parameters were for female performers."[378] According to Fouz-Hernández, subsequent female artists such as Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Kylie Minogue, the Spice Girls, Destiny's Child, Jennifer Lopez, and Pink were like her "daughters in the very direct sense that they grew up listening to and admiring Madonna, and decided they wanted to be like her."[379] Madonna has also influenced male artists, inspiring rock frontmen Liam Gallagher of Oasis and Chester Bennington of Linkin Park to become musicians.[380][381]
Madonna's use of sexual imagery has benefited her career and catalyzed public discourse on sexuality and feminism.[382] As Roger Chapman documents in Culture Wars: An Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints, and Voices, Volume 1 (2010), she has drawn frequent condemnation from religious organizations, social conservatives and parental watchdog groups for her use of explicit, sexual imagery and lyrics, religious symbolism, and otherwise "irreverent" behavior in her live performances.[383]
IN THIS PHOTO: Madonna in 1983/PHOTO CREDIT: Richard Corman
The Times wrote that she had "started a revolution amongst women in music ... Her attitudes and opinions on sex, nudity, style and sexuality forced the public to sit up and take notice."[384] Professor John Fiske noted that the sense of empowerment that Madonna offers is inextricably connected with the pleasure of exerting some control over the meanings of self, of sexuality, and of one's social relations.[385] In Doing Gender in Media, Art and Culture (2009), the authors noted that Madonna, as a female celebrity, performer, and pop icon, is able to unsettle standing feminist reflections and debates.[386] According to lesbian feminist Sheila Jeffreys, Madonna represents woman's occupancy of what Monique Wittig calls the category of sex, as powerful, and appears to gleefully embrace the performance of the sexual corvée allotted to women.[387] Professor Sut Jhally has referred to Madonna as "an almost sacred feminist icon."[388]
I will leave things there but, in the past few weeks, Madonna has courted negative attention because of her theories relating to COVID-19, but she is going to appear on a remix album from Dua Lipa. A recent article in The Metro asked whether Madonna was obliterating her own legacy. In the modern age, where we have cancel culture – artists being cancelled and wiped out because of what they say online -, is Madonna in danger of undoing decades of great work?
“But 2020 is a different beast. Our collective patience has been pushed to the limit. We’re viewing the world, including celebrities and public figures, through a different lens. Sure, famous faces survive multiple cancellations these days. They seem to get away with saying and doing increasingly controversial things. But not without the gentle erosion of a legacy. The point is, nobody’s untouchable anymore, including Madonna. For a die-hard fan like me, that’s worrying”.
Madonna has faced sexism and judgement through her career; she has faced censorship and anger and, in her fifties and sixties, ageism and less airplay. It does take more than a few misguided comments and posts to undo her legacy but, because everything online is amplified and we have this mentality to attack and devour artists if they make an error, I think we just have to accept that Madonna is not perfect and there are going to be occasions where she will need to think about what she puts out there. Considering all she has given to music and all she will give, we need to remember her incredible songs and tours; all the staggering moments and the inspiration she has given to countless artists! On 16th August, Madonna celebrates her birthday, and I hope she gets a lot of love. I want to return to that tweet Madonna sent regarding the $35 she had when she started her career, and how far she went! I wonder whether there will be a biopic anytime soon, as her life and rise demands cinematic attention. That is up to her but, right now, I wanted to salute one of my favourite artists whose music still means so much. Whilst we have huge artists around like Taylor Swift, Dua Lipa, Lady Gaga and so forth, I think it would be unfair to say that they are challengers and will be ‘The New Madonna’ – even if, clearly, Madonna has a lot of respect for Dua Lipa. The Queen of Pop can rest easy because, in 2020, her legacy and title is…
IN THIS PHOTO: Madonna in 1998/PHOTO CREDIT: RANKIN
DEFINITELY not under threat!