2015: “The Year of Madonna�

[xavier 4,787]

2015: “The Year of Madonnaâ€â€œI’ve fallen apart. I was lost, now I’m found.I picked up my crown, put it back on my head.I can forgive, but I will never forget.â€~ MadonnaOn March 10, 2015, Madonna will be releasing her thirteenth studio album, Rebel Heart. Most early indications are positive. Because of the leaks and the decision to release six official tracks immediately, initial reviews are favorable, songs are charting, and a buzz is emerging – Madonna is back.Of course, with the anticipation of new Madonna music comes publicity and press. And with publicity and press comes the commentary, good and bad. Few women, after all, are more polarizing than Madonna. For as many people that love Madonna’s music around the globe, there are those, equally enthusiastic, who love to point out how much they hate Madonna.Haters are nothing new for Madonna. As long as there has been Madonna and Madonna fans, there have been those eager to point out why they think Madonna is untalented, desperate, and irrelevant. In the past, such negative commentary typically took place in person. Now, of course, we conveniently have the internet to document the frustration.Go to any online Madonna article and peruse the comments section. Below is a sampling of the feedback you’ll find: Naturally, the commentary above isn’t exclusive to Madonna. But, as illustrated above, Madonna still has a knack for attracting criticism. People love to go out of their way to leave snarky comments about Madonna’s age, her desperation, and, most prevalent of all, haters love to point out that Madonna is no longer relevant.Debating Madonna’s relevance is something of a paradox. The very act of leaving snide commentary or debating Madonna’s merits, only seems to prove that Madonna is still very relevant. If she wasn’t significant, no one would be talking about her, lovers and haters alike. Yet, after 30 + years in the national psyche, here we are, still talking about Madonna. And not only does that make Madonna relevant in 2015, it makes her uniquely exceptional.While the great Madonna debate has propelled her career and kept her hovering with the stars for decades, it would serve us well to remember why Madonna remains a worldwide phenomena. After all, if there is no substance to debate, there would be no debate to be had.Madonna is most relevant when she is at her most irrelevant.Hell hath no fury like Madonna ignored. Call her what you will, but at her heart Madonna is a fighter, and she takes her craft and commercial success very seriously. She is always at her best when she has a point to prove, when Madonna demands our attention… not for her controversies but for her music.Although Madonna has many noteworthy albums and every fan has their favorites, over the past 3 decades there have been 3 defining Madonna albums:“Like a Prayer†released in 1989“Ray of Light†released in 1998“Confessions on a Dance Floor†released in 2005Given the lukewarm reception Madonna received with 2008’s “Hard Candy†and 2012’s “MDNAâ€, it appears that Madonna is on the cusp of a fourth defining album to anchor her stardom into another decade.Madonna has certainly invested the time and energy into Rebel Heart. 2014 was dedicated to writing and recording music for the album, of which 19 songs will be officially released. If the six teaser tracks are any indication, like the albums noted above, Rebel Heart will see a return of the vulnerable, ballsy, and inspired artists that has defined pop music for 30+ years.The very fact that Madonna has invested so much into Rebel Heart should give us pause. Based on her track record, in the wake of #SecretProject, Rebel Heart (whether we want to listen or not) has already proven to be a labor of love. And let’s be honest with each other, Madonna is at her best when she wants to make love.Age makes Madonna more relevant.People are quick to discount Madonna because of her age. Yet in most other circles, experience actually means something.Where other artists over the decades have stumbled to a finish line, Madonna has been running a 30-year marathon unchallenged. To discount Madonna because of her age is to turn a blind to her stamina, discipline, and drive… Last I checked, these are all qualities that should be celebrated, not shunned.While Madonna may not be the prettiest pop star on the dance floor, make no mistake – Madonna is the most inspirational. I challenge any naysayer, young and old, to a dance off with Madonna. At 56, Madonna is more fit than most people in their 30s. Her grit and endurance are the result of a lifetime dedicated to fitness and diet, and such determination and stick-to-itiveness can’t be bought with plastic surgery or be photoshopped. Regardless of whether she had any work done or not, Madonna remains beautiful with age, because Madonna fought hard to stay fit.Men lie. Women Lie. Numbers don’t lie.People can hate Madonna and Madonna’s music. But the one thing none of us can take away from Madonna are her accomplishments.Madonna has sold more than 300 million albums worldwide.According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Madonna is the most successful female recording artist of all time.Madonna has the most Top 10 singles on Billboard’s Hot 100 Chart (38), surpassing Elvis.Madonna has 43 #1 singles on Billboard’s Hot Dance/Club Play Singles Chart, more than twice the number of her nearest rival, Janet Jackson.Madonna’s 2012 “MDNA†World Tour is the 2nd highest grossing tour for a female solo artist of all time. 1st place was achieved by Madonna in 2008 with her “Sticky and Sweet†tour.Many people may choose to scoff at Madonna’s accomplishments and write them off as something in the past tense, no longer relevant to the here and now. Yet when unfinished tracks from Rebel Heart leaked in December 2014, and the decision was made to release 6 tracks immediately, once again Madonna proved how very relevant she remains.As noted by Billboard Magazine:“The album preorder topped the iTunes charts in more than 40 countries, including the United States, where three of the six released tracks entered Billboard‘s Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart dated Jan. 3, despite just two days of eligibility. To date, the six tracks have sold a combined 131,000 downloads, according to Nielsen Music, with preorders for Rebel Heart at a robust (considering the situation) 50,000 to 60,000, according to industry estimates.â€Only time will tell whether Madonna will dominate 2015. But considering Rebel Heart hasn’t had any official publicity yet, the album and tour to follow will surely add to Madonna’s already impressive catalog of accomplishments. This being said, haters should brace themselves. For as much effort as Madonna has put into the project so far, Rebel Heart will likely receive a lot of promotion, and no one markets Madonna better than Madonna.Madonna is loved.Madonna is a matter of perspective. How we choose to react to her typically says more about us than Madonna. For the millions of people around the world who look up to her, Madonna is an endearing, thought-provoking muse whose humor, voice, and encouragement has accompanied them through life’s trials and tribulations. For them, Madonna doesn’t write music; she is the composer of a gospel, a modern soundtrack to document who we were, who we are, and who we want to be. And despite what haters may opine, like Madonna’s accomplishments, her legion of fans should not be discounted.Love for Madonna has no borders, admiration for her transcends cultures, ethnicity, sexual preferences, and national origins. And the reason her voice resonates around the planet isn’t because Madonna is sexy or controversial. Madonna fandom, after all, comes with a reckoning, a willingness to look past the cleavage and take Madonna at her word. Remove the woman from the equation and all that is left is Madonna’s music, a collection of songs encouraging all of us to be more bold, celebratory, inclusive, and kind.Although it’s been over 30 years, Madonna has never stopped demanding that holiday, that one brilliant day when we would all come together and celebrate our collective humanity. Starting in 2015, we should consider taking Madonna up on her offer.Whether religious extremism, political fear mongering, or snarky comments in a newsfeed, the signs are everywhere: hate has made a comeback. In this vein, Madonna couldn’t be more relevant to 2015. Whether she intended to or not, Madonna is emblematic of the times we live in. She represents the choice before us, a decision that we should all take to heart. We can be spiteful, cruel, and judgmental, and lash at the likes of Madonna because of her age, appearance, and views, or we can do the unthinkable; we can challenge ourselves to live in the world as Madonna wants it to be, which is to say: we can reject intolerance and live for love.Madonna is a Rebel HeartLong after we all cease to exist, Madonna’s voice will live on. Future generations will dissect her celebrity and debate her significance in the context of the times in which we live. Like us, they will wonder how an outspoken girl from Detroit sung and danced her way into the hearts of millions, while simultaneously drawing ire and ridicule from the masses. Should this essay make it to the hands of someone studying Madonna in the future, I’d like to point out one last reason why Madonna is so relevant to the here and now of 2015.Madonna is a product of a free society, the equivalent of Lady Liberty in a cone shaped bra. Even if Madonna appalls you, in a time when our liberties are under attack, we should all appreciate that after 30 years we still have the likes of Madonna to champion freedom of expression. After all, had it not been for Madonna’s unapologetic advocacy of self expression, her accomplishments and notoriety wouldn’t exist.To live in a free society also means that people are free to share their opinions, however snarky and hateful. In this regard, I’ve always considered Madonna something of a warrior. While she may not wield a sword in the name of freedom, I suspect her wounds run just as deep. Whether dancing in front of burning crosses in the Like a Prayer video, photographing her sexual fantasies in her Sex book, or the backlash she received for opposing the Iraq War with the American Life video, Madonna has withstood a lot of public outrage over the decades. And whether we realize it or not, all of those debates centered around the limitations of freedom and speech.Haters can hate, but I applaud Madonna’s tenacity and resilience. After 30 years of backlash, she keeps on pushing boundaries. Even when faced with a growing mob that insists she can’t, because she’s unworthy or too old, because there’s someone better, prettier, more relevant and talented, acting more age-appropriate than her, Madonna keeps on being Madonna.Paying attention to Madonna can be exhausting, and her music is not for everyone. For all her strengths, Madonna has her share of flaws. In being outspoken, she sometimes speaks before she thinks. And yes, Madonna is guilty of being narcissistic at times.There are plenty of reasons not to care for Madonna. But should you want Madonna censored, find yourself despising her for not conforming to your ideals, or feel compelled to leave snarky commentary for the sake of being hateful, let’s be clear on this one final point…That doesn’t make Madonna irrelevant. That makes you irrelevant.

[Breathless 5,286]

Ha ha, I love that last sentence!! :heart:

[wtg1987 10,162]

Great article - You missed off True Blue as a relevant album i think though ? It produced her highest charting singles of her entire career plus includes one of her most iconic videos Open Your Heart. To this day i still think that album has stood the test of time - songs like La Isla Bonita, Papa Dont Preach, Open Your Heart and Live To Tell(I still think Ghostown is very similar to Live To Tell especially that haunting intro) are still widely played on the radio. As for this being her year ?? That's debatable(1990 is still for me her most memorable year) - one thing that seems to let her down over the last 10 years and im not just talking about the music(The music IS still good) - IMAGE !! She needs to fire her stylist and start dressing more glamourous, she shouldnt be wearing leotards and skimpy outfits and trying to hang off young people as if they are gods or something. Also for the tour which im sure will be soon please bring back proper live music and no more backing tracks please ? We want the live drums, guitars just like we used to get on the vt, wtg, ba and girlie show tours. Too many concerts now have lost that "Live" sound imo. Looking forward to the Grammys and the Living For Love video too- hope shes going to put some better effort into the videos this time too - long may she reign too

[luckystar 727]

Well she makes different pop albums, so she has a lot of important albums.

[Fighter 28,798]

where is this from??? i loved it!!!

[ITG 3,323]

It's brilliant!I'm loving that last line

[groovyguy 63,856]

MADONNA - THE RETURN IN 2015

[groovyguy 63,856]

where is this from??? i loved it!!!

http://guypenn.com/2015/01/11/2015-the-year-of-madonna/

[groovyguy 63,856]

Madonna: Life Story  by Lyndsay Conway

14:18 | 15 Jan 2015

http://www.marieclaire.co.uk/blogs/548212/madonna-biography.html

Pop star, rebel and mistress of reinvention for over 35 years, Madonna has been a cultural force to be reckoned with – and there’s no sign of her hanging up her leotard any time soon

 

One night in the summer of 1970, 12-year-old Madonna Ciccone was disco dancing at a holiday camp in her home state of Michigan, having hitch-hiked there with childhood friend Moira McFarland. ‘When Madonna hit the dance floor, I was like, “How did you learn to dance like that?â€â€™ recalls Moira. ‘I stood back and watched everyone else watching her, and that’s when I knew she was going to be a star.’ Today, at 56, that girl is the biggest-selling female recording artist of all time, with an estimated $500 million fortune. Madonna has shifted more than 300 million albums worldwide and won 273 awards, including Brits, Grammys and a Golden Globe.

 

This month marks the 30th anniversary of her second album, Like a Virgin, which sold 21 million copies worldwide, and the release of a new book of previously unseen photographs, Madonna: Ambition, Music, Style by Guardian music journalist Caroline Sullivan. It’s hard to imagine there’s anything we don’t already know about the woman who gave us the revealing 1991 documentary In Bed with Madonna, but innovation is inherent for pop’s greatest chameleon, and the show’s not over yet. 

 

Born Madonna Louise Ciccone on 16 August 1958, she is the eldest daughter of six children to Chrysler engineer Tony Ciccone and his wife, Madonna Fortin. Madonna’s mother died of breast cancer in December 1963, aged 30. Just five at the time, Madonna was devastated by her death. Her authoritarian father would later employ a succession of housekeepers to care for his children, one of whom – Joan Gustafson – became his second wife.

 

In early interviews, Madonna would prefix any mention of her stepmother with the word ‘wicked’ because of her strict approach. Yet Christopher, the sibling closest to her and creative director on her tours, revealed that Joan’s ‘sergeant-major tendencies’ influenced his sister more than she cared to admit. ‘[Like Joan] everything had to be done her way, according to her timetable,’ he said in his biography, Life with my Sister Madonna.

 

An A-grade student in high school, Madonna landed a place at the University of Michigan, but dropped out in 1978 to move to New York to become a dancer. A year into living there she was raped at knifepoint by an unidentified man. She talked about it for the first time in 1995, during an interview with NME, revealing little detail. ‘That experience turned me round in terms of becoming street smart and more savvy,’ she said. ‘I was very disturbed about it afterwards, but I knew there was no way that I was going back home.’

 

Determined to stick it out, Madonna touted herself around the club scene as a singer. In 1982, she signed to Sire Records and released her first single, Everybody, followed by Burning Up. Her third track, Holiday, became a worldwide hit. ‘She exerted a level of control back in 1982 that no female performer had ever done,’ said Sullivan. ‘She wanted to produce her first album, but [sire] wouldn’t let her, because she didn’t know what she was doing. But she refused to be told no, learned quickly and took over production from Like a Virgin onwards.’

 

Fans didn’t just love her music; they copied her look – bleach-streaked hair tied with lace, fingerless gloves and bra tops. According to Christopher, his sister was once prudish about being overtly sexual, partly due to their Catholic upbringing. Although she had posed naked as an artist’s model to make ends meet, she employed Christopher as her dresser on her first tour because she didn’t want anyone else to see her naked. The turning point came in July 1985, when nude pictures taken during her art modelling days appeared in Playboy. ‘Any innocence she may have had is now gone. She has nothing to hide any more,’ Christopher said at the time. ‘From now on, she will forever invade [her privacy] herself.’ Controversy soon became a byword for Madonna, from kissing a black Jesus in her 1989 video for Like a Prayer to appearing naked with Naomi Campbell in 1992 in her Sex book and championing sadomasochism in her Erotica phase that same year. 

 

As her fame grew, she developed a reputation for being high-handed and hard. An awkward scene in her In Bed with Madonna saw the star give her friend Moira the brush-off when she asked Madonna to be godmother to her child. Madonna also claimed they were sexually intimate as teenagers, which Moira denied. ‘When it came out I called her and said, “What the hell is in that movie?â€â€™ said Moira, who then flew to New York to see her. ‘She didn’t say sorry, because Madonna doesn’t apologise.’ But when Moira’s son suffered a brain injury in a car accident aged 13, Madonna offered financial support. ‘She’s always been there when I needed her,’ said Moira.

 

Madonna’s fall outs with her Hollywood cohorts make compelling headlines – like her clash with Gwyneth Paltrow over their mutual friendship with personal trainer Tracy Anderson. She also feuded with Demi Moore after Madonna appeared to side with Ashton Kutcher when the couple split. Though her softer side is rarely reported, Carlton Wilborn, who danced on her Blond Ambition and Girlie Show tours and appears in the Vogue video, revealed a rare vulnerability to Madonna that he saw when lodging with her in New York. ‘She told me her insecurities, what she wanted to do with her career and what she was frustrated about,’ he added. Far from being egotistical, Wilborn insists Madonna treated her dancers as equals. ‘She ensured we felt as special as she felt,’ he said. ‘We travelled on private jets, had suites in hotels and were managed by her as though we, too, were rock stars.’

 

In 1985, aged 26, Madonna married actor Sean Penn, then 24, after they were introduced as he passed by the set of her Material Girl video. She later confided in Christopher that he reminded her of a younger version of their dad. It was a passionate yet violent union, and they split after four years following an incident in which Penn allegedly tied her to a chair for nine hours and attacked her. He was charged with felony domestic assault, but Madonna later withdrew the charge and filed for divorce. ‘It was a miserable marriage,’ Penn said years later. ‘I describe that marriage as loud. I don’t recall having a single conversation in four years of marriage.’

 

The break-up took its toll. Whatever else Penn did, he was the love of Madonna’s life – and still is, actress Debi Mazar, a friend from her New York club days, insisted in a 2013 TV interview. Madonna rebounded into an 11-month fling with actor Warren Beatty, then channelled her feelings into 1992’s Erotica. ‘[i was] cynical about love for a long time,’ she later said. ‘I was running the gamut of emotions and I think that, creatively, I was all over the place.’ 

 

After the release of her coffee-table book Sex in 1992, Madonna was accused of betraying her feminist roots by promoting images of rape as entertainment – something she vehemently rejected. ‘I’m in charge of my fantasies,’ she said. ‘I put myself in these situations with men. Isn’t that what feminism is about – equality for men and women? Aren’t I in charge of my life?’ But the backlash stung and it was two years before another album. A collection of ballads called Bedtime Stories, it reflected her urge to find someone to fill her ‘daddy chair’, as she and Christopher jokingly called it.

 

In September 1994, Madonna, then 37, met unassuming personal trainer Carlos Leon, 28, while running in Central Park. In October the following year, their daughter, Lourdes – Lola to Madonna – was born, but they split six months later. On the flip side, Madonna’s career soared when she landed the lead in Evita. For years she’d sought to be taken seriously as an actor – for every Desperately Seeking Susan there was a turkey like The Next Best Thing – but at last she had a cinematic hit.

 

In the summer of 1998, she met Guy Ritchie, the decade-younger director of Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels. Madonna fell instantly for his affable manner. Their son, Rocco, was born in August 2000, and on 22 December that year, they married at Scotland’s Skibo Castle, with Stella McCartney, Gwyneth Paltrow and Claudia Schiffer among the guests. For once, Madonna was happy to play second fiddle to Ritchie, adopting his favourite pursuits, such as drinking beer (though her favourite drink is a lemon drop – vodka, lemon juice and sugar). But for Ritchie, the marriage wasn’t so rosy. ‘I stepped into a soap opera,’ he would say later.

 

That soap opera imploded when they applied to adopt 13-month-old orphan David Banda from Malawi in October 2006, with Madonna forced to deny on BBC’s Newsnight she was manipulating the adoption process by promising to build schools in Africa. Interviewer Kirsty Wark recalls, ‘She controlled everything. When we got there, her lighting rig had been set up and it was filmy and fabulous, and there I was looking completely different with a mic and one lighting camera.’ Wark added: ‘I wouldn’t mind sitting down for a glass of wine with her, but I wonder would she ever be off her guard?’

 

After two years of legal wrangling, David’s adoption was approved in May 2008. Five months later, after endless press speculation, Madonna and Ritchie confirmed they had split amid rumours he grew tired of her obsession with Kabbalah, a mystical offshoot of Judaism. Despite the tsunami of negative stories about her efforts in Malawi (she also adopted a girl named Mercy) her marriage breakdown and apparent reliance on cosmetic procedures to stay youthful, Madonna continued to wow professionally.

 

In just eight years she released four albums – Music (2000), American Life (2003), Confessions on a Dancefloor (2005) and Hard Candy (2008) – and completed four world tours, playing 248 concerts. Her last album, MDMA, was her lowest selling yet, but only a fool would dare suggest Madonna’s lost her touch. Next year she will release her 13th album, collaborating with the industry’s most sought-after producers, including Diplo. ‘She knows they’re going to produce her better than she can produce herself and that’s how she manages to stay relevant,’ says Sullivan.

 

When the album’s released, Madonna will be three years away from qualifying for a bus pass. Will she retire? ‘I think she needs that interaction with her audience; she needs to feel adored,’ adds Sullivan. ‘It’s whether she’s going to remain overtly sexual or move towards a more subtle elegance on stage. If Madonna can find a new way of not needing the leotards, she can easily carry on until she’s 80.’

[groovyguy 63,856]

Madonna is #4 New York Iconic Celebrity

 

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/guide/1010-wins-iconic-celebrity-4-madonna/

1010 WINS Iconic Celebrity #4: Madonna

Known for her ever-changing, chameleon-like persona, Madonna is as much a brand as an individual. A media–savvy trendsetter, Madonna’s uncanny business sense is matched only by her talent. A veritable force of nature, Madonna’s ability to control her image, career and destiny was honed from an early age.

 

A Little Girl Grows Up Too Fast 

The third child to Michigan residents and Italian immigrants Madonna and Tony Ciccone, Madonna Louise Ciccone was nicknamed Nonni to differentiate her from her young mother. When Madonna was 6 years old, her mother lost a battle with breast cancer, leaving the young girl confused and bereft of a maternal figure.

Despite her early heartbreak, Madonna excelled in school, getting good marks and gravitating towards dance studies in high school. Madonna’s dance talent was undeniable, and she was awarded a dance scholarship to study at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance. She did not graduate, instead choosing to come to New York and study with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.

 

An Unkind Welcome to City Life 

Life in New York was difficult. She began waitressing at Dunkin’ Donuts, but she was unable to pay the bills. Already quite at ease with her physical self, Madonna opted to earn rent money by posing for art students in the nude.

She lived in ramshackle and dangerous apartments and was raped on a rooftop by two men at knifepoint She was also held-up at gun point and was the victim of several apartment robberies. All of this understandably left her shell shocked. However, she was undeterred from her professional goals.

 

Turning Hardship Into Triumph 

Madonna took up the drums and started to sing pop music in the band Breakfast Club. During that time, Madonna also made the rounds as a backup singer and dancer in the New York club and then-thriving disco scene. Eventually, Madonna started to craft her own lyrics, writing songs in partnership with an old college flame. Mark Kamins, a popular DJ, was spinning at New York’s trendy Danceteria club and played her tapes for the crowd, who went wild. Kamins then brought Madonna to the attention of record producer and founder of Sire Records, Seymour Stein, who helped jump start Madonna’s wild ride to stardom. Kamins would produce her first hit, the dance anthem, “Everybody.â€

 

Controlling Her Destiny 

Madonna continued to record hits and was working on her first album, “Madonna,†for Warner Brothers, when she expressed discontent with the production techniques used on multiple tracks. She turned to then romantic partner, John “Jellybean†Benitez, for guidance, and ultimately worked with him on remixing a number of songs and recording her first global monster hit, “Holiday.†She continued to ruffle feathers, feed the industry machine and carve out hit after hit with songs like “Material Girl†and “Like a Virgin.â€

 

A Style Is Born 

Film roles followed, but it was her upstaging of star Rosanna Arquette in the sleeper film “Desperately Seeking Susan†that brought the full thrust of Madonna’s ability to rule a room, and create trends, to the forefront. “Desperately Seeking Susan†showcased a tantalizing combination of Madonna’s iconic fashion sense and New York City’s coolest, downtown neighborhoods. The combination proved irresistible. Sweet, young teeny boppers competed with their mothers to out-Madonna Madonna’s look, making fingerless lace gloves and crucifixes the go-to accessories of the era.

 

Cementing An Ever-Changing Persona 

Madonna’s music and fashion style continued to morph over the next decade, following nothing other than her own uncanny ability to discern the next big thing and be the first one to create it. Unafraid of controversy, Madonna recorded and released the “Like a Prayer†video, which was condemned by the Vatican for its use of stigmata and sexual content, costing her a contract with Pepsi. Undeterred, Madonna’s music broadened its range, vacillating between spunky pop ballads and dark, edgy sexual melodies. Her Who’s That Girl Tour was all but banned by the Pope in Italy, who urged the faithful to stay away.

Madonna’s personal life was also ever changing. A screen collaboration and early marriage to actor Sean Penn delighted fans, but dissolved after four years. A later marriage to director Guy Ritchie, following the birth of their son, Rocco, lasted longer but also dissolved, after eight years.

After many years of controversy as a performer, her motherly side shone through and Madonna made headlines for a new reason, with the controversial adoptions of two children from Malawi, Africa.

 

An Icon, a Legacy and a Woman 

Currently, Madonna continues to turn heads, make trends and she’s doing it all her way. A clothing line, Material Girl, is designed with her daughter, Lourdes, and her health clubs, Hard Candy Fitness, have expanded internationally.

She has sold over 300 million records throughout her career and paved the way for generations of women new to the music business.

Her social conscience has expanded, leading to benefit performances for Malawi and Haiti.

In her 50s and still astonishingly gorgeous, Madonna’s love life also continues to sizzle. Her current beau is 26-year-old dancer Timor Steffens.

[stormbringer 180]

Labelling things as "relevant" is getting really old.

[groovyguy 63,856]

Why Madonna still matters

http://nypost.com/2015/03/07/why-madonna-still-matters/

Like the rest of us, it’s highly unlikely that Madonna will look back at this winter with any warm memories.

 

First her 13th studio album, “Rebel Heart,†leaked, forcing her to hastily release six teaser tracks just before the holidays.

 

Then a social media campaign received heavy criticism after she appropriated images of Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King Jr. and altered them in the spirit of the album’s cover (which features a close-up of the singer’s face, bound in black cord).

 

Finally, there was the thud heard ’round the world when, performing at the BRIT Awards in London, she fell ass-backwarddown a flight of stairs. All this before the full album has even come out (the official release is Tuesday).

 

It’s a run of events that has reignited the idea that the 56-year-old Madge is struggling to keep up with the modern pop world and desperately clinging to younger stars for a hint of relevance.

 

But in truth, young singers are still clamoring to work with the Material Girl — because in pop music, she’s still a god.

 

“Rebel Heart†is far from her best work — yet take a look at the list of producers, songwriters and guest artists smattered across its 19 tracks: Diplo, Kanye West, Blood Diamonds, Ryan Tedder, Avicii, Nicki Minaj, Ariel Rechtshaid and more, all lined up to serve the Queen of Pop. It’s an anointment that cannot be bought.

 

The same goes for her recent onstage collaborations. Following Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ Grammy performance/mass wedding ceremony in 2014, Macklemore told Ellen DeGeneres that guest star Madonna was so “gracious to come and share the stage,†knowing full well it was she that was doing them the favor, not the other way around.

 

Also offering up her respect was Miley Cyrus, who, at the time of her “Bangerz†album and tour, was the biggest pop star in the world.

 

But, when Madonna guested on Miley’s “MTV Unplugged†set last summer, the twerking-girl openly admitted to the network that her provocative act is directly descended from Madonna. “I grew up listening to Madonna, and a lot of what she represented for me is what I try to rep to girls now…not being afraid of your sexuality and really being who you want to be.â€

 

Madonna may not be in the Billboard Top 10 any longer, but to those acts who are, she’s the mother hen.

 

If you still think Madonna is irrelevant, cast an eye toward some of her one-time contemporaries who have been farmed out to Las Vegas.

Britney Spears was once touted as the new Madonna — but she now churns out her old hits at Planet Hollywood.

 

Mariah Carey’s last album “Me. I Am Mariah…The Elusive Chanteuse†was a spectacular flop, and she, too, is likely to become a regular fixture in casino land.

 

If rumors are to be believed, J.Lo will be next on the desert-bound gravy train.

 

Meanwhile, this fall, Madonna will be playing to sold-out arenas all over North America and Europe on her “Rebel Heart†tour.

 

Not only does pop music still want Madonna, it positively needs her.

[groovyguy 63,856]

http://www.swide.com/celebrities/this-is-why-madonna-is-one-of-the-greatest-feminist-ever/2015/03/08

This is why Madonna
is one of the greatest
feminist icons ever

 

Madonna is the definitive pop idol par excellence, and by far the most enduring; she has outlasted all the others. She is iconic because she knows how to make every single gesture iconic, emblematic and historic. ButMadonna is also a feminist icon, and a singer who has defined her own style: her feminism has never been canonical, or imposed by groups or ideologies. Her act of liberating the feminine has always been a quintessentially individual gesture. She lives her life without relying on a safety net, she is able to make new spaces in the collective unconscious possible with her aesthetic and lifestyle choices. Hers is a feminism without pre-defined limits, an infinite feminism.

 

 

A MENTHALIST THAT DEFIES TRUISM
Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone is undoubtedly a great performer, but she is also an enchantress and a menthalist. In the late 1970’s, she ran away from her painful childhood, from her house in Michigan, her overwhelming father, her many brothers and the memory of her deceased mother. She escapee and headed for New York in search of what she needed most of all: becoming something special. Never satisfied, Madonna courted everyone’s attention. She put this boundless desire to use, along with the unique ability to attract attention that goes with it, managing to deconstruct a whole series of clichés, of common and reassuring images. The episode at the Brit Awards just a few days ago was a mere accident but many people rightly considered it emblematic: Madonna Ciccone can fall but she can also rise again. She rises again, after 30 years and an incomparable career, where she revolutionised every look, every ambiance and every possible concept.

This despite the accusations, and the criticisms of people who would rather she were tame, more reassuring, or even retired from music. Madonna must keep raising the bar a little higher each time. She must undermine new prejudices, new clichés: the shocking relationship between sexuality and religion, or the attack on the rigid heterosexual polarity of the pre-defined models of past years, and now we have the image of the 57 year old popstar whom so many would like to see more moderate, and well-suited to her age. But no matter: that is just how she likes it now. She shows off her chest at concerts, wears mini skirts (with a ghostlike body) and constantly appears on social networks like a 14 year old, boundlessly, without ever sticking to what has been seen before, to familiar paths. She enjoys herself.

Madonna remains a pioneer. A pioneer who has taken on the task of being the first. And she goes on, preserving that precocious act of so long ago – her early 1980’s act – of the outrageous and slightly ungraceful debutante who mixes lace and crucifixes, and who sings of sexuality from a teenage girl’s perspective.

 

THE ACT OF FREEDOM

Madonna is an artist, performer, director, writer, and entrepreneur but also the mother of four children, a wife, an ex-wife, an admirer of beautiful young people and yet with all this she manages to keep space for freedom, experimentation, and the defiance of clichés. Madonna’s revolution has taken many forms, has passed through iconoclasm – or better, the transfiguration â€“ of images and symbols of the Catholic Church. Religious symbols in the hands of Madonna have been incarnated, wept, burned, ejaculated. With her passion for stories, first Christian and then Jewish, Madonna has offered new ways to interpret religion: more human understandings of spiritual characters, creating reminders and passages between worlds which did not communicate previously.

With her thousands of changes in looks and unceasing transformations, Madonna is a true icon of post-modernism. She has changed her image an infinite number of times and, after all these changes, what remains? For her detractors, little remains, but for others her act of freedom remains, or the human gesture par excellence.Madonna has been and is above all this: a free woman. She is fully in control of her destiny, of her career, of her creativity. But she is also someone who has understood how to manage this infinite freedom: Madonna’s great secret has been her discipline and has distinguished herself from many of her colleagues who have been unable to maintain their place in the pantheon of the stars. Madonna has understood – and perhaps she understood it immediately – that you do not play with the path that you have chosen and have imposed upon yourself, her commitments and her life, a strict and highly effective regime. Just as is stated in the Kabbalah, the mystical tradition of Judaism which Madonna has studied for many years and on which she now forges the lyrics of her songs: the success and effortless fulfilment causes a short circuit. You need to support your success with a constant effort, a discipline that must never be lost (this is the Kabbalistic concept of Tikkun, or “correction).

 

AN UNCONVENTIONAL FEMINISM

Madonna is a feminist icon whom feminists do not always like, because she demands absolute freedom in not perpetuating models deemed more noble and authoritative and imposed by others. Her artistic personality has always been profoundly free. She has taught women to get in touch with their sexuality and exert control over their own lives. She has fulminated against the patriarchal system: from her escape from her father’s house, the inherent rejection of her father in that gesture has continued to give rise to her mythical epic in show business.Her act of rebellion against her father – against fathers â€“ became a gesture against the patriarchy, the Vatican and against close-mindedness in all its forms. An essential gesture of freedom, expressing her own existential target, her own identity, and the gestures of those other icons who have inspired her: Evita, Tina Modotti, Wallis Simpson, Anne Sexton, Frida Kahlo.

Feminists have criticised Madonna for many things but she has continued on her path, with a pride in her body and taste in sexuality. With her very individual gesture, Madonna has managed to provide an important contribution to the history of womanhood (and one which is perhaps not emphasised enough). She has reassembled an ancient divided culture, and has healed a little of that rift between the two souls of woman: Mary, the virgin mother of God, and Mary Magdalene, the whore. She has complicated and enriched femininity and the discourse of emancipation, and has brought new images and new suggestions to the women’s liberation movement.

She has helped to reintegrate marginalised female figures, the more uncomfortable figures – the prostitute, the lustful, the bisexual – the more violent, vulgar and irreverent figures. She has been an atypical feminist and therefore perhaps especially powerful: â€œIf you try to embody too many human aspects in your work, or if you have too many references, people get confused†she said recently, â€œI see a whole load of people getting really pissed off with Miley because she kind of just acts like a dude – but if she were dude, no one would say anythingâ€. Madonna has brought the contradictory points of traditional feminism to light, she has revealed the remains of a durable mental blockage which also affects the same women, the same feminists. We should be grateful to Madonna and not because she has taught us to be lascivious, excessive, and exhibitionist – we should ideally thank her because she has taught many people that the space that men and women – straight, gay and transsexual included – inhabit, is much broader than we think. The lesson that Madonna teaches us is not so much that it is a duty to be sexual, provocative or irreverent but that this is part of the personal baggage of each of these possibilities, that everyone can move with their own style on the world stage, if you find sense, pleasure and beauty within it, and even if people tell you that aged almost 60 you should not go around bearing your bottom.