VogueMusic

Nailed it.
I find it highly transparent that moments of mistake and weakness are when when some folks - particularly a certain subset of fans (and some of them even in the media) - decide to let out what really are long-held, pent-up resentments about her not being the artist or celebrity they think she should be...and even more specifically, to be 'the Madonna' that they fell in love with at what time they deemed to be her "peak"...with most fans that's ROL Madonna or Confessions Madonna. Newsflash, not all fans worship those eras as if they're infallible. Or that they even represent the totality of who Madonna is. No single era does.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, I think a lot of fans are dealing with seeing their icon as not infallible. As human. As messy. Sometimes contradictory. Sometimes confusing. And now, with age added, and no longer with massive commercial success to buffer it all. And thus, a great deal of confirmation biases and vulnerabilities in us fans are being brought out in ways they weren't before, and projected back onto her.
As I always say, hit the Google Earth button and never forget the bigger picture.
 

Nailed it.
I find it highly transparent that moments of mistake and weakness are when when some folks - particularly a certain subset of fans (and some of them even in the media) - decide to let out what really are long-held, pent-up resentments about her not being the artist or celebrity they think she should be...and even more specifically, to be 'the Madonna' that they fell in love with at what time they deemed to be her "peak"...with most fans that's ROL Madonna or Confessions Madonna. Newsflash, not all fans worship those eras as if they're infallible. Or that they even represent the totality of who Madonna is. No single era does.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, I think a lot of fans are dealing with seeing their icon as not infallible. As human. As messy. Sometimes contradictory. Sometimes confusing. And now, with age added, and no longer with massive commercial success to buffer it all. And thus, a great deal of confirmation biases and vulnerabilities in us fans are being brought out in ways they weren't before, and projected back onto her.
As I always say, hit the Google Earth button and never forget the bigger picture.
 

Nailed it.
I find it highly transparent that moments of mistake and weakness are when when some folks - particularly a certain subset of fans (and some of them even in the media) - decide to let out what really are long-held, pent-up resentments about her not being the artist or celebrity they think she should be...and even more specifically, to be 'the Madonna' that they fell in love with at what time they deemed to be her "peak"...with most fans that's ROL Madonna or Confessions Madonna. Newsflash, not all fans worship those eras as if they're infallible. Or that they even represent the totality of who Madonna is. No single era does.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, I think a lot of fans are dealing with seeing their icon as not infallible. As human. As messy. Sometimes contradictory. Sometimes confusing. And now, with age added, and no longer with massive commercial success to buffer it all. And thus, a great deal of confirmation biases and vulnerabilities in us fans are being brought out in ways they weren't before, and projected back onto her.
As I always say, hit the Google Earth button and never forget the bigger picture.
 

Nailed it.
I find it highly transparent that moments of mistake and weakness are when when some folks - particularly a certain subset of fans (and some of them even in the media) - decide to let out what really are long-held, pent-up resentments about her not being the artist or celebrity they think she should be...and even more specifically, to be 'the Madonna' that they fell in love with at what time they deemed to be her "peak"...with most fans that's ROL Madonna or Confessions Madonna. Newsflash, not all fans worship those eras as if they're infallible. Or that they even represent the totality of who Madonna is. No single era does.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, I think a lot of fans are dealing with seeing their icon as not infallible. As human. As messy. Sometimes contradictory. Sometimes confusing. And now, with age added, and no longer with massive commercial success to buffer it all. And thus, a great deal of confirmation biases and vulnerabilities in us fans are being brought out in ways they weren't before, and projected back onto her.
As I always say, hit the Google Earth button and never forget the bigger picture.
 

Or maybe she just a had a bad day cause she's human after all... like the rest of us.
I'm not in denial, I don't like her being late on stage, etc. but some of you love that image of the indestructible, perfect icon that is simply not real. She's never been like that and that's the reason why she's still alive. 
She's been breaking that since day one. "Like A Virgin" on the VMAs 1984: everyone thought it was all over for her. But it worked. "Truth Or Dare", "Erotica", "American Life"... she's always been like this. The only difference? The world is so completely different now that it doesn't work anymore. But it's the way she is, for better or for worse.
Some of you love that 00s image of mature Madonna Ritchie but let me tell you something: maybe it wasn't real after all? So you prefer a perfect fake image instead of the real thing? Well maybe she doesn't... she tried and we all know how that ended up.

That's a massive NO from me. In fact, a hell no.
Personal and managerial issues aside...I'm a life-long fan, seen it all, and have genuinely found innumerable things to enjoy and love through all her various work in the last decade+. There truly is so much to enjoy and appreciate, that is quintessentially 'Madonna' through and through. Madame X, of all things, solidifies that. I don't think it's been a difficult decade at all. In fact, she's given us some of her best stage work, incredible music (and lots of it), and some of her most passionate - and timely - messages that no other pop star (let alone a female one) has even dared to do at this stage in a pop career.
 

THANK YOU!!!  
Ricardo is a talented young man and more than qualified to take pics for a social media/insta feed.
 

THANK YOU!!!  
Ricardo is a talented young man and more than qualified to take pics for a social media/insta feed.
 

That's a massive NO from me. In fact, a hell no.
Personal and managerial issues aside...I'm a life-long fan, seen it all, and have genuinely found innumerable things to enjoy and love through all her various work in the last decade+. There truly is so much to enjoy and appreciate, that is quintessentially 'Madonna' through and through. Madame X, of all things, solidifies that. I don't think it's been a difficult decade at all. In fact, she's given us some of her best stage work, incredible music (and lots of it), and some of her most passionate - and timely - messages that no other pop star (let alone a female one) has even dared to do at this stage in a pop career.
 

A-fucking-men!!!

That's a massive NO from me. In fact, a hell no.
Personal and managerial issues aside...I'm a life-long fan, seen it all, and have genuinely found innumerable things to enjoy and love through all her various work in the last decade+. There truly is so much to enjoy and appreciate, that is quintessentially 'Madonna' through and through. Madame X, of all things, solidifies that. I don't think it's been a difficult decade at all. In fact, she's given us some of her best stage work, incredible music (and lots of it), and some of her most passionate - and timely - messages that no other pop star (let alone a female one) has even dared to do at this stage in a pop career.
 

THANK YOU!!!  
Ricardo is a talented young man and more than qualified to take pics for a social media/insta feed.
 

Finally. Somebody gets it.

 
I've always known that the people who were truly going to have the hardest time with how Madonna ages (personally and professionally) are her own fans. Especially once the commercial success was done. I knew it was going to be this way. It's always this way.
Unless fans can evolve in their own expectations and perceptions during this stage of her career, they're just going to constantly have a hard time. Doesn't mean you have to like everything...but the expectations (and more so the entitlements) are going to frustrate you if you're in denial of who she is now....not what you want or expect her to be.
And let's face it, some folks will never be happy unless they get Confessions 2.0 or ROL 2.0, and she becomes the Madonna they fell in love with and think she should always be...and guess what, it's NEVER happening.
 
 
BINGO.
The Madonna of post 07 'till now is basically the 'mature' iteration of Madonna in 89-95 - offensive, in your face, bold, not PC, sometimes a mess, etc....and that's compounded by the context of the times we're in where nothing can be seen as 'problematic'. That's quite different than those who came to the fold post-ROL/Kabbalah/Ritchie years. And it was actually those years that made us ask this very topic question. But we still embraced it and went along for the ride. But take all this, and combine it now with age (and no massive commercial success to buffer it), it absolutely hits the vulnerabilities, and biases, of a lot of fans.
 
 
THIS. THIS. THIS.
Perfectly stated.
My outlook as well. No matter the fuck-ups, the imperfections, etc... she's still with us. Still inspired. Still working. Still doing things in ways that NO other popular artist, let alone female, is doing at this age, at this stage in a pop career. NO ONE.
And truth be told...it won't last forever. Every day I'm reminded Michael is gone, Prince is gone, Bowie is gone, Whitney is gone... and more. So many of the TRUE icons are gone. And the current landscape of popular music is utterly depressing.
I'm enjoying and appreciating it ALL while it lasts...
 
 
...because it won't.

A-fucking-men!!!

I honestly don't get the sudden dislike/hate you're showing towards Ricardo. I believe he's got a great eye and has captured Madonna amazingly throughout the last era which started sometime in Lisbon in 2017 or later. She hasn't hired him to photograph her album covers or all her high-fashion magazines but to document her daily life and promotional work. She saw something about him and I completely understand her choices. Also, he's a young and fresh talent... And he was not the only one to photograph her during the Madame X era, we also had Steven Klein who did all the album booklet and Ricard T Castanho in some film locations.
Stop whining y'all.

A-fucking-men!!!

Why are some scared for her vocals. Lol
And of course it’s not her song it’s Dua’s. Who cares we get M on something verses nothing.

I think it’s Funny how some people Define an artist’s success only if younger people listen to said artist.
Who the fuck cares what the kids are into?!
Madonna is beyond charts, beyond success or failure. Beyond Hits.
I dont need “the kids” or “the general public” (another word I despise) to like her.
When Lady Gaga or Ariana or Beyonce reach 60 theyll understand.
In the meantime, im just happy Madonna is still making music.

He’s her personal photographer and sometimes videographer
he took these photos:
 
 

She made a lot of "mature stuff" around her 40s and then she let go of that more and more. As you mature you explore yourself and you might become more serious, but then you let go of that stuff. That's the whole point of introspection, being happier and more free and I'm glad she's continued to be those things with time, it means she has matured very well. Even if we may not understand some of her choices, we are not 61 and we're not her lol. 
And she's still adding to her legacy, she should save the old stories for when the time comes for that. Middle aged artists are not very celebrated usually until later on. She has time for that.

Why post about an anniversary that doesn't really matter when there's so much going on that she wants to focus on? I'd find it so annoying to have to remember every year to celebrate things I did decades ago for nostalgic fans. That's never really been her style. She's an artist and usually artists like to live in the present. Of course it's nice when she does post about past things but it's not very important. We should celebrate her it's not her job to constantly celebrate herself. I honestly had no idea it was the first album anniversary. I don't know the exact dates for any of her albums, except Madame X cos that's fresh in my memory lol. 

'She is losing strength' because people can't stand the fact a woman her age is doing what she does.
It's ageism at is finest. People keep thinking she has to act a certain way or sound a certain way. I mean if you're old you can't sing about sex and parties, right? You have to keep singing about in your search for meaning in life and contemplating your own existence.

Perhaps she finished the tour because she wasn’t sure she would ever be able to tour again given the seriousness of her injuries?
 
Personally, I can’t wait to see the tour filmed the way she wants the show to be seen, with whatever edits and effects she thinks best represent her vision. She was mesmerizing as always onstage, and she seemed so happy each and every night to perform the songs she wanted to perform with people she clearly adored being around. The heroism of performing so tenaciously through painful injury and still being charming, funny and joyful is perhaps a more useful aspect of the last year to focus on. It’s ironic that it might actually be her contentment that some people don’t like about her now.
 
Sure, we might not like her unusually shaped fat ass, and it’s true that Eurovision was a dud, but it’s still fascinating to contemplate what made her make the decision to change her body so drastically, and I certainly would love to know what truly happened in Tel Aviv that night. 
 
It took a long time for me to adjust to Madonna aging more rapidly, and more importantly how she decided to approach that inconvenient inevitability...But once I accepted it, I was reminded of her extraordinary essence that flows through everything she has ever made or done. Like all relationships - even one-sided - there have been times when I have dismissed her, or criticized her unfairly, but in the grand scheme of things I have such gratitude for all of her incarnations and eras. I’m totally enthralled that 36 years after first setting eyes on her, she is still amazingly curious and driven. She will forever remain an inspiration to me, and I will continue to gleefully anticipate whatever is next. 

Yes, but it isn't what I wrote, nor should anyone assume anything regarding my personal responsibility. It is not because any of us states one particular opinion that it entitles anyone to project that this gives them any insight or authority into how I, or anyone else, lives.