Yeah, I have a friend who was in the CBGB scene from the late 70s, though the 80s. She has pictures of when Madonna was hanging out there, before she was famous, but as she was getting notoriety for her voice, drumming, and sex charged performances, which were a lot more punk at the time. She has pictures of her participating in anti-authority events from the time, and shit.
Now though? A whack job, deeply into cultism, and way disconnected from the girl sleeping on the floor, and hanging out with the hardcore punk, and goth, bands at CBGB and Mudd Club.
This is just factually untrue. She’s been a button-pusher and trailblazer from the very beginning of her career and never stopped. She was already hugely famous and wealthy in the 1980s. Saying she’s “just another super-rich celebrity” completely ignores the influence she’s had and the impact she’s made.
The first one that comes to mind is her refusal to retire and take on the old-hag role society expects of women, as if women are supposed to disappear after a certain age. The fact that she made a successful comeback just last month with the excellent Confessions II, 43 years after her debut, shows that she’s still defying expectations and breaking conventions. And regardless of what she does now, her legacy remains untouched.
So she released new music that I haven’t heard of. That counts as button pushing these days? Whose? She’s opposing typical gender expectations? All images I’ve seen of her over the last few years showed obvious signs of too much plastic surgery. People are free to change their bodies however they like, sure, but if you want to send a message about self-acceptance and body positivity, particularly to women who aren’t quite young anymore, that’s a weird way to do that. Not saying you should stop liking her, obviously, but I haven’t seen her being rebellious in quite a while.
If you can’t see how coming out with a critically acclaimed album that’s being called your best work in 20 years, at the age of 67, when every single time you’re mentioned there are people rushing in to say, “You’re old and expired, just go away already,” is pushing buttons, I really don’t know what to say.
And as for the plastic surgery bit, I’ve always found the line of thinking that you should “just accept your age” and stop trying to look or act young pretty odd. I myself have had plastic surgery (a deep-plane facelift and neck lift, breast lift and augmentation, etc.) to look more youthful. Not wanting to age into the stereotypical image of an old woman isn’t inauthentic or negative.
The pressure on women is to look young. Rebelling against that ideally includes not trying to make yourself look young by having invasive procedures that most women can’t even afford. Again, get all the plastic surgery you like. But it does send a signal and it isn’t “I accept that I am not 23 anymore, society can go fuck itself”.
Anyway, accepting for the moment that encouraging women to grow old while not caring what others think about them is her cause. Is that it? Because others are doing a much better job of that.
Now, I haven’t followed her because the last time I was consciously aware of her music (some time in the 00s, I think) it had started to become generic so I stopped caring. So earlier I tried to hint at a thing that I found actively annoying about her in recent years, namely her NFTs. Want to comment on that? How she jumped on that dumpsterfire of a bandwagon to make more money?
To be completely honest, I wasn’t even aware of the NFT thing. She has done some pretty unsavory things over the course of her career, the NFT thing, obviously, her reaction to Sinéad O’Connor tearing up the photo of the Pope, her habit of being consistently late for concerts, etc., and I have no qualms about admitting that. When you’ve been a public figure for over four decades, you’re bound to have a mix of good and bad things to talk about.
Yeah, I can almost hear how, uh, someone (?) is shaking their fist in impotent fury at that album and yelling “curse youuuuu, Madonna, for releasing new music!”
Does that include refusing to accept she is aging, and instead of performing while aging gracefully, she’s had a ton of work done that turned her unrecognizable?
She may have been a button pusher in her poorer days, but now she’s just another super rich celebrity.
Yeah, I have a friend who was in the CBGB scene from the late 70s, though the 80s. She has pictures of when Madonna was hanging out there, before she was famous, but as she was getting notoriety for her voice, drumming, and sex charged performances, which were a lot more punk at the time. She has pictures of her participating in anti-authority events from the time, and shit.
Now though? A whack job, deeply into cultism, and way disconnected from the girl sleeping on the floor, and hanging out with the hardcore punk, and goth, bands at CBGB and Mudd Club.
This is just factually untrue. She’s been a button-pusher and trailblazer from the very beginning of her career and never stopped. She was already hugely famous and wealthy in the 1980s. Saying she’s “just another super-rich celebrity” completely ignores the influence she’s had and the impact she’s made.
What buttons has she pushed lately, other than those of people who think NFTs are stupid?
The first one that comes to mind is her refusal to retire and take on the old-hag role society expects of women, as if women are supposed to disappear after a certain age. The fact that she made a successful comeback just last month with the excellent Confessions II, 43 years after her debut, shows that she’s still defying expectations and breaking conventions. And regardless of what she does now, her legacy remains untouched.
So she released new music that I haven’t heard of. That counts as button pushing these days? Whose? She’s opposing typical gender expectations? All images I’ve seen of her over the last few years showed obvious signs of too much plastic surgery. People are free to change their bodies however they like, sure, but if you want to send a message about self-acceptance and body positivity, particularly to women who aren’t quite young anymore, that’s a weird way to do that. Not saying you should stop liking her, obviously, but I haven’t seen her being rebellious in quite a while.
If you can’t see how coming out with a critically acclaimed album that’s being called your best work in 20 years, at the age of 67, when every single time you’re mentioned there are people rushing in to say, “You’re old and expired, just go away already,” is pushing buttons, I really don’t know what to say.
And as for the plastic surgery bit, I’ve always found the line of thinking that you should “just accept your age” and stop trying to look or act young pretty odd. I myself have had plastic surgery (a deep-plane facelift and neck lift, breast lift and augmentation, etc.) to look more youthful. Not wanting to age into the stereotypical image of an old woman isn’t inauthentic or negative.
The pressure on women is to look young. Rebelling against that ideally includes not trying to make yourself look young by having invasive procedures that most women can’t even afford. Again, get all the plastic surgery you like. But it does send a signal and it isn’t “I accept that I am not 23 anymore, society can go fuck itself”.
Anyway, accepting for the moment that encouraging women to grow old while not caring what others think about them is her cause. Is that it? Because others are doing a much better job of that.
Now, I haven’t followed her because the last time I was consciously aware of her music (some time in the 00s, I think) it had started to become generic so I stopped caring. So earlier I tried to hint at a thing that I found actively annoying about her in recent years, namely her NFTs. Want to comment on that? How she jumped on that dumpsterfire of a bandwagon to make more money?
To be completely honest, I wasn’t even aware of the NFT thing. She has done some pretty unsavory things over the course of her career, the NFT thing, obviously, her reaction to Sinéad O’Connor tearing up the photo of the Pope, her habit of being consistently late for concerts, etc., and I have no qualms about admitting that. When you’ve been a public figure for over four decades, you’re bound to have a mix of good and bad things to talk about.
You’re still not answering the question of ‘what buttons is she still pressing.’
An old person releasing another album isn’t pressing buttons.
I did answer the question. You only get that interpretation if you ignore every bit of context.
You haven’t provided any relevant context.
Yeah, I can almost hear how, uh, someone (?) is shaking their fist in impotent fury at that album and yelling “curse youuuuu, Madonna, for releasing new music!”
Does that include refusing to accept she is aging, and instead of performing while aging gracefully, she’s had a ton of work done that turned her unrecognizable?