Matthew: She Is Madonna After All

2012 is proving to be the year of Madonna (or at least the first couple of months are). She is releasing a new movie and album, performed the hell out of the Superbowl halftime show, and she is working on a new model search thing with Macey’s. It would appear that the Material Girl is back in full force. Or is she? 


When W.E started playing the festival circuit this past Summer/Fall critics slammed it from the beginning calling it Madonna’s vanity project (I saw it, and it is pretty shitty). Then she released her new video for ‘Give Me All Your Lovin’ and again, people started getting their panties in a twist saying that she has lost her edge. A facebook comment that stood out to me said “...if we can all just agree that Madonna is no longer a revolutionary, we can probably agree that the new song is fine...She’s not the Madonna we romanticize about; there are new people to do that groundbreaking stuff now.” Initially after reading that I thought it was pretty bang on. Don’t get me wrong, I like the new song, and I think the video is cheeky and cute. But it’s nothing that people are going to be talking about 10 years from now. It’s no Like a Prayer, or Like a Virgin, or Vogue. 

For some reason that comment stuck with me and I kept thinking about it. Has Madonna lost her edge? Facebook and Twitter were all a buzz after the new video came out, claiming that she has lost her trendsetter ways, and for some reason I couldn’t fully get on board. I’ve never been a HUGE Madonna fan. I’ve never bought one of her records, or seen her any of her movies, but I have always thought of her as an original, an icon, and a trailblazer. And I think she still is. 


There is nobody else out there who is even close to her age, doing what she does. And I hate to make all of this about age, but I do think that her age is what now sets her apart. That fact that she is in her early 50’s and still on top of the charts (her new album MDNA hasn’t been released yet and it’s already #1 on itunes all over the world), she still covers magazines, the NFL gave her the prestigious halftime show gig -I think all of this is what continues to make her a trailblazer. She is the first woman of a certain age to achieve all that she is achieving. Music aside, Madonna is breaking new ground and doing something that has never been done before and I think we need to stop harping on her and give credit where credit is due. I mean she IS Madonna after all. One thing we all should have learned by now is that just when we think she is out for the count, BAM! she hits us with another whammy. 

Matthew
@thematthewjames