Ask Billboard: Madonna: the Material 'Woman'?
Ask Billboard is updated every week. As always, submit your questions about Billboard charts, sales and airplay, as well as general music musings, to askbb@billboard.com. Please include your first and last name, as well as your city, state and country, if outside the U.S.
THE MATERIAL GIRL (MATERIAL WOMAN?)
One more batch of reader e-mails about Madonna and her new album, "MDNA," continuing a spirited discussion started by Chart Beat reader Gus Tornatore of Glen Head, New York, who offered a mixed review of the set three weeks ago.
Up first, two opposing views regarding Madonna's age.
Hi Gary!
I think on the topic currently under discussion, most opinions I've read so far in these "Ask Billboard" columns reveal a denial about one thing. My problem is not about Madonna being a 53-year-old woman. The problem is that a 53-year-old woman depicts herself as a "girl" in the lyrics of the songs so far promoted as singles.
Just imagine how weird that is for younger people listening to those lyrics! Even if the tunes are catchy, youngsters and older people alike simply cannot identify themselves with these songs for the above-mentioned reason. Only die-hard Madonna fans with a bit of a Peter Pan complex eventually could.
The only way these songs would work (maybe) is in video through a cartoon character depicting a younger Madonna. I like Madonna, but I think at this point in her career she would be a little more careful about crafting appropriate song lyrics.
And, for the record, I firmly believe that age is not a definitive limitation. Cher was also 53 when she scored the biggest hit of her career. Check out the lyrics of "Believe" and, considering its universal appeal, you'll probably understand what I mean about Madonna's lyrics.
All the best!
Fernando ! JerezHav ana, Cuba
Hi Gary,
Madonna, and most of her fans, long ago stopped being surprised at the "not-good-enough" reaction that the world always seems to have about her new releases. In a world where the cultural norm is to build someone up and then delight in their inevitable fall, it must be unbearable to those who relish celebrity failures that Madonna remains successful 30 years on.
What's absolutely ridiculous, however, is to read the reviews of "MDNA" that say Madonna is "too old" to make this type of music, or worse: that she's no longer leading the charge with new sounds and styles and that she has instead succumbed to following trends rather than setting them. Madonna has spent 30 years tirelessly and joyfully pushing underground dance music to the forefront of the pop music scene so that everyone can enjoy it. Now that it's unquestionably all the rage, she's being told she should move on to something else rather than enjoy the fruits of her considerable labors? Is she supposed to put out a heavy metal album?
What they're really peeved at is that Madonna continues to make fresh new music while still remaining firmly atop the heap rather than being consigned to releasing albums of covers or standards like other artists her age. Madonna has had at least one No. 1 Dance/Club Play Songs hit in 25 of the past 30 years. And, she has had at least two No. 1s in 14 of those 30 years (hello, 2012!) Let's be clear, with 42 No. 1s (and counting), Madonna is the once and future queen of dance music and the club scene and is never going away. Telling her to move on is akin to asking why Steven Spielberg is still directing blockbuster movies after all these years instead of trying something new.
Amid a pop music landscape that has seen the untimely and unfortunate end of both Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston, I am baff! led that rather than a resounding, "thank goodness we've still got Madonna," we're getting, "eh, she's still doing this?" But, as her detractors often forget, Madonna doesn't really care whether you like her or not ... as long as you keep talking about her.
Ultimately, she still comes out right where she wants to be, and where she belongs: on top.
Chad KennedyNew York, New York
Hi Fernando and Chad,
I can see both sides. Ultimately, however, I think that pop music is largely its own universe where age is secondary to songs themselves. The Backstreet Boys are still Boys and New Kids on the Block are still Kids. The latter group did grow up to be NKOTB but ultimately regressed to being "kids" again, realizing that their fans - who've grown up with them - don't seem to mind. If anything, we feel younger buying into the image that our favorite acts haven't aged. If they haven't, neither have we.
Overall, Madonna's music has become a brand: uptempo pop/dance accompanied by youthful lyrics (generally about dance itself). It's worked very well for Madonna, so she's not looking to fix what clearly isn't broken. Of course we all know that Madonna isn't in her early 20s anymore, but it's comforting to suspend belief and hear her let loose as a girl gone wild, isn't it? I suppose it all depends on how much poetic license you're willing to give an artist.
I'm pretty sure, after all, that Eric Clapton never shot a sheriff, Kelly Clarkson's life wouldn't suck without me or that Justin Bieber doesn't want to be every girl's boyfriend (not when Selena Gomez loves him like a love song).
What's also worth remembering is that while "MDNA" singles "Give Me All Your Luvin' " and "Girl Gone Wild" depict Madonna as the evergreen vogue-ing clubgoer that's become her trademark, other tracks on the album reveal the surely more re! al-life 53-year-old Madonna. "I F***ed Up," especially, appears to recount the breakup of her marriage to Guy Ritchie and features a lyric that the 1983 Madonna likely wouldn't have written: "You want to know how to make God laugh? Tell him your plans."
Music is show business and Madonna has never shown stage fright in releasing commercial singles, some higher in shock value than others, while still writing songs that present a more personal side. Three decades in with Madonna still topping the Billboard 200, most fans seem just fine with that path her career continues to take.
The Material Girl is likely to stay a "girl" a little while longer.