all about Madonna

Veteran French singer Francoise Hardy has labelled Madonna a "vulgar" woman with a detestable face.
The 1960s icon - now 61 - is so offended by the Material Girl's physical appearance, she's lost all interest in listening to her music.
Hardy - legendary for her stunning looks in her heyday - blasts, "I don't like her face. It's not her fault but I don't like it!
"I'm not attracted to her. I don't like the way she moves. She is very - what's the word - vulgar. It doesn't appeal to me to get to know her work any better."
source : contactmusic

Women Who Rock Your World - Poll 2005

Gay pop star Boy George has slammed Madonna for embracing Kabbalah, the mystical offshoot of Judaism which preaches homosexuality is a disease.
The former Culture Club singer is horrified the Material Girl flirted with lesbianism - most famously in her controversial kisses with Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera at 2003's MTV Video Music Awards - yet supports a religion which believes homosexuals can be cured.
He fumes, "I have a problem with Madonna's devotion to Kabbalah, because I watched a documentary that said that Kabbalah believes that gay people are diseased and can be cured.
"She's such a hypocrite. This is the woman who has embraced homosexuality and used it to her advantage."
source : contactmusic

Visit Brits.com and cast your vote.

Pop superstar Madonna has teamed up with British comedian Eddie Izzard to make a new TV drama. The Material Girl will produce, and possibly appear, in the show - about an Irish conman who tricks the residents of Baton Rouge, in America's deep south.
The transvestite comic explains, "It's very dark and sinister. It's a cracking script, but so far we're only on the pilot, so I don't know whether she's going to appear in it herself."
source : contactmusic

Madonna might have lent her voice to pop songs and recently taken to writing books for children, and now she's upto something new.
According to The Sun,she has signed the London Community Gospel Choir to sing on her new album.The choir has worked with Stevie Wonder, Sting, Paul Mccartney, Tina Turner, George Michael, Elton John and P Diddy.
source : ani

Madonna is to lend two of her most cherished works of art to Tate Modern for an exhibition, it was revealed today.
In June the Tate will hold the first ever British exhibition dedicated to Frida Kahlo.
The eccentrically moustached Mexican painter was the subject of an Oscarwinning film Frida in 2002, starring Salma Hayek.
It sure beats a night in the cells, Pete
The Tate Modern exhibition will star more than 70 of her 144 paintings - including Madonna's canvasses Self-Portrait with Monkey and My Birth.
Madonna's art curator, Darlene K Lutz, has said of the self-portrait: "The Kahlo painting is so powerful and enigmatic that we hope people will get beyond its personal history, as Madonna has, and see the artistic genius ... it is the number one love of her collection."
Surrealist innovator Kahlo began painting in her teens as she convalesced after a road accident. Her work is rich in Mexican and Aztec imagery but is also autobiographical.
The artist, who died in 1954, was married to fiery Mexican painter Diego Rivera, had an affair with Leon Trotsky and counted Andre Breton,
Paulette Goddard and Sergei Eisenstein as close friends. Other landmark paintings in the show are The Little Deer, in which Kahlo paints herself as a wounded, hunted animal and The Two Fridas, one of her largest and most ambitious pieces.
Self-Portrait with Monkey is one of the most cherished pieces in Madonna's art collection and has pride of place in her London home.
The singer receives up to 10 requests a year to lend her works - which include paintings by Picasso, Leger, Salvador Dali and Man Ray.
She presented Martin Creed with the Turner Prize in 2001 for his light bulb that switched itself on and off again.


source : thisislondon

Pop superstar Madonna has been promoted to the highest level at the controversial Church of Kabbalah she can achieve without being ordained.
The singer, who has followed the mystical offshoot of judaism for some years, was anointed in secret to an upper category of Kabbalah followers in a ceremony conducted by Kabbalah Centre founder Rabbi Berg.
A source reveals, "Her teachers think she has reached the pinnacle of spiritual understanding. To Madonna this is the best achievement of her life."
Since joining the Kabbalah Centre, Madonna has recruited her husband Guy Ritchie as well as a number of new celebrity followers, including Demi Moore and Britney Spears.
source : contactmusic

Click on the image bellow to visit new Madonna fan site.

Madonna's brother Christopher Ciccone talked for the first time last week about the reported rift between them.
We asked Her Madgesty's creative sibling whether it was true they'd had a falling-out when she didn't invite him to art-direct her last tour, as he had in the past.
"Our relationship is in very good standing; we speak to each other all the time," the jewel-eyed designer told us. "You know that every large family has its ups and downs, and we are no exception."
Besides, Ciccone doesn't need his look-alike sis to toss him any work. He's part owner of the West Hollywood restaurant Central and is designing a celebrity suite for producer Ryan Black's Oscar bash at the Pacific Design Center.
As for speculation that Madonna's devotion to kabbalah, a mystical branch of Judaism, fueled the now-healed split, Ciccone says it can't be: He's into it, too.
"I practice kabbalah," he told us, "in my own way."
source : nydailynews.com

Controversial 1970s punk band The Sex Pistols' first appearance on British TV has been voted the most important music debut in history.
The first airing of the group's anthem Anarchy In The UK on the So It Goes show in August 1976 beat out competition from Nirvana's performance of Smells Like Teen Spirit on The Word in November 1991, which came second in the ITN Archive poll.
The list is made up of landmark moments when legendary artists were first seen by a wider audience.
Rockers Oasis came third for their performance of Supersonic in 1994, also on The Word, followed by a then-25-year-old Madonna singing Holiday on seminal music show The Tube in January 1984.
source : contactmusic

Pop icon Madonna is suing her longtime art consultant Darlene Lutz, claiming she is owed $265,000 for a painting sold by the adviser.
The summons, filed in New York City's Manhattan Supreme Court, says Lutz owes Madonna the money based on a settlement agreement made between the two women in May (04).
Madonna's spokeswoman Liz Rosenberg says, "The lawsuit is based on a breach of contract agreement." Rosenberg has yet to release details on the name of the painting or the artist.
source : contactmusic

Pop superstar Madonna has signed up to play a prostitute in a new movie - and was so desperate for the role she waived all payment.
The Material Girl has finally secured the chance to play cross-dresser Candy Darling, after chasing the part for years, writes British newspaper The Sun.
Darling starred in a number of Andy Warhol films and provided Lou Reed with the inspiration to write Candy Says and Walk On The Wild Side.
An insider says, "Madonna has been desperate to make a film where she can earn respect for her acting abilities. She is still trying to shake off the bad publicity from the movie Swept Away. She sees this as her big chance.
"She has wanted to play this part for so long because she feels so strongly about the character.
"She said she would do anything for the part and has agreed to work for free."
source : contactmusic

Pop superstar Madonna is heading in a new direction on her next album, which will see her ditching dance-flavoured tracks in favour of a more rocking sound.
The Material Girl, who spends much of her time in England where she lives with her film-maker husband Guy Ritchie, has been listening to various British rock bands which have proved a huge influence on her almost-completed new record.
An insider says, "Living in Britain she has become a real fan of Franz Ferdinand and loves the kitschy sound of The Darkness.
"She is moving more in that direction - real sounds, like a real band.
"Madonna always keeps in touch with what is popular in the charts and has been really into the guitar-based rock bands of 2004.
"The new album is taking shape as one of her best ever."
source : contactmusic

from Madonna.com : We have received tons of email here at Madonna.com regarding the DVD release of the Re-invention tour and we wanted everyone to know that a release date has not yet been set. We are currently looking at releasing the DVD some time during the fourth quarter of 2005 in time for the holidays. Stay tuned to Madonna.com for more info about the release.

... The 46-year-old singer, who is married to British film director Guy Ritchie, will also play most of the guitar rifts herself as she wants the album to sound as if it's been made by a "real band".
... Madonna has always asked several big name producers to help on the project including Swedish duo Shy and Avant, who produced 'Toxic' for Britney Spears.
... The album will also include a cover of John Lennon's classic hit 'Imagine', which she showcased on her 2004 're-Invention' tour.
source : femalefirst

from Madonna.com : This week the Classic Madonna Collection Contest returns! Please submit a collage of your favorite Madonna Grammy pictures! The prize will go to the most original & creative collage that Madonna will pick herself! The prize this week will be a Re-Invention Tour gift pack that will include two t-shirts, a coffee mug and a key chain! The photo should be 1.000 pixels "tall" max and nothing above 200KB. E-mail both your answer and the photo to icontest@moov-u.com before Thursday February 17, 2005 6PM PST. Your email must also include your name, address and your valid ICON member number.

Madonna's visually stunning appearance in the Spring / Summer Versace Campaign debuted at the beginning of January 2005. The highly anticipated collaboration between Madonna, Donatella Versace, and photographer Mario Testino delivers Madonna in a way that we have never seen her before: High Powered Office Exec! This look ads a new dimension to the ICON, who is a close friend of Donatella Versace. You can see her ads in magazines around the world over the next few months.

US
ELLE
Harper's Bazzar
In Style
Interview
New york magazine
Rolling Stone
The New York Times
The New York Times Magazine
The New Yorker
Time - Style & Design Issue
V Magazine
Vanity Fair
Vogue
W

UK
Arena
ELLE
Haper's Queen
Tatler
The Times
Vogue
Wallpaper

France
Citizen K
ELLE
Glamour
International Herald Tribune
Jalouse
M. Figaro
Marie Claire
Numero
Officiel
Vogue

Italy
Amica
CHI
Corriere Della Sera
D Repubblica
Elle
Espresso
Flair
Glamour
Grazia
Io Donna
M. Claire
Max
Vanity Fair
Vogue

Germany
ELLE
Glamour
In Style
Madame
Petra
Vogue

Spain
ELLE
Glamour
La Vanguardia mag
Telva
Vogue
Belguim
Elle Knaak W End
M Claire

Japan
20 ans
ELLE
Haper's Bazaar
Spur
Vogue

China
Cosmopolitan
ELLE
Harper's Bazaar
I Look

Russia
ELLE
Harper's Bazaar
Jalouse
Officiel
Vogue
Wall Paper

source : madonna.com

Posted by Johann at ICON board:
Dear friends,
As promised, I am proud to announce that Madonna has decided to include a little present in the new issue of Icon to be released in the next few weeks. A special 12 pages portfolio called "M 2004"? and made of unseen and wonderful pictures will be part of your magazine! I am not going to tell you more about it for now but believe me when I say you will love it! Working on the creation of this present with Madonna has been a real pleasure for me, being the fan I am. When looking at this portfolio, it makes me realize that Madonna gave us a fantastic year in 2004 and I just can't wait to see what's in store for all of us next!
Talking about Madonna and 2004, I am also happy to confirm that the release of her Re-Invention Tour dvd is anticipated holiday 2005. More details will be announced later this year. Iconers hear it first, that's right!
thanks to : mr.ciccone / madonnanation

from DJTracyYoung.com : A few moths back I announced the upcoming release of my newest project, the compilation "Dance Culture". I am curently in the process of finalising my tracklist. The CD's sheduled release date on Ferosh Records is May 31, 2005.
It will exclusively feature my remix of Madonna's "Easy Ride" among other unreleased productions I have been working on ...

Prince reclaimed his pop throne in 2004, banking $US56.5 million ($73.8 million) to place him firmly at the top of Rolling Stone magazine's annual list of top earning music acts.
"With $US90.3 million in ticket sales, Prince returned to centre stage after a decade in the commercial wilderness," the magazine said in its latest issue.
Prince also sold 1.9 million copies of his comeback album Musicology.
The mercurial pop star, who once changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol, beat out another icon of the 1980s in Madonna, who banked $US54.9 million on the back of her Re-Invention Tour and American Life album.
Despite playing only fifty-six concerts in 2004, the Material Girl hauled in more money on the road than any other artist, charging as much as $US300 a seat.
Although she grossed more cash than Prince, Madonna had to make do with second place because of the "monumental" production costs of her tour show.
Rolling Stone bases its annual list on ticket and record sales, publishing and other related revenue.
Rounding off a 1-2-3 finish by the comeback kids, was the heavy metal band Metallica, whose Madly in Anger with the World Tour helped push their earnings up to $US43.1 million.
The musical old guard was well represented in the top 10, with Elton John, Rod Stewart and Phil Collins all making the list.
But the real veterans were Simon and Garfunkel, who put their harmonies back on the road for the first time on 20 years, earning $US24.9 million in the process.
source : news.com.au

Scissor Sisters frontman Jake Shears has ruled out a future collaboration with Madonna, because his celebrity pal Kylie Minogue would "kill him".
The flamboyant LAURA singer wrote and produced Minogue's latest hit I Believe In You last year (04), and claims he's too loyal to the diminutive Australian to work with her chart rival Madonna.
Shears says, "I think Kylie would have my head on a plate if I worked with Madonna. Really, I'm not interested in collaborating with her, I love Kylie too much.
"We had a real ball and I have a massive crush on her. She's just a really amazing, funny person and really cool. I didn't meet her until we went in the studio but we hit it off. Now I'm planning to go to England to watch her tour.
"I haven't met her boyfriend (Olivier Martinez) yet, but I hear he's gorgeous."
source : contactmusic

From Madonna.com : The Tsunami in Southeast Asia has cost over 230,000 deaths. On January 16, 2005 Madonna performed John Lennon's Imagine at Tsunami, A Concert of Hope Event which has raised over 18 million dollars. Please continue to give to this cause. You can donate by going to the American Red Cross by calling 1-800-HELP-NOW or going to www.redcross.org. Or you can donate by downloading Madonna's performance from the Tsunami, A Concert of Hope by going to www.connect.com/tsunami

Superstar Madonna is following in her husband Guy Ritchie's footsteps, by taking up karate. The British director is a black belt in the martial art and has encouraged his famous wife to join in during practice sessions. A friend says, "Madonna has been taking her classes very seriously. "Guy is into karate and Madonna's daughter Lourdes has taken classes. "In the past, Madonna has worried about being bruised before videos or photoshoots but she hasn't got any planned at the moment."
source : contactmusic

From Tsunami Aid. Check them out :

from Empire Magazine (interview with Guy Ritchie)
...there's also no truth in the rumours that Mrs Ritchie, aka Madonna, has a cameo ?
'No, she's not in it,' he insists. So the stories are made up? 'Completely made up.' He laughs. 'That's rare, isn't it ?'
source : madonnalicius

Michael Jackson's Thriller has been voted Britain's favourite pop video of all time.
The 1983 classic, which sees the singer turn into a zombie, beat offerings from Madonna and Queen in the Channel 4 poll.
The King of Pop, who is currently facing trial charged with sex abuse, has two videos in the Top 10, voted for by TV viewers.
Peter Gabriel's Sledgehammer (1986), revolutionary for its computer animation, is second in the list.
A-ha's Take On Me (1985), which sees a comic book hero come to life, is third and Queen's seminal Bohemian Rhapsody (1975) fourth.
Madonna's controversial Like A Prayer (1989) - including the star's infamous kiss with a black Jesus - is fifth while Robbie Williams' Rock DJ (2000) is sixth, and another Jacko hit, Billie Jean, seventh.
The Verve's Bitter Sweet Symphony (1997), which sees Richard Ashcroft march down a London street barging into everyone he meets, is eighth.
Madonna has a second placing in the Top 10, with Vogue (1990) in ninth and Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit (1991) - where cheerleaders dance in the gym, while Nirvana fans reach such a frenzy they trash it and tie up the janitor - is 10th.

The top 50 Videos:
1. Michael Jackson - Thriller
2. Peter Gabriel - Sledgehammer
3. A-ha - Take On Me
4. Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
5. Madonna - Like A Prayer
6. Robbie Williams - Rock DJ
7. Michael Jackson - Billie Jean
8. The Verve - Bittersweet Symphony
9. Madonna - Vogue
10. Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
11. Coldplay - The Scientist
12. Michael & Janet Jackson - Scream
13. Pink Floyd - Another Brick In The Wall
14. Christina Aguilera - Dirrty
15. REM - Everybody Hurts
16. OutKast - Hey Ya
17. Blur - Coffee & TV
18. Beyonce - Crazy In Love
19. Madonna - Material Girl
20. Gorillaz - Clint Eastwood
source : sky.com

While in rehearsals for her upcoming tour, launching later this month, Ashlee Simpson has been working on adding a few cover songs to her set. Fans can expect to hear her renditions of Madonna's "Burning Up," Blondie's "Call Me" and the Pretenders' "Brass in Pocket" at the shows, the singer/actress announced on "TRL" on Monday (February 7).

Kate Winslet and Madonna are among a whole host of stars who have donated clothes to raise money for the Asian tsunami appeal.
Winslet has chosen to give away the slinky strapless gown designed especially for her by Ben de Lisi for the New York premiere of Finding Neverland.
Madonna has donated a signed studded belt to the auction for upmarket fashion website clothesagency.com.
Tara Palmer-Tomkinson has contributed a green and black dress from Top Shop, while actor Richard E Grant has donated the suit he wore in the Spice Girls movie Spice World.
Palmer-Tomkinson said: "No one could help but be affected by the tsunami - everybody has been touched by its effects. This auction is a great idea and I hope it is a complete success."
Liz Hurley, Elle Macpherson, Graham Norton and the Duchess of York have also offered personal items.
Premiership side Chelsea have offered a day with the team at their next European away match.
The online auction will begin on February 11 and run until March 13, with all money going to tsunami victims in Sri Lanka.
Clothesagency.com is the brainchild of aristocrat Lady Apsley.
She said: "We have been overwhelmed by the response from celebrities willing to donate to this worthy cause. We are hoping to attract some really big bids."
source : itv.com

Pop diva Madonna is reportedly cutting off ties with family members who are not following Kabbalah.
These days Madonna is also not helping her brother Christopher Ciccone, who worked for her Maverick Label for years.
She has also stopped interacting with her siblings Martin, Anthony, Paula, Melanie, Mario and Jennifer Ciccone, because they have refused to join the mystical movement.
According to the New York Post, Fox News has revealed that the 'Frozen' singer also dumped her friend Debi Mazar when Mazar expressed her scepticism about Kabbalah.
source : ani

"I was the girl who would take my dad's sweatshirt and cut it up, so it had all these straps. I remember being very young and looking at Madonna and thinking she was the coolest: her bracelets up to her elbow, her lace and gloves and tights. Seeing how music is so correlated to fashion, or even how movies are so correlated to fashion, it's something so natural to me."

source : vogue.co.uk

"That's Madonna, Right There!" - The final five performers take a private jet to Los Angeles, where they move into a mansion, and later are surprised when superstar Madonna takes time from her busy concert tour schedule to meet with them and share some valuable advice on the music business, on THE ROAD TO STARDOM WITH MISSY ELLIOTT, Wednesday, Feb. 16 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on UPN.
Meanwhile, after a shopping trip to trendy Melrose Avenue, top Hollywood stylists Emil and Terrell put each participant's personal sense of style to the test. Later, the vocalists get a special, up-close look at how Missy rocks the stage at a live concert performance in L.A.
Finally, at the performance challenge, legendary R&B artist/judge Teena Marie asks the competitors to each write a verse for a song that they will perform together, leading to the elimination of one participant.
source : top40-charts.com

from Madonna.com : Congratulations to Marinos Demetriou of Astoria, NY! Your submittal to the Classic Madonna Collection Contest #3 was selected by Madonna as the winner!. Your creative depiction of the answers gave you the advantage! Way to go Marinos! Thanks to all ICON-ers who submitted entries to last week's Classic Madonna Collection!

This poll has been closed, and here are the resoults :
01 ''Crazy For You,'' Madonna (1985) (39%)
02 ''Vision of Love,'' Mariah Carey (1990) (27%)
03 ''I Will Always Love You,'' Whitney Houston (1992) (6%)
04 ''At Last,'' Etta James (1961) (4%)
05 ''With or Without You,'' U2 (1987) (3%)
06 ''Your Song,'' Elton John (1970) (3%)
07 ''Everything I Do (I Do It For You)," Bryan Adams (1991) (2%)
08 ''Come What May,'' Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor (2001) (2%)
09 ''God Only Knows,'' The Beach Boys (1966) (2%)
10 ''Wonderful Tonight,'' Eric Clapton (1977) (2%)
source ew.com

If there's one music-journalism cliche that's begging for retirement, it's the phrase "the new Madonna." The following women have all, on some occasion, been heralded as the next Material Girl: Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Shania Twain, Jennifer Lopez, Pink, Beyonce, Kylie Minogue, Paula Abdul, Nelly Furtado, Lil' Kim, Kelis, Charlotte Church, Mitsou, Missy Elliott and Courtney Love - and that list doesn't include some of the more outlandish suggestions broached in Internet chat rooms. The idea has been bandied about so recklessly that in 1997 a Malaysian diplomat christened then-U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright "America's new Madonna for the senior set" - a hyperbolic reference to Albright's little-publicized singing talent.
The newest recipient of this overused laurel is singer/fashion renegade Gwen Stefani, who took leave of ska-punk outfit No Doubt last year to essay a solo career. So far, the venture has been nothing short of triumphant: her debut record, Love. Angel. Music. Baby., went to No. 7 on Billboard; first single What You Waiting For? is nominated for a Grammy Award for "best female pop vocal performance"; and Gwen's pretty face stares out from every conceivable magazine cover. For Stefani, like many songstresses before her, being hailed The New Madonna (TNM) is praise of the highest order - and an utter fallacy. Nothing against you personally, Gwen, but Madonna simply cannot be duplicated, and anyone who thinks so clearly undervalues her enormous bearing on pop music.
In the late '80s and early '90s, any female singer who demonstrated exhibitionist tendencies was believed to be TNM - thus the ephemeral stardom of kittenish Francophone star Mitsou, whose naked romp through Dis-Moi, Dis-Moi (1991) got the video banned on various international music stations, including MuchMusic. The thing people find Madonna-esque about Stefani is her fashion bravado and her physical transformations from one video/photo spread/awards show to the next. Like Madonna, she experiments freely with styles and looks.
People talk of Madonna's love of reinvention, however, as though it were her only attribute. If we've learned anything from Madonna Louise Ciccione's 23-year music career, it's that her influence is manifold. Most prominently, she empowered female pop stars to control their own image, and for that, everyone from J-Lo to Furtado owes her a debt. Madonna's own likeness has always been aggressively sexual, but it was cultivated by her and not some faceless committee of record execs. Madonna was the first to embrace a multimedia approach to promotion, exploiting videos and motion pictures to burn her name into the collective unconscious. Then there's her nose for push-button subject matter like Catholicism and deviant sex. No artist before or since has been able to leverage controversy quite like she has, to the point where every new video " from Like A Prayer to Justify My Love to the Bush-bashing American Life " is guaranteed to be a fresh outrage. By the time of her Blonde Ambition Tour (1990), her concerts had become unparalleled in their combination of lighting, choreography and carnal suggestion.
Of course, anyone with this much daring is bound to overreach from time to time, hence the film Swept Away, her foray into children's literature and the ridiculous nod to Che Guevara on the cover of American Life. Say what you want about her, but she exhibits a dogged will to try anything.
Those considering "the new Madonna" miss the fundamental illogic of that phrase. The rise of Madonna represented nothing less than a cultural mutiny. To posit someone as TNM is to suggest a songstress who could single-handedly affect a comparable paradigm shift in the pop world - impossible. The idea is as risible as those critics still hoping to coronate "the new Beatles": three decades ago, it was Queen, the Bay City Rollers and the Knack; more recently, Blur and Oasis. By dint of sheer talent, experimentation and the ineluctable laws of chronology, the Beatles can't be duplicated - much less by the chuckleheads who sang My Sharona.
Part of Madonna's impact can be ascribed to timing: she emerged just as the music video was becoming the dominant means of marketing Top 40 pop. Imagine if Britney, Pink or J-Lo had debuted in the early '80s; would they have changed the role of female pop singers the way Madonna did? Highly unlikely. While she's revealed every other part of her body, Britney has yet to demonstrate a spine. Pink has the necessary moxie, but it's hard to project a career as long as Madonna's based on her mediocre output thus far. On paper, Jennifer Lopez would seem the closest match: she and Madonna both started as dancers, both are shameless merchandisers, both (ahem) act. Alas, J-Lo has a pathological need to be universally loved, which is anathema to progress in any creative medium.
Madonna's detractors say she's not so much a trendsetter as an early adopter with a rapt audience " that's how she turned mehndi, yoga and Kabala into pervasive fads. Musically, too, she's seen more as an appropriator than an innovator, having assimilated aspects of gay dance culture, trip-hop, torch song and ghetto fabulous into her radio-friendly canon. What she lacks in imagination she makes up for in quality and consistency. Of the 50-odd singles she's released since 1982, the overwhelming majority are paragons of pop songcraft; only a handful are out-and-out howlers. Eliding recent singles like American Life and Me Against the Music, no current singer is as reliably good as Madonna.
The most warped aspect is that Madonna herself has gotten caught up in anointing the new Madonna. By all appearances, she's thrown her support behind Britney Spears, which points up how absurd this sweepstakes has become. For Madge, designating a successor is nothing if not an ego-stroke. Why else would she agree to swap spit with Britney and Xtina (as Aguilera is known in message-board shorthand) at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards? The stunt succeeded neither as an attempt to legitimize lesbianism nor as a particularly entertaining slice of award-show grotesquerie; more than anything, it was an opportunity for Madonna to indulge in public onanism, to make out with not one but two versions of her younger self.
Given her legendary conceit, you'd think Madonna would have cottoned on to the fact that she's a nonpareil, an act no one could conceivably duplicate. By admitting that publicly, she'd be doing the misguided music press a big, big favour.
Written by Andre Mayer


source : cbc.ca