Madonna is going all out to ensure her ‘Madame X’ album campaign in an event.
British Vogue just gifted the Pop queen quite the boost by featuring her a-front of their June issue.
Beyond posing for a monochrome shoot with Mert & Marcus, Madge seized the feature’s inner pages to open up about her latest challenge and motherhood in the spotlight.
Join us after the jump…
Referencing what some are deeming ageism as relates to the playlisting of her music on streaming and radio waves, the singer said:
“People have always been trying to silence me for one reason or another, whether it’s that I’m not pretty enough, I don’t sing well enough, I’m not talented enough, I’m not married enough, and now it’s that I’m not young enough. So they just keep trying to find a hook to hang their beef about me being alive on. Now I’m fighting ageism, now I’m being punished for turning 60.”
She went on to stress that she feels she has no one to directly look up to as to what to expect next:
“There are no living role models for me. Because nobody does what I do. And that’s kind of scary. I can look back at women who I think were great and amazing – freedom fighters, like Simone de Beauvoir or Angela Davis – but they didn’t have kids. Being a single parent of six children, I continue to be creative and be an artist and be politically active, to have a voice, to do all the things that I do. So I mean, there isn’t anybody in my position.”
Expanding, she opened up her children. She said of adopted son David:
“What he has more than anything is focus and determination. I’m pretty sure he got it from me. He’s the one I have the most in common with. I feel like he gets me; he has more of my DNA than any of my children so far. Let’s see what happens – it’s still early days for everyone.”
She candidly said of her first child, Lourdes:
“[She] is insanely talented. I’m green with envy because she’s incredible at everything she does – she’s an incredible dancer, she’s a great actress, she plays the piano beautifully, she’s way better than me in the talent department. But she doesn’t have the same drive, and again, I feel social media plagues her and makes her feel like, ‘People are going to give me things because I’m her daughter.’ I try to give her examples of other children of celebrities like Zoë Kravitz, for instance, who have to work through that ‘Oh yeah, you’re the daughter of…’ – and then eventually you are taken seriously for what you do. You just have to keep going. But does she have the same drive that I have? No. But she also has a mother, and I didn’t. She grew up with money, and I didn’t. So everything is going to be different. But what can I do? I can’t fixate on it. I just have to do my best.” [Source]
In an era where artists are sharing more than ever and yet are oddly more PC than ever, it’s refreshing to see Madonna tell her truth.
‘Madame X’ arrives June 14th.
Ok but didn’t she say n***** in an ig caption and then said she didn’t know it would be offensive
The problem with Madonna is being out of touch with current music consumers. Older legendary artists are expected to put out music that the industry is missing NOT what the music already has enough of (ie Medillan). The industry wants new Madonna music with enough creativity as ‘Ray of Light’ from her and she has not been delivering creatively with her last albums.
She is trend seeking instead of trend setting!
Also, her personality is very off-putting. Her words are often offensive. She often does PR stunts like wearing boooty pads and fake tats and gold grills. Well, the problem with that is her fan base is OLDER and they cannot relate to grandma wearing the gold grill or grandma wearing boooty pads or grandma dancing on a man young enough to be her grandchild (ie Maluma).
I see no lies in what she said…and notice David is always with her the most out of the kids
Don’t worry boo…I’m supporting you ?% ?? Your music continues to inspire me! Madame X June 14th!
Very nice interview.
Or, maybe tye kids these days dont care about your music.
By the way, look up steppenwolf’s last studio album. Guess how much airplay that gets? None. Is it because they too are old? Nope. It is because the radio stations want people to listen to their station.
Madonna, you were a pop star. You are no longer a pop star. That is kind of the thing about pop stars, the limelight is not forever there.
I agree 80%. She is still a pop star and she still gets radio play on the oldies channels. She is not being appreciative and whining. What 60 year old even wants to compete with a young 20 year old in the first place? She is pathetic, making music with artists young enough to be her grand-children. I wonder what PR stunt is next. More booooty pads or maybe some fake face tatoos.
Don’t you dare compare her to Kylie Minogue
She sold more and has more number one hits
You can’t blame everything on ageism.
I’m sure we don’t know everything that is going on behind the scenes in that industry.
But let’s keep it real : if she had a killer song, it would have performed well, no matter her age.
Not true soooo many older artist have voiced out about ageism and so many have released good quality singles that radio ignored.
This is why it is important for these younger artist to link up with the older ones and speak out about ageism, cause it will happen to them someday if their lucky to even have a career that long.
Ageism exist to deny it is pure ignorance, though in this case I will say she just released a pretty s*** single but still s*** singles are all over the radio and Spotify playlist these days.
Also funny is that while radio is supposedly still THE top way people listen to music it’s the people 30 and up that are listening. So if the audience is older why is radio so intent on pushing only younger artist?
This is actually a beautiful spread. If she embraced kind of look and released more creative music (a la Ray of Light) as another commenter said, then she wouldn’t be facing ageism.
Good interview made some interesting points like some people have said on here she is better of appealing to her audience who are older. They would actually buy the music and go the tours. People who listen to Justin Bieber despacito are not going to listen to Madgexmeluma it’s just not going to happen. Artists sometimes forget that the older audience is just as lucrative market. No use trying to compete with the Selena gomez, Ariana grande of the world. Childish stunts like those b*** pads don’t help the situation either.
Yall are not getting it. She isn’t competing with these newer artists. But a great song is a great song. If a song is great then it should be played. Just because she’s been around doesn’t mean that her audience is of a certain demographic. She caters to her audience. But a lot of people like her. Radio is biased against legends.
yup, when you are a certain age you are being treated like you did something wrong.
Madonna has most definitely had her contributions to music and pop culture, but her current mode of constantly complaining and being bitter about being some kind of victim is tired.
See: Janet Jackson (an actual victim of industry racism & misogyny) and take notes.