All hail the Queen ! Madonna is currently preparing the tour celebrating her four decades of career – already a sold-out card around the world – the opportunity to remind everyone that she is the queen. A title which, in our eyes, is rightfully his, especially after his message posted on Instagram on February 7. While the superstar was at Grammy Awards this Sunday to introduce the performance of Sam Smith and Kim Petras (officially the first trans woman to receive an award there), Madge again made the noise for her physical appearance. No question here of her ultra-successful red haircut or the sublime vintage Mugler piece sported for the occasion but, for once, of her face. Under a photo published on social networks, the haters had a field day. And this time, Madonna responded. In the caption of an Instagram post, she decided to close more than one valve. And it’s fun!
Madonna, the finger of honor to diktats
“Rather than focusing on what I said in my speech (…) many people preferred to talk about a zoomed photo of me”explains the Material Girl. “Once again I find myself caught in the middle of a torrent of ageism and misogyny.” Because we are far from being on a first. Worse, Madonna is accustomed to criticism. Her art has always been disturbing above all because it sends flying all the gender stereotypes that we would like to impose on women. At the start of her career, the singer was criticized for her commitments but also and above all for wanting to express a free and liberated sexuality. Over the years, a new accusation has been added to the list: that of not wanting to settle down. It is the supreme outrage: that of not “not act according to his age”that of not following the diktat according to which, after 30 years, exuberances should be put away for the benefit of the household and the children.
“Calm down grandma”
“(Our world) refuses to celebrate a woman over 45 and feels compelled to punish her if she continues to display an iron will, hardworking and adventurous”, continues Madonna. She knows something about it. At the age of 35, while she was on tour with her very sexy ”The Girlie show”the press was already headlining “Calm down grandma”. Not only did Madonna ignore these remarks, but better still, she persevered. From all the years that will follow will be born some of the greatest pop albums of their time. The criticisms, they have only increased, now coming to question its appearance. After reproaching Madonna for not wanting to age, she is now being criticized for not doing so according to society’s orders. Using surgery or a filter, everyone has a say in a face that, while perhaps one of the most famous in the world, is not theirs. Each time, the same motivation for these reproaches: a latent misogyny that Madonna has fought her entire career and continues to challenge.
The queen continues to reign
“I’ve never apologized for the creative choices I made, or the way I present myself and dress. I won’t start today. (…) I look forward to many years of subversive behavior, pushing barriers, standing up to the patriarchy and above all enjoying my life that awaits me”she concludes. Mic-drop ! That the haters swallow their venom, Madonna did not plan to quit. “The most controversial thing I’ve done is to continue to exist”, she confided in her speech at the Billboard Women in Music Awards in 2016. When everyone wants to believe it is over, here she is selling tickets by the thousands for a new tour that promises to be exceptional! The queen is ready to show off her crown and inspire her horde of fans! Once again, and this after four decades of dominating the pop planet, Madonna challenges the established order and denounces, with her art, the limits of our society. We can only applaud and we will obviously be at the AccorArena next November for the high mass, in order to shout to him at the top of our lungs “Merci Madonna”.