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Madonna in 2023 during the Celebration Tour in London

Background

Madonna's career and impact transcended music. Robin Raven from Grammy Awards's official website explained that "it's often said that Madonna was ahead of her time". She was reportedly "pioneered" a multifaceted career that "encompasses virtually every aspect of contemporary culture" in her generation. Described as a "singular career" by The New York Times, they explained she "crossed boundaries". In late 20th century, Canadian scholar Karlene Faith referred as her "peculiarity" the fact she "cruised so freely through so many cultural terrains". Primarily a musician, Billboard editor-in-chief Janice Min considered her as "one of a miniscule number of super-artists whose influence and career transcended music". Also noting many women has done what Madonna does however, an observer in a conversation held by The Independent in 1998, referred "she translates" things into "a phenomenon".

Critical measurement and scope

Madonna has "provoked and sustained exceptional interest as a female cultural icon".

—Scholar Ramona Curry as cited in Pastiche (2001).

Madonna became the subject of a wide range of topics by multiple scholars from different fields. Eduardo Viñuela, musicologist at University of Oviedo expressed in 2018, that analyzing her is delve into the evolution of various relevant aspects of society in recent decades.

Madonna was regarded as possibly the most analyzed, discussed and debated female singer of the last decades or at least since 1950s, according to publications such as El Universal (1999) and The A.V. Club (2012). Writing for The Daily Telegraph in 2018, Laura Craik considered Madonna has "contributed more to the cultural conversation than any female performer in history". Commenting about popular culture studies, Abigail Gardner from the University of Gloucestershire stated in Rock On (2016) that perhaps more than any other pop star, she "holds a privileged place". Furthermore, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame regarded her in 2008, as one of the most "well-documented figures of the modern age".

Cultural impact by spectrum

Madonna (left) and then president of Argentina, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner in 2008

She's a major historical figure and when she passes, the retrospectives will loom larger and larger in history.

—Academic Camille Paglia on Madonna (2017).

The task of defining her impact is "brutal" considered Louis Virtel from Billboard. Romanian professor at Babeș-Bolyai University, Doru Pop wrote in The Age of Promiscuity (2018) that her cultural impact has been "extensively analyzed by many authors". According to Encyclopedia of Women in Today's World (2011), her "cultural influence has been profound and pervasive".

In the 1990s, authors and scholars like Marsha Kinder and Vincent Ryan Ruggiero called her the "reigning queen of popular culture" or "reigning queen of global pop culture" respectively. In the next decades, her pop culture influence was described as "endless" and "immeasurable". In 2018, Matt Cain held "today's pop culture landscape would simply not exist as it is". Furthermore, British scholar Ellis Cashmore justified "even allowing for exaggeration, the point is that Madonna changed 'how the game works'". Madonna "has defined, transcended, and redefined pop culture" stated Noah Robischon for Entertainment Weekly in 2001. Various authors considered how Madonna was able to transcend the definition of pop icon, including Robert Christgau as early as 1980s and Russell Iliffe from PRS for Music in 2012, naming her a cultural icon. Using Madonna and Marilyn Monroe, scholar Kathleen Sweeney, explained in Maiden USA (2008), that "some reach a status beyond mere celebrity in public consciousness to become enduring cultural icons".

• high priestess of pop culture,

Timeline

We can feel the effect of the changes she triggered in our everyday life.

—British sociologist Ellis Cashmore (2018).

In late-20th century, Madonna was described as a sign of her times, with a scholar proposing her as "hero of our time". "More than a witness of the epoch, she is an active reflection of it" said Martine Trittoleno for Vogue France in 1993. In similar remarks, professor Marjorie Garber commented she "read the temper of the times" perhaps more than other. Her far-reaching prescense was compared to that an everyday life fixture, which led American critic Greil Marcus to say, "she is undeniably part of our culture", while professor Suzanna Danuta Walters considered "she circulates constantly in the cultural practices of everyday life". Moreover, American poet Jane Miller held that she "functions as an archetype directly inside contemporary culture".

Madonna continued to left a mark in the next century while aging. In the beginning of the millenium, biographer Andy Koopmans defined her as a "cultural obsession". In 2008, Kent State University assistant professor Bob Batchelor, considered "no artist of the 1980s had a larger effect on the cultural landscape than Madonna". Her "status as a cultural icon is acknowledged" in press accounts wrote scholars in Ageing, Popular Culture and Contemporary Feminism (2014). In Cashmore's view, many have recognized in her sixties as a "genuine cultural icon". Talking about her career spanning four decades, in 2018, The New York Times commented she "made real cultural change, and caused a few cultural crises, over and over again".

Myth-like impact

Madonna depicted by Paul Harvey

Madonna's impact was also perceived in other everyday life forms. In 2009, cultural organization MiratecArts commented "her influence is so powerful that it extends deep into the subconscious world of imagination, fantasy and dreams". Editors of Mythic Astrology Applied (2004), recall: "Many men and women have reported Madonna appearing in their dreams. As she become a living archetype in our culture, it is no wonder that this is so". In her book Confessions of a Pretty Lady (1989), Sandra Bernhard wrote "I dream about Madonna more than anyone I know (or don't know)". Andrew Morton documented the case of an artist named Brent Wolf in Madonna (2001), who confessed he dreamt of her every night for five years.

Folklorist scholar Kay Turner, devoted a book titled I Dream of Madonna: Women's Dreams of the Goddess of Pop (1993), which tells the dreaming of 50 women on Madonna. Turner's work has been cited by authors such as Lucy Goodison and Alice Robb, with Robb describing some of these woman interviewed by Turner, found "emotional support in their Madonna dreams, waking with a sense of peace of resolution that persisted in their real lives". A number of authors like Kelly Sullivan Walden, in I Had the Strangest Dream... (2009) have made dream interpretations on Madonna. Spaniard critic Víctor Lenore regarded her as "the greatest female myth" in the history of popular music.

American culture

Called an "American icon", for a longtime Madonna also became an icon of American identity. Ulster University marketing professor Stephen Brown, explained in 2003, that she was often described as a metaphor for American society. For authors like German editor Josef Joffe, she was a global example of American soft power. Argentine writer Rodrigo Fresán once described her as one of the "classic symbols of Made in USA", and Spaniard gender scholar Laura Viñuela, in a Madonna class at University of Oviedo in 2015, considered her story and evolution to be comparable and useful to analyze the historical development of the United States. In 2008, music critic Kitty Empire referred to her as "Michigan's biggest export since the automobile". To Gina Arnold, her primary contribution to the national culture has been musical.

Theather historian for University of Marylan, Catherine Schuler called her "the high priestess of American pop culture". Madonna epitomized one of the cultural faces of the 1980s according to historian Glen Jeansonne in A Time of Paradox: America Since 1890 (2006). Scottish author Andrew O'Hagan considered her as a "heroic opponent of cultural and political authoritarianism of the American 'establishment'". Her influence in American pop culture life in the 20th century, was compared to other entertainers, including Elvis Presley by author Gilbert B. Rodman in Elvis after Elvis (1996), and to media scholars Charlotte Brunsdon and Lynn Spigel, Madonna rivaled Oprah Winfrey's space in the psyche of national culture during that century.

Globalization and Westernization

Madonna's figure also reached globalization camp. Eduardo Viñuela says her career is closely linked to the "consolidation" of globalization. Retrospectively, in 2014, CUNY Graduate Center professor Jean Graham-Jones, called her "globalization's quintessential femicon", and associate professor Juana Suárez named her a "universal symbol". Critics also hailed her an "icon of Western society".

Her globalist appeal was reflected in various contemporary pieces in different sectors; in 1989, Micromanía referred to the "symbol Madonna" as the "most palpable proof that Western society advances and changes", while a decade later in 1999, political scientist David Held with other academics stated: "The most public symbols of globalization consist of Coca-Cola, Madonna and the news on CNN". In Israel (2003), historian Efraim Karsh cites an Israeli journalist, whose commented: "Madonna and Big Macs the most peripheral of examples of ... 'normalness' which means, amongst other things, the end of the terrible fear of everything that is foreign and strange". Various informants, including koreanist scholar Mózes Csoma have documented references of Madonna in North Korea. Evita is the first American film screened in the country. Madonna was also one of the first Western artist to have records been distributed in China.

Associated phrases

A number of scholars used and coined expressions with Madonna's name for articulating globalization. Including:

• Madonna-economy: Defined at the 1993 International Federation for Information Processing held in Namur, Belgium, under the concept of global cultural industry as "risks to become an aggresive and arrogant phenomenon", for example by imposing the transformation of all cultural activities into "cultural goods". Conversely, the Group of Lisbon, an international consortium of 19 scholars from different disciplines, described it as a "process that is unifying (essentially by homogenization) the consumption of information and communication goods" in the same way Coca-Cola did. German scholar Frank Sowa from Technische Hochschule Nürnberg lumped it with other terms such as McDonaldization, McWorld and Cocacolonization.

• Madonnanization: Economist Tyler Cowen from Forbes used it in the context of the performing arts as a "homogeneous global culture of the 'least common denominator'". French academic Georges-Claude Guilbert, notes that in a postmodern context the definition would not be derogatory, arguing that "there seems to be some sort of equation between the McDonaldization of American and its "Madonnanization", which can both be "celebrated by postmodern critics".

Multiculturalism

Madonna singing "Je t'aime... moi non plus" in 2012. She has ventured to sing in other languages rather than English.

Madonna also made a multicultural impact, and became a subject of racial studies, with academics in Encyclopedia of Women in Today's World (2011) explained during the height the studies revealed her as a "critical nexus of race". "It is not possible to read/interpret Madonna without a recognition of elements such as race, class [and] ethnicity", which are present in "almost all" she does, wrote a contributor from Australasian Gay & Lesbian Law Journal in 1993. Complimenting Madonna's inclusivity, cultural diversity and multicultural representation in both her works and personal life since her public debut in 1982, Ann Powers said "her virtual workplace was multicultural long before that was a mandated corporate goal". Most notably, professor Santiago Fouz-Hernández commented that Hispanic culture is "perhaps the most influential and revisited 'ethnic' style in her work". In 2018, Billboard made the list of her Best Spanish Songs & Latin Style.

Aside her native English, she also ventured to sing (partially or fully) in other languages, including Spanish ("Verás" or "Lo Que Siente La Mujer"), French ("La Vie en rose" or "Je t'aime... moi non plus"), Portuguese ("Faz Gostoso" or "Fado Pechincha"), Sanskrit ("Shanti/Ashtangi") and Euskara ("Sagarra jo").

Cultural footprints in territories

A world map showing countries where Madonna has put her feet as of 2021

Madonna's relationship with some countries became a subject of some media reportages and works. BBC Four broadcast the documentary There's Only One Madonna (2020), which charts "Britain's relationship with Madonna", "examining the influence" she has had "on British music and fashion". In 2022, France 5 broadcast the documentary In France with Madonna, exploring her connectivity with the country.

Newspapers including, El País documented Madonna's relationship with Spain, South China Morning Post with Hong Kong, and Clarín with Argentina. With the later country, La Nación commented she achieved great milestones during her career in the country.

Ethnics and subcultural groups

The fascination of Madonna for the Latino and Hispanic culture ranges from wearing outfits like traje de luces (above) to dating men like Brazilian model Jesus Luz (below).

Madonna's relationship with subcultural groups along her impact was also addressed by diverse reviewers. Details magazine referred to her as "Queen of Cultural Juice" in 2004. Frances Negrón-Muntaner called her "last century's American transcultural dominatrix". Professor George J. Leonard called her "the last ethnic and first postethnic diva".

In Boricua Pop (2004), Negrón-Muntaner explored Madonna's relationship and impact within Latin culture during the 1980s and 1990s. She stated: "Madonna's nod created the illusion of insider status for Latinos of all sexualities in U.S. culture". Negrón-Muntaner particularly explored her impact over Boricua image, saying she was "the first white pop star to make Boricuas the over object of her affections" and this produced a "queer juncture for Puerto Ricans representation in popular" in mass culture, but considered also it "came to most successfully commodify boricua cultural practices for all to see". Other reviewers, including Carlos Pabón in De Albizu a Madonna (1995) and Carmen R. Lugo-Lugo in The Madonna Experience (2001) have also commented on her impact in Puerto Rican society.

I've always been very attracted and intrigued by Latin culture, I mean I'm half-Italian, so I suppose I'm Latin. I love Latin music. I love Latin men. I feel an affinity toward the Latin world

—Madonna, interviewed in Canada (1996).

Madonna's Italianness was also remarked on. In Racing in the Street (2004), author said she is one of the Italian American performers who played a "definitive role" in the musical culture. Her early influence was commented in The Italian American Heritage (1998), noting she served as a "vehicle for the expression of many of the qualities that are exclusive" for both Italians and Italian Americans. Madonna's popularity led to be described by historian David Roediger in Colored White (2003), as "the most popular United States Italian American entertainer of our time". An independent record label Italians Do It Better was named after Madonna's phrase on a T-shirt of her "Papa Don't Preach" video.

Some others devoted analysis regarding Black culture, including bell hooks. In 1990, CineAction! commented: "Madonna's 'blackness' is a common, though poorly articulated theme of popular press literature". Madonna recalled that she wanted to be black as a child. Author and professor Thomas Ferraro also analyzed her relationship, saying among other things, "no white pop star (in the 1980s and 1990s) ever owes more to black male productions" than Madonna, saying "no diva has spent more time on camera and off with men of color, professionally and romantically involved". He also considered her "the most accomplished Italian-to-black crossover artist in history".

Various reviewers noted Madonna's usage of Asian culture elements in her fashion, with author Christopher R. Smit referring her a "palpable sign" of "Westernization of East Asian Culture. Academics such as Gayatri Gopinath, Douglas Kellner or Christopher Partridge also explored how Madonna's figure aided and reinforced the introduction to the Western mass culture numerous elements from the region. Fouz-Hernández said that her exploration of intra-Caucasian identities has received "little academic attention", although he noted England heritage has influenced her work, mainly when she lived in the United Kingdom. Scholar José I. Prieto‐Arranz also explored for The Journal of Popular Culture in 2012, her relationship with various culture and elements, and noted that "various critics" have agreed that rather export American music, she introduced mostly European trends into her country.

Music industry

"Madonna has been able to impact her industry as much as any woman in history", commented the author of Profile of Female Genius (1994). Madonna's overall music industry impact was condesed by Constantine Chatzipapatheodoridis, a Greek adjunct lecturer at University of Patras, saying she helped shape the contemporary music stage in terms of sound, image, performance, sex, fandom and reinvention. Similarly, author Marshawn Evans summarizes she has "revolutionized how music is performed, delivered to the delivered to the masses, purchased, packaged, downloaded, and even simulcast across a variety of cutting-edge platforms". In 1984, Billboard commented that the simultaneous releases of LP, cassette and CD was pioneered with Madonna. Madonna had also impacted in her generation areas such as videos and live performances.

Popular music

The history of pop music can essentially be divided into two eras: pre-Madonna and post-Madonna

—Billboard staffers (2018).

Madonna's musical chief impact was on pop music landscape, mainly for helping brought to the mainstream and masses some practices. She is "pioneer" in popularize dance-pop according to Arie Kaplan. Madonna had also a "huge role" in popularizing dance music, according to music critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine. Bob Tannenbaum from The New York Times credits her the evolution of remixing from underground to a standard practice. Some credits her the introduction to the masses of electronic music into the stage of popular music, or at least, its introduction into the mainstream American pop culture according to British scholar David Gauntlett, a genre that was most popular among Europeans.

Erica Russell from MTV stated that Madonna helped shape the way pop artists release music adding that she "reignite interest in the art of the concept album within mainstream pop" after the decline of the rock-oriented concept album in the 1980s. Writing for El País in 2014, Xavi Sancho said that her releases were not mere "musical and commercial events" but rather releases that marked the way forward. Madonna popularized the usage of Korg M1, according to The Vinyl Factory.

Female industry

More than any other artist, Madonna deconstructed the roles that women play, not only in music but in all of popular culture [...] for the first time placed female voices at the center of pop discourse, as actors rather than spectators

—Music critic Dave Marsh (1994).

According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Madonna helped dissolve gender boundaries. Gauntlett cites that she started a "revolution amongst women in music", and editor-in-chief of Blender Joe Levy, felt that during her heydays she "opened the door for what women could achieve and were permitted to do". To English author Dylan Jones, "Madonna was genuinely influential". The world 'female' is significant in her assessment because "she presented herself in a fresh way for women artists", according to Tony Sclafani from MSNBC. In 2013, Jacqueline Edmondson from University Park, Pennsylvania studied female artists, and said Madonna "deserves special attention" describing her "legacy" as "important to understanding issues surrounding gender and the music industry in the twenty-first century". "The history of women in popular music can, pretty much, be divided into before and after Madonna" once stated and felt Susan Sarandon.

Various international publications and authors have agreed in different degrees how Madonna helped set the modern global stage of pop music, highlighting the fact she debuted in a male-oriented and rock-era and how female artists later dominated diverse areas. In Popular Texts in English (2001), authors referred to her as an "atypical female phenomenon in the world of pop". German media Deutsche Welle considered her as "the first woman to dominate the male world of pop". "The vast majority of the top artists in the world were men" when she debuted noted Gillian Branstetter from The Daily Dot. To Sclafani, Madonna significantly help changed it to the point she served to swap a dominance from band to solo act with an emphasis on female. British music journalist David Hepworth also agreed that now "most of biggest of pop music" are woman and Madonna "is the person who proved that this was possible, who opened up a new world for them to grow into". Having agreed with her influence as well, in 2014, music journalist Diego A. Manrique described we are living in a "Madonna era", after seeing a dominance in record charts by female artists which he described them as Madonna's "heirs".

Reviews of female artists

See also: Madonna (nickname)

Over decades, Madonna received significant international media and scholarly attentions; she is credited for helping shape the way female popular singers are scrutinized. A Vice contributor said that "reviews of her work have served as a roadmap for scrutinizing women at each stage in their music career". Similarly, scholars in Ageing, Popular Culture and Contemporary Feminism (2014) agreed that her figure is "widely considered to have defined the discursive space for examining female popular music". Eric Thompson from City Pages commented in 2011, that her influence is "felt in the way modern female musicians are viewed, regarded and accepted". By 2013, Dutch scholars wrote for the journal Celebrity Studies that female artists "are very often measured against the yardstick that Madonna has become".

Musicianship

Madonna has ventured to play some instruments, including Ukulele in the Rebel Heart Tour and plays regularly the Guitar. She was nominated with Les Paul Horizon Award at the 2002 Orville H. Gibson Guitar Awards.

Madonna's musicianship also made an industry impact. In 1996, music critic J. D. Considine wrote that both Madonna and Michael Jackson redefined our notions of "artistic impact". As early as 1986, Karl Podhoretz from the University of Dallas described her a "revolutionary voice who has altered the very meaning of sound in our time". While reviewing her debut album in 2013, Rolling Stone called her "the most important female voice in the history of modern music".

According to Morton, for "some writers and producers" Madonna is much an "underrated musician and lyricist". Writing for i-D in 2018, Nick Levine said: "If you're hoping for Madonna sings the Great American Songbook, you don't really get her as an artist". Stephen Holden commented for The New York Times in 1990, that her "abilities as a singer and songwriter were developed" after she became famous.

Vocals

Reviewers have praised Madonna's artistic versatile and ever-evolving voice

According to one author: "Madonna is routinely dismissed by scholars, critics, and fellow artists alike as someone who 'can't sing'". Criticisms has also cohabited with the fact she has sometimes used industry practices such as playback, lip-sync and Auto-Tune. Other authors, including a Los Angeles Times contributor in 1990 and Lucy O'Brien have also noted counter-criticisms, with the latter citing a musician praising her as a solid interpreter that "doesn't over-embellish things". Music publications ranging from Billboard to musicologist like Keith E. Clifton have recognized her "ever-involving" vocals and "metamorphosis". "Madonna's voice has certainly changed since the 1980s, showing the signs of age, vocal coaching, and rigorous vocal exercises", according to author of Popular Music and the Politics of Hope (2019). Dutch linguist Theo van Leeuwen cited her as perhaps "the first singer who used quite different voices for different songs".

Madonna's vocals also served to others to broadly review the nature of pop music. Pop critic Ludovic Hunter-Tilney from Financial Times said "her critics do not understand that pop singers do not require the vocal technique of Maria Callas". In similar connotations, scholars in The SAGE Handbook of Popular Music (2014) compared that between pop singers in the "style of Madonna", brilliant singing ability is not of utmost important, contrary to performers of Soul and R&B "whose considerable vocal skill" are a crucial aspect. Sociologist Stanley Aronowitz considered her a performance artist, who deploys pop music as a vehicle "for something else going on". Madonna was included in Smoot Radio's 2023 list of 30 Greatest Female Singers of All Time, by vocal ability; they stated her voice is "solid and clear" with a "delicate quality" that "works" for her "pop brand".

Production

Career control

Both Madonna's ascension and control over her musical career, was also appreciated; it was described as "the most ground-breaking aspect" of her career by Michael Campbell in Popular Music in America (2012). Madonna's career control contrasted considerably from past mainstream female artists, and even record label-artist relationships. Feminist authors Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo commented "it was very rare for female artists to be the masters of their own destiny: They would let their male managers, producers, and agents make most of their decisions for them. Not Madonna". Therefore, some observers ranging from Roger Blackwell to Stephen Thomas Erlewine considered her the first woman to have a "complete control" over every aspect of career and music. Music journalist Charles R. Cross was quote as saying, if she wasn't, it's as if she was. In 2022, Madonna stated she refuses the idea to sell her catalog saying "ownership is everything".

Songwriting

She showed me a whole other level of dedication and old school work ethic when it comes to writing.

—Diplo on Madonna (2015).

According to musicologist Susan McClary, Madonna "writes or co-writes most of her own material". She also co-wrote a few other songs to other musicians. The singer has also influenced other songwriters, including Kylie Minogue whom took her as one of the inspirations to start writing her own songs. By 1998, The Straits Times considered Mariah Carey as "the only singer in the pop diva league besides Madonna who writes and produces her own material". To Maria Muller of W magazine, Madonna helped normalize the "idea that pop stars could and should write their own songs". Although despite this, American Songwriter commented because her image of pop star, some have assume "she didn't write her own songs".

In 1995, Spin appreciated her as a "great songwriter". Writer Andrew Morton called her a "musical poet in motion", and biographer Carol Gnojewski a "prolific writer". Madonna was included among Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time. She once held the record for the songwriter with most number-one songs on the Billboard Hot 100, and was also recognized by the Guinness World Records as the "most successful female songwriter in Britain".

Producer

Madonna also achieved praise in her role as a producer, although some have noted the fact she collaborated with various —especially men— how many believe they were responsible for her entire creative output. She certainly hires "well-producers", said critic Gina Arnold in 1995, but Arnold applauded her consistency and personal injection. Guy Sigsworth said, she is "intimately involved in the whole creative process as a collaborator and producer", and is a side "ignored by people so fixated on her image". "You don't produce Madonna, you collaborate with her... She has her vision and knows how to get it", told Stuart Price to Peter Robinson in 2005. Madonna impacted the career of other producers, including William Orbit, Mirwais Ahmadzaï and Price with Billboard commenting she "plucked" them from "electronic music obscurity". Billboard also mentioned "Madonna makes producers, producers don't make Madonna".

Influence on other entertainers

See also: Madonna (nickname)

Madonna inspired rock frontmen Liam Gallagher (Oasis) and Chester Bennington (Linkin Park) to become musicians

Madonna's influence on others and as source of inspiration became also an articulated theme in her career. Some media outlets devoted articles, including CBC with Canadian artists in 2018. In her 20-years plus career, in 2003, Ian Youngs from BBC commented that "her influence on others has come as much from her image as her music".

Female artists

Commentators noted a particular focus on female pop stars, with an author saying she influenced "many girls" in popular music. Scholars in Ageing, Popular Culture and Contemporary Feminism (2014) expressed that "judging by the citations she receives from almost every female pop star", she remains "the single biggest female influence on the nature and style of pop music over the course of the late twentieth century". In a lengthy essay in early 2000s, Gauntlett discussed the influence of Madonna on other performers, exploring "four key" themes. He called many of them as Madonna's "musical daughters" as in the "very direct sense" they grew up listening to and admiring Madonna.

Selected examples in music

Madonna has influenced many artists from popular music, including urban, Latin and pop music. Some of them labeled her as a "chief" and "major" influence at some stage, including Rihanna and Jennifer Lopez.

• Adele
• Ariana Grande
• Beyoncé
• Britney Spears
• Christina Aguilera
• Jennifer Lopez
• Katy Perry
• Kylie Minogue
• Lady Gaga
• Nicki Minaj
• Pink
• Rihanna
• Shakira
• Taylor Swift

Madonna has also influence a variety of artists from alternative, opera and classical music.

• Arca
• Lesley Garrett

On other sectors

Madonna has also influenced painters and contemporary artists, as well various from the fashion, publishing and cinema industries.

Contradictory perspectives

Overview

Madonna is criticized from a variety of perspectives, but each assumes a higher social, moral, or aesthetic ground from which she can be seen as unworthy of emulation.

Scholars Laurie Schulze, Anne Barton White and Jane D. Brown on Madonna's audience reception (1993).

Along with praises, Madonna has been also criticized from vastly different constituencies in equal parts and from a varied of perspectives. Professor Ann Cvetkovich agreed that "global phenomenon[s]" like Madonna, "can be articulated in highly contradictory ways". In American Icons (2006) associate professor Diane Pecknold referred to her as an "omnipresent" figure but a "polarizing" one.

Social critic Stuart Sim asserts in The Routledge Companion to Postmodernism (2001), that she "attained the status of cultural icon" but she is an "extremely problematic one" because depending on one's point of view which lead him to concludes this makes her "exceedingly difficult to categorize". By 2019, Matthew Jacobs from The Huffington Post felt that "it's hard to think" of any star with "as many singular achievements and such a durable place in Western media who provokes so much ire and indifference". Other authors similarly agreed that perhaps no one has sparked more debate than she has among all cultural icons of the last three decades.

Ambiguities

Critics have ambiguously praised or condemned Madonna as a set of "contradictions", including scholar Douglas Kellner. In 1993, professor E. Ann Kaplan argued she is the "site of a whole series of discourses, many that contradict each other", but considered that "together produce the divergent images in circulations".

In The Gender/sexuality Reader (1997) by anthropologist Roger Lancaster, Madonna is cited explaining that her creative work is also meant to escape definition: "Everything I do is meant to have several meanings, to be ambiguous". They also found she favors to irony. Thus, in Redefining Kitsch and Camp in Literature and Culture (2014), Justyna Stępień considered Madonna as responsible "for what may be deemed a prevailing 'irony epidemic'". In The Trickster Shift (1999), writer referred to her as the undisputed "Queen of Pop Culture Irony", and J Gray II Richard commented in 2014, that she "remains the Queen of Ambiguity".

In 2023, Michelle Orange from New York magazine commented her ongoing commitment to making new things and making things, now appears almost antiquated.

Cultural criticisms

Scholars in Representing Gender in Cultures (2004), says that the critique of Madonna may be related also to the "general denunciation of popular culture as the obedient mechanism of ideology". Others like Spaniard philosopher Ana Marta González doesn't really look on Madonna a "cultural prominence" but recognized it also depends of point of views. Sectors of public in early 1990s, considered her "the lowest form of popular culture". Philosopher Isaiah Berlin lamented the mass culture exemplified by her. Film critics such as William Rothman and Dudley Andrew suggested that the zeitgeist epitomized by Madonna became poltergeist.

In Leaders of the Pack (2015), Sean MacLeod noted how "her moral integrity and responsibility are considered a subject for debate". Mary Cross also explained she has been considered a "corrupting influence". In 1991, educator John R. Silber even lumped Madonna with Adolf Hitler and Saddam Hussein. In Women and the Media: Diverse Perspectives (2005), authors also wrote that Madonna challenged the American value system, and continued to challenge it.

Racial and cultural appropriation criticisms

Jaap Kooijman from University of Amsterdam explains she "provided a challenge views on racial perspectives". Canadian scholar Karlene Faith wrote in Madonna, Bawdy & Soul (1997), as she mixed cultural diversity in her works, she offended those opposing sexism, racism or classism. Madonna was especially "attacked" by Black critics said scholar Douglas Kellner. After "Vogue", bell hooks was a leading critic who interpreted the singer representing herself in a white privilege place. Hooks also problematized that as a cultural icon, Madonna was "dangerous" calling her the "Italian girl wanting to be black", and charging her for "never articulates the cultural debt she owes to black females". Barbadian-British historian Andrea Stuart, believes she "deliberately affected black style to attract a wider audience".

According to Australian magazine The Music in 2019, she has been called a "culture vulture". In a lengthy post for Vice in 2015, Maura Johnston acusssed the singer for "steal" ideas. Richard Appignanesi and David Garratt called her the "Queen of Cultural Appropriation". British professor Yvonne Tasker said that "her appropriation does at times work to question assumptions". In Representing Gender in Cultures (2004), scholars referred that her "privileged position and her status as a powerful icon do little to improve the problems of minorities from which she borrows".

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Trans-cultural criticisms

Evita lives, Get out Madonna

Cultural hegemony and/or advance of globalization exemplified by Madonna was deemed as a threat by various. Retrospectively called a hyperglobalist, she was classified as "dominant motifs" in a hyper-globalization thesis from three schools of thought. Douglas Rushkoff was quoted as saying "Madonna brought down the Berlin Wall" in a certain sense. Having cited Rushkoff's view, an author reminds Madonna's prominent role with MTV, further explaining that the network represented one of the challenges faced by the former Soviet Union. In 2016, head of British pro-North Korea group blamed Madonna for "the collapse" of the Soviet Union. She attracted a significant criticisms in Russia; in early 2010s, journalist Maksim Shevchenko says she is part of a "vivid symbol of everything superficial, deceitful and hateful that the West exhibits toward Russian". In 2023, news agency Ukrinform informed that a fake Madonna's video served as Russian propaganda. They explained that Russian propaganda had used Madonna's name to spread fake propaganda in the past.

Madonna was also criticized in the Middle East and surrounding areas over decades. In early 1990s, Middle East scholar Patrick Clawson informed about the rejection from Iranian radicals. An Islamic political party in Pakistan, "unsuccessfully demanded" Michael Jackson and Madonna as "cultural terrorists" for "destroying" humanity. Malise Ruthven cites a Pakistani religious scholar, who called both artists "torchbearers of American society with their cultural and social values". In Israel, Madonna was also cited in Post-Zionism discourses, to the point, then president Ezer Weizman criticized the Americanization of the country, perceiving a losing in the national identity. He blamed "the three Ms" (Madonna, Michael Jackson and McDonald's). In the 2000s, another informant Aaron Klein reported a rejection of Madonna's figure in the Middle East in various sectors, including terrorists. He said "everyone has heard of her [and] when sheikhs cite samples of the U.S. attempting to pervert" they speak of Madonna.

Americanization lead by Madonna was also commented on. French sociologist Bruno Étienne reacted with "horror" to the "ghettozoided" politics lead by Michael Jackson and Madonna as "the means by which values are transmitted in such society".

Death threats and censure

Media have speculated the Islamic State (ISIS), have banned both her name and music.

In the 2010s, various outlets assumed that her name was banned by the Islamic State (ISIS) for "good measure". The International Music Council informed that ISIS classified both her music and performances as haram stating that "represent anti-Islamic values" and specified that "anyone caught listening to her music will be punished with 80 lashes".

Madonna also received death threats by extremists and radical groups. Alone in the 2000s, the Australian Associated Press (AAP), informed that Palestinian terrorists threatened to kill her "because she represents many things they hate about the West". In 2006, it was reported that crime bosses from Russian mafia threatened to kill her when she was on tour, assumaly for her provocative performance of "Live to Tell" during the Confessions Tour. In 2009, media reported again death threats from Muslim extremists in Israel according to Yossi Melman, and same situation occurred in Serbia according to IANS agency. In late 2000s, Klein also informed about a spokesman from Popular Resistance Committees, who was recorded as threatening, he would personally kill Madonna and also Britney Spears: "If I meet these whores I will have the honor —I repeat, I will have the honor— to be the first one to cut the heads of Madonna and Britney Spears".

Entertainment sectors

According to music critic Robert Christgau in Grown Up All Wrong (2000), Madonna was "honored less as an artist than as a cultural force". In Representing Gender in Cultures (2004), authors also explained that she has been "consistently denied a status of a 'real' musician". One of the focal critical views is a general agreement that her own "artistic talents" are considered to be "limited". Other critics have also complained that the content of her songs are "empty". A scholar also noted how in the "field of musicology, serious discussion of Madonna has been even rarer than in the popular press".

According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Madonna became an early emblem of women in rock. Landon Palmer from University of Alabama, recalls that she was frequently described as a "rock star" by media and official institutions, saying she served as an example of how the label exceeded the distinctions of genre. However, a number of authors including Camille Paglia and Jennifer Egan explored how Madonna attracted notable criticims from the rock scene, with Paglia saying "our minds were formed by rock music". As early as 1985, The Canberra Times referred she "nearly reversed the typical pattern of rock idol analysis", and was shortly after considered "the antithesis of the women found in early rock and roll".

Madonna and critics

Madonna's stormy relationship with the critics is a well-established and crucial aspect of her remarkable career.

—Keith E. Clifton, musicologist at Central Michigan University (2004).

Madonna's career was notable for the way her critics and supporters reacted towards her works and public persona. In Understanding Popular Music (2013), Roy Shuker said that she is a "star whom many critics [...] love to hate". As her career advanced, she took risks and became more "controversial" many times, while critics that at first praised her were reportedly been "disillusioned". Writing for The Guardian in 2012, Naomi Wolf noted how she catches "a disproportionate amount of flak for her public persona and high-profile career". Political theorist John E. Seery commented:

Madonna's critics are many [...] some of the critical issues [...] are as follows: She is not to be taken seriously [...] she is, at bottom, a joke, a vulgar reflection of gimmicky American consumerist culture at its worst.

Madonna's responses

Madonna during the performance of "Human Nature" on The MDNA Tour (2012). The song is an answer to her critics

Madonna herself have responded to her critics in statements or works, with authors further interpreting her. She often defended her artistic performances, and once stated: "I've been popular and unpopular, successful and unsuccessful, loved and loathed and I know how meaningless it all is. Therefore I feel free to take whatever risks I want". She also said during a interview in 2019 with Decca Aitkenhead from Vogue: "People have always been trying to silence me for one reason or another".

Regarding Madonna's responses, Mary Gabriel told USA Today in 2023: "She has empowered so many people and enriched so many people, and in the process, she's had to defend herself every step of the way". Feminist authors Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo also added that she inspired others to "stay true to themselves and stand proud, even in the face of adversity". By 2008, The New York Times critic, Jon Pareles expressed: "Since the beginning of her career she has telegraphed her intentions and labeled herself more efficiently than any observer".

Variances and critics correspondence

Reviewers sometimes equally responded divisive towards works and public commentaries made by others. For instance, English author Dylan Jones was critical towards Mary Gabriel and her book about Madonna in 2023, suggesting a bias. On the other hand, Rambhau Badode felt and wrote in New Directions in Comparative Literature (2008) that some "critics willingly overlook Madonna's impact on contemporary culture". Aside harsh criticisms, John Street wrote in Musicologists, Sociologists and Madonna (1993) that she has been also "defended" in "equally extravagant terms". In early 2000s, scholars Brown and Guilbert similarly argued and felt that "venomous" reactions reveal more about the reviewer/people that it says about the singer.

Critical responses and explorations

In 2016, Deborah Jermyn from Roehampton University explained that "numerous academic studies have considered the way Madonna polarises views". Sean MacLeod also condensed in Leaders of the Pack (2015): "Despite the criticisms, many have seen her vast contribution, lyrically, musically, and artistically to the world of popular culture". In 2020, Christopher Rosa from Glamour magazine, recognized her "profound impact on music industry" feeling that it was "most of the time for the best".

Madonna perpetuated an image of provocateur/controversialist, maintaining her view by saying at the 2023 Grammy Awards audience that if an artist is labeled "scandalous" or "problematic" are "definitely on to something". In her early decades, scholars like Catherine Schule noted how her controversies and negative attention had "little effect on Madonna except to increase sales". Furthermore, Gayle Stever in The Psycology of Celebrity (2018) noted how the "attention Madonna received from being controversial" also "opened up an entire new way of thinking" in others.

At many stages of her career, various reviewers have recognized weakness on Madonna but reacted overall positive. In 1992, scholar Cindy Patton considered her as a "social critic in a certain way", further expressing she "has an instinct for not just what's going to get people upset, but what's going to get people thinking". Back in 1988, Genders a publication runs by the University of Texas Press commented her music enacts models that correspond to formulations of critics like Teresa de Lauretis, noting "need not suggest that Madonna is a connoisseur of critical theory". In 1991, historian professor Jesse Nash, also supported Madonna's critiques of society and considered the controversies she creates proves that "Westerners still uphold values that subjugate women". In 1997, Stan Hawkins from University of Leeds felt her acts could infuriate those who are primarily unfamiliar with "everyday forms of human expression[s]" in media. During an international congress in 2005, Lydia Brugué from Universitat de Vic concluded she is an artist with "multiple messages" leading frequently to ambiguity and certainly, it "provokes" but "it goes beyond creating controversy". Kellner once opined "Madonna takes on demonstrates a courage to tackle controversial topics that few popular music figures engage with her consistency and provocativeness".

Within accusations of cultural appropriation, music critic Ann Powers felt despite her "borrowing" have made her suspect to some, "she's never hidden her vision of the word as a place where difference can and must be celebrated [...] She has chosen to cultivate diversity". Madonna herself favored her artistic choices for rethinking people the things and also commented: "I'm inspired and I'm referencing other cultures. That is my right as an artist". While she avoided Madonna most of her life, Jennifer Egan once felt cliché criticisms towards her, including "Madonna has no real talent".

Madonna has been also equally defended or criticized by women. Others have noted misogynists oriented criticisms. In 'Who's That Girl? Who's That Boy? (1998), psychoanalyst Lynne Layton from Harvard Medical School defines "you get some idea of the role gender plays in critical responses" to Madonna. In 2008, Guy Babineau from LGBT-targeted publication Xtra Magazine, compared how "straight men in music, industry and politics who are much richer and more powerful, and who do much worse things, are admired".

Honorific nicknames

Madonna during the 2012 haltime show channeling Queen Cleopatra. She has been called "many things" both negative and positive, including "queen" of a sort of things

Australian magazine The Music explored how she has been called "many things" both negative and positive. Deborah Jermyn noted how she "has been frequently described as a 'queen'" of many things. In 1996, Chilean magazine Qué Pasa stated that "to Madonna can be attributed many titles and never be exaggerated". They called her the "undisputed Queen of Pop, sex goddess, and of course marketing". In Celebrity Colonialism (2009), University of Tasmania's professor Robert Clarke notes a "range of nicknames" including "The Queen of Pop" by media reports referring to her "big business pop career". Among other sobriquets, she has been also called "Queen of Music" industry, and in her early decades, the "Queen of Rock".

British music magazines, including Sounds staffers started to call her "Madge" as early 1980s, with their editor John Harris referring to her as "Our Madge" in 1991. According to authors like Christopher Zara, British press (with especial emphasis tabloids) began to call her "Madge" in late 1990s, which is also a British shorthand for "Your Madgesty". Overseas press have also adopted both sobriquets, with Alex Hopper from American Songwriter saying "She was given that title because of her Queenliness in the music industry". International media outlets ranging from Billboard, La Dépêche du Midi, Der Spiegel and La Nación have referred to her as "Her Majesty".

Superlatives

Some have noted how she has been given superlatives, including The A.V. Club's editors and American journalist Meredith Vieira.

While her pop condition has been also debated, her consistency in multiple decades or generations, lead some international publications and authors considered her as one of —if not the most— influential female artist, ranging from CNN, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Vogue Mexico. On this, Michael Musto wrote for Out how she emerged as "the most influential and entertaining woman in the culture for decades". While previous publications used the term "all-time", other authors referred to her in the context of the late 20th century, in "pop history", and in American music history, a condition accepted by "many" according to MTV or BET.

Cultural depictions

See also: List of cover versions of Madonna songs, List of Madonna tribute albums, and Madonna impersonator

See the categories Cultural depictions of Madonna, Musical tributes to Madonna, and Works about Madonna

Madonna have been depicted by several artists

Madonna has been depicted in many ways. Guilbert explored in Madonna as Postmodern Myth (2002) how she became a reference in "several domains", including depictions in museums. By 2011, Peter Robinson from The Guardian felt that there is "a little bit of her in the DND" in several "modern pop thing[s]".

Science

On science references, in 2006, a new "water bear" species, Echiniscus madonnae was named after her. The Zoologists commented: "We take great pleasure in dedicating this species to one of the most significant artists of our times". Quadricona madonnae is a fossil Bradoriid from the Cambrian of South Australia named after Madonna; in reference to the nodes on each valve resembling her conical bustiers.

Cultural documentaries and other appearances

TV Guide included Madonna in their series 101 People Who Made the 20th Century (season 1, episode 2), a look of influential people who made "dramatic impacts" during the century. She was also included in the The Oxford Children's Book of Famous People (2002) published by Oxford University Press, in which it mentions over 1000 women and men "who have influenced the course of history". She was also included in the Ultimate Biography: Inside the Lives of the World's 250 Most Influential People (2002), which is based on the longest-running, single-topic documentary series Biography by A&E.

Critics' lists and polls

Madonna on genderless critics' lists and polls (all-time/century)

Year	Publication or institution	List or Work	Ref.
1998	Carol Publishing Group	The Italian 100
1999	Harvest House	World's 365 Most Influential People
2002	Life	50 Most Influential Boomers
2005	Discovery Channel	100 Greatest Americans
2008	Encyclopædia Britannica	100 Most Influential Americans
2008	National Geographic Society	1001 People Who Made America
2009 2012	Igloo Books	People Who Changed the World
2014	Smithsonian Institution	100 Most Significant Americans of All Time
2018	Om Books	365 People Who Changed The World

Book sources

See also: Bibliography of works on Madonna and List of academic publishing works on Madonna

• Arts and Entertainment Network (2002). Ultimate Biography: Inside the Lives of the World's 250 Most Influential People. DK. ISBN 0789484269.
• Clarke, Robert (2020). Celebrity Colonialism. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. ISBN 1527554759.
• Cvetkovich, Ann (2018). Articulating The Global And The Local: Globalization And Cultural Studies. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 0429981813.
• Favilli, Elena; Cavallo, Francesca (2017). Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls - Gift Box Set. Rebel Girls. ISBN 0997895837.
• Richard, J Gray II (2014). The Performance Identities of Lady Gaga. McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers. ISBN 078649252X.
• Hosie, Peter; Pforr, Christof (2016). Crisis Management in the Tourism Industry. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 1351947389.
• Khanna, Parag (2011). How to Run the World. Random House. ISBN 0679604286.
• Kinder, Marsha (1997). Refiguring Spain: Cinema, Media, Representation. Duke University Press. ISBN 0822319381.
• Leibetseder, Doris (2016). Queer Tracks: Subversive Strategies in Rock and Pop Music. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 1317072588.
• Lenig, Stuart (2010). The Twisted Tale of Glam Rock. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 0313379874.
• MacLeod, Sean (2015). Leaders of the Pack. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 1442252022.
• Ruggiero, Vincent Ryan (1994). Warning: Nonsense is Destroying America. Thomas Nelson. ISBN 0840796781.
• Ryan, Allan J. (1999). The Trickster Shift: Humour and Irony in Contemporary Native Art. University of British Columbia Press. ISBN 0295978163.
• Schuler, Catherine (2013). Women in Russian Theatre: The Actress in the Silver Age. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 1136155902.
• Smit, Christopher R. (2017). Michael Jackson: Grasping the Spectacle. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 135155834X.
• Smith, Melanie K. (2015). Issues in Cultural Tourism Studies. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 1317664205.
• Stępień, Justyna (2014). Redefining Kitsch and Camp in Literature and Culture. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. ISBN 1443867799.
• Stever, Gayle (2018). The Psychology of Celebrity. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 1351252089.

External links

• more consistent hit maker and female role model. | If You Like the Beatles... Bruce Pollock · 2011
• Madonna, who said, "I have a reputation of being provocative... But I think it's kind of a wast of time to provoke just for the sake of provocation. I think you have to have a lesson or something that you want to share. You have to have a reason for it. | Humanitarianism and Modern Culture; Keith Tester · 2010. pag 90
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