Sunday, April 5, 2015
Kurt von Behrmann
Love
her, or loath her, Madonna has definitely been a game changer. Since the release of her first recording, “Madonna”
in 1983, she has survived in a music industry that does not often offer career longevity. As she has remained afloat in the pop
cultural world for several decades, she is now facing the murkiest waters of
her ever buoyant career.
Prior
to Madonna, most main stream high profile popular musicians never made known
their ambitions, or made visible their fiscal success. Like Victorian Ladies careful of their
reputations, they feared that if their open ambitions and lavish lifestyles
became public knowledge, we the public may not respect them. Madonna, right from the gate, made it known
she was out to conquer the musical world.
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| Madonna 2016 Model. |
It did
not take long for the street shrewd Madonna to go from the colorful garb of the
rough and tumble music world to Chanel.
Lavish music videos and images of herself resurrecting the image of high
Hollywood glamour by mimicking Marylyn Monroe gave her not only an identity, it
differentiated her from the pack. Long
gone were jeans and t shirts and boisterous music. They were replaced with slick production and
cinema refined imagery.
Like a successfully
arranged marriage, Madonna rolled into a music world that was embracing the
music video. Every artist of any
significance was compelled to make one.
For many artists, the music video was more an annoyance than a creative
tool. In Madonna’s hands, the visuals
became her most faithful companion.
On a music
level, Madonna was not particularly innovative. But,
she knew how to secure catchy irresistible pop melodies. Dance numbers with fast paces became her
stock and trade. She was a dance club music
act with enough visuals to make touring successful.
Her
concerts became visual spectacles. There
was dancing, scantily clad boys and girls and Madonna front and center showing
off her svelte worked out body. Her image
and accompanying visuals were intertwined.
At a
time when successful acts looked at Vegas as the career kiss of death, Madonna was brining that type of glitz and
glamor to the rock and roll pop arena.
What she also brought was sexuality.
She
also brought a bit of controversy.
Madonna
knew the exact amount of sophisticated edginess to bring to the stage without totally
alienating her audience. She had the
type of edge of punk, but diluted with enough Vegas show styled numbers to make
it all work. She had a successful formula.
Sadly,
what works for one is not always good for all.
It did not take long for women in music to follow her lead. Suddenly, it was expected that a female pop
singer be overtly sexy, proactively dressed bringing a dance troupe with
her. The day of the singer songwriter
had given way to the singer as sultry pop goddess.
The highly visual over sexed chanteuse
was the new role model. It was not enough
to sing and write songs, now the singer had to be a dancer and provocateur. Style had become substance.
What Madonna also did was that she
had one eye aimed at the club world.
Her connection to Queer youth culture, Black youth culture and Latino
youth culture were valuable weapons. She
borrowed from all three to create her sound.
She also cultivated a gay following.
Not often said in public, but well
understood by singers and actresses who want long running careers, your best
defense against irrelevance is a loyal gay following.
Look at any major motion picture
star or singer. Some will actively pursue
a gay audience actively, some in more subtle terms, but you are hard pressed to
find a major female film star or musician that is vocally anti gay. Even major male motion picture stars realize
the value of a gay following. The gay
audience tends to be loyal, and are astute followers of what is in vogue and
what is not.
From the framework Madonna created,
a bevy of anxious women marched on the public air waves. Most looked like pale imitations of
Madonna. A few managed to rise above the
morass and succeed.
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| Madonna hungry for success and flying high with ambition and a string of hits in the 80's. |
The Achilles Heel of Madonna’s
identity is that it does not take into account the one thing all artists must
contend with eventually if they are around for a considerable length of time,
age. “Time waits for no one,” Mick Jager
sang. It is a reality that cannot be
ignored.
Depending on your art form, growing
older may not have an immediate negative effect on your creativity. Writers, provided their minds are active,
can expect many years of creativity.
Artists with working hands can do the same. Songwriters can also continue. Singers can last a long time. Dancers have a limited time range. As for Madonna, it depends.
At 56, Madonna is holding up
well. It is obvious she has taken care
of herself over the years. However,
there will come a time when revealing clothing may not work as effectively as they
have previously. There comes a time
when something has to change. In her
recent attire, Madonna has been showing considerably less skin than she has in
the past. She is now showing body parts
in strategic ways.
There is more here than looks, or
body parts. Madonna, who was a master of
visual images, seems to be locked in a time capsule. Even
the music doesn’t seem all that different.
For someone who jumped on trends and rode them to hit recordings,
Madonna at 56 looks as if she is struggling very hard to remain just relevant.
The art of Madonna is aging, and not
gracefully.
In sharp contrast to singers who
made their careers on their voices and/or the songs they wrote, Madonna looks as though she can’t must up the
skills to pull it all together. Her
visuals look more suited for Rhianna or Beyoncé. Where is the evolution? Where is the continued growth?
One problem that faces Madonna is
that her early fans were not too far in age from her. The audience she had in the 80’s are all in
their early to mid-fifties now. The
group that followed her from the “Like A Virgin Tour,” may have little
connection to her music now. They maybe
looking elsewhere for entertainment.
To add insult to injury, a radio
station in the U.K. stop playing her music.
She was deemed irrelevant. In a twist
of irony, the woman who created the format for pop success was made an exile
from the realm she so dominated. As it
turns out, that is not the only audience she is losing.
Pop pundits have said some rather
harsh things about “Madge,” as she is known in the LGTQI community. Some have pointed out that Madonna has been
quick to take from Queer culture, but not so quick to put back. They have cited such things as her lack of
contributions to Queer causes and lack of participating in pride events as key
examples. It has been said that Madonna
is quick to make a buck off of gays, but reluctant to do anything for
them. The words exchanged on the
streets have been harsh.
Every artist at some point has to
confront the issue of age. How does one
work creatively growing older? Age can
be a great asset and a great challenge.
For Madonna, as it looks now, age is a problem with no easy answer.
Artists do evolve. Creativity is not a static proposition. The hurdle for Madonna is how to do so when
so much of her image is imbedded in youth culture. When your entire program is built on youth,
how does one move forward?
Even if you do the same thing at 56 you did in
your 20’s, no matter who you are, the result is that you look like a text book
case of arrested development. To grow
older in your art without change is the direct nonstop flight to not only irrevance,
particularly in a pop culture with an insatiable appetite for the new. Stay too long in the past and you end up
becoming a caricature of yourself.
Madonna, at her best, can master
the pop song. Her string of hits makes
that clear she knows how to catch the ear.
Writing successful pop songs is no easy task. While the snobs of music may turn up their
noses as something as frothy as a pop single, it requires an incredible amount
of ability to compose one that lingers.
It is an art form. For every “ Be
My Baby,” there are a sea of “Disco Ducks.”
With sales of her latest Rebel
Heart not hitting expectations, it will be interesting to see how that response
may impact future releases.
Kurt von Behrmann is an artist and
writer in Phoenix, Arizona. He is
currently working on fundraising for his solo exhibition, “Between Two Poles,”A Bipolar Exhibition.
