Madonna Meets Her Biggest Obstacles

The Pop Icon 's Battles Being Relevant and Ageism

Youth is a precious commodity with a shelf life of thirty years. The old phrase, "Youth is wasted on the young" is more meaningful to anyone past forty. For Madonna Louise Ciccone, aka Madonna, the loss of her youth has become a significant burden for someone whose business is to invigorate the youth culture. Madonna began her career in and around 1982 as a singer and dancer. She made a big splash in 1984 with the song, Like A Virgin, that catapulted her to new unheard of heights pre Internet. From there she had hit after hit with songs ranging from Borderline, Lucky Star, Like A Prayer, Into The Groove, La Isla Bonita, Papa Don't Preach, Who's That Girl, Vogue, and Justify My Love as just a sample of her prolific career in music.

In addition to having this type of success, the beckoning of film roles came into her orbit as well. She had a major turning point with her first film, Desperately Seeking Susan, in 1985. While that role introduced us to Madonna as this free-spirited can't place your thumb on her to pin her down, type of a woman, this role, by most critics, was a one-off, in that the public would not witness anything close to what she had captured in this performance. She had subsequent film roles in Dick Tracy, Evita, Shanghai Surprise, Body of Evidence, and Swept Away are just a few of the film titles she capitalized on her fame to secure. Some of these films were moderately okay while some were a complete disaster. During this phase of her career, there was no one person, no one female to be exact, that could capture Madonna's momentum. She had no other equal and that is perhaps why she stated in a British Vogue interview that she states that "she has felt unsupported by other women throughout her career." Perhaps Madonna is shining a light on a subject women don't want to acknowledge, that women can be just as cold as men when it comes to competition.

As time moved forward, the number of hit records she produced became few and a lot far in between. There were other artists and newer, fresher generations of musical artists entering the realm with newer twists to the conventional format and with newer delivery platforms to music as well. The music industry underwent a seismic upheaval. It was no longer about radio play that could make or break a career, it was about streaming services and the number of downloads. This became the new frontier in the music evolution that may have caught Madonna off guard in addition to the new artists.

As Madonna kept celebrating each milestone birthday, the big 3–0, the big 4–0, the big 5–0, and now she's reached 60, her relevancy to the business has come to the forefront. Her 2015 release of Rebel Heart had sales of 238,000 in the U.S. market. This is a far cry in better days from 1984 where Like A Virgin had U.S. sales hovering over 10,000,000 units. She has another album about to be released called Madame X. It's hard to say how her latest album will be received although a single has been released. She released a teaser to one of the singles, I Rise, that has received just under 1.5 million views on YouTube. For Madonna, that is a small number and from what I could glean about the song, it comes off as some pretentious art project that only the artist can relate to while the remaining audience will quickly move on because there are other artists who can relate better to the core and have done a way better job in getting their point across.

Madonna has come to the harsh reality of getting old. In the same British Vogue interview, she states "Now I'm fighting ageism, now I'm being punished for turning 60." I don't think you are being punished for turning 60. It's more like it's their grandmother that they see in a beaded leotard wearing thigh-high boots on stage writhing up against 20 something dancers that makes them feel a sense of pity. They don't have the heart to tell her that her time has slowly passed and it's time to rethink the performance. She can't do that though. Acts like Cardi B, Halsey, Rihanna, Lady Gaga dominate the stage because they have learned the rules about the controversy, a rule that Madonna created and that rule is not to shy away from the noise.

Madonna can't compete with Cardi B's and Rihanna's of the music world anymore. She's watching as her relevancy is slipping into the twilight of her career. Is there some sexism that she's dealing with? It depends on your perspective. Mick Jagger, who recently had heart surgery, is 75. There are some who do question is viability on stage but he and the Rolling Stones haven't worn out their welcome. Is there a double standard, yes but we see women as these maternal creatures who watch over her flock while men are supposed to keep working until the day we die. Should Mick die on stage like other artists in the past have done, it will be the way that he wanted. Should Madonna do it, it will be a shame because she would have worked herself too hard and the question would be, why, for a dwindling fan base that once was in the millions?

Madonna has seen the AARP writing on the wall. The future, her future, is an unknown. There are things she faces that Mick Jagger will not face. She is the mother of six and is a single parent. Mick Jagger has eight kids with a recent arrival of a newborn from five partners. He may or may not be a hands-on father but let's just say his lifestyle wasn't hampered too much with raising kids. It's not a dig against him, it's more of the fact that his generation of men may have seen their roles in a much different point of view. Madonna is a hands-on mother. Her Lucky Star is not as bright as it once was. Perhaps she should take a cue from Britney and other former pop icons and head to Las Vegas for a stint there.

There are two artists whose song lyrics are a cautionary tale and a proverb for humans to maybe want to subscribe to. The first is from Bootsy Collins from the song, Another Point of View, where he sings, "Well ah, whatcha gonna do when the novelty Wears off of your style?" I've always applied this lyric to Lady Gaga as she pursued her career in such flamboyant and opulent attire but there will come a time when all of the opulence will not fill the seats and you're looking out in the arena filled with empty seats. For Madonna, perhaps this lyric has found it's marked?

The other song comes from Neil Young and the song My My Hey Hey where he laments about the life of a rock star. The lyric in questioned is "It's better to burn out Than to fade away." This is a powerful song and a powerful line, The King is gone but he's not forgotten is another line as he sings that Rock and Roll will never die. Madonna is looking back on a career that had many good moments with a few blemishes along the way. She should be proud as she made history along the way. She has paved the way for the Lady Gaga's and the Cardi B's and the Taylor Swifts and they all should say thank you for being the one to knock down that door, that it's okay to be that rebel forces, that independent spirit, that singular voice for the generations that followed even though you've let fade away.