Madonna’s Only Wrongdoing Is That She Is Still Alive

Madonna’s Only Wrongdoing Is That She Is Still Alive
This post was published on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform. Contributors control their own work and posted freely to our site. If you need to flag this entry as abusive, send us an email.
CREDIT: REX FEATURES

When Madonna honored Prince at last night’s Billboard Music Awards, I thought to myself, there is no other artist more suitable to honor the music and art of the tragically deceased Prince. After all, Madonna’s close relationship with Prince is well known and documented (check their duet- Love Song on her Like a Prayer Album) and let’s be honest, she is the only artist from the “Prince era” still managing to fill stadiums and make hit records (her latest Rebel Heart Tour grossed over US$170 million, making her the highest grossing solo tour artist and her latest album peaked at number one worldwide when released last year).

So what went wrong with Madonna’s tribute? Or should I say, why has the whole world become so anti-Madonna?

My honest answer- the world simply cannot accept the fact that Madonna, a music icon and legend, is still alive. But not just that! She is 57 and looks better than girls half her age. Hell, she even sings better than the latest parade of manufactured Barbie pop stars. Yes, she might not be scoring Top 10 hits like in her prime but people still pay big bucks to see her and the fact that her latest album which was leaked 3 months before its release still managed to become number one album worldwide, says a lot about a woman that many claim is “irrelevant”.

If Madonna (god forbid) died tomorrow, all of the haters would post her music videos on Facebook, buy her albums and praise her as a genius and a true revolutionary. Her name would be trending on Twitter (not because of hate but praise) and I am confident that radios will play her music nonstop(unlike now). They would say that she changed the world, paved the way for women around the world, fought for sexual revolution and stood for her beliefs.

The “problem” is, Madonna is still alive. Unlike Michael Jackson, Elvis and even Prince (sorry, do not want to offend any fans), she is not using drugs, is not addicted to any substances, is healthier than probably 90% of the world population and most importantly, she doesn’t seem to want to retire. I mean why should she? She is Madonna!

So why don’t we all just give Madonna a break and admit that without her, the world of music would be a very boring place. Let’s not wait until she is gone to say that we have a true revolutionary and icon living among us. Let’s not make the same mistake that we did with many long forgotten artists who were praised only after they died. Let’s celebrate our icons while they are still among us.

Madonna once said: “I want to be like Gandhi and Martin Luther King and John Lennon but I want to STAY ALIVE.” For the world media, the fact that she wants to stay alive seems to be a problem. Sadly, we have been taught to praise only dead Icons. Maybe Madonna is about to change that.

Popular in the Community

Close

What's Hot