The reasons why Madonna has been the queen of pop for 35 years
Musicians, teachers, specialists in sexology and cultural management come together in a volume that analyzes the multiple facets of the artist
"Madonna's subversion lies in turning the gender discourse over and over again," they say in her pages, underlining her feminism
Madonna is not a singer, she is not a dancer, she is not an actress, she is not a writer. She is all that at once and more: one of the keys to her success is her renewal, so you never know what her next step will be. The book Bitch She Is Madonna. The queen of pop in contemporary culture (Dos Bigotes editorial, 2018) analyzes, from an academic level, the multiple facets of the "queen of pop". Her publication also coincides with the 35th anniversary of the release of her first album and her 60th birthday. There is nothing.
The origin of the work is a course that was taught in the Pop Rock Classroom of the University of Oviedo in 2015. Eduardo Viñuela was one of the teachers and has been in charge of editing the book. The volume is made up of short essays signed by people who taught: "There are musicians like Igor Paskual or Mar Álvarez and Laura González, teachers like Jimena Suarez or myself, and specialists in sexology or cultural management like Borja Ibaseta," he says by phone.
Each author analyzes the figure of the artist from different perspectives. Igor Paskual writes about creativity and references to his music; Lara González on her shows live from her; Viñuela on the roles, speeches and narratives of the video clips of her and Jimena Escudero on the ethical and aesthetic throne in which she sits the monarch of pop.
For her part, Cande Sánchez-Olmos analyzes her importance in the world of advertising; Marta Álvarez and Laura Viñuela reflect on the relationship of women with the figure of Madonna and Borja Ibaseta deals with the commitment and importance of her figure for the LGTB community. The book closes with the view from the sexology of Iván Rotella and Ana Fernández Alonso.
"I did a doctoral thesis in 2008 on the video clip in Spain and I have spent 15 years investigating not only the format but also its adaptation to the number of phenomena related to it such as YouTube and others", says Viñuela about his chapter . "When the opportunity to make this book arose I immediately went to review everything I had collected", since, as he acknowledges, "in the 80s there was a fever for the study of the video clip in the academic world and Madonna, with Like A Virgin or Material Girl, she was a figure that always appeared in the analysis. "
In addition to the constant renewal mentioned above, another of the keys to the success of the artist is the insurrection through scandal and impropriety with her work and her own person.
Mere examples are his works Sex or Erotica, the conical corsets of Jean Paul Gaultier, the protest album against the Iraq war American Life (2003) or his speech at the women's march in January 2017, after the Donald Trump's electoral victory: "Fuck them (...) Yes, I am angry. Yes, I am outraged. Yes, I have thought a lot about blowing up the White House, but I know that this will not change anything (...)" .
Jimena Escudero quotes in her chapter Ethical and aesthetic throne: from mysticism to bondage, through politics and reconciliation with the popular establishment, the musicologist Katarina Mitic, who explains that Madonna has always maintained a "(post) modernist strategy of shock" . The surprise by flag. "In the book we describe how she is looking for new speeches, new styles, new ways to continually create music," Viñuelas explains.
And he adds that, in that sense, "he has had very leading moments in which he has been a reference of the musical avant-garde, such as at the end of the 90s, when he mixed pop with electronics. Currently, he continues in the line of renewing: becoming in its own brand it is closely linked to the current dynamics of the market ".
Feminism and sisterhood
Perhaps their fiercest and most successful fight to date has been against heteropatriarchy (embedded within the mainstream, of course). It is a transversal idea in the book and that is developed in detail in the section signed by Mar Álvarez and Laura Viñuela, What It Feels Like For a Girl: Madonna and the other women.
"To the question of whether Madonna's work is feminist, we answered emphatically yes. With her play with female stereotypes she shows us their existence and teaches us how they are built. She also gives us alternatives and invites us to mix these stereotypes and make them. collide with each other so that we can see what generates their alchemy. Madonna's subversion lies in turning the gender discourse over and over again ", they affirm in their pages.
The feminist activism of the artist has different aspects. The first is that of the self-made woman who has achieved success in her career: "Madonna lacks Pygmalion. Madonna is a company, she is very clear that she is in a business and, as such, it works. In her factory it is she who draws the strategic lines and who chooses the people who will be in each part of the final product: the music and the image that she must then defend in front of the public ", Álvarez and Viñuela also write.
The second is that of the star who resists and rejects the heteropatriarchal custom of facing women in a competition. Eduardo Viñuela argues that: "she is continually looking for a successor, something that does not usually happen when we talk about men: Who is the next queen of pop?
One of the interesting things about Madonna is that not only has she not lost her queen status but she has achieved it without rivaling other artists. She is seen in the video clip for Bitch! I'm Madonna -which is with the song we play with in the title- where more recent artists like Miley Cyrus, Beyoncé, or in her appearance at the MTV Awards in 2003 when she kisses Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. who, at that time, were running as possible successors.
She has always maintained a relationship not only cordial but one of sisterhood, of establishing a bond and breaking with that constant rivalry between women that has established patriarchy within the logic of the music market. "
And the third: with that video clip surrounded by young people (even her children Rocco and David come out) or in her selfies on Instagram in which she does not hesitate to appear as she pleases - chest was included - due to many criticisms that her rain. With that attitude, Madonna sends a clear message: "I will retire when I feel like it and not when the system decides that I am 'too old for'".
Eduardo Viñuelas' prediction is that she still has a lot of wick to burn. "From what social networks say and from what is said, the year is not going to end without releasing a new album. Reviewing biographies, studies and press articles from the 80s and 90s, many wondered if it would be the flower of a day, to see how long it would last ... and we are in 2018 and it is still there. I think it has rope for a while ". Long live the Queen.
