In the classic 1991 documentary, Truth or Dare, Madonna unabashedly declared, “I know I’m not the best singer and not the best dancer, but I’m not interested in that. I’m interested in pushing people’s buttons…and being provocative and political.” Of course, twenty-nine (if we’re going by when the footage was shot, in 1990) years after she said that, Madonna is still being hurled with insults for her inability to “hit the right notes.” As though we’re right back to the days when she was being called “Minnie Mouse on helium.”
Despite the normalcy of chauvinism in the music industry, the critiques that have flowed in post-Eurovision performance are, nonetheless, somewhat shocking. As though Madonna walked onto the stage wearing a potato sack and started yelling out catch phrases instead of delivering an elaborate performance styled (by Gaultier) as Joan of Arc. Arriving on stage in a robe with an X marked on the front of it in honor of her forthcoming Madame X album, it was more as though Madonna was providing the “X marks the spot” target she would become after attempting to use the platform of being in Israel as an opportunity to promote a message of peace. Even if some will call that naive or arrogant, there is, regardless, something remarkable in Madonna’s ability to ignore detractors who would prefer to write her off as insensitive or oversimplifying. Or, as one super evolved male called her, “a total prostitute,” adding, “Primal Scream would never perform in Israel” (yeah, because no one asked them to).
Upon reading the headlines critiquing her vocals, one was almost immediately taken back to 2012, when Lana Del Rey was just as harshly lambasted for her performance on Saturday Night Live at the outset of her career, declared over before it began as a result of her wooden delivery (and yes, there were many moments when she sounded as though she was imitating a special ed student, but still, one would have thought she took the mic and simply started grunting in tongues based on the ink spilled the next day). But when one actually watched the performance for herself, it was like, “What’s the big fucking deal?” Maybe it wasn’t the best, but Christ, people feel free to critique female performers with a liberty that simply doesn’t happen to male ones, who, more often than not, can’t even be bothered to engage in a little choreography or any other such theatrics.
To that end, let us also be reminded of 2004, when Elton John reared one of his many bitchy heads to say of Madonna and her Reinvention Tour at the Q Awards, “Madonna best fuckin’ live act? Fuck off. Since when has lip-syncing been live? Sorry but I think everyone who lip-syncs onstage when you pay to see them for like seventy-five quid should be shot. That’s me off her fuckin’ Christmas card list, but do I give a toss? No.” And apparently no man gives a toss about the added difficulty of performing as a woman when you factor the added elements of constant movement and the artistry of actually making a political statement.
Any male singer can take the stage and give his MTV Unplugged delivery, but where is the courage in that? What female pop stars do is unprecedented in its layers of gruelingness, yet is somehow condemned as the most frivolous thing in the world. As the godmother of absorbing the criticism that no other pop star after her has seemed to bear half as much of the brunt of, M can surely handle another nitpicking barrage, including a comment about how her eyepatch signifies her having conjunctivitis (though where was this “little dig” when her look was freshly unveiled over a month ago? At least keep the criticism relevant).
While yes, there were warbling moments primarily delivered toward the middle of “Like A Prayer” (a straightforward remaking of the performance she gave at the Met Gala last year), Madonna pulled it together for “Future” with Quavo as she began the song with a theatrical intro to the tune of strings pulled from Tchaikovsky (The Nutcracker, presumably also being used on the track, “Dark Ballet” from Madame X), remarking, “They are so naive. They think we’re not aware of their crimes. We know. But we’re just not ready to act. The storm isn’t in the air. It’s inside of us. I want to tell you about love, and loneliness. It’s getting late now. Can’t you hear outside of your Supreme hoodie the wind that’s beginning to howl?” With that, she blows upon her gas mask (dichotomously paired with flowers bursting out of it)-wearing dancers and begins her spiel about not everyone coming to the future if they can’t learn from the past. That said, the controversial, as always, decision to feature two dancers–one with the Israeli flag on the back of their jacket and the other with the Palestinian–joining together was not something the network was aware Madonna was going to do. But of course she was. Paired with her monologue before delving into the song, Madonna is shading the Israelis big time. And it’s an image she’s used before, namely on 2006’s Confessions Tour (see image below).
Because Madonna has remained consistent with that abovementioned statement from Truth or Dare about being aware of her shortcomings as a conventional singer but seeking to use her platform as a means to push buttons and wake people up (something she also mentions in 2005’s I’m Going To Tell You A Secret). Incidentally, that is what the final screen says as Madonna and Quavo fall backward (into the future?) at the end of the song: WAKE UP. Beyond inferring that Palestinians and Israelis ought to wake up to the inutility of their violence, it also works as an urging to wake up to the extreme double standard with which female artists delivering live performances are constantly judged–even beloved Ariana Grande was recently critiqued by a male attendee of her show for, essentially, “not being into it enough.” So with that, one shall leave you with this timelier than ever cartoon of Madonna and Elton John from 2004, representing the fat fuck patriarchy having the phantom balls to criticize women when they don’t do shit during their own performances (and if they do, they are treated like unbesmirchable gods, naturally–see: Mick Jagger, Michael Jackson, *NSYNC, Backstreet Boys, etc.).
