In 1994, Madonna had already long ago released her sophomore album. Ten years prior to be exact, with 1984’s Like A Virgin. While the sound of that record wouldn’t be too far away from what appeared on her self-titled debut, Madonna was always in tune with the concept of evolving for the sake of remaining relevant. Especially when it came to not staying “trapped in the 80s” like many of her contemporaries at the time (you know, Cyndi Lauper, Sheena Easton, Paula Abdul and the like). Commencing the 90s with one of her still-biggest hits, “Vogue,” certainly helped launch her into the new decade with a bang. One that she was determined to hold onto (though some said she might have taken that “bang” part too literally with projects like Erotica, the Sex book and Body of Evidence).
And hold onto it she did. Even though vitriolic critics (back during a time when critics had so much more clout) between the years 1990 and 1994 tried to snatch it all away from her. With their cries of “whore,” “overexposed” and the gamut of other misogyny-based critiques. Fortunately, Madonna saw to it to shield herself from the venom with a record that would show them all. Not only how versatile and adaptable she was to the 90s, but that she had also finally “mellowed.” Enter Bedtime Stories, released on October 25, 1994. Its lead single, “Secret,” was meant to immediately establish Madonna’s new “softened” persona and tone. The laid-back R&B stylings, courtesy of production from Dallas Austin, indeed, did just that.
And here is where the Billie Eilish parallel comes in. For not only has Eilish opted to flip the switch on her image (despite it only being album number two with Happier Than Ever)—as famously debuted on the cover of British Vogue—but has also chosen to change tack on her sound. A more “stripped,” acoustic one, if we’re to go by “Your Power” and “Lost Cause” alone. It is the latter that bears a striking similarity to the aural landscape of “Secret.” The sparse instrumentation designed to highlight moody, baritone vocals accents a different facet of each pop singer’s range. In other words, maturity served as the intent for both parties (and also, evidently, to title their songs something that could be, at a glance, interpreted as abortion anthems—especially when placed next to each other in the form of “Madonna’s ‘Secret’ and Billie Eilish’s ‘Lost Cause’”).
It seems pertinent to note that Madonna wasn’t seeking such a goal until the age of thirty-six, which seems like proof of two things: 1) that the 90s was still an era in which youth, or seeming youthful, was of the highest currency and 2) that the age one becomes famous influences how they act for the rest of their career. When a pop star like Billie Eilish becomes famous at fourteen, of course she’s going to spend the rest of her days proving to people that, like Britney said, she’s not a “little girl.” Until she crosses past the threshold of thirty-five and starts reverting to a Lolita gambit. Madonna, who got a record deal at twenty-four, knew the value of remaining forever young, an offshoot of being constantly “incendiary.” But when the backlash for her “puerile” antics grew too great, she wised up real quickly to the flipside benefit of “acting her age.” Eilish hasn’t been around quite long enough to need to make such a swift about-face for any political motive, but one tends to think there is a touch of calculation to wanting to shed her “teen angst bullshit” in time for the approach of her twentieth birthday. After all, one can’t live at the Hot Topic forever (but then again, why not? Robert Smith does it).
The platinum blonde “unveiling” also smacks of a move from the Madonna playbook—something she began in 1986 with her third album, True Blue. But M revitalized that maneuver when conceptualizing the album and single artwork for Bedtime Stories, taking it up a notch on the platinum spectrum à la Jean Harlow. Eilish might have to do the same as well if she wants to keep people interested in her “look,” though one imagines the blonde won’t last for too long before she starts experimenting again. What are one’s twenties for, after all? Well, for Madonna, they were about clinging to the youth spectrum for as long as possible. While Eilish is clearly making a declaration of her adulthood and agency.
For Madonna, that was always implied in the work. Not just because she was over eighteen when she became famous, but because she was parentified from an early age after the death of her mother. The exploration of “adult” themes, therefore, seemed to be something she wanted to slightly infantilize at the outset of her big break, instead relishing the “kid in a candy store” vibes that came with becoming a star. In other words, yes, “Like A Virgin,” is “adult” to a certain extent, but it’s a story told through the eyes of a younger girl, who apparently feels “shiny and new” a.k.a. virginal again because of this dude she meets.
Alas, Madonna would suffer through the wringer of ageism the moment she turned over thirty-five, enduring the stones thrown so that people like Ariana Grande and Eilish will probably never have to. Case in point, a 1995 Beavis and Butt-head episode in which Butt-head comments of the “Secret” video, “Madonna looks pretty normal here.” Beavis confirms, “Yeah really, she just looks like a normal white-haired old lady walking down the street to get some groceries, you know what I’m saying?” No, one won’t catch that kind of commentary getting in the way of Eilish’s work, now or in the future.
As for those who would insist there are no sonic similarities to the songs, they can instead look to the concertedly multicultural makeup of each video. While, of course, people forget Madonna was parading all walks of life (in pop culture speak, that means: not just blancos) in her work before the new “white savior” that is Billie came along, it’s easy to see “Secret,” directed by Melodie McDaniel, fit that bill. Just as videos prior had, including “Borderline,” “La Isla Bonita” and “Like A Prayer.” But where Madonna seems to be more of a voyeur in a strange land she doesn’t quite blend into, Billie manages to somewhat make her shtick (re: surrounding herself solely with women of color, save for one other token white girl) look more natural. And then there is the correspondence of “Lost Cause” to the pajama party Madonna threw to celebrate the video for “Bedtime Story”—and just generally the release of Bedtime Stories, an album that could now easily pass for an Eilish title considering her obsession with the dream world and the implications of sleep (i.e., When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?).
Madonna, being from a generation that embodied the antithesis of “staying in,” opted to take her sleepover into the public space, specifically Webster Hall. And it’s not hard to imagine her walking into Billie’s version of a sleepover, taking one look at all the junk food and the game of Twister set up (a game plucked straight from the boomer era Gen Z claims to despise), and leaving immediately. Because darling, there’s “gritty,” and there’s low-brow; there’s “stripped down” and there’s half-assed. The gold standard of the twenty-first century.
