By now, it should be fairly obvious that there’s no pop star who has come after her that Madonna hasn’t greatly influenced. Regardless of whether said pop star is “aware of it” or not (side note: lately, Sabrina Carpenter has been very aware of it). However, in MARINA’s case, it’s more than likely that she had some inkling of the “homage” she was delivering in the Aerin Moreno-directed video for her latest single, “Butterfly” (as much of a “Mariah reference” as that title is). Not only because she posted on her Instagram last year that she was present at the The Celebration Tour, but because she came of age during a period when the Queen of Pop was especially ubiquitous. Along with her cone bra (courtesy of Jean-Paul Gaultier). And yes, MARINA does rock a conical bustier in the first portion of her video for “Butterfly.” Not only that, but she even goes so far as to appear on a bed in various “writhing poses” for the occasion (that is, the occasion of breaking out of her metaphorical chrysalis).
Naturally, this recalls Madonna’s performance of “Like A Virgin” during the Blond Ambition Tour, in addition to her general association with “being sexily on a bed” that started with her Like a Virgin album cover and the concomitant photoshoot (courtesy of a then relatively unknown Steven Meisel). But it was the iconic (and, of course, controversial) performance of “Like A Virgin” during the Blond Ambition Tour that she alluded to in The Celebration Tour. This achieved by bringing back the same rouge bed, as well as a masked dancer wearing the same gold bustier and OG Barbie-inspired ponytail. As an homage to the pantomimed masturbation Madonna then engaged in for that performance, she has the dancer behind her “jack her off” to harken back to M’s own moment of self-love on the velvety bed. Something MARINA, too, exhibits. Self-love, that is. Which is all part and parcel of becoming the sort of butterfly she wants to be. Something greater and better than what she was before (and who’s to say a self-delivered orgasm can’t help with that?). To that point, it’s worth remarking that, if anyone knows about this kind of transformation (and transformation in general), it’s Madonna.
Indeed, it seems an appropriate parallel that MARINA should have, for all intents and purposes, her “Ray of Light moment” just as she is about to turn forty this year (Madonna famously released her “Ethereal Girl” album the same year she turned forty, in 1998). However, unlike Madonna, MARINA doesn’t seem to need to give birth in order to have her grand epiphany about life. Which is, among other things, “Trust no bitch/Even people that you love.” It might not quite be in line with the same breed of “hippie-dippy” sentiments that Madonna put forth on Ray of Light (e.g., “Love is all we need/Everything I give you/All comes back to me”), but it serves as something of a “modern take” on what it means to be “zen.” Besides, Madonna herself would later write a song called “Trust No Bitch” (an unreleased song from Rebel Heart). On it, Madonna, too, makes mention of, obviously, trusting no bitches…and flipping switches. Specifically, “You can trust no bitch, they can flip the switch.” MARINA, instead, offers, “I can flip a switch quicker than a blade does.”
But, of course, more than just lyrical content and motifs, it’s the visuals that remind one of Madonna’s “subliminal” influence. This also includes the scene of MARINA dancing in her high-fashion leotard, which has traces of Madonna’s Confessions on a Dance Floor era. Particularly as so much of the video is scenes of MARINA generally flexing and preening the way Madonna does in the dance studio of the “Hung Up” video. And then there is the black and white moment where a “small MARINA” is shown in the foreground, while a giant one looms above her. This, in its way, channels Madonna’s performance of “Frozen” during the Madame X Tour, when a giant projection of her daughter, Lourdes (engaging in similar movements to MARINA), behind her lends an additional layer of depth to the themes of love and metamorphosis.
And yet, as mentioned, MARINA is capable of metamorphosis without need of becoming of a mother. Not to say that Madonna wasn’t capable of it without becoming one as well, but when she did, it was positioned as, essentially, her greatest “reinvention” yet (in addition to the full-circle catharsis she needed to recover from the loss of her own mother when she was just five years old). A notion that many women are still indoctrinated with to this day. But, as MARINA mentioned on her book tour of Eat the World, deciding to be child-free is a conscious decision she’s made, therefore all forms of metamorphosis must be genuinely reliant on her own self. Not someone else—whether a child (read: a creation), a significant other or anyone in between.
This is, in part, why she’s the only “being” featured in the video. Which is another common trait of Madonna’s videos. Rarely are others involved in the story of her reinvention. Take, for example, the “Hollywood” video—which MARINA also channels during certain scenes in “Butterfly.” In it, Madonna plays many iterations of herself (requiring many wigs and costume changes): the curly, black-haired, dark-eyed woman on the phone, the grande dame decked out in jewels and sporting a Jean Harlow hairstyle, the red-haired beauty in pink or the trench coat-wearing hitchhiker (a callback to her infamous nude hitchhiking photo from the Sex book).
Toward the end of “Butterfly,” there are more surreal moments of MARINA dressed in a floor-length black gown with a butterfly “flourish”(a.k.a. clip) in her hair. Standing in a room with her body in profile, there’s a note of the “Bedtime Story” video here, complete with how the room seems to be located in is another dimension (the surreal red “ether” outside the wide open portal/door being an indication of that). Which is often what it means to be on a road to self-discovery. A path to understanding self-worth.
In another scene, MARINA is shown in silhouette with a circular light behind her. This backdrop paired with her floor-length cape as she moves her arms to showcase the “sleeves” additionally echoes a particular scene in the “Fever” video. And so, while MARINA might very much have transcended into a butterfly with this song, there’s no denying that Madonna’s own, let’s say, monarchical ways helped her along the journey toward complete metamorphosis.
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