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| The grand entrance of Her Royal Empress of the Roman Empire |
...don't ask me! I only watched for the anthem (Kelly Clarkson KILLED it), the commercials and the halftime show - I really couldn't tell ya what went down on the field. I can't say I was excited about seeing the halftime show, but I was intrigued. In the end it was only "meh" for me. This is fitting considering I'm basically "meh" about Madonna in general.
She's a very polarizing person* (at least judging by the live tweets of her show last night) so it's fitting that my opinion of her is also split. I don't dislike Madonna but I don't particularly like her either.
I think I like the Madonna of the 80's and 90's better than the one of the 2000's. I respect her as a powerful woman who has forged her own way in a fickle industry (partially through a bunch of shrewd business decisions) and as someone who has blazed a trail for a lot of other female pop stars. In a way, she is the original female pop star and she definitely deserves props for that. She was always pushing the envelope and being provocative and I give her props for that too.
However, it seems like she has either lost that spark of provocation or she is trying too hard to continue to be provocative in a world where provocation is almost mainstream. You have to try pretty darn hard to be provocative nowadays because it has all been done before. Being political and pushing buttons may have caught attention 20 years ago, but it is sort of old news now.
Where is a trailblazer to go when most of the trails have already been blazed? You end up circling back on trails you went down a long time ago and repeating them and suddenly you are behind all the others rather than in front. All of a sudden you are no longer relevant and you actually are kind of a joke.
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This is how I feel about Madonna - I feel like she's almost become a caricature of herself, playing a part.
And I would probably have more respect for her if the music she has produced in the past few years was actually good. So much of it is the same ol' pop/dance tracks we've heard a million times before with guest spots from hot, young artists in an attempt to give them more hipness (almost as if they KNOW the song is not hip otherwise). Nothing special. Madonna's best music? Her 80's and 90's stuff...the songs she produced in her hey-day. Her music has always been pop, but at least her old stuff had some "spice" to it - some uniqueness and substance.
And I would probably have more respect for her if the music she has produced in the past few years was actually good. So much of it is the same ol' pop/dance tracks we've heard a million times before with guest spots from hot, young artists in an attempt to give them more hipness (almost as if they KNOW the song is not hip otherwise). Nothing special. Madonna's best music? Her 80's and 90's stuff...the songs she produced in her hey-day. Her music has always been pop, but at least her old stuff had some "spice" to it - some uniqueness and substance.
Aside from the music, it seems like she has become more and more egotistical over the years as well - attention-hogging with silly antics like her promotion of Kabbala, parading her daughter as arm candy around the social circuit, and vanity project after vanity project (and continuously going around talking about how great each of these projects is). And don't give me that "oh she's a legend, she's earned the right to brag" crap. Just because you are one of the most famous people in the world and are a pop culture legend doesn't mean you have the RIGHT to act like a jerk.
I am so sick of the argument about her looking so good for her age too - she absolutely does (there's no denying that) but that is also not an excuse to be BLAH. Just because you are 53 and look 33 doesn't mean you get a free ride to "do whatever you want-ville". I'm sorry but I don't care how old you are or how good you look in thigh-high boots, you still have to bring something more to the table to impress me and make me look up to you.
Anyway, bottom line is I don't dislike Madonna, but I don't particularly like her either. And I thought her Superbowl show was...not bad - again, didn't love it, didn't hate it. I think I would have enjoyed it more if she had just stayed home and let M.I.A., Nicki Minaj, Cee-Lo and LMFAO take over.
Regardless of the Superbowl show, I think if Madonna actually showed more personality, uniqueness, humility and some of the old spark she used to have, maybe I wouldn't be so 'in the middle'.
*of course, I'm sure she enjoys being polarizing
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