Photo Credit: Madonna/Instagram
Madonna, at the tender age of 60 is still determined to push that envelope as far as it can go for as long as she possibly can. In a new Instagram post, or series of tiled posts, she made what appears to be the announcement of a new album title, Madame X. Who is Madame X, you say? She wrote that “Madame X is a secret agent traveling around the world changing identities, fighting for freedom, bringing light to the dark places,” and read off a list of different professions Madame X is from housekeeper to head of state, and most jarringly, a saint, prostitute and prisoner. There was an article about a 50 year old prostitute in the Bronx who said she was retiring soon and said she had a house upstate she bought with the proceeds, so if she can do that at that age, Madonna sure can call herself a prostitute at 60.
With all seriousness, Madonna has played the role of Material Girl, sex goddess with a bullet bra to a zen yogi, and even recently, she’s been in Portugal for over a year being a soccer mom. Yes, literally a soccer mom. She moved 3,300 miles across the globe to help her son become a soccer star. As for this new persona, Madonna being a madame isn’t hard to fathom. At her age and at this point in her career, she’s created the standard of modern sex appeal, arguably second only to Marilyn Monroe. Madames by definition both school and manage the next generation to use their sex appeal to their benefit and to a certain extent, that’s what she’s been doing all of these years.
Next month Madonna is scheduled to perform at the Eurovision Song Contest in Israel for $1 million to be paid by billionaire Sylvan Adams. If you’re wondering how she could command such a price, well for one, you shouldn’t and secondly, she’s bringing an entourage of 160 people. There’s been a little bump in the road because the producers are reported to have a problem with one of the songs, the newly recorded track, because of its political message. this should be no surprise because Madonna offending someone comes with the territory of hiring her.
Then in May she’ll be performing in Israel and there couldn’t possibly be a worse time to perform there since Palestinians have been protesting the country every Friday for a year. An open letter was written to the Material Girl singer from a group of Palestinian academic intellectuals in the West Bank reading, ‘Palestinians hope that you will not undermine our struggle for freedom, justice and equality by performing at Eurovision in apartheid Tel Aviv, on the ruins of the ethnically-cleansed village of al-Shaykh Muwannis.
The call from Palestinian artists to boycott Eurovision hosted by Israel is supported by more than 100,000 people signing petitions, over 100 LGBTQIA groups, more than 20 Israeli artists, and hundreds of prominent international artists including the 1994 Eurovision winner. ‘Israel’s fanatic, far-right government is cynically exploiting your performance, and those of the contestants, to mask its deepening oppression of Palestinians.’
If history is any indication, Madonna is going to fly to Israel and accept the controversy with open arms and unless there is a direct threat to her safety, you can count on her keeping her commitment. The Madame never disappoints and we’re sure this new project of hers, Madame X, similarly will not disappoint, either.
