Cultural impact of Madonna

Madonna (born 1958) is an American singer whose socio-cultural impact has been noted by popular press and scholars from different fields, throughout the late-twentieth and early twenty-one centuries, and attested outside of the music sphere to an international scale.

Named by Time magazine as one of the most powerful women of the 20th century,^[2] Madonna was included among remarkable American figures by publications and cultural institutions, including the Smithsonian Institution, National Geographic Society, Encyclopædia Britannica and Discovery Channel. Her impact has been compared to that of other entertainers such as Michael Jackson, the Beatles, Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley. Madonna has also described by different publications as one of the most-well-written about figures in popular culture. In between immediate and retrospectives, euphemistic or straightforward discussions around Madonna further centered her as arguably the long-time foremost influential female musician from popular music.

Her success led to other female singers being called to her namesake, and they way she was received by media, public, and academia was also credited to help the way future generations of female singers were scrutinized and succeed in a multi-metric environment, further breaking gender and multicultural barriers. Madonna's influence on other entertainers was also articulated. Her music impact as a whole led Billboard staffers to describe that "the history of pop music can essentially be divided into two eras: pre-Madonna and post-Madonna". In the process, she amassed various world records, especially for a female artist, being recognized as the best-selling music female artist by the Guinness World Records and other industry publications, also receiving various nicknames by the press, ranged from "Madge" to "Queen of Pop" and "Queen of Music" industry. She was also called a pop and cultural icon by academicians, including her critics.

A complex figure, Madonna's evolving persona and work also attracted socio-cultural criticisms from a varied of perspectives and approaches, which made her someone difficult to categorize as noted by social critics like Stuart Sim. She became a polarizing and challenged figure, whom perpetuated an image of controversialist and provocateur, a reputation to which she acknowledges, although she responded is generally marked to provoke thoughts and conversations. As her career advanced, Madonna's credibility fluctuated. She has faced a substantial societal antireactions ranging from censorship to boycotts and death threats from organizations and radicalized groups, including the Islamic State (ISIS). The transcultural and globalized reach of Madonna from ambiguous and negative perspectives were further conceptualized within terms such as "Madonna-economy" or the "Madonnanization", drawing comparisons with that of the McDonaldization or Cocacolonization, while she was called a hyperglobalized example. Some criticisms towards Madonna also came from generalized criticisms of various aspects, including criticisms on popular culture. Despite correspondence between critics, it was also documented that some critical analyses considered the way Madonna polarized views, early marked prominently by the fact she was an "unavoidable" figure.

Madonna is an American musician whose impact transcended music. Billboard editor-in-chief Janice Min considered her as "one of a miniscule number of super-artists whose influence and career transcended music".^[3] Robert Sickels wrote in 100 Entertainers Who Changed America (2013), that her "music alone cannot tell the full story" of her "colossal success and influence".^[4] In a The Independent article dedicated to Madonna in 1998 discussing her figure and impact, she was described as someone who translates things into a "phenomenon" in comparison to other women performing the same tasks.^[5]

According to The New York Times staffers in 2018, she had a "singular career" that "crossed boundaries".^[6] She was reportedly to pioneer a multifaceted career that encompassess many aspects of culture, according to a Singaporean publication in 2005.^[7] Robin Raven from Grammy Awards' official website wrote that "Madonna redefined what it meant to be a powerful woman in music in many ways, and has since continued to challenge sexism in the music industry and beyond."^[8]

The subject of Madonna attracted significant critical perceptions both immediate and retrospectively; Romanian professor at Babeș-Bolyai University, Doru Pop wrote in The Age of Promiscuity (2018) that her impact has been "extensively analyzed by many authors".^[10] She became the subject of a wide range of topics by multiple scholars from different fields.^[11][12] In 2018, Eduardo Viñuela, a musicologist at University of Oviedo explained that analyzing her was a result to delve into the evolution of various relevant aspects of society in recent decades.^[13]

International media publications ranging from El Universal (1999) to The A.V. Club (2012), deemed Madonna as arguably the most analyzed, discussed or debated female singer in last decades or since the 1950s, at least.^[14][15] She "holds a privileged place", felt and wrote scholar Abigail Gardner in 2016, regarding popular culture studies.^[16] In 2018, Laura Craik from The Daily Telegraph estimated that she has "contributed more to the cultural conversation than any female performer in history".^[17] Overall, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame regarded her in 2008, as one of the most "well-documented figures of the modern age",^[18] while in 2023, The Cut's culture editor, Brandon Sanchez similarly referred to her as one of "the most-studied, most-written-about figures in U.S. cultural history".^[19] In 1998, feminist scholar Camille Paglia stated "I think historically people will see the enormous impact that Madonna has had around the world".^[5]

According to authors of the Encyclopedia of Women in Today's World (2011), her "cultural influence has been profound and pervasive".^[11] In 2017, Billboard's Louis Virtel, referred as "brutal" the task of defining her impact.^[20]

Madonna's figure reached globalization camp, while Viñuela explains her career is closely linked to the "consolidation of globalization".^[21] Retrospectively, in 2014, scholar Jean Graham-Jones called her "globalization's quintessential femicon".^[22] Critics also hailed her an "icon of Western society", according to Third Way's Paul Northup in 1998.^[23]

According to Billboard in 1989, Madonna and Michael Jackson were the first Western musicians to have a release behind the Bamboo curtain.^[24] News agencies like United Press International also informed in 1988, how Madonna or Michael Jackson were among the first Western popular musicians approved by China's goverment radio.^[25] Informants, such as the koreanist historian Mózes Csoma, documented references of Madonna in North Korea, particularly in the context of their World Festival of Youth and Students in 1989, which turned out to be the country's biggest ever international event.^[26] Around 2002, Evita also became the first American film screened in the country.^[27]

In 1989, Micromanía referred to the "symbol Madonna" as the "most palpable proof that Western society advances and changes",^[28] while a decade later in 1999, political scientist David Held with other academicians stated: "The most public symbols of globalization consist of Coca-Cola, Madonna and the news on CNN".^[29] In Israel (2003), historian Efraim Karsh cites an Israeli journalist, whose commented: "Madonna and Big Macs the most peripheral of examples of ... 'normalness' which means, amongst other things, the end of the terrible fear of everything that is foreign and strange".^[30]

Authors of American Icons (2006), said that she was long considered an icon of American identity,^[31] and was often described in her career, as a metaphor for American society according to marketing professor Stephen Brown in 2003.^[32] According to historian Glen Jeansonne in A Time of Paradox: America Since 1890, she epitomized one of the cultural faces of the 1980s, along with U.S. president Ronald Reagan.^[33] Political historian and commentator, Gil Troy similarly compared how both Michael Jackson and Madonna shaped the cultural sensibility in the 1980s during the Reagan era.^[34] Among other entertainers, biographer Gilbert B. Rodman compared her impact in the 20th-century American culture to that of Elvis Presley,^[35] and media scholars Charlotte Brunsdon and Lynn Spigel to Oprah Winfrey.^[36] Her primary contribution to U.S. culture has been musical, according to American critic Gina Arnold in 1996.^[37] Referred as the "high priestess of American pop culture" in the 2010s and 2020s by theather historian Catherine Schuler and Swedish media Sveriges Television,^[38][39] in 2008, British music critic for The Guardian, Kitty Empire called her as "Michigan's biggest export since the automobile".^[40]

Madonna in concerts during the 21st century

Madonna during international record-setting works/performances, from mid-2000s to early 2020s^[a]

During the late twentieth century, Madonna was seen by some as an active reflection of her times, including Vogue France's Martine Trittoleno in 1993,^[44] while a scholar proposed her as "hero of our time".^[10] Professor Marjorie Garber reflected that she perhaps "read the temper of the time" more than other entertainer.^[45] In 1995, professor Suzanna Danuta Walters even referred how she circulated "constantly" in various forms of everyday life,^[46] with cultural critic Greil Marcus further calling her as "undeniably part of our culture".^[47] In this root, American poet Jane Miller was quoted as saying in 1999, that she "functione[d] as an archetype directly inside contemporary culture".^[48] At the end of the century, academic William G. Doty reflected on Madonna in Mythography (2000): "Nor can any late-twentieth-century theory satisfactorily explain" her momentary appeal.^[49] She was dubbed the reigning "queen of popular culture" or the "queen of global culture" by writers and academics Marsha Kinder and Vincent Ryan Ruggiero in the 1990s.^[50][51]

Madonna's impact wadded turning into the 21st century, but she continued to left a mark and been retrospectively recognized by others. In Morning in America (2013), Gil Troy said that her enduring celebrity made her a "cultural force".^[52] Commenting about her multi-decades career, in 2018, The New York Times reflected she "made real cultural change" despite the short-memory of pop culture things.^[6] Others, including scholars in Ageing, Popular Culture and Contemporary Feminism (2014) and Ellis Cashmore (2022), noted how her "status as a cultural icon is acknowledge" even in her sixties.^[53][54] Some observers ranging from Matt Cain to Cashmore have also explored how she helped significantly change pop culture landscape in her time.^[55][56] Back in 2001, Noah Robischo commented for Entertainment Weekly that she was able to "defined, transcended, and redefined pop culture".^[57] In addition, Cashmore compared that women like Madonna, Margaret Thatcher and Rosa Parks, became one of the most influential of the past 100 years, which lead him to add "we can feel the effect of the changes she triggered in our everyday life".^[56]

In the views of various commentators, Madonna transcended the definition of pop icon to became a cultural icon, including music critic Robert Christgau in the 1980s to PRS for Music's Russel Iliffe in early 2010s.^[58][59] On the same point, Kathleen Sweeney wrote in Maiden USA (2008), that some entertainers like Madonna or Marilyn Monroe, "reach a status beyond mere celebrity in public consciousness to become enduring cultural icons".^[60] In the 2010s and 2020s, author Mary Gabriel and scholar Camille Paglia deemed her as one of the "most significant figures of modern times" and a historical figure, respectively.^[61][62]

According to cultural organization MiratecArts in 2009, her impact was significant to the point, it extended "into the subconscious world of imagination, fantasy and dreams".^[63] On the lattermost point, editors of Mythic Astrology Applied (2004), commented: "Many men and women have reported Madonna appearing in their dreams. As she become a living archetype in our culture, it is no wonder that this is so".^[64] Sandra Bernhard wrote in her book Confessions of a Pretty Lady (1989), "I dream about Madonna more than anyone I know (or don't know)".^[65] Andrew Morton also documented in Madonna (2001), the case of an artist dreaming about her every night for five years.^[66] Folklorist scholar Kay Turner, devoted a book titled I Dream of Madonna: Women's Dreams of the Goddess of Pop (1993), which tells the dreaming of 50 women on Madonna.^[67] The New York Social Diary dedicated a dream analysis to a Madonna dream that the singer herself related in a Vogue interview in 1996.^[68] Virtel compared her career amounts to "living mythology".^[20]

Multiculturalism and race would largely define Madonna's career, including public perception in forms of criticisms, impact and her lifetime relationships. A subject of racial studies approaches, authors of Encyclopedia of Women in Today's World (2011), described that such studies revealed her as a "critical nexus of race".^[11] In 1993, the Australasian Gay & Lesbian Law Journal wrote that "it is not possible to read/interpret Madonna without a recognition of elements such as race, class [and] ethnicity", present in "almost" all of her texts.^[69] As noted Bowling Green State University's Matthew Donahue, she blend a variety of styles in her body of work, including world music.^[70] In 2012, American music critic Ann Powers complimented Madonna's inclusivity and cultural diversity both in her life and work, saying "her virtual workplace was multicultural long before that was a mandated corporate goal".^[71]

Raised in a multicultural-ethnic environment,^[72] author Mary Gabriel explains that her father made a "very deliberate effor to introduce his children to cultures".^[73] During her career, she spoke about her cultural influences, including about Latinos in her life and work. During a Canadian interview in 1996, she remarked: "I've always been very attracted and intrigued by Latin culture, I mean I'm half-Italian, so I suppose I'm Latin [...] I love Latin music. I love Latin men. I feel an affinity toward the Latin world".^[74] Madonna's 2019 studio album, Madame X was creatively influenced by her expatriate life in Lisbon, Portugal.

The way Madonna was influenced by cultures, and the way she also influenced and opened up market and opportunities was remarked by publications. Others focused on critical perspectives.

• Asia/Africa:

Madonna was a leading figure to spread Orientalist fascination, as India Today said that in the mid-1990s, it took a new and mass-marketed turn with her.^[75] Academics, including Gayatri Gopinath, Douglas Kellner or Christopher Partridge similarly explored how Madonna's introduced into the West and mainstream culture, elements of Asian cultures,^[76][77][78] especially flourished in an era nondominated by Internet. According to geopolitic author Parag Khanna, Madonna helped "put Malawi on the map".^[79] In 2013, BBC compared how with Madonna, the country was "enjoying a boom in visitors" up 181% in the last seven years.^[80] In 2018, Malawi Tourism Council (MTC) also acknowledges her inputs in a discussion with The Nation.^[81]

• Hispanics/Latin:

Her Latin-pop style song "La Isla Bonita" would benefit Belize's San Pedro Town tourism according to country's ministry of tourism.^[82]

A car with the slogan, "Italians Do It Better", a phrase that Madonna debuted in her video of "Papa Don't Preach" (1986)^[83]

Professor Santiago Fouz-Hernández, considered Hispanic/Latin as "perhaps the most influential and revisited 'ethnic' style in her work".^[84] In Boricua Pop (2004), Frances Negrón-Muntaner largely explored Madonna's impact and relationship with both Boricuas and Hispanic culture in late twentieth-century American culture, saying "Madonna's nod created the illusion of insider status for Latinos of all sexualities in U.S. culture".^[85] She also detailed how Madonna became the "first white pop star to make Boricuas the over object of her affections", believing that she produced a "queer juncture for Puerto Ricans representation in popular culture", and making Boricua men desirable to an "unprecedented degree (and through) mass culture".^[85] Like Negrón-Muntaner, reviewers such as Carlos Pabón in De Albizu a Madonna (1995) and Carmen R. Lugo-Lugo in The Madonna Experience (2001) would discuss Madonna's impact or her societal reception in Puerto Rican society of the 20th century.^[86] Overall, Sal Cinquemani from Billboard said in 2019, that she has been "fervently embraced by Latin audiences over the years".^[87] Indeed, scholars like Fouz-Hernández would call her a precursor of the so-called "Latino boom" started in the 1990s with various American pop singers, due her constant references to Latino community.^[84]

• Italianness:

As an Italian American, in The Italian American Heritage (1998), authors said she served as a "vehicle for the expression of many of the qualities that are exclusive not only to Italian" but to Italian Americans.^[88] In Feeling Italian (2005), Thomas Ferraro extensively analyzed her Italianness feeling that she has consistently talked about her background.^[89] An independent record label Italians Do It Better was named after Madonna's phrase display in the video of "Papa Don't Preach" (1986) on a T-shirt.^[83] In Colored White (2003), historian David Roediger called her as the most popular United States Italian American entertainer of our time",^[90] and author of The European American Experience (2010), called both Madonna and Lady Gaga the most famous examples of the Italian American musical tradition in modern times.^[91]

• Other ethnicities/cultures:

Graffitis of Madonna in Europe, France and Portugal, respectively

Scholar José I. Prieto‐Arranz, wrote in The Journal of Popular Culture (2012) that various critics agreed that rather than "export American music", she imported new and mostly European trends into her country.^[92] Some like Fouz-Hernández found also influence of England heritage in her work, particularly when she was living in the United Kingdom, but said that her exploration of "intra-Caucasian identities" has received "little academic attention".^[93]

Mostly during the height of her career in the late-twentieth century, Madonna's cultural perception among American Black culture found also a significant reception, including criticisms. Some like Mary Cross recall how she was subtly marketed as if she were a Black singer before her face was revealed to the public in her early career.^[94] A 1990 article from CineAction! referred that her "'blackness' is a common, though poorly articulated theme of popular press literature".^[95] bell hooks was a vocal critic of Madonna in the 1990s, criticizing her when she declared that as a child she wanted to be Black.^[96] Madonna's personal and professional interracial relationship was remarked to the point, Ferraro called her as the "most accomplished Italian-to-black crossover artist in history", and that she was the "white pop star ever owing more to black male producers" as she spent more than other diva, more time on camera and off with men of color, professionally and romantically.^[97]

Details magazine referred to her as "Queen of Cultural Juice" in 2004.^[98] Frances Negrón-Muntaner called her "last century's American transcultural dominatrix".^[85] Professor George J. Leonard called her "the last ethnic and first postethnic diva".^[99]

BBC Four broadcast the documentary There's Only One Madonna (2020) which charts "Britain's relationship with Madonna", "examining the influence" she has had "on British music and fashion".^[100] In 2022, France 5 broadcast the documentary In France with Madonna, exploring her connectivity with the country.^[101] Newspapers including, El País documented Madonna's relationship with Spain,^[102] South China Morning Post with Hong Kong,^[103] and Clarín with Argentina.^[104] With the later country, La Nación commented she achieved great milestones during her career in the country.^[105]

Madonna was equally criticized from vastly different and varied of perspectives, including social and moral status quo through her artistic freedom.^[106][107] Professor Ann Cvetkovich held that "global phenomenon[s] like Madonna", can be "articulated in highly contradictory ways".^[108] Social critic Stuart Sim asserts in The Routledge Companion to Postmodernism (2001) that she "attained the status of cultural icon" but she is an "extremly problematic one" because depending on one's point of view, and which lead him to conclude this makes her "exceedingly difficult to categorize".^[109]

In Cool: How the Brain’s Hidden Quest for Cool Drives Our Economy and Shapes Our World (2015), authors considered her as perhaps the cultural icon of the last three decades whose have sparked more debate.^[110] In 2019, Matthew Jacob from HuffPost reflected that "it's hard to think" of any star with "as many singular achievements and such a durable place in Western media who provokes so much ire and indifference".^[111]

Scholars in Representing Gender in Cultures (2004) categorizes Madonna within generalized perspectives of those whose denounce popular culture as an "obedient mechanism of ideology".^[112] Spaniard philosopher Ana Marta González in 2009, explained how she didn't see a cultural prominence surrounding her figure, although considered that depends on point of views.^[113] In mid-1980s, as reports New York magazine, Madonna along with high-profile artists, such as Michael Jackson, Mötley Crüe, Prince, Sheena Easton, and Cyndi Lauper, were single out by members of Parents Music Resource Center for their "destructive influence". They previously equated rock music with the evils of "broken homes", said New York's magazine reporter.^[114] As reports The Madonna Connection (1993), Madonna herself was considered the "lowest form of popular culture" by that time.^[106] Around this decade, philosopher Isaiah Berlin lamented the mass culture exemplified by the singer.^[115] The New York Times staffers dedicated an article to her impact in 2018, noting also she "caused a few cultural crises".^[6]

Sean McLeod in Leaders of the Pack (2015), commented that her moral integrity and responsibility have been considered a "subject of debate".^[116] In Madonna: A Biography (2007), Mary Cross also noted how she has been considered a "corrupting influence".^[117] In 1991, educator John R. Silber lumped her in the same category of Adolf Hitler and Saddam Hussein.^[118] In Women and the Media: Diverse Perspectives (2005), authors wrote that Madonna challenged the American value system, and continued to challenge it.^[119] In Madonnaland (2016), musician-turned writer Alina Simone explored aspects of how Madonna's hometown Bay City, Michigan reception and their refusal to have a commemoration sign about her.^[120]

In 2017, Jaap Kooijman from University of Amsterdam explains she "provided a challenge views on racial perspectives".^[121] In 1997, Canadia scholar Karlene Faith wrote that her mixed cultural diversity in her works, offended many opposing sexism, racism or classism.^[122] In Film Theory Goes to the Movies (1993), authors considered the position of "the beautiful, white, middle-class woman" like Madonna in cultural representations as a "double-edge".^[123] Scholar Douglas Kellner noted she was particularly criticized by Black critics.^[124] In early 1990s, bell hooks problematized her as a cultural icon, calling the singer "dangerous" and the "Italian girl wanting to be black".^[125] She said that Madonna never articulates the "cultural debt she owes to black females".^[126] In 1996, Barbadian-British historian Andrea Stuart, believes she "deliberately affected black style to attract a wider audience".^[127]

Other criticisms were rooted within the cultural appropriation discourse, being labeled as the "Queen of Cultural Appropriation" by Richard Appignanesi and David Garratt in 2010.^[128] British professor Yvonne Tasker said that "her appropriation does at times work to question assumptions".^[129] In Representing Gender in Cultures (2004), scholars referred that her "privileged position and her status as a powerful icon do little to improve the problems of minorities from which she borrows".^[112] According to Australian magazine The Music in 2019, she has been called a "culture vulture".^[130] Editors such as Maura Johnston dedicated lenghty articles discussing how she "stole" ideas.^[131]

Madonna was retrospectively called a hyperglobalist, in the likes of McDonald's.^[132][133] Professor Mita Banerjee in Global Fragments: (dis)orientation in the New World Order (2007), explored the idea if Madonna was "the beginning or the end of Western civilization as we know it".^[134] A number of scholars used her name to articulate globalization, including its ambiguity:

• Madonna-economy: Defined at the 1993 International Federation for Information Processing held in Namur, Belgium, under the concept of global cultural industry as "risks to become an aggresive and arrogant phenomenon", for example by imposing the transformation of all cultural activities into "cultural goods".^[135] Conversely, the Group of Lisbon, an international consortium of 19 scholars from different disciplines,^[c] described it as a "process that is unifying (essentially by homogenization) the consumption of information and communication goods" in the same way Coca-Cola did.^[137] German scholar Frank Sowa from Technische Hochschule Nürnberg lumped the term with others such as McDonaldization, McWorld and the Cocacolonization.^[138]

• Madonnanization: Economist Tyler Cowen from Forbes used the term in the context of the performing arts as a "homogeneous global culture of the 'least common denominator'".^[139] French academic Georges-Claude Guilbert, notes that in a postmodern context the definition would not be derogatory, arguing that "there seems to be some sort of equation between the McDonaldization of American and its "Madonnanization".^[140]

During best part of her career, she was significantly criticized in different international societal sectors, although some criticism were broadly rooted against things suchs as Anti-Americanism or Anti-Western sentiments. Particularly in the late-twentieth century, these criticisms to Madonna along with other prominent American symbols and major public figures were notated by some; for instance an Islamic political party in Pakistan, "unsuccessfully demanded" Michael Jackson and Madonna as "cultural terrorists" for "destroying" humanity according to author Craig A. Lockard.^[142] Academic Malise Ruthven cites a Pakistani religious scholar who called both singers as "torchbearers of American society with their cultural and social values".^[143] French sociologist Bruno Étienne reacted with "horror" for both singers and their "ghettozoided" politics, as "the means by which values are transmitted in such society".^[144] In Israel, Madonna was also cited within Post-Zionism discourses, including then president Ezer Weizman, who criticized the Americanization of the country and the perceiving losing of the national identity. He further blamed "the three Ms" (Madonna, Michael Jackson and McDonald's).^[145] Japanese artist Yasumasa Morimura, renowened for his artistic appropriations of social figures from Western culture, parodied both Jackson and Madonna in Psychobor 22 (1994) as a critique of the Japanese obsession with them, a palpable sign of the growing global celebrity and the "Westernization" of East Asian culture. ^[146] In 1994, middle East scholar Patrick Clawson informed about the rejection of Madonna from Iranian radicals.^[147] In the 2000s, political commentator Aaron Klein also reported a rejection in groupings in the Middle East such as terrorits. He said that "everyone has heard of her [and] when sheikh cite samples of the U.S. attempting to pervert" they speak of Madonna.^[148] In 2006, German author Josef Joffe lumped her as an example of the U.S. soft power.^[149]

In the 2000s, media theorist Douglas Rushkoff was quoted as saying she "brought down the Berlin Wall" in a certain sense.^[150] Having cited Rushkoff's view, an author reminds Madonna's prominent role with MTV in the 1980s, further explaining that the network represented one of the challenges faced by the former Soviet Union.^[150] According to scholar Alexei Yurchak, an "extensive list" of Western entertainers like Madonna, Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, Donna Summer or Pink Floyd were censured in the Soviet Union, as they represented challenged moral views to their society.^[151] In 1987, USSR's official newspaper Pravda informed that the censorship against Madonna or Presley was lifted up, although they gone to criticize the performers.^[152] In 2016, head of a British pro-North Korea group, literally blamed Madonna and other brands for "the collapse" of Soviet Union by making people listen to "the most rubbishy aspects of bourgeois imperialist pop culture".^[153] In 2012, Russian journalist Maksim Shevchenko referred to her as a "vivid symbol of everything superficial, deceitful and hateful that the West exhibits toward Russian".^[154] In 2023, news agency Ukrinform informed that a fake Madonna's video served as Russian propaganda. They explained that Russian propaganda had used her name to spread fake propaganda in the past.^[155]

The Guardian's music blogger Alan McGee said she "has been banned by countries".^[156] In mid-2010s, various media outlets assumed her name was banned by the Islamic State (ISIS) for "good measure", along with other brands.^[157] The International Music Council informed that ISIS classified both her music and performances as haram stating that "represent anti-Islamic values" and specified that "anyone caught listening to her music will be punished with 80 lashes".^[158]

She has also received significant death threats by other extremist or radical groups. In the 2000s alone, the Australian Associated Press (AAP) informed that Palestinian terrorists threatened to kill her "because she represents many things they hate about the West".^[159] Klein informed about a spokesman from Popular Resistance Committees, who was recorded as threatening, he would personally kill Madonna and also Britney Spears.^[148] In 2006, it was reported that crime bosses from Russian mafia threatened to kill her when she was on tour, assumaly for her provocative performance of "Live to Tell" during the Confessions Tour.^[160] In 2009, media reported again death threats from Muslim extremists in Israel according to Yossi Melman,^[161] and same situation occurred in Serbia according to IANS agency.^[162]

Correspondence between Madonna and critics have been noted, with musicologist Keith E. Clifton saying that her "stormy relationship with the critics is a well-established and crucial aspect" of her career.^[163] As her career advanced, and Madonna took more risks, becoming "controversial" many times, she has alineated critics; some of them at first praised her, were reportedly been "disillusioned".^[164] Other of her critics like author Jennifer Egan would retrospectively recognize positive point of views in their point of views towards Madonna, while labeling as cliché some of the criticisms.^[165] On the other hand, John E. Seery cites that her critics are "many" and some of the critical issues include: "She is not to be taken seriously [...] she is, at bottom, a joke".^[166] In Understanding Popular Music (2013), Roy Shuker said that she is a "star whom many critics [...] love to hate".^[167]

As a contested figure, correspondence among critics were also noted. Academic John Street in Musicologists, Sociologists and Madonna (1993) compared the extravagant negative reactions saying that others have "defended" her in "equally extravagant terms".^[168] Professor of marketing at University of Ulster, Stephen Brown reflected in 2003, "what people say about Madonna says more about them that it says about the singer".^[32] In Madonna as Postmodern Myth (2002), Frenchman Georges-Claude Guilbert similarly compared that some "journalists enjoy being particularly venomous when writing about Madonna", but feeling it also reveal "more about themselves than anything else".^[169]

Thorught her career, she responded to her critics through her works, conduit and statements. Acknowledging her risks, she declared: "I've been popular and unpopular, successful and unsuccessful, loved and loathed and I know how meaningless it all is. Therefore I feel free to take whatever risks I want".^[170] She has responded to punctual criticisms, including historical charges about cultural appropriation amid the release of her album Rebel Heart in 2015.^[171]

Madonna perpetuated an image of provocateur and controversialist. She also acknowledges her reputation, but declared: "I think it's kind of a wast of time to provoke just for the sake of provocation. I think you have to have a lesson or something that you want to share. You have to have a reason for it".^[172] She maintened her view by saying at the 2023 Grammy Awards audience that if an artist is labeled "scandalous" or "problematic" are "definitely on to something".^[173] The same year, in a devoted article to her by Vanity Fair Italia, Simone Marchetti noted Madonna as an artist "who challenged everyone", and remarks her words: "It was my destiny [...] I feel that it is a necessary part of the journey I am on and it's a price I have accepted".^[174] Prior in 2013, Rolling Stone noted an opinion piece by Madonna in Harper's Bazaar: "I like to provoke; it's in my DNA [...] But nine times out of 10, there's a reason for it".^[175]

In 2016, scholar Deborah Jermyn noted that "numerous academic studies have considered the way Madonna polarises views".^[176] MacLeod condensed in Leaders of the Pack (2015) that "despite the criticisms, many have seen her vast contribution, lyrically, musically, and artistically to the world of popular culture".^[116]

Scholars whose dedicated works to her and remarked positive aspects on Madonna, including Douglas Kellner and E. Ann Kaplan, also remarked negative or ambiguous views in their assessment on Madonna, calling her a site of contraditions, as Shuker remarks she "provides a range of contradictory readings and evaluations",^[167] while Kaplan expanded, that "together produce the divergent images in circulations".^[177] Musicologist Susan McClary, sees Madonna as engage to rewrite some Western thought.^[178]

Other reviewers have favored rethinking and other approaches. For instance, Gayle Stever in The Psychology of Celebrity (2018) noted how the "attention Madonna received from being controversial" also "opened up an entire new way of thinking" on others.^[179] "There is no avoiding Madonna, so we might as well study her", wrote Maria Gallagher for The Philadelphia Inquirer in 1992, where scholar Cindy Patton considered her a "social critic in a certain way", and that she has an "instinct for not just what's going to get people upset, but what's going to get people thinking".^[180] Similarly, during an international congress in 2005, Lydia Brugué from Universitat de Vic concluded she is an artist with "multiple messages" leading frequently to ambiguity and certainly, it "provokes" but "it goes beyond creating controversy".^[181] Specific issues like cultural appropriation were discussed by reviewers like music critic Ann Powers, whom was mostly positive towards Madonna.^[71]

In 2020, Glamour's Christopher Rosa, acknowledges her impact in the music industry, at the same notes a negative side, but overall feeling it was "most of the time for the best".^[182] While Madonna has been both appreciated and castigated by feminists, reviewers noted significant criticisms rooted within misogyny, including scholar Lynne Layton in Who's That Girl? Who's That Boy? (1998).^[183] In 2008, Guy Babineau from LGBT-targeted publication Xtra Magazine, compared that "men in music, industry and politics who are much richer and more powerful, and who do much worse things, are admired".^[184]

Others seen Madonna to have outlive her critics. In The Madonna Connection (1993), an author deemed her "one step ahead of her commentators".^[185] Similarly, in 2008, critic Jon Pareles for The New York Times describes: "Since the beginning of her career she has telegraphed her intentions and labeled herself more efficiently than any observer".^[186] Author Mary Gabriel, as told USA Today in 2023, notes a Madonna as to having enriched "so many people", and in the process, "she's had to defend herself every step of the way".^[187] Bowling Green State University's Matthew Donahue made similar remarks in 2024.^[70]

Madonna and her likeness has been depicted in various domains; in Madonna as Postmodern Myth (2002), Guilbert explored and referred to "several domains", including museums depictions.^[140] In 2011, The Guardian's Peter Robinson felt and stated there is a "little bit of her in the DNA" in several "modern pop thing[s]".^[188]

A segment was dedicated to her during the L'International des Feux Loto-Québec of 2015.^[189] On science references, Echiniscus madonnae is a water bear specie named after Madonna in 2006. The zoologists commented: "We take great pleasure in dedicating this species to one of the most significant artists of our times".^[190] Quadricona madonnae is a fossil Bradoriid from the Cambrian of South Australia named after her; in reference to the nodes on each valve resembling her conical bustiers.^[191]

Madonna made appearance in lists and references dedicated to significant personalities from the 20th century. She was included on TV Guide's 101 People Who Made the 20th Century, season one, which was a "look" of influential people who made "dramatic impacts" during that century.^[192] She was also included in the Ultimate Biography: Inside the Lives of the World's 250 Most Influential People (2002), which is based on the longest-running, single-topic documentary series Biography by A&E.^[193] She was also the highest ranking female musical artist, in any genre in the Who's Bigger?: Where Historical Figures Really Rank (2013), a rank of "1,000 people in history".^[194]

Some have noted how she has been given and earned superlatives, including The A.V. Club's editors in 2019 and American journalist Meredith Vieira in 2006.^[202][203]

Across her multi-decades career, both immediate and retrospectively, Madonna has been celebrated as one of the greatest and influential female artists of all-time; prominent journalist Norman Mailer considered her "our greatest living female artist",^[62] while a non minor portion of international authors, critics and media publications would further call her as arguably "the most influential female" in contemporary music. This was noted by announcer Juanma Ortega in 2020,^[204] while American journalist Michael Musto claimed in 2015, that she emerged as "the most influential" for decades.^[205] Specific examples include pieces from media outlets around the world, including Stephanie Busari from CNN in 2008, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (2008) and Vogue Mexico (2020).^{[206][207][208]} Other references include in "pop history",^[209][210] or from American music history according to MTV or BET.^[211][212] In 2018, Ben Kelly from The Independent argued that she "ensured her legacy as the greatest female artist of all time".^[213] VH1 placed her twice as the Greatest Woman in Music, in 2002 as a result of a poll, and in 2012.^[214][215]

According to Australian magazine The Music in 2019, Madonna has been called "many things" both negative and positive.^[130] In Celebrity Colonialism (2009), University of Tasmania's professor Robert Clarke also noted the "range of nicknames" in media reports referring to her "big business pop career".^[216] On the point, Chilean magazine Qué Pasa commented in 1996, that to "Madonna can be attributed many titles and never be exaggered", further calling her the "undisputed Queen of Pop".^[217] Other examples include "Queen of Rock" during the 20th century,^[218] and "Queen of Music" industry over the years.^[219]

Madonna began to be referred to as "Madge" in mid-80s by British music magazines like Sounds,^[220] with their editor John Harris calling her in 1991, "Our Madge".^[221] Turning the late 1990s, authors like Christopher Zara noted how the generalized British press, especially tabloids, began to call her "Madge", which is a local shorthand for "Your Madgesty".^[222][223] Press overseas have adopted both references,^[224] with Alex Hopper from American Songwriter saying "she was given that title because of her Queenliness in the music industry".^[225]

"Madonna has been able to impact her industry as much as any woman in history", commented the author of Profile of Female Genius (1994).^[227] In 2023, V magazine called her an "industry heroine".^[228] Her varied impact in the music industry has been found in terms of "sound, image, performance, sex, fandom and reinvention", said Greek author Constantine Chatzipapatheodoridis.^[229]

Author Marshawn Evans commented she helped revolutionize in her generation how music was performed, delivered to the public, purchased, packaged and downloaded.^[232] A 1984 article inside Billboard, echoed that the simultaneous releases of LP, cassette and CD was pioneered by Madonna within WEA-Warner branches.^[233] Madonna would later have the biggest first-week album shipments in the history of Warner Music and one of the largest overall, with Ray of Light (1998) and Music (2000).^[234] In 2014, Xavi Sancho from El País considered that during the height of her career, her releases were not only mere musical and commercial events, but rather, they marked a way forward.^[235] Furthermore, Madonna popularized the usage of the Korg M1, as The Vinyl Factory reports,^[236] while The Immaculate Collection was the first album to implement the QSound effect.^[237] Madonna would also affect music video industry, called as her "main contribution" to the industry by some insiders ahead of her induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008.^[238] For instance, she released the first video single in the U.S. "Justify My Love",^[239] which remains the best-selling video single.^[240] Madonna also influenced mainstream pop stage shows, particularly with her Blond Ambition World Tour, according to The New York Times,^[6] while her performance shows inspired others over decades, according to author of The Twisted Tale of Glam Rock (2010).^[241]

Madonna's chief impact in music was in the pop music realm. She was a pioneer to popularize dance-pop according to Arie Kaplan.^[242] According to music critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Madonna also had a "huge role" in popularizing dance music with her debut album, marked by a lack of credibility for disco music at that time.^[243] At the end of the decade, an article published by The Spokesman-Review also detailed her significant impact in the dance musical scene.^[244] Bob Tannenbaum from The New York Times credits her for help to the evolution of remixing from underground to a standard practice.^[245] Other critics and scholars credited Madonna for help to introduce electronic music into the stage of popular music to the masses,^[246] or at least within mainstream American pop culture, according to British scholar David Gauntlett,^[247] as the genre was most popular among Europeans. In 2019, MTV's Erica Russell stated she "reignite interest" in the concept album within mainstream pop after the decline of the rock-oriented concept album in the 1980s.^[248]

According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, she helped dissolve gender boundaries.^[18] Tony Sclafani from MSNBC said the word "female" is significant in her assessment,^[250] and English music journalist Dylan Jones referred she was "genuinely influential".^[251] In Music in American Life: A-C (2013), scholar Jacqueline Edmondson studied different female artists and said about Madonna that she "deserves special attention", labeling her "legacy" as "important to understanding issues surrounding gender and the music industry in the twenty-first century".^[252]

A number of international music critics, authors, and publications, addressed how Madonna played a major role in establishing the contemporary global pop music stage, emphasizing the fact she made her debut during a male-dominant and rock-defining era, and how female singers would go on to later dominate different areas. On the point, British music journalist David Hepworth said in 2017, that "most of biggest of pop music" are woman and Madonna "is the person who proved that this was possible, who opened up a new world for them to grow into".^[253] In 2014, Spanish music journalist Diego A. Manrique described the dominance of female singers on record charts as the "Madonna era".^[254] Gillian Branstetter from The Daily Dot, who also dedicated a lenghty article to her influence, said: "The vast majority of the top artists in the world were men" when Madonna debuted.^[210] In Popular Texts in English (2001), authors referred to her as an "atypical female phenomenon in the world of pop",^[255] while German media Deutsche Welle would later call her as "the first woman to dominate the male world of pop".^[256]

Her impact was further attested in the way future generations of female popular singers were subsequently scrutinized. On this, a Vice contributor said that "reviews of her work have served as a roadmap for scrutinizing women at each stage in their music career".^[257] Similarly, scholars in Ageing, Popular Culture and Contemporary Feminism (2014) agreed that her figure is "widely considered to have defined the discursive space for examining female popular music".^[53] Eric Thompson from City Pages also commented in 2011, that her influence is "felt in the way modern female musicians are viewed, regarded and accepted".^[258] In 2013, Dutch scholars in Celebrity Studies noted how female artists were "very often measured against the yardstick that Madonna has become".^[12]

However, Madonna attained significant criticisms amid the rock scene in the 1980s, remarked by authors such as Jennifer Egan whom she retrospectively included herself in 2002 among that perception.^[165][259] Noting also the criticism, Paglia said "our minds were formed by rock music".^[195] As early as 1985, The Canberra Times would referred her impact saying she "nearly reversed the typical pattern of rock idol analysis",^[260] while the Encyclopedia of American Social History (1993) describes her as "the antithesis of the women found in early rock and roll".^[261] According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008, she became an emblem of women in rock;^[18] scholar Landon Palmer, recalls that she was frequently described as a "rock star" by media and official institutions, saying that Madonna served as an example of how the label exceeded the distinctions of genre.^[262]

While no virtuous, Madonna has ventured to play some instruments, including Ukulele in the Rebel Heart Tour and plays regularly the Guitar.

During best part of her decades-long career, her role as a musician was said to be placed second compared to her image and societal impact. Along with criticisms, Madonna's musicability would proven found also impact.

Ambivalences between musical and cultural impact was noted by Michael Campbell in Popular Music in America (2012), saying that "neither [Michael] Jackson nor Madonna has been a musical innovator" and "their most influential and innovative contributions have come in other areas".^[263] According to music critic Robert Christgau in Grown Up All Wrong (2000), Madonna was "honored less as an artist than as a cultural force".^[264] A scholar also noted how in the "field of musicology, serious discussion of Madonna has been even rarer than in the popular press".^[163]

In Representing Gender in Cultures (2004), authors also explained that she has been "consistently denied a status of a 'real' musician".^[265] One of the focal critical views is a general agreement that her own "artistic talents" are considered to be "limited" by critics.^[116] Other critics have also complained that the content of her songs are "empty".^[266]

To musicologist Ketih E. Clifton at Central Michigan University, Madonna as a composer, arranger and singer, is anything but "one-dimensional" artist.^[163] In 1990, critic Stephen Holden commented for The New York Times that her "abilities as a singer and songwriter were developed" after she became famous.^[267]

Madonna's vocals would define her career, mostly generally marked by a mixed-to-negative perceptions; as noted author Lucy O'Brien in Madonna: Like an Icon (2007): "Over the years many have criticized Madonna's vocal ability, saying she is a weak singer".^[268] In Popular Music and the Politics of Hope (2019), authors similarly stated that "she is routinely dismissed by scholars, critics, and fellow artists alike as someone who 'can't sing'".^[259]

Despite criticism, other were symphatetics and appreciated her evolution. Musicologist Clifton recognizes her vocal "metamorphosis" saying is a "under-theorized aspect of her career".^[163] He notes how her voice evolved and shifted, identifying five "vocal styles" or "vocal tropes", but also saying it was "difficult to establish a single prevailing vocal style".^[163] Similarly, Dutch linguist Theo van Leeuwen cited her as perhaps "the first singer who used quite different voices for different songs".^[269] In Popular Music and the Politics of Hope (2019), authors said that her voice has "certainly changed since the 1980s, showing the signs of age, vocal coaching, and rigorous vocal exercises".^[259] O'Brien cited a guitarrist as saying that she is an enough "strong interpreted [that] doesn't over-embellish things".^[268]

Through Madonna's case, some have broader remarked the nature of vocals in pop music stage and connections to social aspects to the point, in 1986, Dr. Karl Podhoretz from University of Dallas called her a "revolutionary voice who has altered the very meaning of sound in our time",^[270] while in 2013, Rolling Stone referred Madonna as "the most important female voice in the history of modern music".^[271] Critical commentaries include Financial Times's art critic Ludovic Hunter-Tilney, who commented in 2008 that her critics "do not understand" that pop singers "do not require the vocal technique of Maria Callas" and "an instinct to connect with the public's fantasies are more important".^[272] Scholars in The SAGE Handbook of Popular Music (2014), similarly commented that for pop singers in the style of Madonna, "brilliant singing ability is not of utmost important" compared to performers of Soul and R&B music, "whose considerable vocal skill" are a crucial aspect for them.^[273] While sociologist Stanley Aronowitz labeled her more a performance artist, he says that she deploys pop music with her singing as a vehicle "for something else going on" and this is a plus or surplus that elicits "the excitement about Madonna".^[274]

One of Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time, aspects of Madonna's songwriting would influence artists such as Kylie Minogue and Diplo

Aside criticisms, Madonna also found success and impact as a songwriter. Named one of the 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time by Rolling Stone, she once held records such as the songwriter with most number-one songs on the Billboard Hot 100,^[275] and was also recognized by the Guinness World Records as the "most successful female songwriter in Britain".^[276] Spin's Barry Walters called her a "great songwriter" in 1995.^[277] Writer Andrew Morton called her a "musical poet in motion",^[278] and biographer Carol Gnojewski a "prolific writer".^[279]

Musicologist Susan McClary noted that she writes or co-writes most of her own material.^[178] In 1998, The Straits Times called Mariah Carey as "the only singer in the pop diva league besides Madonna who writes and produces her own material".^[280] While American Songwriter commented her image as a pop star led some people assume "she didn't write her own songs",^[281] Maria Muller from W said that Madonna "normalized the idea that pop stars could and should write their own songs".^[282] She was reportedly to influence other singer-songwriters.^[283] For instance, Australian music editor Marc Andrews noted how Kylie Minogue was influenced in part by Madonna to start writing her own songs.^[284] In 2015, producer Diplo said Madonna "showed me a whole other level of dedication and old school work ethic when it comes to writing".^[285]

Musical positivity scores by album and most common scales in Madonna's songs according to Spotify (1983—2018)

A number of scholars noted criticisms about how Madonna has worked with various producers—especially men—in her career, assuming they were the solely responsible for her creative output.^[286][287] In 1995, critic Gina Arnold commented for Metro Silicon Valley, that she certainly hires "well-producers" but applauded Madonna's consistency and personal injection, further considering her as the most "consistent than any of other artist of the last decade" with a vision of "incredibly broad".^[37]

During an interview with Peter Robinson in 2005, producer Stuart Price told: "You don't produce Madonna, you collaborate with her... She has her vision and knows how to get it".^[288] Billboard magazine made similar remarks.^[289] Producer Guy Sigsworth similarly states, Madonna is not one of the artists that hire a producer and expect them to do all the work. She instead, is very "intimately involved in the whole creative process as a collaborator and producer" and is a side "ignorated by people so fixated on her image".^[290]

Madonna would also impact the career of some producers, mostly from then-underground scene, including William Orbit, Mirwais Ahmadzaï and Price, as Billboard commented she "plucked" them from "electronic music obscurity".^[289] According to the Guinness World Records, Madonna is the most remixed act.^[291]

Madonna inspired rock frontmen Liam Gallagher (Oasis) and Chester Bennington (Linkin Park) to become musicians^[292][293]

Madonna's as a source of inspiration or influence on other entertainers became an articulated aspect of her impact. Some devoted articles discussing it, including The Spokesman-Review in 1989 among dance-music performers.^[244] In 2018, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation dedicated a listicle of Canadian artists influenced by Madonna,^[294] while in early 2000s, British media scholar David Gauntlett discussed her influence on other female performers denoting "four key" themes, calling many of them as Madonna's "musical daughters" in the "very direct sense" they grew up listening to and admiring her.^[247] Spanish music journalist Diego A. Manrique similarly called various high-profile female artists as her "heirs".^[254] Discussing her 20-years plus career, in 2003, BBC's Ian Youngs said "her influence on others has come as much from her image as her music". In addition, he called Madonna the "pop queen mother".^[295]

Commentators particularly noted how her career and works influenced generation of female pop stars, including McLeod who said she influenced "many girls" in popular music.^[116] Noting constant citations from diverse artists, scholars in Ageing, Popular Culture and Contemporary Feminism (2014), said that "judging by the citations she receives from almost every female pop star", she remains "the single biggest female influence on the nature and style of pop music over the course of the late twentieth century".^[53]

Jason Derulo

Adele

Beyoncé

Tate McRae

Aaron Bruno

Taylor Swift

Shakira

Sabrina Carpenter

Aspects of Madonna's career and works, have influenced varied of artists of diverse genres and generations, including those pictured above.

Madonna's career and works has inspired numerous international vocalists and popular singers from diverse genres across decades. The following are illustrative examples:

Rock acts Sonic Youth (Ciccone Youth) and Stephen Bair (Madonna Wayne Gacy) adopted Madonna's name into their stage name at some point

Since the 1980s, Madonna's music has been covered and sampled by multiple artists, including Kelly Clarkson whom made various covers, including during her first-ever American Idol audition in 2002.^[362] Beyoncé's sampled Madonna's "Vogue" for the remix of "Break My Soul", which is also a collaborative project among the pair, and where Beyoncé calls her "Queen Mother".^[308]

Musicians including Kylie Minogue and the Weeknd once declared to desire work with her.^[363] In a tribute article dedicated to Madonna at The Guardian in 2018, Sophie described "Her work is so vast" that "there's a reference for any situation" and that she "created the blueprint of modern stars".^[364]

Madonna would impact or influence a number of painters, designers/videographers, and authors. Writing her first-ever-article, a review of Madonna's Erotica album for the London Evening Standard, Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Anita Barraud said that it helped launch Emma Forrest career.^[365] During the height of her physical activity, and career, Madonna became a fitness icon.^[366] In 2020, Gulf Today reported she influenced a number of personal trainers, fitness influencers or bodybuilders from different ages.^[367]

Madonna's impact and criticisms on Madonna through other areas: