Is Madonna the Female Lennon?

[Harry]

Hey Guys, I've been into Madonna alot lately and I love all her albums. Her vocals from everything between True Blue to American Life reminds me of the way John used to sing. I really like her personal songs that don't get that much attention. I think her last album American Life is her best, simply brilliant. What do guys think? Am I just smitten or is there more to the material girl than she gets credit for.

[Steve-o]

I'm sorry Harry---I don't "hear" it, really. Interesting comments, though. She's generally not my cup-o-tea, but I have aliked a song or 2...like the one from "At Close range". But I dont see the Lennon thing.

[Bluebird]

steve-o >>> Totally agree, maybe she is the richest female artist in the world, but I don´t like her music. "Ray of light" and " Frozen" is her best I think!

[kylestyle]

Harry, I know EXACTLY what you mean. American Life and Music are almost like her "Plastic Ono Band" album, where she really has found her feet with true songwriting and production craft, with the help of her current collaborator Mirwais Ahmadzai. Here's a review I did of American Life from my website:

My top album for 2003 is definitely Madonna - "American Life". Excellent songwriting ("Love Profusion") and arrangements, juxtaposing synths with acoustic guitars and slices of alternative rock ("I'm So Stupid"). I would rank it right up there with great Beatles albums and Beach Boys Pet Sounds. Like a fine wine, her brilliance compounds with age, and the album is marvellous from beginning to end. It has its own niche and direction (following on from the direction of 2000's "Music"), its own distinctive sound and willing to push the envelope within the song and to go for slightly different tonal colours and sounds and willing to experiment with production and cutting up the arrangements - something most admirable in the year 2003. Whereas most artists are happy just to get their material down as nature intended, Madonna is prepared to mould and shape her compositions like a digital canvas - I salute her and hereby bequeath her with my "Album of the Year" nomination.

When John did Plastic Ono Band, it was John stripped bare, it was as real as you could get...that you could almost touch him. American Life shows Madonna stripped bare as an artist. The album seems to have no commercial considerations...something like I'm So Stupid with that Laurie Anderson i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i.." warped sound with the Lou Reed-ish guitar joining the vocal.... this is no "Into the Groove".

Even better are the "Remixed And Revisited" remixes - check out the Head Cleanr' Rock remix of Love Profusion, which makes it sound like Garbage or Curve rather than the beautiful Badfingery original. She's always been a legendary superhuman figure in American pop music...ever since the Ray of Light album...she's stepping up to fulfil her true potential as an artist. I think she's the coolest 45-year-old alive.

[Bluebird]

Kylestyle wrote:
When John did Plastic Ono Band, it was John stripped bare, it was as real as you could get...that you could almost touch him. American Life shows Madonna stripped bare as an artist.
Yes but the only difference is that Madonna does it to earn money, John does it as a demonstration.

[kylestyle]

She doesn't need the money any more. Perhaps you are falsely assuming something about her here?

[Harry]

Kylestyles thanks for such a thoughtful and insightful post, love the review by the way. I agree from Ray of Light onwards she's gone to the next level. I didn't think she could top Ray of Light and Music but she did with American Life. That's a trilogy to rival Lord of the Rings

I sense the same emotional angst when she sings as I hear in John's voice and for me this started from Live to Tell from True Blue and continued on songs such as Keep it Together from Like a Prayer. It's quite weird because she lost her mother when she was 5 and that theme comes up alot in her songs just as it did with John on POB which we all know was a concentrated outpouring of raw emotion. One of my favourite songs is the last track on Ray of Light, Mer Girl where she tries confronting all her pain, resentment, unhappiness and ultimately her beliefs. The lyrics "I ran to the lakes/and up to the hill/I ran and I ran/I'm looking there still/And I smelt her burning her flesh/Her rotting bones/Her decay/I ran and I ran/I'm still running today" always give me goosegumps, they're so sad you almost want to cry. It's as though she wants to resolve her pain but she still can't do it. I think she's just as complex a character as John was. Even the Erotica album has moments like these which are just as brilliant.

[Steve-o]

I think ms Cicone is Dingle's fave.

[Maestri09]

As great as madonna is, I don't think she's like john lennon at all. I don't think she's as creative in terms of music like john, she's more creative in terms of image. This is where she pushes the envelope. Nevertheless, she's a great talent. "This used to be my playground" is one of my fav. songs, although I havent heard too much after her "bedtime stories/Evita" period.

[dsnito]

Mmmmm...I don't know if I'd put her in the same level to John Lennon but can't deny that she has her value as a successful artist... I reckon her as a chameleonic artist, ever updating her style to the current wave. It might be said that the common point to John, is her controvertial personality that often wants to shock the people with her acts, but on different ideals of John, nothing great like him.