Madonna is the queen of pop, so The Celebration Tour was the best way to kick off the new year. She was late, but worth the wait, as expected!
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Madonna
I grew up watching Madonna’s music video for American Pie and I know all the words. When I found an invitation to interview the original singer-songwriter Don McLean, I made it happen! Always check your junk mail! Don McLean and I agree that social media is basically an archive. I’ve shared the audio from our conversation above and you can find the transcript below.
On The Prismatic Tour, Katy Perry is fierce. From the moment she enters the stage as a warrior, it’s clear that the pop princess is growing up.
Borrowing choreography from Madonna’s Sticky & Sweet Tour, Katy jumps rope during Roar, just as Madonna did during Jump. Katy ups the ante by doing this in heels, whereas Madonna skipped in sneakers. It seems Katy is a big fan of Madonna, as she proudly incorporates a verse of Madonna’s Vogue into International Smile.
I never thought I would see Justin Bieber perform live, but never say never!
Though I didn’t immediately recognize opener Hot Chelle Rae, it was fun to see them play their 2011 hit Tonight, Tonight, which instantly became familiar when they closed their set with it.
More than half an hour after Justin’s scheduled stage time at the Air Canada Centre on Thursday, a dramatic ten-minute countdown began. When he emerged from the ceiling wearing oversized wings, the first thing I thought of was Pink’s showstopping trapeze act at the 2009 Grammys. Justin may not have done any acrobatics, but his entrance was more than enough to excite fans.
From there, Justin literally started the show with a bang, as fireworks went off during his first song, All Around the World. Usually stars hold off on fireworks and confetti until the encore, so it was cool that these effects were used early on.
The themes for the graphics, video backdrops and dancers’ costumes ranged from outer space to underwater. Justin changed outfits at least four times and my favourite part was how he rocked fire engine red high top sneakers. (You know how much I love all things red!)
Prior to the Queen of Pop’s Super Bowl halftime show, I noticed she received lots of criticism, yet couldn’t fathom why. I’ve been a Madonna fan for as long as I can remember. Some of my early childhood memories include watching documentaries about how her career escalated before I was born and lip syncing singing along to her duet song, “Me Against the Music” with Britney Spears over the phone with a close friend. A few years ago, I even painted a ceramic plate with an iPod in the center and the tagline, “Get into the Groove.”
At 53, not only does she hold records for her chart-topping tracks, but she also looks incredible and shows no signs of slowing down. After dazzling us at the Air Canada Centre on her Sticky and Sweet Tour, where I regrettably didn’t buy an “Express Yourself” concert tee, it was difficult to see the superstar in a negative light.
Since “Give Me All Your Luvin’”, the first single from her 12th album, MDNA, debuted, reasons to dislike Madonna started becoming more apparent, but I find it hard to turn my back on one of my favourite performers.
Today Madonna made news because Malawi’s government officials are fed up with her donations that they feel are motivated too much by corporate interests in her global brand image than concern for children. When I first read the Toronto Star’s article, I mistook “state of the art girls school” and thought she’d arranged to build an arts school for girls because that sure would be thoughtful of her!
To be “fed up” with Madonna for wanting to improve Malawi’s education system is like being fed up with Angelina Jolie’s mass adoption spree or even Oprah’s generosity overseas for that matter. All of the above women have significant personal brands to protect, but along with their high status careers comes gigantic salaries and I hardly think we should criticize Madonna’s generosity to this extent. I hardly recall criticism from urban planners when Madge opened her first fitness centers in North America, so why so much outrage when she tries to do good in the world?
The blatantly excessive product placement in the “Give Me All Your Luvin’” music video was far from impressive, but it’s sure a catchy tune. That said, I confidently predict that it will not rank high on media professors’ list of video clips to show in future celebrity classes, the way that “Material Girl” was shown and then discussed at length last Friday at Western. They might as well just show separate commercials for Smirnoff, Adidas and whatever other brands were featured because aside from the ladies resembling Gwen Stefani’s Harajuku Girls, the brands were the standout visuals in the video, and I certainly don’t mean that in a good way.
Madonna’s professional contributions to music, not to mention my iTunes library, combined with her ongoing philanthropic projects make her an icon to watch. I’m curious about what critics will say once MDNA’s full length tracks are released, but until then, let’s remember the positive memories Madonna offers fans and focus on that.