Madonna – Never Far From Controversy

Madonna does not stop. Her latest album “Hard Candy” shows her collaborating with artists like Justin Timberlake and Timbaland. The single “Four Minutes” is already hitting the top of the charts and the video gives us an almost fifty Madonna keeping up, if not leading Justin Timberlake on the dance floor.

Her history is an interesting tale, and well chronicled. A real example of the American dream, she was born Madonna Louise Ciccone and was raised in Detroit but moved to New York to work. She has released dozens of albums with Like a Virgin topping the US Albums Chart in 1982 and selling over 12 million copies worldwide. She moved on to make more albums, tours, sold-out concerts and films (she has starred in 22 films).

Her confident and sometimes brash approach makes her one of the world’s most interesting celebrities. Throwing off the conservative values of the time, the subject of sex was something she blatantly spoke and sang about it. What makes it even interesting is that she is an Italian Catholic. With her religious imagery and icons mixed with brazen outfits of fishnet stocking shirts over capri pants, she has defined fashion in the 1980s as well as provoked uproar over her dress, behavior and stated views.

Her many looks made her a chameleon and earned the praise of critics for her ability to constantly reinvent herself. From punk princess to androgyny personified, from sex kitten to maternal woman, her looks have become the definitive fashion icons. She has contributed much to pop culture as she has to fashion, film and music.

Her last album was also not without uproar. Her title track “American Life” is her attempt at having a say in the war in Iraq. The track was made before the war started and she tells her fans to find ways to divert attention from entertainment to the conflict in Iraq. Critics however view the video of the track as nothing more than an endorsement of Bush’s war.

But compared to her other stunts and often provoking statements (going as far as picking a fight with the Roman Catholic Church by lambasting a nun’s habit or French kissing Britney Spears in the MTV Awards), we can see that Madonna has since mellowed out. There seems to be a sense of domesticity in Mrs. Ritchie’s life with their children always in tow.

However, the almost 50 Queen of Pop has yet to retire. Her Hard Candy World Tour is set to start in August starting in Cardiff, Wales. Madonna tickets are already available online as well as concert tours and dates. Madonna tickets are now available for her world tour which includes Berlin, Amsterdam, Dusseldorf, Rome, Frankfurt, Berlin, London, Paris, New York and Boston, among others.