Madonna is a great artist, capable of making the impossible possible in music, breaking old limits to innovate into something new.

Queen of Pop – a noble title

Similar to Diva, Queen of Pop is also a title imported from abroad, so it is difficult to refer to a specific domestic singer according to original standards.

Queen of Pop originates from the US-UK market, and is the most noble word for a female singer at the top of the world’s music industry. If Diva can tolerate plurals, Queen of Pop can only be used with a single person. A kingdom cannot have two queens.

That’s why many people believe that Queen of Pop has a higher position than Diva in music.

In fact, each genre of music has its own Queen, such as Queen of Rock, Queen of Soul, Queen of R&B… However, Pop music is most special because it is popular music, popular music, with the greatest influence on life, culture and society, transcending the boundaries of art.

Many people even believe that Pop is not a specific genre of music but a common noun for all popular music (as opposed to academic and classical music).

Therefore, Queen of Pop is also the ultimate and highest position in the popular music industry for women (equivalent to King of Pop).

And for the past half century, the world has only recognized one Queen of Pop, Madonna. Although somewhere there are still people calling Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey… the Queen of Pop, only Madonna is revered in the most popular and widespread way, no one dares to argue.

Obviously, the Diva of Pop can have many people but the Queen of Pop cannot have two.

Madonna – Queen of Pop music of the twentieth century

Thus, we can look from Madonna to illuminate the definition and standards of a Queen of Pop.

Queen of Pop is not the person with the strongest, best, most technical voice, nor necessarily the most famous, with the most hits, or the most awards. Queen of Pop is the person with the greatest influence on music and popular culture.

In terms of voice, Madonna is inferior to many other singers. She also does not own big hits like My heart will go on, I will always love you, or a series of other noble awards.

 

But throughout her more than 40-year career, Madonna has reached a position that is hard for anyone to reach, with an influence beyond the boundaries of music, deeply rooted in culture, politics, and society. She has become a link in history, not simply just a singer.

Madonna is recognized by Guinness as the most successful female solo singer, selling the most records of all time and dozens of other records. She is a pioneer in using MV as a new form of musical expression, associated with the postmodern era.

By investing excellently in making MVs and considering it as an indispensable part of music, Madonna has changed the public’s music enjoyment habits.

In Madonna’s MVs, there are often cultural and dance translations from other industries and art forms. She even made many highly indie MVs, with complete structures, with many complex artistic codes, conveying many meanings and messages.

It can be said that world artists have elevated MV into a new category of art, inseparably linked with music, just as cultural researcher Mark C.Taylor once said:

“Music videos are one of the preeminent post-modern art forms and Madonna has emerged as the “Queen of music videos”.

Not only that, Madonna is also a pioneer in combining dance (from other forms of art and sports such as opera, parkour, ballet…) into Pop music, using dance with artistic and ideological intentions. private.

She also pioneered stage performance, using the most advanced sound, lighting, and screen technology. Each of Madonna’s tours is a work of art from sound to image, combining many different types, not simply a singer holding a microphone on stage to sing.

It was Madonna who inspired the sexy performance style with hot costumes and stimulating choreography that many singers today pursue. She also pioneered many fashion and lifestyle styles…

Not stopping there, Madonna also uses music to fight against society, religion, ethnicity, promoting feminism, LGBT rights… Every action she does is shocking but has a long-term impact. to social culture, causing many singers to follow.

In short, Madonna is a great artist, capable of making the impossible possible in music, breaking old limits to innovate into something new.

With a career spanning more than three decades, she has created and left an artistic legacy for the public, influencing many generations of singers and many different music cultures around the world, including Vietnam. .