History Music / Madonna

* FanGirl / AscendedFanboy: Has a mutual relationship with BritneySpears where since about 2002 she's made sure to work with her alot, even flirting with her own twitter, and doing interviews about Britney because she see's alot of herself in Brit.

* RealitySubtext: "Me Against Madonna", Mad TV music video parody of the Music/BritneySpears song "Me Against the Music", which portrayed Madonna (post ''American Life'' flop) hunting down Britney Spears so that she can bite her neck and drain her "youth and energy". * RearrangeTheSong:

** A take that from the critics: a few reviewers described ''MDNA'' as "reductive", a word Madonna used to describe ''Born This Way''.

** Coincidentally, the two albums that have a Tipper sticker are also the ones that were Madonna's biggest flops.

** There are times when she looks it. During the Sticky & Sweet Tour, pictures showing signs of aging in her arms and legs were common occurrence on The Drudge Report.

* RealitySubtext: "Me Against Madonna", Mad TV music video parody of the Music/BritneySpears song "Me Against the Music", which portrayed Madonna (post ''American Life'' flop) hunting down Britney Spears so that she can bite her neck and drain her "youth and energy". The video makes several good points about Madonna (she was in a major career low point after ''American Life'' flopped as well as Madonna's habit of resorting to [[GirlOnGirlIsHot fake lesbianism]] to revive her career, as seen by her kissing both Music/BritneySpears and Music/ChristinaAguilera at the 2003 [=VMAs=]) and has the subtext of Madonna going on to revive her career and image as a sex symbol with her next album ''Confessions On a Dance Floor'' while Britney fell like a falling star as far as being dismissed as fat and ugly by the media and her career collapsing somewhat...
* RearrangeTheSong:

* TakeThat: "Human Nature" is entirely about [[EthicalSlut having a healthy attitude about sex]], and a TakeThat against the criticism she routinely gets for being [[HotterAndSexier too provocative.]]

* ButIReallyWantToDirect: She's directed two films, Filth and Wisdom and W.E., neither of which were popular with the critics, though W.E. won a Golden Globe and was nominate for an Oscar. Sure, the awards were "Best Original Song" and "Best Costumes" respectively, but it's something.

Departing from Warner Bros. Records, Madonna signed an unprecedented $120 million dollar contract with Live Nation in 2008. Her eleventh album ''Hard Candy'' was released the same year; it received a pretty mixed reaction from hardcore fans and casual listeners alike for its {{HipHop}} / RAndB sound, because many thought she was trying to pander to listeners of urban music. In any event, it did feature some interesting collaborations with JustinTimberlake, KanyeWest, Pharrell, and Timbaland.

2012 will see the release of her twelfth studio album ''MDNA'', launched by a single featuring NickiMinaj and {{MIA}}, and not to mention a major SuperBowl halftime performance as well. Many are curious as to what the album will sound like (because it will be her first post-[[LadyGaga Gaga]] album), but if the album's list of producers (including Martin Solveig, William Orbit, and M.I.A.) is anything to go by, it'll be pretty dance-pop oriented.

* ''{{Evita}}'' (1996)

* CreatorBreakdown: In 1991-1993, Madonna [[HotterAndSexier went into overdrive pushing the boundaries over sexual content in her work]], culminating in the release of ''The Sex Book'', the album ''Erotica'' and sexually explicit videos for the title track and "Justify My Love", and the movie ''Body of Evidence'', which had Madonna play a nymphomaniac who literally [[DeathBySex fucked her husband to death]]. This led to a critical backlash of epic proportions. Madonna has since said that those three years were largely the culmination of her anger at her critics over her sexually charged persona and that she went overboard largely as a "fuck you, I'll be even MORE sexually explicit and raunchy and make money do it and have you all talking about me even while you bash me".

* EpicRiff[=/=]ThrowItIn: The opening riff from [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic "Like A Prayer"]] was performed by Music/{{Prince}}, who literally made it up on the spot.

* RepurposedPopSong: In 1989, Pepsi-Cola paid $5 million to use Madonna's single "Like a Prayer" in a commercial, but the soft drink company chickened out after protests by religious groups in the wake of the song's video release...A video that, for anyone that doesn't know, includes burning crosses, stigmata, and Madonna having sex with what they assumed to be "Black Jesus"[[hottip:*: It was actually a black saint, known as St. Martin de Porres]]. Mmm, Pepsi.

** Has a love-hate relationship with CourtneyLove. See their MTV interview at the red carpet in 1995.

** The third and final interpretation can be taken from [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitochondrial_DNA mtDNA]] (or mitochondrial {{DNA}}), which is the kind of DNA that is solely inherited by the mother of an organism. Many speculate this is a TakeThat to a [[LadyGaga certain pop singer]] who has obviously been [[{{Homage}} inspired by]] Madge in recent years...

Madonna's seventh studio album ''Ray of Light'' (1998) became her big comeback album, as it was one of her most critically acclaimed and commercially successful albums. The album mixed dance music with introspective lyrics about motherhood and religion, as Madonna became involved in Kabbalah. With ''Music'' (2000), Madonna returned to dance music full-time, the album also introduced Sasha Baron Cohen, whose Ali G character was featured in the video for the title track, to American culture. Sadly, Madonna's decision to try her hand at rap and politically conscious, anti-war lyrics caused her 2003 album ''American Life'' to flop. However, she rebounded with ''Confessions on the Dance Floor'', a hugely successful album. Departing from Warner Bros. Records, Madonna signed an unprecedented $120 million dollar contract with Live Nation in 2008. The album ''Hard Candy'' was released the same year.

* ''[[InitialismTitle M.D.N.A]]'' (2012)

* [[DoubleMeaningTitle Triple Meaning Title]]: The title of her forthcoming ''M.D.N.A.'' can be taken three different ways;

** As an acronym of her name ('''M'''a'''D'''o'''N'''n'''A'''). Simple enough, right?

* ''[[FunWithAcronyms M.D.N.A]]'' (2012)

* ''[[MeaningfulName M.D.N.A]]'' (2012)

* ''Little Obsession'' (2012)

1994 saw the release of ''Bedtime Stories''; besides featuring a collaboration between Madonna and Music/{{Bjork}} (the album's title track) and the commercially successful video/song "Take a Bow", the album was released as Madonna landed the lead role in the 1996 film version of the musical ''{{Evita}}''. Winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy, the film was a turning point as Madonna began the transition towards a more respectable HotMom image, which was enhanced with the birth of her firstborn child.

* ''I'm Breathless'' (DickTracy Soundtrack) (1990)

* ShoutOut: "Hung Up" is a five-minute love song to the 1970s, with the video being based on ''{{Saturday Night Fever}}'' and the song's hook being a sample from {{ABBA}}'s "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! A Man After Midnight".

* EpicRiff[=/=]ThrowItIn: The opening riff from [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic "Like A Prayer"]] was performed by {{Prince}}, who literally make it up on the spot.

With her second album, ''Like A Virgin'' (1984), Madonna rocketed to super-stardom. The album spawned a slew of hit singles, and a live performance by the singer at the very first MTV Music Video Awards sealed the deal towards Madonna's ascension to super-stardom. Madonna's relationship with MTV further made her a household name; alongside MichaelJackson and {{Prince}}, she became one of the defining artists of the 80s as her videos and sexually charged, often ironic and catching lyrics made her an icon of the era.

Madonna made her Broadway debut in 1988 in {{David Mamet}}'s ''{{Speed-the-Plow}}'', but her acting career took off again in 1990's ''Dick Tracy'', which also spawned one of her biggest hits, the song "Vogue". As the 1990s began, Madonna founded the Maverick corporation (the name is a portmanteau of "Madonna" and "Veronica", her [[RaisedCatholic confirmation name]]), a joint venture between herself and Time Warner, and released ''The Imaculate Collection'', a "best of" album that featured the controversial single "Justify My Love". The video for the song was [[MoralGuardians banned on MTV]], kicking up more controversy as Madonna entered into her "Sex" period.

1994 saw the release of ''Bedtime Stories''; besides featuring a collaboration between Madonna and {{Bjork}} (the album's title track) and the commercially successful video/song "Take a Bow", the album was released as Madonna landed the lead role in the 1996 film version of the musical ''{{Evita}}''. Winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy, the film was a turning point as Madonna began the transition towards a more respectable HotMom image, which was enhanced with the birth of her firstborn child.

* DyeHard: She's a natural brunette, but she has dyed her hair a variety of colors, most commonly blonde.

* GirlOnGirlIsHot: Her infamous onstage kisses with ChristinaAguilera and BritneySpears.

* RealitySubtext: "Me Against Madonna", Mad TV music video parody of the BritneySpears song "Me Against the Music", which portrayed Madonna (post ''American Life'' flop) hunting down Britney Spears so that she can bite her neck and drain her "youth and energy". The video makes several good points about Madonna (she was in a major career low point after ''American Life'' flopped as well as Madonna's habit of resorting to [[GirlOnGirlIsHot fake lesbianism]] to revive her career, as seen by her kissing both BritneySpears and ChristinaAguilera at the 2003 [=VMAs=]) and has the subtext of Madonna going on to revive her career and image as a sex symbol with her next album ''Confessions On a Dance Floor'' while Britney fell like a falling star as far as being dismissed as fat and ugly by the media and her career collapsing somewhat...

* TheRival: Madonna and JanetJackson were definitely not BFFs, to put it lightly. They did bury the hatchet after Michael Jackson's death. Yet, Madonna almost started a rivalry with, of all people, Sinead O'Connor. Madonna, who was raised Catholic and been criticized by the Church for her stage acts, "Like A Prayer," "Erotica," the Sex book, and so on, spoke out against O'Connor's CrossesTheLineTwice incident on SaturdayNightLive. Madonna also has a distaste for Mariah Carey.
* SampledUp: The Lenny Kravitz-penned "Justify My Love" was based around a sample of Music/PublicEnemy's interlude "Security of the First World". [[http://www.allmusic.com/album/hells-pit-pt-1-r705775/review A reviewer]] believed that Music/InsaneClownPosse sampled ''the Madonna song'' in ICP's "Bowling Balls", rather than the Public Enemy interlude.

* UrbanLegend: A popular urban legend in the late 1980s towards the story behind the song "Papa Don't Preach": Madonna had become pregnant in 1985, right before she was to go into the studio to start work on "True Blue". Rather than have the baby and risk derailing her career (which was at it's peak), Madonna secretly had an abortion to get rid of the pregnancy. However, her father had a major cow about his daughter having said abortion, leading to her writing, as a TakeThat, "Papa Don't Preach", in which she sarcastically opined what her father would say if she had gotten pregnant as a teenager and declared that she was going to have the child.

* SampledUp: The Lenny Kravitz-penned "Justify My Love" was based around a sample of PublicEnemy's interlude "Security of the First World". [[http://www.allmusic.com/album/hells-pit-pt-1-r705775/review A reviewer]] believed that InsaneClownPosse sampled ''the Madonna song'' in ICP's "Bowling Balls", rather than the Public Enemy interlude.

* [[OneMarioLimit One Madonna Limit]]

* HellBentForLeather: A staple of her wardrobe, including high-heeled boots, riding crops etc. See FetishFuelStationAttendant.

* FetishFuelStationAttendant: Madonna in a wedding dress, Madonna dressed up like Marilyn Monroe circa "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend", Madonna as a dominatrix, etc. If it's FetishFuel, Madonna's done it.