Madonna, a rebel with many causes

Rarely do pop stars keep reappearing in the public eye with so many costume changes. (Photo by Chris Weger via Wikimedia Commons 2.0)

For anyone who thought Madonna was passe, here’s proof she is not. A new biography, written by Mary Gabriel across 880 pages, is out and about with no fear of being fat-shamed for its leisurely telling of the pop icon’s story over 65 years of her life. Despite being copiously written about, when it comes to Madge, the more said about her, the better.

Little, Brown and Company; 880 pages

The crucifix, black leather mini, bustier, conical bras, fishnet stockings, grunge boots, prominent mole and the young-young boyfriends – here was a pop icon who made millions off rebellion and sticking her tongue out at all that was fuddy-duddy.

Madonna Louise Ciccone may be in her mid-60s but is still a cultural event worthy of surgical analysis and a story retold multiple times. Phoenix, resurrection rebirth, reinvention… whatever you may privately term her talent to never go away, the truth is she is not a pop reference but the pop reference. Having sold over 300 million records worldwide, her immortality lies in her solidly bankable past.

Unabashedly gap-toothed, writhing in beds for photo shoots, she has also adopted two children and was game for an appearance in TV series Will & Grace. Madonna, who moved to New York in 1978 to train as a dancer and radically subverted her first name in Like a Virgin, The Immaculate Collection, Like a Prayer, Papa Don’t Preach, easily got tagged Material Girl in a land where it’s all about the blonde leading the blonde. She built an entire empire on her refusal to conform. As she said in her book Sex, ‘A lot of people are afraid to say what they want. That's why they don't get what they want.’

The new book perhaps comes at an apt juncture for Madonna herself who seems to be buffering when it comes to self-image. Her ability to carry off all that trademark raunch has not been questioned as much as panned in recent times, with critics having more pressing matters to critique. The domain of ‘hot’ and ‘sexy’, where she still frequently demonstrates her desire to be in the driver’s seat, may be crowded with goddesses of late. A biography like Madonna: A Rebel Life, which by its very title encapsulates everything she stood for in her prime – with a shockingly successful monetization of all things her – is testimony to her timeless quality. Rarely do pop stars keep reappearing in the public eye with so many costume changes.

Even those who question the timing of a book that delves deeply into a life which is already too well-documented and researched have to agree that the fascination with the Madonna will never dim, even if she herself may be paling as a contemporary performer. Here is a comprehensive bible of dates and drama, dotted with archival gems, tracking her ascent. (The author has said in interviews that Madonna and her closest associates did not give her interviews for the book - but maybe that was a good thing.)

Behind the businesswoman persona is the human urge to stay relevant. Her publicly demonstrated allergy to staidness alone makes this new biography a timely intervention for an artist whose biggest nightmare can only be anonymity.

Also read: The unyielding star of Madonna: How the queen of pop built her endless reign