How a star’s image develops over time through music video -The star that is being analysed is Madonna. Madonna was born Madonna Louise Ciccone August 16th 1958. Born and raised in Michigan, she later moved to New York in 1977 to pursue a career as a dancer. She then went on to be members in the groups ‘The Breakfast Club’ and ‘Emmy’ and then releasing her first solo album ‘Madonna’ in 1983 by Sire Records. A series of hit singles from her albums such as ‘Like a Virgin’ and ‘True Blue’ made her become globally recognised as a pop icon, especially as she was known as the first female artist to push the boundaries on lyrical content and performance which become regular entertainment on MTV. She also gained a high profile for her role in ‘Desperately Seeking Susan’ and her single ‘Like a Prayer’ caused a lot of controversial up roar as for it got for praise for being musically diverse but got caused a lot of stirs from religious groups. She then in 1992 founded the record label Maverick Records that was to be shared with Time Warner. The then went on the amaze viewers with her sexual explicit material for her upcoming album ‘Erotica’ and also playing a role in an erotic thriller. She won a Golden Globe award for the role as ‘Eva’ in Evita for best actress in a musical or comedy. She had a hit single with ‘You Must Love Me’ which was featured on the soundtrack and won a Golden Globe for Best original song. In 2005 her album ‘Confessions on a Dancefloor’ won her best electronic/dance album. Her eleventh album ‘Hard Candy’ released in 2008 became her seventh album to reach number one in the billboard charts. The Recording Industry Association of America ranked Madonna as the best selling female rock artist of the 20th century, earning her a place in the Rock and Roll Hall of fame the following year and a record in the Guinness book of records for selling 200 million albums worldwide, making her the most successful female artist of all time. She is now recognised for her constant reinvention of the music and image and is a huge influence on artists today. Her main genres are rock and pop.
Madonna signed to a record company, Sire records which is owned by Warner Bros. Records and released her first single ‘Everybody’ in April 1982. Her image at this early stage consisted of lace tops, skirts over Capri trousers and fishnet stockings. These were shown throughout her performances, live and videos and became influential amongst young girls. Wearing a cross, bracelets and having bleached hair became a female fashion trend in the 80’s.
Madonna had her fair share of acting experiences starring in film roles such as ‘Vision Quest’ which contained the soundtrack ‘Crazy for you’ and starring in ‘Desperately Seeking Susan’ which introduced her song ‘Into the Groove’ which was Madonna’s first UK number one. Madonna had shown different characters in her music videos such as ‘Like a Prayer’ which she demonstrated signs of stigmata which were condemned by the Vatican. Madonna was very well known for being open about sex and this was shown in her performances. Her connotations to sex became an image motif of Madonna. An example of this is a performance during her ‘Blond Ambition World Tour’ wear during her song ‘Like a Virgin’ she was caressed my two males then simulating masturbation. Another example is a performance in her ‘The Girlie Show World Tour’ wear she performed as a whip-cracking dominatrix.
Madonna has been sold purely for her popularity, caused by her courage to go against beliefs in society. She created her own image which has inspired girls and women worldwide. One example how Madonna has been helped to sell her image is by promoting Pepsi in an advert which was to also introduce her single ‘Like a Prayer’. Pepsi is an example where only the most successful of stars get to advertise it. Other artists that have appeared in Pepsi commercials include Michael Jackson and Britney Spears. The commercial was never shown though due to the similarity of the advert to the music video for ‘like a prayer’. Another example of posing nude for magazines such as Playboy and Penthouse. Madonna had said the nude pictures were taken in a desperate time for money. But from doing so, the pictures has become iconic and is a must do for upcoming successful artists and actresses and has now become ‘classy’. The nude pictures fit in with Madonna’s sexual references image.
Madonna’s image at the current time is sort of a ‘fab at 50’. She keeps up an image of looking young for her age and energetic dance routines in her current tour. She still surprises her fans with her carrying on her ‘sex’ image. She also has become a huge iconic gay icon. She had over the years, made it acceptable to be open about sex and sexuality and had become a role model your young girls, especially with the moral that you can do whatever you want. Her story of success is inspirational and still carries on today with the music, performance and image. She is an icon ‘girl power’ and demonstrated more especially with the image of sex. She was very successful and popular back in the 80’s because she was the first female artist to break barriers of the music industry and wasn’t afraid of what was thought of her.
Madonna is overall, probably the most successful single female artist ever. She is a true inspiration to girls all over the world and continues to be a huge success. Her image and motif’s are unique which has pushed her to where she is today.
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