Through a striking display of paganism, Madonna, like the whore of Babylon [1. The infatuation with idols nowadays is illustrated no better than through the theatricality of pop music out of which a wealth of art has poured and nourished our societies.
Madonna has relentlessly manipulated and solicited media response through the flamboyance of her rhetoric. Hard and penetrating, her quest for freedom of expression is manifested in her tireless exchange of one identity for another.
In her music, films, and videos, Madonna displays an array of scripts which carry with them a certain ritual significance and intellect. Yet, these scripts are also underpinned by an ardent ambition, a sadomasochistic fascination, and a lewd sense of exhibitionism that recognises no boundaries. In this article I will explore a number of features of Madonna's expression that exist at the core of her as a phenomenon. Within a critical musicological framework, I am keen to consider the impact of gender and identity on pop music in a late postindustrial setting.
While it is, in my opinion, the music that constitutes a primary mode of her expression, little enquiry into this aspect of Madonna's output has been undertaken in the field of musicology.
Most of Madonna scholarship has taken place in culture, media and film studies, and any musicological attention paid to Madonna has been instigated mainly in the area of feminist music criticism.
