The Evolution of Madonna's Identity: Music, Media, and Performance

This essay delves into the multifaceted performer identity of Madonna, examining her career trajectory, musical impact, and evolving persona. It explores how Madonna, a globally recognized American singer and "Queen of Pop," constructed her identity through music, public image, and social media. The analysis includes her early life, struggles, and rise to fame, highlighting her influence on various subcultures and her ability to reinvent herself. The essay investigates her use of social media to manage her image and connect with fans, as well as her impact on the music industry, fashion, and cultural values. Fieldwork and findings are discussed, alongside her challenges and controversies. The study draws on various sources including books, journals, and online resources, offering a comprehensive overview of Madonna's enduring legacy and her significant role in shaping performer identity in the modern era.

Essay
(Performers and identity)

TABLE OF CONTENTS
PERFORMERS AND IDENTITY........................................................................................................1
Identity of a well-known musical performer Madonna......................................................................1
Social media identity.........................................................................................................................3
Field work and findings.....................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES......................................................................................................................................7
Books and Journals............................................................................................................................7

PERFORMERS AND IDENTITY
Identity of a well-known musical performer Madonna
“I stand for freedom of expression, doing what you believe in, and going after your
dreams.”
Madonna Louise Ciccone is a well-known and popular American singer. The name of
Madonna is very familiar in every household of America. As an artist, she has had many
public incarnations which have represented many subcultures. Madonna has played the exotic
sprite and the glamorous beauty (Ewing, Fleming and et. al, 2014). Beyond her journey of the
feminine, she has personified varied culture such as gay culture, Indian, Asian and Latin
cultures. She is a famous musical performer born on 16th august 1958 in Bay city, Michigan,
USA. People also know her as the queen of Pop as well as material girl. She has given an
abundant identity of her name to the world of music.
In her childhood Madonna’s upbringing was overwhelmed by the early death of her
mother. She has learned how to be independent very quickly when she was five years old.
This is all because of without a loading female influence in her life. She has started learning
many things within the small age of her life (Madonna Biography, 2015). With the
assistance of her grandparents and their generosity she has presented extended taking care of
her family. During her educational time period, she became a star student. After her brief
college career, she dropped out and moved to New York City to pursue a lifetime in
entertainment. Here, the life of success begins and she started acquiring several achievements
day by day.
Nobody can deny the Madonna’s huge contribution to the music world. Her immense
success as a pop star is one of the most important icon of her image. Later she has developed
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her identity as an entrepreneur as well as actress and made herself one of the biggest and
most widely celebrated entertainers in the history.
Madonna initially struggled to meet her end needs due to not having as such
experience of living in big city (TOP 20 MUSICIANS OF ALL TIME, IN ANY GENRE: THE
COMPLETE LIST, 2012.). She worked as a fast food waitress and continues her struggle
within the same area of field. She loves to live her life in her own way and for this she has
taken several steps for being famous in the world. Due to this factors, and struggling to
survive she took a second job as a backup dancer for local brands and stage acts. It is the
biggest decision that changed her life entirely. At this turning point, she got several
opportunities that would eventually lead her to meet some of the top musicians. It is the
starting as well as turning point where she showed her skills in a well appropriate manner.
Within the coming years she has signed a small subsidiary label of Warner Bros. In her
album she got a moderate success and shows her talent (Shaffer, 2013). In the year of 1983
when she asked by Dick Clark on American Bandstand what her dreams were?
She replied in a beautiful way that “To rule the world”. She just wants fame in this
highly challenging world. Within her whole struggling life she started to release even
blockbuster studio albums to becoming the world's top-selling female recording artist ever.
She has endlessly reworked her image and style and sometimes criticised for
following fads in her personal life (Houston, 2013). The most famous and major area through
which she goes a success is:
She has a very inner strong belief in herself
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Madonna was independent and stood on her own two feet
She aimed for perfection in everything she did
Social media identity
From the overall analysis it has been founded that any performer’s social and musical
identity is constructed through various media. Madonna has started becoming famous more
when she has developed and identity through social media. Identity and the music made are
related in order to made publicity and becoming more popular within this increasing
competitive world. Social media is the only platform nowadays through which most of the
people are becoming more popular (SuccesStory, 2015). While addressing the artist or
musician response to the present situation of making their identity on social media they have
clearly stated that it is the changing face of their career profiles due to the digital age.
Madonna is having a hard time keeping her music from leaking all over internet. She
has developed her presence on social media after becoming one of the top most pop musical
performers. She started raising her social media profile and developing her identity within
this day by day. She is the original queen of pop media and control on the radio at the staring
time of her career. Slowly she made her name, her print and TV interviews which helps her in
developing career and image. When the internet was becoming so popular she found a way to
become more popular with the same (POPBUZZ, 2015). She found a way to own it and have
fun with it. In the year of 2003 when her first American life album was being shared on peer-
to-peer networks, she uploaded it as such fake files.
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Further, developing and raising social media profiles became a part of own life and
success. People started liking and share her videos and profiles within the same. It makes her
public and all her news and video goes viral day by day.
One of the major purposes for making social media presence is related to attention of
people and alleviates human rights violations. It is the best venue for artist to upload works
that brings awareness. Madonna is using her prestige in an attempt to make global impact.
With the increasing awareness and developing profile on social media she started raising her
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fan page as well as profile (Priyadarshini, 2014). It began in 2013 September after the release
of Madonna’s short film secret project revolution. Since then, Madonna and VICE has
started managing her website and gaining huge attention of people as well.
Madonna also donates $10,000 each month in order to generate a featured artist
choice. Her main occupation belongs to Singer, songwriter, actress, businesswoman, record
producer philanthropist and dancer. With the changing time and increasing leaks on social
media she has always been an embarrassing auntie on social media.
Field work and findings
She started hostile in making her career and gaining a huge fame within the musical
industry. It was quite difficult for her to attain higher success due to the increasing
competition within the same industry Her successful top album inspired by her marriage to
actor Sean Penn. She faced several issues at the time of launching her final album in the year
of 1980’s. Album, a prayer was controversial and spawned both praise and criticism.
Madonna has started her career as a cheerleader and further she became a disciplined
dancer. She always refused to act the way in accordance with expectations of other in order
live an exceptional life (TOP 20 MUSICIANS OF ALL TIME, IN ANY GENRE: THE
COMPLETE LIST. 2012). In her starting career she worked hard to achieve her aim to
become successful singer. With $35 and no experience she had started her career in a big city
to meet his needs. For fulfilment of her basic requirements she worked as a backup dancer for
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the established artists which had provided her many insights for her own career. By working
with these groups, she gets opportunity to meet with the top musicians of the city. With her
skills, she get her break by the small subsidiary i.e. label of Warner Bros. Her first album was
not much popular but it had provided her good start. Her second album “Like a Virgin” was a
big hit. With this album she truly find her stride and started her journey as biggest star of the
decade. Madonna had always leaded a role of the glamorous beauty, exotic nymph and the
androgynous provocateur.
After her second album, she took a break of two years for her marriage with actor
Sean Penn. She had followed up her career with the successful album “True Blue”. Her last
album in 1980 was controversial (Madonna Biography. 2015.). She had strengthened her
image by working with good album in 1990 by attaining the title of Queen of Pop music.
Despite of various controversies she continued to get connected with her dance roots and had
released her dance based pop albums. She always had enjoyed her renaissance in popularity
due to the success of various songs.
She had several successful albums such as “Like a virgin”, “Open your heart” and
“Express Yourself”. She always aimed to be different instead of being successful. Due to this
aspect, she had created different image instead of carrying herself with girlish stuff. With her
successful albums she had provided a fabulous interpretation of feminine power, sexuality,
cultural identity and general relations. Strengths of Madonna as an artist are immense and she
has high influencing power over others through her music, fashion and cultural values. In
1980 she rebelled against the ideology of being hegemonic. In addition to this, she played
vital role in development of image of independent women. Her success can also be measured
by her awards such as Grammy, Brit (in 2001 and 2006), Golden Globe, Billboard Music etc.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Shaffer, T. S., 2013. My Journey to Performance Studies: A Story of Teachers. Text and
Performance Quarterly. 33(3). Pp. 267-269.
Ewing, R., Fleming, J. and et. al., 2014. Young Audiences from the Educators’ Perspective.
In Young Audiences, Theatre and the Cultural Conversation . Netherlands: Springer.
Houston, G. T., 2013. Victorian Women Writers, Radical Grandmothers, and the Gendering
of God. Ohio State University Press.
Kelsey, P., 2013. Disability and Native North American Boarding School Narratives:
Madonna Swan and Sioux Sanitorium. Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability
Studies. 7(2).pp. 195-212.
Priyadarshini, A., 2014. Lihaaf: A Story of the Story. Social Change. 44(1). Pp. 67-80.
Online
Madonna Biography. 2015. [Online]. Available through: <
http://www.biography.com/people/madonna-9394994>. [Accessed on 17th October
2015].
POPBUZZ. 2015. [Online]. Available through: < http://www.pop-buzz.com/madonnas-social-
media-profiles-are-making-people/>. [Accessed on 17th October 2015].
SuccesStory. 2015. [Online]. Available through: < http://successstory.com/people/madonna-
louise-ciccone/>. [Accessed on 17th October 2015].
TOP 20 MUSICIANS OF ALL TIME, IN ANY GENRE: THE COMPLETE LIST. 2012.
[Online]. Available through: < http://www.laweekly.com/music/top-20-musicians-of-
all-time-in-any-genre-the-complete-list-2401986>. [Accessed on 17th October 2015].
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