The 65th Grammy Awards ceremony took place on February 5, 2023. The show honoring the best musicians in the world was a huge hit. But Madonna, who had been asked to announce the nominees, was on the front pages of the newspapers the next morning.
Hate after the Grammys
Madonna showed up at the 2023 Grammy Awards to let people know that Sam Smith and Kim Petras’ hit song “Unholy” would be performed by them. At first, the diva was asked to give out the most important award of the night: Album of the Year. But she decided to use this chance to be a part of history by announcing that the first trans woman ever to perform at this event would do so. A choice that fits Madonna pretty well.
But the singer drew all the attention to herself by accident.
Instead of focusing on what I said in my speech, which was about giving thanks for the fearlessness of artists like Sam and Kim, many people chose to only talk about close-up photos of me,
the singer wrote on her social media.
People on social media talked a lot about how the 64-year-old pop diva looked. People wrote in the comments that she looked more like Madonna, that she had ruined her former beauty, and that the star had even betrayed other women by changing for fashion’s sake. This made the singer angry, so she didn’t wait to say what she thought.
Once again, I am caught in the glare of ageism and misogyny that permeates the world we live in.
The star thinks that the modern world doesn’t respect women over 45 and instead punishes them every time. Madonna says that she has been waiting for years for society to change and treat women with more respect. She ended her speech with a line from one of Beyoncé’s songs:
You won’t break my soul.
The extent of the problem.
Some people also stood up for Madonna. Even when she was 30 years old, she was talked about a lot, and people always found something to criticize about her. The star said that in her four decades in show business, she has learned one thing: if people call you scandalous, shocking, or provocative, that means you’re doing something good.
In the past few years, everyone has talked about how she looks. The singer thinks this is a problem of the modern world and, more specifically, of the age of social media. She says this about Instagram, where the star has 18 million fans:
It’s made to make you feel bad.
Madonna is glad she has spent most of her life without social media. Instead of comparing herself to others and feeling pressured all the time, she worked on becoming a better artist.
But Madonna is not the only well-known woman who has been treated this way. People of all ages and in all kinds of jobs judge others based on how they look. This is not a new problem. Charlotte Crosby, a TV host who just turned 30 in 2021, was the focus of a two-part show called Celebrities: What’s Happened to your Face? It’s important to know that over 7,000 people complained about the show.
Sarah Jessica Parker and Kristin Davis, who played the leads in And Just Like That…, also had the same problem. The first person said that she is sick of people telling her how brave she is for having gray hair. The actress says that this isn’t usually said to men. Davis added:
I’m healthy, I’m strong, I’ve got this little 3-year-old son, and I carry him around and it’s all good — but, no, I’m on television, where every bit of my physical being is analyzed.
Madonna’s life’s work.
Many people would find it frustrating to be laughed at by so many people for so long. On the other hand, Madonna is made of a different material. She has found the meaning of her art and her life in this never-ending struggle:
People have always been trying to silence me for one reason or another, whether it’s that I’m not pretty enough, I don’t sing well enough, I’m not talented enough, I’m not married enough, and now it’s that I’m not young enough.
I’m being punished for turning 60.
Madonna says that as she got older, she was picked on more and more. Also, most of it came from women, who you would think would understand the singer and back her up. At that moment, the star knew what she wanted to do next with her life. She wants to make it possible for women in the future to be themselves without worrying about being misunderstood.
Madonna isn’t going to start defending who she is or how she looks. This is something the star has never done and never will. She is a role model for young women because she shows them that other people’s opinions are not the most important thing in life. Your own happiness and freedom are much more important. And the people who are most important to her are right there with her: her six children.
In a recent interview with Vanity Fair, Madonna talked about being a mother and how she teaches her sons and daughters to be free. The freedom to be and do anything they want:
And to see them happy, to witness their growth, to watch them evolve and then to find the things they love. Most of my happiness comes from my children. And much more from the inspiration that some artists give me.
