Madonna’s Confessions on Usa Today
Usa Today has published an interesting interview with the Queen of Pop in which she discusses many interesting subjects
• On her fall:
“I feel good,” she says, perching daintily on a sofa. “But then I try to exercise or do something, and I realize that my bones aren’t completely together yet.”
• On her Tour Documentary:
“It’s like me keeping a journal, but it’s visual,” says Madonna, whose recent projects have included a fifth children’s book, Lotsa de Casha, and a kiddie clothing line inspired by the “very opinionated” Lourdes. “But I never intended (Secret) to come out at the same time as my record. It took me twice as long to edit as I had expected.”
• On Confessions On A Dance Floor:
“That’s why I called it Confessions on a Dance Floor,” Madonna explains. “Most people equate dance music with being fluffy and superficial; it’s just about having fun. That’s fine, but I can’t write 12 songs about nothing. My feelings or point of view inevitably sneaks in.”
• On Life:
“I’m constantly trying to figure out what my place in the world is,” she says. “That search was obviously instigated by the birth of my daughter. In my film, I talk about how I woke up one day and thought, ‘my God, I’m about to have a baby; how am I going to teach my child what the meaning of life is when I don’t know myself?’ If she asks why she’s here and who is God or why are people suffering, I want to have answers. And I want to ask those questions, too.”
• On the Isaac controversy:
“The album isn’t even out, so how could Jewish scholars in Israel know what my song is about? I don’t know enough about Isaac Luria to write a song, though I’ve learned a bit in my studies. But I’ve never heard that it’s blasphemous for anyone to mention the names of catalysts. That’s just a religious organization claiming ownership of something. ‘This is our information; you’re not Jewish and you can’t know about it,’ or, ‘You’re female and you can’t know about it.’ That’s religious thinking .” Isaac was actually named after Yitzhak Sinwani, a Yemeni singer who appears on the track.
• On Spiritualyity:
I like to draw a line between religion and spirituality. For me, the idea of God, or the idea of spirit, has nothing to do with religion. Religion is about separating people, and I don’t think that was ever the Creator’s intention. That’s just people’s need to belong to a group and feel good about themselves. Just about every war that’s ever been started has been started in the name of God. It’s, ‘I belong to this group; my group’s better than your group, so if you’re not in this group, we’re going to kill you.’ For me, religious thinking is synonymous with tribalism. You’re not thinking for yourself; you’re doing things because that’s what somebody else did, orit’s how your family taught you to behave and think.” “Because I study Kaballah, my children are exposed to it. We go to a Torah reading every Saturday morning. And my daughter goes to spirituality-for-kids classes. But it’s non-denominational; there are kids who are Muslims, Jews, Christians, atheists, whatever.”
• On Dancing:
“I didn’t start till I was 12, which in the world of ballet is late, and I moved from ballet into modern and jazz. (Lourdes) has more of a ballerina’s body, with these beautiful ballerina’s feet. No lessons for my son, though. His style is sort of street. If I ask him to dance for me, he never will, but if there’s music on in the playroom, he’ll dance by himself. I have to sneak up on him. He loves R&B and hip-hop, and he dances that way. It’s very funny. I don’t know where he got it from ? I mean, he goes to the Lycee (Francais School) in London. But I think things like dancing, and what you’re drawn to musically, are instinctual.”
• On making records:
“As you go on making records, everyone keeps predicting your demise,” she says. “It almost seems like they want you to fail. You have to find a way to be creative and have the freedom to do what you want to do, while also being aware of what the market demands and what people like. It’s a fine line to walk, and there’s a lot of competition.”
• On Gwen Stefani:
“She ripped me off, so we mutually agreed that I could rip her off. We work with a lot of the same people. She married a Brit, she’s got blond hair and she likes fashion. But I don’t mind. I think she’s very sweet and really talented.”
• On Frida Khalo
“Her work was very confessional, and told you a lot about what was going on in her life. But you never knew exactly what was true and what was false and what she was overdramatizing. She was creating a myth about herself. But she used it as an educational tool for herself and, I think, for other people. That’s how I think of my work. I do self-portraits. People put me into all different categories: I’m a material girl, a sex goddess, a mother, spiritual. But I love contradiction. There’s always a mystery, always a whole other life going on.”
From an article by Elysa Gardner
Source: Usa Today
Thanks to Carlos