Will There Ever Be Another Madonna?

By Meghan Chavalier
June 17, 2010

We've been hearing it for the last 15 years or so, is she the next Madonna? Every time a new female artist hits the music scene the first thing you hear out of reporters mouths is "could be the next Madonna."

Let's be honest, there will never be the next Madonna, because there is only one Madonna. It would be very difficult for any female artist to ever achieve the same success Madonna has. She is a pop culture icon. She is the number one selling female artist of all time worldwide, her tours have grossed millions of dollars and she's still doing her thing. She hasn't gone anywhere so how could there be a next Madonna when she's actually still in the room?

Over the years there's been Britney and Christina, now we have Beyonce, Rihanna, Katy Perry and Lady Gaga but Madonna is still in the loop. They are all selling records and doing just fine on their own without the need for comparison to Madonna.

How many female artists can you name in the last 25 years that are still successful today? Remember when the world thought Whitney Houston would be around forever? She's still here, but with a voice that's less than great and a world tour plagued by problems she's not the same Whitney she was 20 years ago. Let's not forget artists like Tiffany and Debbie Gibson. Here today, gone tomorrow which happens quite often in the music industry.

Very few female artists have managed to have lengthy careers in music like Madonna. We have Tina Turner, Cher, Barbra Streisand, Celine Dion, Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross, Mariah Carey, Reba, Dolly Parton, Mary J Blige, Annie Lennox and a few others but do todays female artists have the "it" factor that will still have us talking about them twenty or even thirty years from now?

Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera have both hit bumps in the road. Britney went completely bat shit crazy a couple of years back and seems to have recovered, but her CD sales aren't as great as they used to be. She still releases singles that do well, but are people buying them because they're good, or because they feel sorry for her. Everybody loves a great comeback story don't they? The one thing about Britney that she's never been able to do is sing live. In fact, she lip synched her way through her whole last tour. I can't imagine why anyone would spend money on high priced concert tickets to watch their favorite singer lip synch for the whole show. If I want to see someone do that I'll go to a drag show.

Christina's new CD "Bionic" debuted in the Hot 100 this week to less than stellar reviews and even worse sales. The problem with Christina is that she's not very likeable. She has a diva attitude that people can't relate to. Have you ever watched her in an interview? She just doesn't seem like a friendly person at all and definitely not someone you would want to hang out with for more than ten minutes. She needs to reinvent herself as herself. She's trying too hard to be something else right now and it's obvious to people, that's why her record sales are less than impressive. She needs to re-evaluate her direction and bring it back to reality. She is a great singer, but she's making really bad music at the moment and the record buying public knows it.

Beyonce seems to have all of her bases covered. She's likeable, her CDs sell very well, she doesn't come off as a person you wouldn't want to hang out with. In fact, if you ever read anything about Beyonce, everyone says she's as friendly as friendly can be. She makes good music, plain and simple and people love her. She also branched out into other areas and has been successful in all them. She's definitely a singer that will be here 20 years from now, and the best part about Beyonce is that she can actually sing.

Lady Gaga is the singer that is most "like" Madonna. She likes to shock the public just like Madonna has done for the last 27 years. She's talented and seems genuine. She definitely loves her fans. Only time will tell if she will still be here 20 years from now, or if people will grow tired of the outlandish clothing and bizarre presence. Her best bet would be to "pull a Madonna" and change it all up. Remember when Madonna's "Live To Tell" video came out and people were shocked at how "normal" she could actually be? It was a defining moment for Madonna and readied her for a long term career in the music industry. It was the first time the public realized that she wasn't just a flash in the pan and could be in it for the long haul. There hasn't really been a great interest in music videos for quite some time and Lady Gaga's has grabbed people's attention wondering what she will do next, just like Madonna did in the 80's and 90's. That definitely helps her appeal to the general public. No matter what she'll always have the gay audience just like Madonna.

Katy Perry is an interesting character, but let's be honest, she's got a voice made for the recording studio and not live performances. She fails to impress live, but makes good music that we all know the words to. I'm not sure if she will be here twenty years from now and still making music, but for the here and now she's managed to find her own niche in the music industry and with the amount of female artists out there right now that's a very good thing.

Rihanna has managed to carve out her own space in music in the last few years. She's different without being too crazy. She took a chance with her last CD by changing it up musically but it hasn't her career at all. In fact, the singles off the CD have done very well, even if the sales haven't quite matched her other CDs. Rihanna's management team was brilliant when it came to marketing her because they didn't make her the "next" Beyonce. She has her own sound and her own image and the sometimes fickle record buying public likes that.

Taylor Swift reached new heights in her career when she took home Album of the Year this year at the Grammy Awards but again, she's not a brilliant live performer. In fact, some would call her live performances downright awful. She's young and can take vocal training and hopefully gain a more live friendly vocal appeal. She's sold a ton of CDs and her singles do really well on the charts but I don't think she'll have the shelf life of Reba or Dolly Parton.

No matter what, all of these women are doing their own thing and are successful at it, but time will be the deciding factor in all of their careers. Will they reach the heights of Madonna's success? They should all take a long hard look at how Madonna has managed to stay relevant in todays music and the entertainment industry as a whole. Madonna has not ever been a favorite of the critics but it never stopped her from becoming one of the most successful women in entertainment. She did it on her own terms and continues to do it her way. Has she slipped up along the way, of course she has, we all remember "American Life" but she gets back on the horse and continues to ride the wave of success.

Many things have been said about Madonna and her career over the last 27 years but the things that people seem to forget is that she is a smart business woman, a good mother and never been in the news for drug and alcohol problems. She may have created quite a few conversations over the years with her antics, but in the long run it never hurt her career, only helped it.

The most important thing for all of these women to remember is that it's a business and they are their own products. Don't try to be the next Madonna, just be yourself, there can only be one Madonna and she's already got that base covered.