The story starts off pretty simple. I was 12 years old, and my Mom got me a People magazine about the 80s. The magazine touched on a lot of things throughout the decade. It focused on world leaders, significant events, and even popular music and TV shows. As I’m skimming through the pages, I get to the halfway mark and come across a section about you guessed it Madonna. I was captivated on how she looked. I was like, “Who’s that girl?” She was unlike anybody I had ever seen before. To me, she was beautiful. I turn to my Dad and was like, “Who is Madonna?” And he just said bluntly, “Oh just some slut.”
After that brief conversation, I just slowly put her in the back of my mind and just forgot. I moved to a new area shortly after, and focused on fitting in my new surroundings. It was around this time that my cousin invited me to go see the new James Bond movie, “Die Another Day”. It was a mediocre movie, and the theme song was pretty hideous on its own. But I saw Madonna had a cameo and was like, “Hey there she is again.” Seeing her in the film made me forget about Bond surfing that’s for sure.
My next moment of hearing Madonna again didn’t occur until I attended a wedding of a family member. Somebody there decided to sing of all things “Like a Virgin.” Talk about your fair share of awkwardness. If anything, it got people talking about the song in general. I was not familiar with this song, but I presumed that it had to be pretty iconic. Even though it probably wasn’t the right song to sing, it did make a good memory for a pretty kickass reception. But still, my encounter with Madonna was slowly starting to begin.
Throughout high school, I would occasionally hear one of her songs on the local radio station in the small town I was living in. It seemed like clockwork every morning, the song “Borderline” was always playing. It was one of the last songs I listened to before I rolled my ass out of bed. At night, some of her softer ballads like “Secret”, “Take a Bow”, and “I’ll Remember” played weekly. It was then that I wanted to listen to more songs. So it was a trip to the library to search for one of her CDs. I found one of them in the catalog, when one of my friends came up behind me and said, “I hope you don’t plan on checking that out”. Being a self-conscious teen, I just played it off and said no. What’s funny is that I don’t even talk to that friend anymore.
After I graduated high school, it was off to college in a bigger city than where I went for high school. Having a broken CD player in my car, I relied on the local radio stations for my music entertainment. Madonna would once again be played on my way to and from college. The three songs that played the most were “La Isla Bonita”, “Cherish”, and “Don’t Tell Me”. The first two especially helped me provide an escape from the real world struggles. You could imagine my disappointment when I found out “La Isla Bonita” was not a real place (I only kid). Now “Cherish” always wanted to make me go swimming. For some reason, “Don’t Tell Me” always made me want to drive through Oklahoma. Don’t ask me why. That’s the effect of music I guess.
While I was going through my college era, I noticed that some of my coworkers were also fans of the queen of pop. I would notice that one of them would post some of her songs on their Facebook and even did a top ten list of his favorite songs of hers. I would comment on some of the postings because some of the songs I was not familiar with. Those songs in particular would be from her “Ray of Light” era. It introduced me to another part of her discography that I didn’t even know about. Songs from this particular album included the title track “Ray of Light” and “Frozen”. These comments lead to a friendship that still exists to this day.
After I graduated college, I really didn’t keep up with Madonna too much. I think at that point, I was focused on trying to further myself in life. It was around this time that I had entered my first relationship. I obviously could tell that she was not a fan of hers, so I didn’t bring it up to her that much. She probably would have thought it was too weird. Then again, she watched “Keeping up with the Kardashians”, so her argument would have been invalid. So hey, that is a win for me right there.
After the first relationship ended, rather than taking the time to reflect, I entered into another relationship pretty quickly. Once we got to know each other and started dating, we began to discuss common interests. Naturally, Madonna came up into our conversation. Turns out she grew up near the town Madonna had lived in as a young one. The spark for the Queen of Pop had come back into my life once again. My ex had even told me of a biography that was entitled “Life with my Sister Madonna”. She had said that out of all the books written about her, that one was the most accurate because it was written by her brother Christopher. I know the reaction to the book was pretty mixed, but I still haven’t read it. But I am sure that it is a good read with a lot of insight into her early life.
As the second relationship progressed, I began to re discover my fascination with the Queen of Pop. Whenever my ex and I would go hang out, I always tried to look for something Madonna related. That was when I realized that she had her new album released entitled “Rebel Heart”. I didn’t do too much information on it because I was skeptic by the album cover. But as they say, don’t judge a book by its cover. It would take a while before I got ahold of the actual CD.
Things progressed within the relationship, and it even led to an engagement. Of course, like all couples, we had our fair share of problems. But I was comfortable around her. I was able to tell her things I hadn’t told anyone else. And of course being comfortable around her, I told her about my fascination with the Queen of Pop. She was very supportive, and even said she would burn me a CD of some of her songs. Needless to say, I never got that CD from her ha.
Though I must admit when you are a fanatic over something, it can sometimes lead to guilt. When you hang out with people, you find yourself tempted not to bring it up. Towards the end of my relationship, I found myself bringing up Madonna with every conversation. Luckily, I had caught myself and would stop myself before it slipped out. But she even had several things that she was a fanatic over, so I guess you could say there was a double standard. We both were so much alike in that way, that we even found ourselves asking each other what you would do with your crush. At first it was funny, and then it got a little weird after a while. That game got old really quick, at least for me it did. Looking back, I wish that I had spoken up a little bit more.
Right around the time of the engagement, I saw that Madonna was on her more recent “Rebel Heart” tour. I didn’t even keep up with the tour sadly. I didn’t find out until the last minute that she was coming to my town. I was vastly disappointed that I didn’t find out sooner. Even my friend, the one whom shared his favorite songs on Facebook, got to go to the concert and said it was a fun time. That is why going to see her live in concert is on my bucket list. Even if I have to go far to see the show, I will go see it. If you’re reading this blog post, hold my word to it.
After that, things started to go south. To make a long story short, my engagement fell through. I guess my ex and I had different views about marriage. She ended it, and I was left feeling numb. It is the kind of feeling in which the wind is knocked out of you. Well, to take my mind away from it, I turned to Madonna’s music once again. I had just picked up her “Music” album and decided to give it a shot. On the CD was a track entitled “Nobody’s Perfect”. It was about a person who admitted that they made a mistake in a relationship. After listening to that song, I knew that things were going to be ok with time.
But there is one specific song that I have been leaving out until now. It is my favorite song of hers, and it is the one that has impacted me the most. That song is entitled “Express Yourself”. I love this song because of the many messages it provides throughout the song. With lyrics such as “don’t go for second best baby” and “you deserve the best in life”, it helped me realize that what I have done in life is settle, especially in relationships. What I took away from it was that I need to look out for my needs first, and to never be afraid of anything. I rarely say this about music now, but that song was in my opinion perfect. It was simply perfection.
And that is how I got into Madonna, aka the Queen of Pop. I guess she was a bigger influence in my life growing up then I had realized. When I think of how I have evolved over the years, I have changed for the better. I have decided to go for the best in my life, do things my way, and not give a damn what others think of me. I guess that is how Madonna has felt throughout her thirty plus year career. If I ever met her, I guess the only thing that I could say to her would be: Thank You. Thank you for continuing to be a positive influence in my life. Your music got me through some tough times in my life. I guess there is no better way to end this blog than saying; “Get into the Groove” and “Come join the party. It’s a celebration”. Keep on Madonna. I hope to see you live someday.