Madonna’s website was hacked this weekend by someone pissed-off by her release of MP3 files to sharing networks. The MP3s were disguised as tracks from her new album, but consisted only of her intoning “What the f**k do you think you’re doing?”
As retribution, the hacker made her entire new album available for download on her website.
Frankly, I feel that this is the only way that album will get a wide release. Madonna is over. I never thought that Madonna was worthy of the attention she got (scandal! They may take away my gay membership card!) and her recent release and then withdrawl of the “American Life” video because she was worried about being scandalized strikes me as cowardly. Remember when Madonna was all about fighting the establishment, speaking openly, and scandalizing just about everyone and everything? Now that she has moved to England, adopted a strange Euro-lilt accent, and discovered that she’s dropped off the radar, she seems to have tried to create a swirl of media coverage. I can’t decide if she truly wanted her video withdrawn because it would be perceived as “anti-American” or if she did it with the realization that many people who never would have wanted to see it are now desperately searching for bootleg copies. Did she post the MP3s because she was really annoyed by peer-to-peer sharing of music, or because she thought it would call attention to her new album? Much the way she’s appearing on Will and Grace this week? How can you tell anymore if someone is manipulating events and media for their own end, or if they’re just stupid?
An excerpt from the review of the album in the Washington Post:
As a lyricist, Madonna is insufferable, and her whine suffuses and suffocates “American Life.” The stardom-as-mortal-burden idea is among the more insipid cliches out there, and it’s especially absurd coming from Madonna, in part because she has so relentlessly, unabashedly pursued stardom for more than two decades and lived off the glamour-puss culture she now claims to revile.
It’s odd that Madonna’s new “anti-celebrity” persona would be so anti-MP3 sharing. It’s ironic that her former glam-wealthy-star personality probably embraced it.
You know, for someone who feels that Madonna isn’t that great of a thing- you posted a whole entry on her. Mind you, I am not a Madonna fan but I do feel that if she does something (like where she chooses to live) she has that choice. Everyone should be so lucky to have the financial stability, and whatever else it takes to pursue your career, raise a family, and go anywhere you want.
You’re absolutely right – she certainly has the right to choose he own path in life. And posting a long entry on someone I don’t really give a damn about does seem odd. But if you read carefully, I think you’ll see that the entry is actually about the schizophrenic attitude toward music listeners and the manipulation of the media. At least, I hope it is!