January 21, 2001

7:51 AM

From the Bad-Rumors-That-Unfortunately-Turn-Out-To-Be-True Department:
Britney Spears confirms duet with Madonna. NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

(I admire Madonna's knack for perpetual self-reinvention and surprising everyone with what she's cooked up next, but really, this is something I'm sure I'd be quite happy to live without.)
posted by lia (34 comments total)

Maybe next time she'll re-invent herself some talent...
posted by Dark Messiah at 8:09 AM on January 21, 2001

I think this is just phase two of Madonna's plan to destroy American pop music. Phase one was her cover of "American Pie."
posted by rcade at 8:09 AM on January 21, 2001

I just checked out the window and I'm pretty sure reality hasn't crumbled yet. People who get worked up about this sort of thing. . . take a pill.
posted by rodii at 8:45 AM on January 21, 2001

Talent comes in different forms. It's a multidimensional quantity. I myself have never listened to anything done by Madonna and have no interest in doing so. But she's sold a lot of albums and a lot of tickets for live shows; she must be doing something right.

Damned if I know what, though.
posted by Steven Den Beste at 9:12 AM on January 21, 2001

I suppose it may be good that you haven't heard one Madonna song in the past 18 years. But haven't you once wanted to hear her instead of hearing about her?
posted by gluechunk at 10:16 AM on January 21, 2001

I actually bought my first-ever Madonna album when Ray of Light came out. Actually, I bought it more to hear what William Orbit was up to than anything, but her flirtations with electronica have easily been the most interesting things she's done in years (yes, yes, it's all watered down from the original sources, I understand that).

Madonna has an above-average voice and knows how to surround herself with talented people (one of her former songwriters and I believe producers was Patrick Leonard, who was half of Toy Matinee with the late Kevin Gilbert). She knows her limitations and she knows how to work within them. Her judgment is usually impeccable. Overall, we could be subjected to much worse crap than what she puts out.

But a duet with Britney? What isshe thinking?
posted by kindall at 10:50 AM on January 21, 2001

Am I the only one who likes Madonna?
posted by Mark at 11:08 AM on January 21, 2001

maybe the two of them will simulate lesbian sex in the video.
posted by judomadonna at 11:33 AM on January 21, 2001

Gluechunk, I'm not even curious about her.
posted by Steven Den Beste at 12:03 PM on January 21, 2001

Madonna's knack is following the money. What's she up to now? $200 million? Or was it 200 million pounds sterling?
posted by Joe Hutch at 12:37 PM on January 21, 2001

I have as much respect for Madonna as I can have for an entertainer; she's lasted a frigging long while, she's changed her image (and music style) countless times.

I certainly hope she's not going to turn into a teenybopper though, God knows we don't need another Britney Spears/N'Sync thing.
posted by jpate at 1:24 PM on January 21, 2001

No, you're not the only one who likes Madonna, Mark. Have huge respect for her and some of her tunes are classic. (Deeper and Deeper comes to mind, Justify my love - though written by Lenny Kravitz, I think?)
As for the duet with that wench... hmm, if you can't lick 'em?
posted by prolific at 1:29 PM on January 21, 2001

I just want the transcript of her UK visa interview.
posted by holgate at 1:41 PM on January 21, 2001

You have to give it to Madonna, she took mediocre talent and mediocre looks and made them into a multi-million dollar business. I mean I liked what I've heard of Ray of Light and I liked some of her older songs. I think she's lost it in her older age. She can't seem to handle the fact that she's gotten older. That isn't to say that middle-aged to older women can't rock or be sexy, but she's dressing up like a cowgirl pimp and singing songs with teenyboppers. She's even putting cartoons in her videos. Ugh to Madonna and Britney.
posted by crushed at 2:26 PM on January 21, 2001

I guess I don't get the hostility I always hear toward Madonna. Why not someone really genuinely sickening, like Fred Durst?
posted by rodii at 3:00 PM on January 21, 2001

Sure, this seems a bit (ok, a lot) appalling at first glance, but look at the similaries between the two women. One has fake breasts, the other has a fake English accent. And they both have lots of experience in the studio with producers that know how to hide their godawful voices. That's like serendipity, or syncronicity, or sybiosis, or something.

So relax, it's all going to be OK.
posted by Optamystic at 6:03 PM on January 21, 2001

optamystic, do you have conclusive proof of implants or are you just repeating the oft-debated rumors?
posted by gluechunk at 7:17 PM on January 21, 2001

gluechunk,

I am "just repeating the oft-debated rumors". I have no proof to back up my suspicions vis-a-vis the origins of Miss Spears' breasts.

I can, however prove, conclusively and scientifically, using only a pencil and a bar napkin, that she does have a godawful voice.
posted by Optamystic at 7:33 PM on January 21, 2001

I live in a house where not liking madonna is a crime against nature. This isn't a problem for me because I have always liked her. I even liked some of her movies (Who's That Girl is a classic!) I love all her albums but Like a Prayer is still my fave.

And I am gonna show you all how demented I am and let you know that the evilness that is the Britney - well some of her songs I actually dont mind. There is something about pop tunes that always sucks me in.

But the thought of our Maddy doing a song with the Brit makes me feel a tad ill. My sister may kill somebody when she finds out.
posted by endorwitch at 12:18 AM on January 22, 2001

Well, Madonna has her silly aspects (like the English affectations). But she's clearly brilliant, an artist who can't be contained by pop music alone, but unable for many years to find a mate who was worthy of her and unable to figure out, at times, what more she could do than pop music. (Note: acting wasn't really one of them.)

Then again, I've been playing Devil's Advocate for her ever since a college classmate couldn't stop talking about how much he hated Like a Virgin.

My all-time favorite song of hers is Like a Prayer, btw.

I don't think Britney will have her longevity in the biz, but I've been known to be massively wrong before ...
posted by dhartung at 12:21 AM on January 22, 2001

How's this for poetic justice:

I now have the chorus of "Like a Prayer" stuck in my head.

sigh....I suppose it serves me right.
posted by Optamystic at 2:17 AM on January 22, 2001

So Madonna is speaking with an English accent now? How is that different from Mel Gibson adopting an American accent?
posted by Steven Den Beste at 5:41 AM on January 22, 2001

Steven : uh, mel gibson I can't stand the nazi myself, but he was born in America

Madonna's English accent is a trifle grating. But there again she married a professional cockney so what do you expect.
posted by fullerine at 5:52 AM on January 22, 2001

Because isn't Mel American my birth Steven??

What can I say about Madonna...you got to give her credit for doing what it takes to keep a music career not only going for so long but keeping it fresh. What ever she does makes LOTS of money (musically speaking that is). And all the aclaim she got for Evita wasn't for nothing.

As for Brittany, I don't see her having the longevity or guts to keep it going for too long. She should have waited until her career started waining until hooking up with the Material one so that it would give her a boost. I can't imagine anything positive coming out of this for her.

But then again...they may suprise us.
posted by Princess Buttercup at 5:57 AM on January 22, 2001

Gibson grew up in Australia and that's his natural accent. Why is Madonna's english accent an affectation and Gibson's American accent not one? Where either of them was born has nothing to do with anything.
posted by Steven Den Beste at 7:56 AM on January 22, 2001

Madonna has in fact spent a lot of time in England (and of course married an Englishman). For some people it's very easy to pick up accents. My sister went to college in the South and picked up a pretty solid accent within the first year without even realizing it. My point is, Madonna may well have come by her accent honestly. I have no doubt she's aware of it and playing it for all it's worth, but it also probably feels natural to her.
posted by kindall at 8:42 AM on January 22, 2001

What's funny to me is that this thread is piling up with comments about how much people don't care about Madonna (and, less so, Britney Spears) and by the way, I have these very strong opinions regarding her accent . . .

I'm no fan of her music overall (although I'm seriously considering picking up Ray of Light), but it amazes me how shrewdly she is able to make us all talk about her. She out-Bowies David Bowie.
posted by Skot at 9:59 AM on January 22, 2001

I liked Madonna when I first heard her in 1984. I would have been seven or eight. I still like her now (though it comes and goes; I had no use for Erotica, and the current cowgirl thing is... perplexing). Still: how many bands did YOU listen to in the second grade that you still like now? that are even around now?

anyway.

I love me some Madonna but this whole Britney thing is making me lose some respect for the lady. Eeeugh.
posted by Sapphireblue at 10:14 AM on January 22, 2001

I was going to qualify the statement "I like Madonna," by saying "I like the idea of Madonna," but that would be cowardly and if there's one thing I've learned from Madonna it's that I have to be true to myself. Just like in the Boderline video where the photographer is trying to get her to be all serious and professional and stuff but she pays him no mind and runs around all crazy on the set and spray paints that car.

Madonna also showed me that music can be such a revelation and that dancing around is such a sweet sensation. In fact, it's only when I'm dancing that I feel truly free; at night, I lock the door so no one else can see.

As far as her involvement with Britney goes, I wonder when Ms. Spears' contractual obligation with Jive expires. I think adding Britney Spears to the Maverick stable would be a solid addition to the Madonna retirement portfolio. I mean, you don't think all this is Madonna-Britney nonsense is just about recording some dumb song do you? I'd be curious to see what Madonna could do to re-invent Britney as an artiste singer-songwriter like, umm, Alanis, who may not be taking direction very well these days.





posted by metascene at 10:47 AM on January 22, 2001

The thing about the accents: Madonna adopted the horribly inconsistent faux-British thing long before she moved to London or hooked up with Ritchie. We got our first glimpse of it during her Golden Globe acceptance speech some 3 years ago. It intensified after she did that dreadful flick with Rupert Everett, and oddly it's now that she lives in the UK and has married a cockney lad that it seems to be diminishing. Maybe Guy thought that she was mocking him?

As for Mel Gibson, someone who has interviewed him on a non-press junket occasion reports that his accent is a weird amalgam of American and Australian, which would make sense -- he divides his time between the countries, and between playing characters who can have the accent and who can't. Anthony LaPaglia, who also splits his time between the US and Oz has a similar flukey accent thing going on when he's totally out of character and being himself. It seems to be a hazard of the profession and intercontinental living.
posted by Dreama at 2:08 PM on January 22, 2001

madonna has a tendency when she is doing formal kind of things to put on this phoney posh sounding voice - if you watched In Bed with Madonna (or Truth or Dare for the non-Australians) there was a part in the doco where she was making a speech to the press - I think it was about the simulated masturbation scene in the show and the fuss it caused - and she had this accent she put on - is that the one you all mean?

Anyway - I think a lot of people just blow Madonna off and dont give her a chance because of how she started and how she continues to change and try and push peoples buttons all the time. I think the whole cowgirl thing looks silly, but the songs I have heard off Music are okay - and I will probably grow to love it. I grew to love the album Erotica - some of my fave Madonna tracks are on that album. But she still hasnt done a song to top Like a Prayer - that song...ugh! It kills me! Okay - worship time is over now.
posted by endorwitch at 3:50 PM on January 22, 2001

Yes, it's her "awards show accent". Funny, while the Queen's accent has been going mainstream, I think Madonna's has been getting more royal all the time. Watch out for when she starts using the royal "we". It's exactly the kind of thing that a lower-middle-class girl from Bay City, Michigan would do when she's insecure about her position in intellectual society -- which is so different from the way she acts in other arenas that it's worthy of note.
posted by dhartung at 6:58 PM on January 22, 2001

I saw a bit on VH1 about Madonna, some recent news. They said that she's a big fan of Ms Spears (I saw weeks before the duet announcement). Apparently Madonna sleeps in a Britney Spears t-shirt at night. pretty funny I thought.
posted by tomplus2 at 2:31 PM on January 25, 2001