poll So, Who is Madonna's Heiress after all?

[shyboi]

 

 

Paving the way for touring, music videos, eras, and reinvention, is safe to say Madonna worked hard for her queen of pop title and is the blueprint for the modern pop star 

 

She held the biggest female tour ever record for 15 years and was recently taken by Beyoncé. 

 

Who's her authentic heiress in terms of impact, aesthetics, visuals, legacy, and iconography?

 

Note. Being a "Heiress" is in no way demeaning, sometimes the heiress can even end up with a bigger legacy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 11, 2023 by shyboi

[The Man Who]

The only artist I’ve ever really thought felt like a Madonna successor is Lady Gaga. The fact they never collaborated feels like such a missed opportunity. 

[better than revenge]

Without a doubt, Britney is the one. It's truly heartwarming to witness Madonna's unwavering love and support for Britney, especially in light of the media's constant comparisons between them back in the day

 

4 minutes ago, The Man Who said:

The only artist I’ve ever really thought felt like a Madonna successor is Lady Gaga.

It's because Lady Gaga incorporated many elements from Madonna's career and made them her own. I think that was Lady Gaga's intention

Edited September 11, 2023 by better than revenge

[Simondus]

Honestly Taylor would be a wrong answer cause she is another league, comparable to the Beatles. 
 

I’d say Gaga was on the right way. 

[shyboi]

3 minutes ago, The Man Who said:

The only artist I’ve ever really thought felt like a Madonna successor is Lady Gaga. The fact they never collaborated feels like such a missed opportunity. 

 

Mmmm IDK, Gaga's pop star energy deflated after ARTPOP, she kept doing her thing and doing it amazingly but her career never screamed popstar after that

[#Beautiful]

 

[better than revenge]

5 minutes ago, Simondus said:

Honestly Taylor would be a wrong answer cause she is another league, comparable to the Beatles. 

To be honest, I can't quite grasp why some people make this claim and I'm saying this as a Taylor fan. Taylor is currently thriving in the streaming era, which is a different landscape compared to the peaks of legendary acts like The Beatles, Madonna, Britney Spears, or Beyoncé. It doesn't necessarily mean she's surpassing them in terms of overall success, it's just that streaming numbers tend to appear larger, rules have changed and touring has become both more accessible and crucial for artists

Edited September 11, 2023 by better than revenge

[shyboi]

Why are Britney and Gaga always throat to throat when it comes to polls here on ATRL? Frustrating, i want to see different opinions

 

I think Dua embodies a lot of Madonna and i can see her having a ray of light one day and Beyoncé have that perfectionism and out of this world goddess energy

 

 

Edited September 11, 2023 by shyboi

[The Man Who]

3 minutes ago, shyboi said:

 

Mmmm IDK, Gaga's pop star energy deflated after ARTPOP, she kept doing her thing and doing it amazingly but her career never screamed popstar after that

But in terms of everything the OP asked for (impact, aesthetic, visuals etc) Gaga has always felt like this generations Madonna to me. Artists like Britney, Rihanna, Beyoncé, Katy and Miley have also had / continue to have huge success but their visuals / discography / videography / live performances haven’t made me think of Madonna the way Lady Gaga has.

[idkwiam]

Honestly no one. No one comes close to her achievements.

[ImpressMeMuch]

15 minutes ago, shyboi said:

 

Mmmm IDK, Gaga's pop star energy deflated after ARTPOP, she kept doing her thing and doing it amazingly but her career never screamed popstar after that

Someone wasn’t at the chromatica ball!

[littlebodybigheart]

13 minutes ago, better than revenge said:

To be honest, I can't quite grasp why some people make this claim and I'm saying this as a Taylor fan. Taylor is currently thriving in the streaming era, which is a different landscape compared to the peaks of legendary acts like The Beatles, Madonna, Britney Spears, or Beyoncé. It doesn't necessarily mean she's surpassing them in terms of overall success, it's just that streaming numbers tend to appear larger, rules have changed and touring has become both more accessible and crucial for artists

times change and so do rules. but her dominance right now translates to their dominance back then in terms of the metrics. if she had been a musician back then, with her current level of success she would’ve definitely been on par with those acts.

[Mordecai]

It should be Beyonce, but unfortunately it looks like it's gonna be Taylor

[ScorpiosGroove]

Madonna would say Bey 

[Shimenawa]

No one tbh. Britney & Gaga ended up as fads, and Taylor is bigger than Madonna. Yeah, Beyoncé maybe..

 

Edited September 11, 2023 by Shimenawa

[Badgalbriel]

It's Taylor lol. Eventually, we will all be discussing who will be Taylor's heiress, tbh. 

[better than revenge]

3 minutes ago, littlebodybigheart said:

times change and so do rules. but her dominance right now translates to their dominance back then in terms of the metrics. if she had been a musician back then, with her current level of success she would’ve definitely been on par with those acts.

This doesn't seem to hold much weight because we can't definitively determine whether she would have achieved the same level of success in the past. We're currently in an era dominated by social media and streaming, which makes it easier for songs to chart on the Billboard Hot 100. As previously mentioned, the metrics have evolved significantly, and there isn't sufficient data available for a meaningful comparison. In essence, making such a determination is simply impossible

[MingYouToo]

On paper its Gaga but honestly due to the changing market, audience expectations, the real answer is: No one.

 

Madonna was a product of Madonna (the person)'s musical talent, grit, creativity, but also the time she existed in. Madonna could've only done what Madonna did during the 80s to the 2000s. So much of Madonna's impact is rooted in the fact that she was THE FIRST. She did so many things first, opened up so many doors, did concepts and ideas in her music/celebrity that challenged what a woman could do in the music industry, and a celebrity at that, at a time when rampany archaic ideas of women were the norm.

 

Many can argue popstar XYZ did Madonna concept ABC better, but she was the FIRST. And she made genuine cultural waves when she did it. That's her mark on music. Her right to claim as QoP isn't in the quality (a subjective trait) of her work but by the fact that she existed at a time when it was unheard of for women to do what she decided to do AT the level of fame that she did it. 

 

Lady Gaga was able to tap into this for a few years because she went to the last few themes and concepts that Madonna had barely touched on besides the gay rights BTW record, the meat dress, going crazy bleeding at the VMAs, the wacky aesthetics, these were the last bastions dare I say untouched by popstars in the mainstream. Madonna did everything else first which is why by principle, no one can be her heiress.

 

Everything else, politics, sex, etc. are already overused and if anything, expected for your average popstar to tackle, and that is thanks to Madonna. So no, I don't think there's any heiress to Madonna. Closest conceptually would be peak Lady Gaga and commercially, its Taylor Swift.

[holyground13]

Britney has always had more in common with Janet than Madonna in my opinion.

 

Beyoncé and Taylor have achieved longevity, been ambitious, navigated their careers and continued to release fresh-sounding new bodies of work much like Madonna. Beyoncé has had some controversial work so I guess in all she might be the most similar in my opinion.

 

Gaga initially had a lot in common with Madonna and her rise to stardom is similar, however I wouldn't say that she's as ambitious creatively nowadays.

[Alyssa Edwards]

When it comes to parallel's, obvious inspo and trajectory the answer is obviously Lady Gaga.

Britney has never been hungry or a hustler enough. Also she'd probably say herself that she studied Janet Jackson way more than Madonna.
Taylor sounds ridiculous unless you're talking about numbers only. Then yes, it's likely her. But only in that department.

Rihanna would find it flattering.

Beyonce's inspirations are varied but Madonna sure isn't the first one at all.

[Jon Snow]

First, Britney was headed there. Then it seemed that Gaga would be the one, but both ended up not being. 
 

Beyoncé is the closest one to Madonna. She’s been popular for so long, she kept reinventing herself, she was controversial and pushed the boundaries. Beyoncé is a vocalist, so she’s a bit different from Madonna there. However, I believe Madonna would say that it’s Beyoncé. She named the Queens Remix for that reason. 
 

Taylor is very different. She’s not sexualized and controversial in the way that the other four are. She’s not really a queer icon. She’s not a dancer. She’s more country and folk sounding, while the others all did dance records. She’s different, and that’s okay. 
 

However, there is only one Madonna and we shouldn’t look for another. Same as there’s only one Beyoncé. 

[Lemon]

11 minutes ago, better than revenge said:

This doesn't seem to hold much weight because we can't definitively determine whether she would have achieved the same level of success in the past. We're currently in an era dominated by social media and streaming, which makes it easier for songs to chart on the Billboard Hot 100. As previously mentioned, the metrics have evolved significantly, and there isn't sufficient data available for a meaningful comparison. In essence, making such a determination is simply impossible

If anything, social media and current music consumpgion actually dilutes monoculture, so an ( musical ) act thriving similarly to those past acts is actually impressive as well. 
Not to mention that back then, oversaturation wasn’t close to the level of today. Touring has improved, but past acts had pure sales on their side, so everything evens out. 

[Badgalbriel]

19 minutes ago, better than revenge said:

This doesn't seem to hold much weight because we can't definitively determine whether she would have achieved the same level of success in the past. We're currently in an era dominated by social media and streaming, which makes it easier for songs to chart on the Billboard Hot 100. As previously mentioned, the metrics have evolved significantly, and there isn't sufficient data available for a meaningful comparison. In essence, making such a determination is simply impossible

you can just compare how much bigger she is compared to other artists of her own generation. that's enough proof for you. 

[Jjang]

commercially it’s Taylor (I guess Madonna’s Europe dominance is balanced with Taylor’s US one) but artistically it’s Bey. 

 

Even though Bey has her own signature “stamp” on every reinvention of hers which differs from Madonna’s extreme reinventions she still comes the closest in terms of sheer artistic consistency. 

 

EDIT: just to be clear, I think all these ladies have their own legacies in the end and that should be respected. I’m just answering in “Pop forum” terms which doesn’t exist to most people IRL. 

Edited September 11, 2023 by Jjang

[SlowGinFizzzz]

Musically it's Gaga, commercially it's Taylor. However, Madonna is so much more than just her music and her sales numbers; it's about innovation, controversy, shock, cultural impact. And that's why the closest thing to Madonna's heiress is Beyoncé, no doubt.