Madonna is superhuman. She has to be to survive the ugly abuse
Bidisha discusses the reactions to Madonna‘s backward tumble on the Brit Awards stage last night in a brilliant article on The Guardian today.
No wonder Madonna took her Brit awards fall in her stride – she deals with much worse just for being a 56-year-old woman
Madonna was at the Brits, performing her totally boss I Will Survive-style single Living For Love, when it happened.
Took me to heaven, let me fall down … lifted me up and watched me stumble.
So she prophesied it, and so it came to pass. It wasn’t a trip or a tumble. It wasn’t funny; it was terrifying and so brutal that the audience fell silent. It was the kind of accident that breaks necks, damages brains and haunts Cirque du Soleil performers’ nightmares. The Armani cape Madonna was wearing as she approached the podium was tied too tight and didn’t fall undone when her dancers pulled it. She was yanked back by the neck and flew through the air over three steps, landed hard at the base of the podium and for a split second didn’t move.
Watching at home, my heart stopped. Is that all it takes to kill a queen? Milanese outerwear?
The hateful hashtags #shefellover, #Fallenmadonna, immediately began toxifying Twitter: “I get it, Madonna. My grandma is exactly the same.” “I hope grandma’s ok. A broken hip at her age could be a death sentence.”
But as Madonna also sang last night, “I picked up my crown, put it back on my head. I can forgive, but I will never forget.” After a fall like that, anyone else would roll around screaming in agony then look for someone to blame.
She drew on a higher power: herself. Showing her famous mental and physical strength, she got to her feet, picked up the choreography and tune, un-lip-synced and note perfect – as the isolated vocals from her performance at the Grammys show – and finished triumphantly.
Click here to continue reading this story on The Guardian (seriously, click it, you don’t wanna miss it!)
