Madonna
USA, 1979–now
American singer and performer who moved from the New York post-punk and dance underground to sustained commercial success, using repeated changes of image and sound as a working method.
MusicRoots documents 5 artists who influenced Madonna and 9 artists Madonna influenced in turn. Every connection cites a published source.
Who influenced Madonna?
- Nile Rodgers — Rodgers produced Madonna's Like a Virgin (1984), the record that broke her worldwide.
- Blondie — Debbie Harry was Madonna's idol — she took Blondie's new-wave punk attitude and image of the strong, provocative, confident woman as her own blueprint.
- David Bowie — Bowie was Madonna's first concert and a transformative revelation — the art of reinvention and persona she built a career on.
- Chic — Chic's disco — Nile Rodgers went on to produce Like a Virgin — was foundational to Madonna's dance-pop sound.
- Giorgio Moroder — Moroder's electronic Euro-disco — the Donna Summer machine sound — was the sonic bedrock of Madonna's early hi-NRG pop.
Which artists did Madonna influence?
- Kylie Minogue — Kylie's constant reinvention and dance-pop persona position her in the mould Madonna established, a comparison that has followed her whole career.
- Dua Lipa — Dua Lipa's dance-pop, and Future Nostalgia's disco revival in particular, draws on Madonna — 'Don't Start Now' was widely likened to Madonna's 'Hung Up'.
- Lady Gaga — Gaga's provocation, reinvention and dance-pop maximalism draw openly on Madonna, the pop blueprint she is most often measured against.
- Rihanna — Rihanna has named Madonna as her model of longevity and reinvention, saying she wanted to become 'the black Madonna'.
- Britney Spears — Madonna was Britney Spears's chief idol and model of pop stardom — a bond sealed by their 2003 duet 'Me Against the Music'.
- Katy Perry — Perry has cited Madonna as an idol and a model for reinvention across her pop career.
- Sophie Ellis-Bextor — Ellis-Bextor's glossy, danceable pop persona works squarely in the dance-pop tradition Madonna established.
- Nelly Furtado — Admired alongside DiFranco for the same reason — authentic individuality and rebellion rather than a sound.
- P!nk — Named alongside Joplin as what she loved as a girl, and the model for a pop career that changes shape every album rather than repeating one.