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Fabulous at fifty

ISN'T it baffling how the material girl Madonna is still firmly in control, as she turns 50 today (Saturday)? And she is in some fine company with other pop icons like Michael Jackson and Prince also celebrating 50 summers on the planet this year.

That she has been fantabulous is acknowledged worldwide. But to stay afloat in the business of music for so long and still rock is quite a feat. A cultural thunderbolt, she first unveiled herself on the big stage in the early '80s as an ambitious trailblazer who sang, danced, wrote songs and transformed the music video from a staid and dull promotional venture into a creative and provocative form of art.

In a world that is increasingly getting younger, and also guided by a 'retire early' ethos of the pop culture, disposability of talent is a given. But how some icons like Madonna have been able to perpetuate themselves and reach out to several generations is incredible. In this extraordinary career are lessons for countless others who are bracing to hit a half-century, or are already on the other side of the fence.

Madonna, like a few others of her ilk, made music for both white and black, male and female, and blurred the lines in their personal identities. It won't be imprudent to say she has had a titanic impact all across, probably much like The Beatles and Bob Dylan, setting the model for what people afterward aspired to do culturally, musically and even artistically. Young performers and talents like Britney Spears today work in her shadow. So, besides the universality, what other aspects of her could be worth emulating? Believe in yourself. Do not stop being creative. Never let inertia creep in. Exercise regularly, and watch out what you eat. And never stop loving the life as you have been doing in the past.