Amy Winehouse is some young british singer who recently bashed Madonna
in an interview saying that M is an "old lady" and past her prime.

This article is from THE MIRROR.

MADONNA: IS IT THE END?
Aug 20 2004

AS AMY Winehouse criticises Madonna for being an "old lady" who "can't
shock any more", two Daily Mirror writers offer their views on whether
it's time for the pop queen to surrender her crown...

YES says CAROLINE JONES, Women's Editor

WHEN I pranced around my bedroom in fingerless gloves, screeching along
to Like A Virgin, I thought Madonna was as cool as it got.

But like many, I've grown tired of her endless image changes, bizarre
spiritual beliefs and ever-weaker pop offerings.

And while I don't agree with Amy Whinehouse that she should just "get a
band and f***ing sing", I do think Madge is losing the plot.

She is attempting to cling on to the last vestiges of power and fame,
just as that other first lady of the 80s, Margaret Thatcher, tried to
do. And Madge is long past her sell-by date.

It's about time she decided to grow old gracefully and stepped out of
the limelight to make way for the younger, sassier, more talented
singers on the block. She's 46 but thinks she's still 26.

Yet rather than succumb to middle age gracefully, mum-of-two Madonna is
still plugging away at her singing career - despite the fact that she
hasn't made a decent pop tune in at least five years.

As she gyrates across the stage on her current tour, she's like a granny
on speed.

Her feet look swollen and heavily veined, and with those muscle-bound
arms she resembles an Olympic weightlifter more than a sexy pop star.

Her obsession with staying forever young has driven her to such exercise
extremes that her weight can verge on the dangerously light.

According to the latest reports, she's been spending several hours a day
on The Rack - a Gyrotonic Expansion exercise machine that looks much
like the mediaeval torture instrument it is named after.

This, combined with Ashtanga yoga, has toned her body but has also left
her looking strained. Madge clearly isn't wearing it well and many of us
are tired of the once-provocative singer.

Even the most die-hard fans found it hard to justify forking out #150 a
ticket for her latest show - a lacklustre rehash of the old hits.

Her obsession with the somewhat sinister faith Kabbalah, a mystical
branch of Judaism, does her image no favours either.

Rumour has it she orders gallons of Kabbalah-blessed water to be kept
backstage. She even claims husband Guy Ritchie's verucca was healed by
the stuff... But then Madonna has always believed her own hype.

The fact is, even during her heyday, she was little more than a two-bit
starlet who got lucky.

She could dance a bit, sing a little but her real strength was her
ability to market herself. Forget Princess Michael of Kent, Madonna is
the true Princess Pushy.

She garnered a reputation early on for using anyone who could further
her career - cruelly tossing them aside once they had outlived their
usefulness.

So any true proponent of women's lib doesn't buy the line about her
being a feminist icon. Do we really want our daughters striving to
emulate this ruthless exhibitionist?

Although I grew up in awe of Madonna, my mother was never too impressed,
thinking her little more than a talentless trollop. And in retrospect,
I'm inclined to agree.

Her latest incarnation, that of a Mockney mum and writer of kids'
books, is just another facade.

She has changed her style so many times I doubt she has any sense left
of who she really is.

Every pop queen has their day. Now it's time for the Material Girl to
admit that the sun is setting on hers.

And she should just be thankful that - spanning some 20 years and
generating more than #215million - her stint in the limelight was longer
and more prosperous than most others enjoy.




NO says MIRANDA SAWYER, Mirror writer
IT is easy for gob-on-heels Amy Winehouse to have a pop at Her Madgesty.

Born in 1984, the year that Madonna had her first UK hit, Amy doesn't
remember a time when Madonna wasn't around. I do.

And I remember when she turned up, all bangles and leggings and with a
little pot belly, skipping around on Top Of The Pops with a couple of
beefcakes to the joyous pop of Holiday.

Every teenage girl who saw her thought: who's she? She's brilliant!
Madonna was just what we wanted to be: cheeky, sexy, wiseass,
independent.

She had her own raggedy style and she sang - well, squeaked - about boys
and holidays and dancing.

She was the first female pop star since Debbie Harry we could relate to.

Actually, she was more ours than Debbie ever was.
For some reason although she played the boy toy game to perfection,
writhing around in her wedding dress to Like A Virgin, Madonna was never
really, truly, a lad magnet.

It was girls and gay men who loved her, and it's still the same today.

At 46, it's not Madonna's business to shock - though those pictures of
her singing while in the crab position make me wince far more than
anything Amy Winehouse has to say.

Despite her scandalous reputation, what Madonna's real business is, and
always has been, is entertainment. And at that, she excels.

Telling Madonna, as Amy does, to "get a nice band, stand in front of
them and f***ing sing", is like telling Tony Soprano to get himself a
nice pattern, stand in front of it and knit.

What's the point? It's not what she's good at.

Unlike Amy, whose big mouth contains a big voice, Madonna has never been
a great singer.

But she's always known what makes a pop performance mesmerising.

And she understands style enough to hijack the fashionable, spin it, and
sell it back as pure mainstream.
Voguing, line dancing, bi-sexuality, try-spirituality: Madonna has taken
the lot and made it all as normal as wearing a tracksuit with a flat
cap.

Madonna has been working for 20 years: of course, sometimes she fails.

American Life is shameful, she's rubbish in Swept Away, plus there's
those embarrassing read-my-fantasies-check-my-thruppennies Sex years.

Still, she's never been as boring as the Rolling Stones and she's
hard-working enough to evolve through her failures.
Who'd have thought she could come back with the revolutionary Ray Of
Light after the dreadful ballads on Something To Remember (something to
forget)?

I interviewed Madonna in 2000, when she was pregnant with Rocco and she
was witty, sharp, interesting, human. I liked her, which I didn't
expect.
I got her autograph for my boyfriend's daughter, then 13; but when I
gave her Madonna's loopy scrawl, she shrugged her shoulders.

Madonna doesn't mean anything to her, just as she doesn't mean anything
to Amy Winehouse.

That's fine - I'm all for a new era sweeping away the old - but Madonna
has shaped that generation, whether they realise it or not.

Madonna has proved that women in music can be in control of their
destiny: their music, their presentation, their finances, their
sexuality, their life.

And after years of female talent being ripped off by managers, beaten up
by boyfriends, dominated by bosses, that's still a shock.
Today's divas - Beyonce, Britney, Pink, Amy Winehouse - say what they
want, do what they want, ask for what they want, and let's hope they get
it.

But since 1984, when Ms Ciccone took pop by the scruff of the neck, all
primadonnas have been post-Madonna, and Amy Winehouse shouldn't forget
that.

Amy who?

Lol, are these the same dumb broads who were debating whether she was "over" in 1992? 12 years later.....

DavidEye said:

pretty much shuts everything else down.

Amy's album is great. She is a real talent but she needs to watch that mouth. She has pretty much slated every other artist out there and made no secret of her bitterness at losing out on a Brit Award. She isn't making any friends out there.

And for a girl who's career is just starting and has only one album under her belt - she isn't in the best position to be taking pops at our girl... Step away from the journalist, Amy!

adoreme said:

Someone should have told Terence Trent D'Arby exactly the same thing back in the 80s, when everybody thought he was the best thing since raw sushi after the release of his debut "The Hardline". Problem was he believed it too.

Like Amy, not only did he take unnecessary pops at fellow artists who weren't even threatening his position, but also had a curious habit of biting the hand that feeds pretty early in his career.

Hell, the similarities between the attitude of these two are so striking it's scary that lessons have not been learned. Amy should really watch that mouth but I think the damage has already been done.

.

I don't think any entertainer should hang it up if they still enjoy doing what they do and people are still paying to see them do it. I am not a big fan of Madonna, but she has a large loyal following and these loyal fans will love her forever and they don't care how old she's getting. I feel the same about Prince. When he's 80, I still want to see him playing guitar and singing. IMO Madonna is extremely over-rated but I give her credit for her business savy and for retaining her large, loyal fan base. She looks good too, except I agree that her arms are disgusting (way too muscular).

I have no clue who Amy is, but she's some young tart apparently. Talented or not until she's lasts over 20 years in the music business i will simply laugh at her idiotic rants. And it wasn't luck Madge stayed as long as she did it's called brains and by Amy dishing our Queen she has shit for brains cause very few take that lightly as Madonna has become a highly respected icon in pop music history.

And as someone said Madonna's career will end when she fucking says it's over.