After Rebel Heart....

Now that the Rebel Heart Tour has finally concluded after a whopping 82 arena gigs, what is next in line for the reigning area of Madonna? As a diehard fan, what should she do next to continue pushing boundaries?

 But before we go on to answer this question, let's just reflect on the massive success of the Rebel Heart era. Like the MDNA era, many people have considered this a flop as the album has gone onto to sell a million copies. Sure, it looks small when you look at The Immaculate Collection that was released over 20 years ago in an era where streaming, leaks and illegal downloads were non existent. Bearing in mind Madonna's album suffered 4 waves of unfortunate demo leaks, lack of radio play and merely 3 singles released, her accomplishments have none the less been huge.

Whilst she didn't top the Billboard Hot 100 with Living for Love and Ghosttown, let's take into consideration why. Well, the simple answer is because she released 6 songs Beyonce style, prior to the set radio airplay date and the production of music videos and in the middle of the week, meaning first week sales would've of course been small. Had she released Living for Love on its own, with the music video, radio airplay and the Grammy and Brit performances all at the same time, there is a high possibility she would've once again reigned in the top 10. Bitch I'm Madonna, whilst seen as a very poor single choice inevitably scored her a Hot 100 showing her relevance still.

Despite not scoring her consecutive Number 1 in the US and UK, let us remember why. Sam Smith just released his Lay Me Down, with 3 music videos and 3 versions of the song so of course the Brits went wild over that. Had he not done that, Madonna wouldn't have been dethroned 1 day before the charts were in. In the US, she had the most digital downloads, album sales yet 2nd highest weekly streams. This seems rather stupid bearing in mind the charts are based on sales of albums, not how many people listen to it. Weight should be placed more on that.

Now let's get on to the good achievements. The 3 singles produced scored Madonna the most number ones of the Billboard Chart of all time. She now has a stellar 46 number one dance songs. Bitch I'm Madonna made her 4th in the ranking of women with most appearances on the Billboard Hot 100. Living for Love, despite the BBC Radio 1 controversy generated her 71st top forty single, more than any artist.

Critically, her album was the best she had in a decade, since Confessions on the Dancefloor, shaming all pop albums released by current female artists this year. Rolling Stone and other magazines ranked the album in the best albums of 2015 and Ghosttown as the best song. With regards to her streams and Youtube views, the Rebel Heart era generated over 250 million views on Youtube in comparison to MDNA which generated about 110 million. Had she released more videos and more singles, imagine the success.

Her promotional endeavours definitely caused her to create a social media uproar. This was particularly evident at the 2015 Grammy awards were she practically mooned the camera and gave a dazzling performance, the BRITS where she tumbled off the stage yet carried on like a true champion and the awkward kiss between her and Drake. Despite what people say, it definitely showed that Madonna was once more the centre of attention. Her Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and Instagram accounts have inflated with new followers and likes.

Her Rebel Heart Tour, like her previous tours indicated that Madonna is the Queen of touring. Accumulating all the tours, she has generated over $1 billion and over 15 million people in attendance. Like the MDNA tour, the Rebel Heart Tour was a sold out success, covering Australia, Asia, Europe and North America. Her many controversies onstage also generated massive social media outbursts however, these were due to false allegations that tied in with her lateness, technical problems and her intelligent humour. The media enjoy taking using the most powerful respected musicians and trying to downgrade them. However, with over 1 million people in attendance, with rave reviews, sold out shows, it is hard to understand where the media get all their facts from. As an accumulation of all these achievements, she went on to be called both the richest female artist of all time and the most important woman of all time for breaking boundaries with her music, visuals and politics.


So what should be next for the Queen of Pop herself?

In my opinion these are just a small list of things that I think she should do to ensure her next era is even more successful than the next:

• Release a live DVD/documentary - its been almost 10 years since I'm Going to Tell you a Secret and it would be interesting to see the behind the scenes of the Rebel Heart Tour and the life of Madonna on the road. The DVD and live album would give people who were unable to see the tour the 'at home' experience they deserve.

Direct a new film - since W.E., despite it receiving unnecessary mixed reviews, Madonna is clearly a very intelligent and talented director. It would be interesting to see what she would do.

Write more books or autobiographies - Remember he English Roses? It would be really fresh to see Madonna pen some new books, maybe for even a different audience? A new Fifty Shades, a new love story, who knows? Let her imagination do all the work. A massive autobiography on the life of Madonna that has no boundaries would be really interesting to see what the Queen of Pop feels about her 30 years in the business and her intentions for the future. It would definitely make her feel more human to her fans bearing in mind her aura is supernatural. Maybe a new coffee book table like SEX to push the boundaries of ageism and show that a woman's body at 57 is just as beautiful as one at 30.

• Make a new album - potentially one in a new direction? Potentially a rock, a latin, a Ray of Light 2.0? It would be really cool to see Madonna push boundaries like she used to back in the day. Time to get political, spiritual. Maybe a Christmas album with original material to fill the void? A bit generic I know but just to tick it off the list perhaps. New collaborations would be definitely encouraged but they should be both new and old and some songs should just be pure Madonna as she has become overly dependent on new artists helping her compose an album. Let Madonna do what she does best? Her new album should definitely produce more than 3 measly singles, the whole point is to get yourself out there. Bearing in mind Madonna is getting older, she needs to also appeal to her new audience too. So, promotions like interviews, live performances and a catalogue of music videos should do the trick. In my opinion, she should take a leaf out of Beyonce's book and release an album with music videos by surprise.
• Compilation/Remix albums?  - Potentially Madonna should release a new Something To Remember 2.0 or pull a Kylie and rework her catalogue of songs and make them stripped down? I think it would be cool to show a simple and contemporary version of Madonna once more. Then again, she could release a compilation album that has never been done before?
• A new tour - this time it should go back into the light of the Sticky and Sweet Tour. She should attempt to try and beat the records produced by U2 by going on a massive stadium tour. A stadium tour that should cover all the continents. Fans in South America and Europe are of guaranteed loyalty and the bigger the venues and the more venues she plays in the US, Asia and Australia, the more popularity she will recieve. In addition to this, she should try and take her tour to South Africa so she can increase her popularity there too. An all continent tour at the world's most massive stadiums, parks and arenas are exactly what is needed for Madonna to bulldoze all other artists' achievements.
• Acting - despite receiving box office bombs and panned reviews, this shouldn't stop Madonna from continuing to experiment and develop her acting technique. It would definitely grow her audience in the movie field. She could then produce soundtracks or soundtrack singles too.  In addition to this, guest starring on TV shows or sitcoms will also get her face out there. 
• Collaborations - the more collaborations she does and potentially the more features, the more chart success and sales she will receive. Since she is Madonna, she could easily get almost any collaboration she wants. She should take advantage of young artists such as Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Rihanna, Justin Bieber and make something fresh with them so she can continue her chart success and her relevance. She should work with Sia, Diane Warren and potentially songwriters like Ed Sheeran so she can fit in with current generation. You are never too old to make music.
• Business endeavours - Madonna should continue promoting products, doing fashion endeavours and increase her entrepreneurial skills so she can once again branch out into different markets and maintain her powerful status.
• Comedy - continue her Tears of a Clown show and perform her songs that never became singles and have been fan favourites for a long time. Since she wants to do comedy, she should definitely try and make more friends in this business to give her tips and potentially make her own late night show.

I feel if Madonna does all these things, which to be fair sounds like an awful lot for a 57 year old mother, it would definitely bring her back to the absolute top of her game. I sincerely hope her management team will take better care of her career and stop making her so underrated. She deserves way more success, promotion and praise than she gets.