[“Powerful” photo by Monica Orozco]
“Borderline” by Madonna
Monica: Madonna, Prince, and Michael Jackson saved my life.
I lived in Mexico from 1980-1986. I had a really hard time being an American teenage girl in another country. Culturally, it felt extremely patriarchal. You and I have talked before about boys having more value, varόn versus hembra. I didn’t connect with Mexico. I didn’t like feeling like a second class citizen and music was a way to escape back to my country.
It was also hard because new music wasn’t available right away like it is now. New movies, music, and styles (fashion) took several months to years to get to other places that were “underdeveloped.” Now it is so instant. I can’t believe I lived in that era. It seems so prehistoric now.
I remember my cousins would visit from the USA, and bring their music with them. I was lucky that they brought this to me. They were the ones that introduced to me to the 80’s trio Prince, Michael Jackson, and Madonna. The combination of these three really made my imagination go wild. I think I had the biggest crushes on Prince and Michael Jackson and of course I thought Madonna was the coolest. I guess we had Menudo, but I didn’t give a fuck about Menudo. I listened to Prince, Michael, and Madonna over and over again.
Being an unhappy teenager in Mexico, music made me happy. My only escape was to daydream to music. I needed that, at that time, to escape my reality. I guess that is what it is like to be a teenager, to fantasize about a different life. I wanted to live in that world created in their songs and music videos.
While we are chatting, she sends me this article
Have you read this article? It is so dead on.
5songpjct: Out of these three artist that had such an impact on you, why did you choose Madonna and“Borderline?”
Monica: The reason I chose Madonna was from the photo-a-day project. When I started this series, I was participating in a much bigger online project with words/themes that were chosen for us monthly. After a few months, I wasn’t really inspired anymore by these words and I started asking friends for ideas instead. The word I was given by my friend, Brooke, was “Powerful” and I thought of Madonna. During this time I was working on improving my craft by emulating photos that I love by photographers who inspired me. One of these was the iconic photo of Madonna by Patrick Demarchelier. This is when Madonna was going through her Marilyn Monroe phase. I always loved the fact that she could change her look.
It was hard to choose one song, I also love “Lucky Star,” “Dress you Up,” “Get into the Groove,” “Holiday.” I chose “Borderline” because I found out it was shot in my neighborhood, in L.A. I had thought it was New York, and thought that is what a big city looks like and it ended up being L.A.
I watched the George Michael documentary recently and I think you would like it. It says so much about that time era. We will never have those types of musicians again?
We both wonder aloud who the musicians are of this generation. Who are the George Michaels, Madonnas. Is it Kanye, Lady Gaga, Justin Beiber?
NEXT UP the Cure’s “A Night Like This”
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