What happens when people are afraid? They become intolerant.

The enemy is not out there. The enemy is within.

I saw lack of desire like a plague.

Another new and exciting distraction. An excuse to do nothing.

I keep telling people I want to start a revolution, but nobody’s taking me seriously.

If I had black skin and an afro, would you take me seriously? If I was an Arab waving a hand grenade, would you take me seriously? If I was wearing combat gear and I had an AK47 strapped to my back, would you take me seriously?

Instead, I’m a woman. I’m blond.

In a way, Madonna is pointing out exactly why the revolution won’t be pop (“too much creativity being crushed under the wheel of corporate branding and what’s trending”), but, at the same time, she is a pop star trying to start something despite her gender and her blond hair. She’s being smart about it, too. You can download the #secretprojectrevolution as a bitorrent bundle. You know, bitorrent, that peer-to-peer file sharing platform where people illegally download movies, music, and porn. Like Beyoncé, Madonna is also releasing her work in a way that calls into question how we consume things and more importantly, why we are consuming them.

Madonna’s project is valiant, but it ultimately feels like nothing more than glitz gritted up in black and white. It’s certainly not Bob Marley. But maybe I’m being too harsh and too technical about my definition of revolution. Maybe I need to let “the uprising” go. Back to the words of Madonna, perhaps a revolution is really a matter of “inquiring further.”

And just for fun, even though the revolution won’t be televised, or be pop for that matter, I have an important question for you to answer in the comments: If a contemporary pop star were to somehow lead the revolution, who would you want it to be and what belief system would they represent?

#artforfreedom#artforfreedom

Does Pop Music Have 'Revolutionary' Potential?