Almost as if to stoke the conspiracy theory that everything celebrities do is some kind of publicity stunt, Madonna made nice with Charli XCX after appearing at the Yves Saint Laurent SS27 (not to be confused with “SS26”) menswear show at Fondation Pinault (often better known as “Bourse de Commerce”) on June 23rd.
Then again, what else could either of them do but “put on a happy face” upon not only “encountering” one another, but being seated next to each other? This only further accenting the fact that they were both dressed in similar shades of red (both in lace no less)…perhaps allowing gays the opportunity to think of that time Mariah and Whitney pretended to accidentally wear the same dress at the 1998 MTV Video Music Awards (where Madonna herself stole the show overall, winning six out of the nine awards she was nominated for). Or at least, the gays that are Madonna fans. For the “Charli gays” are less likely to be aware of such a moment in gay icon history.
In any case, the momentousness of their “union” at this show (and later, at Madonna’s “Club Confessions” afterparty) arrives just a little over a month after Madonna dropped a carousel of photos on May 20th with the rather pointed caption, “If your dance floor feels dead maybe you’re playing the wrong music.” This said less than two weeks after Charli dropped “Rock Music,” the lead single from Music, Fashion, Film (an album title she revealed only after the release of the second single, “SS26”). And it’s a song during which she declares (whether “ironically” or not), “I think the dance floor is dead (it’s so dead)/So now we’re making rock music.” Many took the lyrics literally, prompting the kind of backlash that Charli would then compare to the reaction to the Vroom Vroom EP in 2015, commenting, “It reminds [me and my friends] of the initial discourse around PC Music, how the label was deemed as almost critiquing or looking down on pop music or something, and there was an element of that with Vroom Vroom too.”
And yet, she was clearly shook enough after Madonna seemingly got “offended” by her words (then again, that’s just her “brand of humor”) to feel obliged to tell Rolling Stone UK, “That lyric is very much about my relationship with Brat, and my personal experience with that album.” Thus, with all these “parallel reactions” between the two (not to mention how both orbit the same places and people [see also: this year’s Met Gala], it seemed as if Charli XCX could easily make another remix of “Girl, so confusing” with Madonna based on this “back and forth” of late. Even though the overall “energy” between the two was decidedly “convivial” as they sat amidst a row of fellow celebrities that included longtime Madonna bestie Debi Mazar, Kate Moss (both of whom appeared in Confessions II: The Film), Arca, Stuart Price, Connor Storrie (who famously took a cigarette break with Charli at the Met Gala), Rami Malek, Daisy Edgar-Jones and Austin Butler. So convivial, in fact, that they decided to start smoking cigarettes together. For, “when in Paris…”
And, apart from smoking cigs, the other cliché thing one must do while in the City of Light is go to a cabaret. Which is precisely where Madonna and Anthony Vaccarello (the creative director for YSL who also appeared in Charli’s “SS26” video—he being among the many cameos) chose to hold their “Club Confessions / Club Saint Laurent” afterparty. Namely, at Paradis Latin. Where Madonna recreated the vibe she offered up at The Abbey on April 25th, except, this time, the “Addison Rae” of the night was Charli, far less trashed because, well, let’s face it, she has a higher tolerance than Addison could ever hope to (first and foremost because Charli is British). One supposes that made Debi Mazar the “Julia Fox” of the outfit this time around (and yes, if Madonna’s “overpriced” biopic ever does manage to get made, Fox is a shoo-in for the role of Mazar), for she, too, appeared onstage to join in on the revelry. Complete with Madonna throwing it back to a track she famously dances to in a white terrycloth robe and little else while flipping off the camera in Truth or Dare: Mixmasters featuring MC Action’s “In the Mix.”
But, despite Mazar’s own strong presence (not to mention Stuart Price’s), it was the catwalking, hugging and general “vibing” between Madonna and Charli that stood out the most. Rounded out by Madonna sharing an embrace with Charli on par with the one she shared onstage with Sabrina Carpenter at Coachella back in April. Indeed, at this rate, it’s just a documented hug with Chappell Roan she’s missing if she wants to fully capitalize on the “holy musical trinity” of 2024. Then again, Roan’s cachet hasn’t fully recovered “post-Lollapalooza Brasil misunderstanding” (but maybe it will after she takes the stage at Olivia Rodrigo’s Daisy Chain Fields Festival).
Incidentally, the moment Madonna and Charli did hug happened to be during a remix of “Thief of Hearts” (which Gen Z took a shine to earlier this year, even though it’s not exactly the most “woke” song). With the repetition of the word “bitch” adding to the “girl, so confusing” aura of this entire social display, both at the actual fashion show and the afterparty. However, considering that Madonna and Charli both have a wry, ironic sense of humor (which is part of what makes Madonna something of an honorary Brit—hence, also feeling like she could adopt a British accent for a while there) and enjoy challenging both the status quo (to an extent) and themselves, it seems as if an alliance/friendship between these two is actually long overdue. Along with a musical collaboration.
So yes, move over, Sabrina, it’s time for Charli to bring her love on a song with Madonna. And one can only dare to dream it might show up on a “deluxe edition” of Confessions II…but that might be asking for far too much after being so “fed” by their Parisian “performance” together.
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