Linda Perry has delivered a blunt message to Madonna, claiming the pop icon has lost her edge by chasing trends instead of leading them.
Speaking to Consequence, the 61-year-old songwriter admitted she has long wanted to collaborate with the Queen of Pop.
She said: “The one that’s always like a thorn in my side because I don’t know why I want to do this, she’s turned me down so many times.”
The 4 Non Blondes bandleader – who is behind pop staples including Beautiful by Christina Aguilera, What You Waiting For? by Gwen Stefani and Get the Party Started by Pink – argued that Madonna’s recent creative choices feel reactive rather than trailblazing, adding: “When Madonna’s ready to retire, she should make that album with me because I’ll make her such a great album because right now, one of the biggest problems I’m having with Madonna … of late, I feel she is a follower. She’s following the trends. She’s trying to compete with Charli xcx and this and that.”
She didn’t hold back on her assessment, saying: “Like everything about her seems weak to me and not powerful.”
Linda then joked she’d “love to get that woman in a studio, slap her in the face a couple of times and say ‘wake up, get back to who Madonna is and what you represent.’”
She said the Like a Virgin hitmaker, 67, should “focus on the power of what her voice can do” and avoid “autotune and effects”, suggesting they join forces on an acoustic record.
Linda name-dropping Charli xcx comes after Madonna seemingly responded to the star’s statement that “the dance floor is dead”.
Charli recently divided opinion with the glitchy track Rock Music, on which she declares, “I think the dance floor is dead”.
Madonna, who is set to release her long‑awaited follow‑up to 2005’s Confessions on a Dance Floor, titled Confessions II, in July, appeared to hit back.
Taking to Instagram last week, the Vogue singer declared alongside a series of disco-themed pictures: “If your Dance Floor feels dead
Maybe you’re playing the wrong music. (sic)”