Steven Klein @stevenkleinstudioLongtime Madonna fans remember her famous appearance on American Bandstand back in 1984. When host Dick Clark asked her what her dreams were, the up-and-coming singer said boldly, “To rule the world.” But now, Madonna denies that she ever dreamed of being a rich and famous superstar.
Speaking to the British paper The Guardian, Madonna reveals that, back then, her super-confident act was just that: an act. She was actually pretty insecure.
“I may have felt like a nobody, but I knew I had to do something,” she says. “If I was going to make something out of my life, I had to, y’know, hurl myself into the dark space, go down the road less traveled.”
And even today, as a global icon, Madonna tells the paper, “Yes, I want to be successful, I am ambitious. Yes!”
Asked why she feels that way when she’s, y’know, the Queen of Pop, she refers back to that 1984 comment.
“I don’t think my ambition has ever really been generated by what you maybe perceive as conventional success,” Madonna says. “I mean, being super-famous or super-rich was never my goal. I didn’t say: ‘I want to be the most famous person in the world.’ I didn’t say: ‘I want to be the richest person in the world.’ I said I wanted to rule the world.”
OK, so what did she mean by that?
“In my very young mind…I think I just meant, ‘I want to make a mark on the world, I want to be a somebody,'” she reveals. “Because I grew up feeling like a nobody, and I wanted to make a difference. I think that’s what I meant.”
Well, mission accomplished. Madonna’s new album Madame X is out now.
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