It’s Madonna‘s Birth-Week—Let the Music Play

Madonna, Interview March 2001.

Welcome to Thirstory, where we whet your appetite with pages from the Interview archives that were almost too hot to print. This week, we’re honoring a holy occasion: Madonna’s 63rd orbit around the sun. In celebration, we’re revisiting Queen of Pop’s March 2001 cover story, below.

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Every year on August 16th, the queers, the girls, and the allies unite to mark the birth of one Madonna Louise Ciccone. 2021 has been a standout year for Madame X, whose much-discussed Pride celebration in New York City—you just had to be there—pushed her decades-long commitment to allyship with the LGBTQIA+ community still further (she also schooled a certain rapper who posted vicious comments about victims of HIV/AIDS). This week, M announced that she was celebrating the 40th anniversary of her 1982 recording debut by inking a new deal with Warner Music, her original label. The agreement includes the reissue of a number of albums and compilations—still undisclosed— all curated by the Material Girl herself.

In light of the new agreement, we’re revisiting Madonna’s 2001 interview with Ingrid Sischy, our former Editor-in-Chief, conducted after the release of Music (2001), the artist’s critically-acclaimed eighth studio album. Music, which followed in the wake of 1998’s hit-studded record Ray of Light, boasts an abundance of country and pop-informed songs that shaped zeitgeist of the late-’90s, like “What It Feels Like for a Girl” and “Impressive Instant.” Read an excerpt from the interview below, and feast your eyes on, well, Madonna.