The idiom “Ray of Light” doesn’t just refer to an expression of hope in challenging times; it’s also the title of singer Madonna’s last big album, which took home a Grammy Award in 1998. I bring this up in defense of the rather brutal beating she took in the press at this year’s Grammy ceremony on her distorted facial features. Madonna said it was the bad lighting. Those in-the-know said it was her years of Botox, surgery, etc.

Either way, watching Madonna reduced to a typically shallow, social media meme was depressing. As professor and cultural critic Camille Paglia has said, Madonna’s role in subverting American pop culture back in the 1990s has secured her a place in history. But to today’s generation, what is history? Everything is reduced to a TikTok video. Madonna is just an old lady who dresses up in leather.