Madonna in Harper's Bazaar: "I've Always Felt Oppressed"

Madonna isn't going anywhere.
Three decades into her career, the 58-year-old singer appears in Harper's Bazaar's February issue. She may be a cover girl, but as Madonna tells the magazine, "I've always felt oppressed."
Realizing her comment might raise a few eyebrows, the "Living for Love" singer adds, "I know a lot of people would go, 'Oh, that's ridiculous for you to say that. You're a successful white, wealthy pop star,' but I've had the s--t kicked out of me for my entire career, and a large part of that is because I'm female and also because I refuse to live a conventional life. I've created a very unconventional family. I have lovers who are three decades younger than me. This makes people very uncomfortable. I feel like everything I do makes people feel really uncomfortable."
Assuming that's true, why put herself out there at all?

"Art keeps me alive. I've obviously been devastated or heartbroken all my life, since my mother's death. I've had so many challenges throughout my career, however successful people perceive me to be," the seven-time Grammy winner says. "The only way I've been able to survive the betrayal of lovers, family members, and society is to be able to create as an artist."
Madonna explains that she wants to "touch people's hearts to get them to look at life in a different way. To be a part of evolution, because, for me, it's either you're part of creation or you're part of destruction. It's inexplicable; it's like breathing, and I can't imagine not doing it.""That is one of the arguments I would get into with my ex-husband, who used to say to me, 'But why do you have to do this again? Why do you have to make another record? Why do you have to go on tour? Why do you have to make a movie?'" Madonna recalls, likely referring to Guy Ritchie. "I'm like, 'Why do I have to explain myself?' I feel like that's a very sexist thing to say."Sadly, she's grown accustomed to such questions. "Does somebody ask Steven Spielberg why he's still making movies? Hasn't he had

enough success? Hasn't he made enough money? Hasn't he made a name for himself? Did somebody go to Pablo Picasso and say, 'OK, you're 80 years old. Haven't you painted enough paintings?' No," Madonna explains. "I'm so tired of that question. I just don't understand it. I'll stop doing everything that I do when I don't want to do it anymore. I'll stop when I run out of ideas. I'll stop when you f--king kill me. How about that?"

Madonna's last album, Rebel Heart, was released in March 2015. She supported it with a worldwide tour, and she hopes to hit the road again soon. "Whenever I do my live shows, I feel artistically inspired and excited because I get to do and say a lot of things that I can't if I just make a record," the "Ghosttown" singer tells Harper's Bazaar (on newsstands Jan. 17). "A lot of times it's the only way people are going to hear my music because you don't get to have your music played on Top 40 if you're above the age of 35. It's always exciting for me to perform."

It's not just about the music for Madonna anymore. "I'm liking the idea more and more of just standing up with a microphone and talking. I like talking; I like playing with the audience," she tells the magazine. "I keep telling Amy Schumer and Dave Chappelle and Chris Rock that I'm going to do stand-up and they'd better watch out. I'm coming. I'm coming right behind them."