Is Gwen Stefani the New Madonna?

Gwen Stefani has many fans. Gwen Stefani also has many pairs of shoes. Known for her outrageous appetite for all things glamorous and glitzy, Gwen Stefani has been compared to the original material girl, Madonna, on may occasions.

But is the comparison fair? Madonna's impact on the world was quite different in many respects, due mainly to the era in which she debuted. When Madonna wore a lacy bra and little else, she was the first to do so. Madonna pushed the envelope of good taste and artistic expression to a new height, bravely baring all at any opportunity, and not relenting in her challenging of the boundaries.

Today, we live in a much different society. Madonna's mid 80s antics would do little to make you stand out in this day and age. While Gwen Stefani needs little help standing out, she certainly pushes the envelope in her own way, if not quite as overtly sexual as Madonna, she also has little reservation about flaunting her charms on stage and screen.

Overt sexuality is nothing new. We have seen Betty Page and Marilyn Monroe in all their naked glory, long before Madonna there were pinup queens and dirty magazines. But Madonna had a style, a rythm, an exploitable quality that went beyond just being a boy toy bombshell, a quality that caught the attention of the world. A world, which, at that time, was rated G.

It is this innate quality that sparks comparisons of Gwen Stefani and Madonna, the undefinable charisma that makes them both stand out in a sea of generic blonde singing and dancing girls. It might be more fair to compare the two at some later point, when Gwen Stefani's body of work more closely resembles that produced by Madonna. At that time, somewhere in the future, a more detailed comparison can be made. At this point, the only fair comparison would be the amount of teenage boys with posters of the pop divas hanging from the bedroom wall.