Is It All Over For Madonna?

I have been a massive fan of Madonna's since I was a child and to me she will always remain the Queen of Pop.  She is arguably the greatest living icon we have and no one can ever take away the enormous success she has achieved through the course of her career, selling 300 millions records and being awarded the biggest selling female artist of all time is something her contemporaries can only dream about.  
But has she come to end to her career?

The success of her latest album MDNA has been limited, I for one think it to be her worst album in years, if not ever, and the current promotional tour has left many feeling unenthused and upset.
I refused to attend the MDNA tour, one because I hate the album and two because of the tickets costs.  I'm not sure what planet she is on thinking people should have to pay hundreds of pounds to watch her lip sink for less than two hours but she must be a little deluded if not self obsessed.  The tour itelf has been critised for not containing enough of her back catalogue, but Madonna has always aimed to please herself over anyone else.

What frustrates me the most with Madonna is she is no longer a trend setter, she is now following others and trying a little too hard to be down with the kids.
When I first listened to MDNA with it's childish and pointless lyrics I couldn't help but go back and listen to her earlier offerings and wonder where it all went wrong.  Listening to the likes of Rain, You'll See, Open Your Heart, Like A Prayer, Live to Tell, Frozen and Hung Up fills me with joy.  This is Madonna at her best, slick production, edgy video's, beautiful and well crafted songs that will stand the test of time.  People still say the albums True Blue, Ray Of Light, Confessions On A Dancefloor and Like A Prayer are pop masterpieces, I can't see people saying that about MDNA or it's predecessor Hard Candy in 20, 10 or even 5 years time.  Many would argue that these albums are only so good due to the production team involved, and that her close personal friendships with people in the music business are what's kept her affloat for the best part of 30 years, and this is possibly true but it's also fair to say that Madonna picked these producers and chose to associate with these people which for me simply highlights her artistic prowess. 

Now of course, Madonna has had blips in the past.  Erotica and Bedtime Stories were panned and commercial flops when they were released so maybe she can bounce back with something life changing again in the future, because after all the SEX fiasco she released Ray Of Light, one of the best albums of the nineties which contained Frozen, one of her greatest ever singles.
She was also criticised when she released American Life, and selling just four million copies worldwide, it's the lowest selling album of her career but she followed that with the fantastic Confessions On A Dancefloor, which for me is one the most important and accomplished pop albums of all time.  
So it's fair to say that Madonna's success and reception has always been patchy, but even in the past, when it hasn't quite worked at least she was doing what she wanted, pushing the boundaries and delivering something new and exciting, now it just looks like she is trying too hard, as if she is scared of the likes of Britney, GaGa, RiRi and Minaj.  But she needn't be, she is the Queen of Pop and she always will be.  She has a legacy that will never be matched and a fan base that will never go away.  She broke down boundaries, reinvented popular music and influenced generations of female artists like P!nk, JLo, Britney, Christina, Kylie and the like who owe Madonna a great deal for forging a path that everyone else has followed.  
She is our greatest living pop star and she will always be a superstar of stratospheric proportions and who knows, if she can stop trying so hard maybe the next album will be another Confessions, Like A Prayer or Ray Of Light. 
Let's hope so.