Queen of pop reinvents herself again at 60

Madonna hits her seventh decade in a new guise — as a native of Lisbon and a soccer mom, finds

As anyone who has enjoyed living through the many, detailed incarnations of Madonna might, I often ponder which is my favourite era. The original, Desperately Seeking Susan look was strong. But who can forget Mumdonna, Kabaladonna, Discodonna or — a personal favourite — Lady of the Manor-donna. I was also very into her prim Prada floral English tea-dress phase when she launched her children’s books (circa 2003, I believe), J K-donna?

But no good can really come of looking back. Madonna is not one for reminiscing. “Let me make this clear,” she says to Xerxes Cook, the writer tasked with profiling her for Italian Vogue’s cover coup to mark her landmark birthday. “This is about my life in Lisbon. It doesn’t make much sense to talk about anything else, does it?” The answer is of course “no”.

And so here we are, with the latest Madonna, Fadodonna, perhaps? Nandodonna? For the cover story, the high-fashion photographer duo Mert & Marcus spent a day at home in Lisbon as she took her charges for a horse and carriage ride (she is a keen horsewoman), skipped through mazes and struck Vogue-like poses in fields of wildflowers.

You see, she’s not just a 300-million-album-selling pop star. These days, Ms Ciccone is more likely to be found on the sidelines of her 13-year-old son David’s football match. “He’s wanted to play soccer professionally for years. I’ve been desperate to get him into the best academies with the best coaches, but the level of football in America is much lower than the rest of the world,” she says, explaining how she and her four adopted children came to be living in Lapa, a smart quarter of Lisbon. Yes, the cone-bra wearing, whip-wielding, Britney Spearssnogging Madonna is now a fully fledged soccer mom. Maradonna, perhaps?

Is this Madonna the everywoman? The everymum? The where-the-hell-is-the-boiler-man Madonna? Pity the poor American used to the 24/7 nature of NYC . . .

“Lisbon is an ancient city and no one is in a hurry to do things,” she elaborates, with a tale that will surely resonate with any casual Airbnb user. “You can have all the romantic notions you want, but once you are in a house and your staff doesn’t show up and the pipe starts leaking and you don’t speak the language, all of a sudden you’re, like, f***, what have I done?”

Yet, invisible employees aside, this certainly hasn’t held her back from making herself very at home in the neighbourhood. She describes experiencing traditional Fado (the