Christine (and the Queens) has been doing a lot of press in Belgium and she won't stop praising Madonna, whom she says is a major inspiration for her new album.
Here's some of the stuff she had to say:
"The idea of a woman who's in charge, that is something that Madonna worked very hard for. I'd say almost ruthlessly. She exudes power with minimal effort to make it acceptable, it's almost the opposite. She's blatantly aggressive in the expression of her needs. That makes her a pure threat.
I don't have the same devouring energy as her. But her status has helped me in my personal quest, to get used to power dynamics in my own surroundings. I will no longer apologize for my sexuality. If they want to call me a slut because of that, then that's fine. I accept that. But on the other hand I deal with it in a different way than her. In a certain way she could be perceived as a classic feminist, although sometimes the things she did were so exaggerated that it almost became camp. I come from the queer perspective, so I guess what I do is more ambivalent.
There are people who don't understand the charm of surrendering yourself to someone. Especially not sexually.
Madonna is a master at playing that game. If you find joy in being submissive than you're essentially still in charge. When I got on stage with her and she gave me that banana I immediately put it in my pants as a sort of phallic symbol. I asked her out as well. It was a very playful situation. So I never had this feeling that she was exploiting me or that I lowered myself. But did she shamelessy sexualize me? Hell yeah. And I loved it. I don't think the French audience saw me as a sexual being up until that point. You see, Madonna had to spank my bottom in order for that to happen!
You know what says a lot about the world that we live in? The fact that Madonna still is modern and controversial. In fact even the things she did in the past, during her Erotica era for instance...people today would still freak out over that. Such a raw expression of female sexuality and desire. Oh My God! I still get upset when I think about that. But at the same time it inspires me, because it means there are still things worth fighting for. There are a lot of women in the 'pop' business that are subversive, but they are all so polished. They don't want to scare the men. But Madonna didn't give a **** about that. She was sexy and a threat at the same time. Like a female phallic symbol".