Madonna Declares ‘I Can Be Whoever I Wanna Be’ In New Interview Magazine Collaboration

Madonna posted on Instagram this week with a short caption: “I can be whoever I wanna be.” The post tags Interview Magazine, photographer Nadia Lee Cohen, and Mel Ottenberg. Those three names together signal a new collaboration with a team that has a well-earned visual reputation.

Cohen is a British photographer known for vivid, cinematic work. Her images lean into surreal setups and retro-glamour, with bright color and a theatrical quality. She has shot for major fashion publications and worked with a wide range of well-known subjects over the years. Her work often has an otherworldly quality, something between a fashion editorial and a film still. That aesthetic pairs naturally with someone like Madonna.

Ottenberg has been editor-in-chief at Interview Magazine since 2019. He goes by @melzy917 on Instagram. Interview went through financial difficulties and relaunched in 2018, and Ottenberg took the helm the following year. He has helped restore its standing in fashion and arts circles. Andy Warhol founded the magazine in 1969, and it built its name on experimental photography and celebrity conversations. It has kept its relevance by taking creative risks.

The caption connects to something Madonna has made central to her whole career. She has spent more than four decades reshaping her image and her sound. She started with her early 1980s pop breakthrough and moved through the Erotica era. Critically acclaimed records like Ray of Light and Confessions on a Dance Floor followed, and then came the theatrical Madame X chapter. Reinvention has never been incidental for her. It’s been the main project all along, and that’s what makes eight simple words land the way they do.

No additional details have been announced. The post is the only preview available right now.

The post drew more than 126,000 likes on Instagram. Fan comments leaned positive, with many responding to the caption as much as to the collaboration itself.

At 67, Madonna has stayed active. The Celebration Tour wrapped in early 2024 and set records as the highest-grossing concert tour by a female artist in history. The run covered arenas across North America and Europe, and it drew on material from across her full discography. She has remained visible since then, and this new project with Cohen and Interview signals another creative push.

The collaboration keeps the details close for now. That’s standard for Madonna. She rarely gets ahead of herself on a project. Things get announced on her timeline, not anyone else’s. The caption says enough, and the creative team involved has the credentials to back it up.