Much of the hand-wringing around her age focuses on her lack of dignity. But she’s not a United Nations ambassador — she’s a pop star. And let’s not forget that when pop stars now shoot whipped cream out of their bras and wear dresses made of meat, it’s because they are trying to clear the bar she set.

Image Madonna lifted her Givenchy matador costume at the Grammy Awards this year. Credit... Jordan Strauss/Invision, via Associated Press

In her 1991 documentary film, “Madonna: Truth or Dare,” cameras were voyeuristic, which seemed radical then and eerily prophetic now: Here is Madonna slurping soup while chatting on the phone, there is Madonna getting her throat examined by a doctor. “She doesn’t want to live off camera, much less talk,” said Warren Beatty, her boyfriend at the time.

Now we all live constantly on camera, busily Instagramming and tweeting our every move. Madonna’s throat exam is demure compared with “Keeping Up With the Kardashians,” on which we would not be surprised to see a high colonic recorded for posterity.

Kanye West, a Kardashian in-law, calls Madonna “the greatest visual musical artist that we’ve ever had.” Her music videos — over 60 — helped define the genre; she has had more No. 1 singles (45) than anyone. Along with Michael Jackson, she expanded the video form from a routine performance — or, in the early days, a goofy skit shot on a paltry budget — into four minutes of emotionally layered storytelling.

But she was late to social media — she joined Twitter in 2012 and Instagram in 2013 — and there’s been a stream of gaffes as she attempts to be down with the kids.

In 2000, back when the narrative was easier to control, I interviewed her for the cover story in Rolling Stone. Our chat was to take place in her office at Maverick Records in Los Angeles. Sick with nerves, I showed up an hour early — I had been told she doesn’t tolerate lateness — and sat in front of the building, trying to calm my hammering heart.