Diplo on Madonna: ‘No one wants her to succeed’, people care more about Kim K.
David Mack
Updated on March 10, 2026
Diplo has a surprisingly interesting new interview with Rolling Stone. I’m not really a fan of Diplo – also known as Major Lazer – mostly because he’s a megawatt bitch of the highest order. He’s one of the more high-profile trolls in music these days, throwing shade at everyone from M.I.A. (his ex), Taylor Swift, Lorde and more. In this interview, he talks about his recent work with Madonna and Justin Bieber. You can read the full Rolling Stone piece here. Some highlights:
Working with Justin Bieber on “Where R U Now”: “He’d been stuck in a rut where he has to do a certain thing because of his fan base. Guy from Disclosure texted me, “Yo, man, that Bieber record is amazing,” and I’m like, “Man, you would’ve never written that a year ago,” and he’s like, “I know, this is very difficult for me to text right now.” Bieber’s personal life is whatever it is — he’s a rich kid and he’s pretty much gonna have to be a jerk. But he’s respectful to me, and he has that weird gene where he’s good at everything: better at basketball than me, better at drums. For us it’s more like an art project where you utilize his voice.
His obnoxious social media persona: “If I have a fight with somebody, it makes me look like a prick, but it makes the social-media numbers explode. It’s the Kanye West theory: In 2015, become a prick and just get more popular. I don’t want to be thought of like that, but also I just don’t really care. I’m doing jokes and people take it seriously, like that’s the person I am.
He made up with Taylor Swift: “We squashed it! I saw her at the Grammys and she was supernice and cool. Her fans loved the beef, though. That’s all they have — they don’t have, like, real things going on. It’s still startling when these artists pay attention to my Twitter. Like, Ed Sheeran unfollowed me when I said something about Taylor — I can’t believe these people even know who I am.
On Madonna and ageism: “She created the world we live in. It already sucks to be a woman in the music industry, but to be a boss woman is even harder. She sold out her tour in minutes, but no one seems to want her to succeed — “Madonna, we’ve been there, done that, now we’re about Kim Kardashian.” Her song “Ghosttown” was a guaranteed Number One for anybody else, but she didn’t get a fair shot. With “Bitch I’m Madonna,” everyone said there’s no way it will go anywhere, but I’m like, “Screw it, it represents you more than anything.”
The Madonna thing – he produced “Bitch I’m Madonna” which is easily one of Madonna’s worst songs in the past ten years. That’s not ageism – that’s a sh-tty song and a really embarrassing, budget mess of a video. I’m not saying Madonna doesn’t face ageism – she does. I’m not saying Diplo isn’t totally correct to say that in a lot of ways, Madonna is still boss and she’s still successful. He’s right about that. But there is more at play when you’re talking about Madge.
I laughed at this line about the Swift-lunatics: “Her fans loved the beef, though. That’s all they have — they don’t have, like, real things going on.” LMAO. It actually never occurred to me that Diplo was just pretending to be the biggest douchebag on social media just to Yeezy his way into fame and fortune. Do you think that’s what’s really happening? Or is Diplo just a douche?
Photos courtesy of WENN, Instagram.
