Secondly, the "media circus" this individual describes, which has supposedly "fueled" her entire career is a bit of a stretch isn't it?
Yes, the media has created plenty of attention surrounding Madonna and her endeavors, that is something I certainly wouldn't deny. So what? As if Madonna is the only artist where controversy and a "media circus" have fueled a career? Give me a break.
Plenty of other musical artist's careers have been fueled by media attention and controversy. Let's name some of them shall we? John Lennon, the Beatles, Elvis Presley, Elton John, Queen, The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Prince---these are some of the most influential artists of our time. Does media attention and controversy make them any less talented, legit, or worthy? Nope, it doesn't. Artists such as Elton John and David Bowie were smart about trying to control the "media circus" surrounding them to best benefit her career. Madonna is no different from any other postmodern musical artist out there. She grew up in the age of uber-media, and instead of fighting against it, she became a part of it, and learned how to somewhat control it---like many others before her have done, and like many others after her will continue to do.

Lastly, we come to the age-old argument of Madonna not being talented. Is Madonna the best singer? Absolutely not! Some of her vocal performances on The Who's That Girl Tour and especially on the iconic Blond Ambition Tour have been absolutely horrid. Let's also not forget her various vocal performances on awards shows, like "Nothing Really Matters" from the 1999 Grammy's and "Ray of Light" from the 1998 MTV Video Music Awards.
Seriously, they are cringe-worthy... you literally feel sorry for her while you watch her perform because her voice is so terrible. Is she the best dancer? Nah... although she's certainly far more stylistic and athletic than a lot of other dancers out there in the pop culture world. Is she the most creative songwriter and producer out there? Nope. There are other solo artists out there like Bjork, Sinead O'Connor, and Fiona Apple who put Madonna's songwriting skills and production skills to shame.

BUT... this doesn't mean Madonna is devoid of talent. Because, although there are plenty of other artists out there more talented than Madonna, she is still talented in all the arena's I just listed. She is still a good singer (in fact, she has improved phenomenally since her original debut in 1982, just listen to performances like "Live To Tell" from The Confessions Tour in 2006, or "Lament" from The Re-Invention Tour in 2004---absolutely gorgeous vocal performances from her), she can still kick ass on the dance floor (you show me another woman in her late 40's who danced as well, as strongly, and as solidly as Madonna did on her last two tours---and try doing the moves from "Where's The Party" from the Blond Ambition Tour in 1990, it's not an easy feat my friends), and her songwriting/production skills at times are rather impressive.

Songwriting-wise, take songs like "Till Death Do Us Part", "Cherish", "Rain", "Drowned World/Substitute For Love", "Ray of Light", and "What It Feels Like For a Girl" for example.
Songwriting isn't about making complicated lyrics with impressive words that make you go, wow, that person is smart! Songwriting, at least in the world of pop music, is about writing lyrics to a melody and production that seem to fit it so perfectly and poetically... that you can't imagine the track being written any other way. The songs I just listed accomplished just that. Madonna's production skills, in terms of musical innovation (or bringing something from the underground, and melding it to a pop song the masses can listen to), are plentiful.
But, I feel some prime examples are: "Live To Tell", "Like A Prayer", "Waiting", "Ray of Light", "Music", "Get Together", etc. Here are songs where they each have unique production to them, and it's not your standard sound for a "creamy smooth pop icon goddess"---yet, with Madonna, she makes those songs work with flying colors.
I'm sure the detractor would argue this is all Madonna's production team, but the truth is, the detractor has no proof of that. Instead, we have incredibly talented producers and songwriters who have all said in interviews that Madonna is far more involved than people believe her to be. They've described situations where Madonna already has the melody, and she brings it to the table, and they develop the song from there. Or, they've described scenarios where they have brought a melody to Madonna, and Madonna has developed both the melody and the lyrics from the original foundation. Hmmm... not bad for a woman who is supposedly talentless and simply has a "team" who creates the music for her.

Now, I could begin to touch on the comment regarding her "irrelevance", but in all honesty, it would be pointless for me to go into that because it's simply dumb to sit here and defend Madonna's relevance in the world.