SHARMILA NAIR alltherage@thestar.com.my
OKAY, this feud between Madonna and Lady Gaga is starting to get silly and downright annoying.
Last week, right before Madonna kicked off her MDNA world tour, a video of the performer singing a mash-up of her and Lady Gaga’s songs went viral.
In the video, Madonna slipped Gaga’s Born This Way chorus into her own Express Yourself, and ended it by incorporating her She’s Not Me track into the medley. Very subtle, that Madonna, at telling the world that Gaga is the copycat and not her.
Now, this drama started last year (that’s how old this spat is) when Lady Gaga released her Born This Way single and everyone (Madonna included) noticed how similar it sounded to the Queen of Pop’s 1989 hit Express Yourself.
So, it was only natural that everyone accused Gaga of copying not only Madonna’s outrageous and controversial personal style (from Madge’s earlier years) but her music as well. To be fair, Gaga has always cited Madonna as one of her biggest musical inspirations and said she grew up listening to the pop diva’s music.
Last year, when NME magazine asked Gaga about the two tracks, she said: “I will look you in your eyes and tell you that I am not dumb enough or moronic enough to think that you are dumb enough or moronic enough not to see that I would have stolen a melody. “If you put the songs next to each other, side by side, the only similarities are the chord progression.”
Meanwhile, Madonna went on US television programme 20/20 and said (about Gaga citing her as a musical inspiration): “She’s a very talented artiste. I certainly think she references me a lot in her work. And sometimes I think it’s amusing and flattering and well done. (Her songs seem to be a) statement about taking something that was in the zeitgeist, you know, 20 years ago and turning it inside out and reinterpreting it.”
In the same interview, Madonna, 53, said that when she first heard Born This Way on the radio, she couldn’t help but think that the song sounded very familiar. “It felt reductive,” she said.
There have been many instances where Lady Gaga has been cited as the one female artiste who could surpass Madonna’s influence in the music industry in this era. Gaga, who is active on social media site Twitter, is set to hit the 25 million followers mark very soon.
Her songs are relevant to the younger generation today and her music videos have been viewed over one billion times on YouTube.
Madonna, on the other hand, has, well, just been Madonna – changing her looks, doing yoga, and walking around town in the arms of a younger man.
While most of us have already moved on from the Lady Gaga-Madonna “personality/music theft” drama (it has been over a year already, for goodness sake) and have accepted the former as the quirkier and more talented younger version of the latter, it’s obvious that Her Madgesty herself hasn’t.
The dig in the video seemed a little personal, and quite unnecessary, actually; and even Gaga felt that way.
Mother Monster hit back at Madonna during her gig in Auckland, New Zealand, last week, telling fans: “You could never invalidate the power of Born This Way. I don’t want to be your queen, I want to be your friend.”
The 26-year-old also added: “I don’t even want to fight back because it’s more important to me to keep writing music. Because that’s really all I care about, the music. Things are really different than they were 25 years ago, and that’s what makes Born This Way so relevant for me. We’re socially in a different place and it’s OK, we don’t have to all slice and hate each other any more.”
Well said, Gaga. Now we only have to wait for Madonna to give her piece of mind….
Sharm says: Ugh, I can’t pick a side, I hate them both. Team Britney Spears FTW.
