Madonna On Lady Gaga's "Born This Way"

by The Ology Team .

On Jan 15, 2012

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We all know Lady Gaga strives to emulate the iconic Madonna. It's no secret.

The pop star has even gushed about it herself: "I genuinely love her so much. I think she is so amazing. She could never be replicated. And, yes, I’m Italian, I’m from New York, and not for nothing, it’s not my fault that I kind of look like her, right? So, look, if anything, it’s more annoying to me that people would insinuate that I don’t like to be compared to her… she’s wonderful and inspiring and liberating."

But what does the originator think of all this? Well, after three or so years of comparisons Madonna was finally ready to shed some light on it all while appearing on ABC's 20/20.

The 53-year-old admitted she thought "Born This Way" sounded 'familiar' when she first heard it.

"When I heard it on the radio …I said 'that sounds very familiar'," she told interviewer Cynthia McFadden. "It felt reductive."

Reductive?! What a choice of words on Madonna's part.

Knowing it's often synonymous with 'minimal' or 'crude', McFadden asked whether that was 'a good or bad thing', to which Madonna simply replied: '"Look it up," before smirking.

But she made sure to follow up the snide remark with a rather kind one.

"She's a very talented artist," Madonna said. "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... There’s a lot of ways to look at it. I can’t really be annoyed by it... because, obviously, I’ve influenced her."

Yes, kind followed by more… pretentiousness. There really is no denying that Madonna has influenced Lady Gaga.

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