Gaga on attack over Madonna rip-off claims

Lady Gaga uses a front cover interview in this week's NME to address critics who claim she ripped off Madonna's track Express Yourself with her recent single Born This Way.

"That's retarded," she tells the music weekly - perhaps misguidedly given recent furores over the 'R-word'. "The only similarities are the chord progression. It's the same one that's been in disco music for the last 50 years.

"Just because I'm the first fucking artist in 25 years to think of putting it on Top 40 radio, it doesn't mean I'm a plagiarist, it means I'm fucking smart. Sorry."

When Gaga released Born This Way on February 11, pop fans immediately took to social media to remark upon the similarities between the two tracks. Even self-confessed Gaga fan Chris Ciccione, Madonna's brother, expressed surprise.

"They should have noticed, somebody should have noticed that the songs are so remarkably alike," Ciccone told E! News. "They should have pulled it or at least said, 'Change it.'

"I was like, 'Express Yourself, wow.' And it's not like it's a direct copy, but it's more like that song than any other song I've ever heard before."

It's not the first time that comparisons have been made between the two artists. Last September cultural commentator Camille Paglia gave it to Gaga with both barrels in The Sunday Times.

"Gaga has borrowed so heavily from Madonna (as in her video, 'Alejandro') that it must be asked, at what point does homage become theft?" Warming to her theme, Paglia observed that "Madonna gave the impression, true or false, of being pansexual. Gaga, for all her writhing and posturing, is asexual."

However, never one to shy away from controversy, Gaga's next single, Judas looks set to make even more enemies - its accompanying video sees the singer play Mary Magdalene and actor Norman Reedus takes on the role of Judas Iscariot.

“She is trying to rip off Christian idolatry to shore up her talentless, mundane and boring performances," said Bill Donahue, president of the Catholic League For Religious And Civil Rights, despite not having seen the full video.

Of course, offending Christians was another Madonna speciality. Who can forget Like a Prayer? ·