This Lady Gaga Song Sounds Way Too Much Like Madonna
It’s no secret that Lady Gaga took lots and lots of inspiration from Madonna and there is nothing wrong with homage. However, sometimes, homage becomes theft. Gaga once released a track that took a little too much inspiration from one of Madonna’s defining hits. However, Gaga’s producer had no sympathy for fans who saw Gaga as a copycat.
1 of Madonna’s more political songs clearly inspired Lady Gaga
Madonna knew how to get fans on the dancefloor from the beginning of her career. With her album Like a Prayer, the Queen of Pop proved she had style and substance. The album has great pop beats, but it also deals with serious topics like family, trauma, religion, sexuality, and feminism.
The album’s big feminist anthem is “Express Yourself.” It’s a funky dance-pop track with a great vocal melody. That melody found its way into Gaga’s “Born This Way.”
Madonna’s song had a clear lyrical influence on ‘Born This Way’
One thing that great artists do is recontextualize their influences. Madonna’s “Express Yourself” is a self-empowerment anthem for women, so there’s an endless number of ways the tune could have been reinterpreted.
“Born This Way” doesn’t change the core of “Express Yourself.” It’s also an empowering song. Rather than focusing on women, “Born This Way” focuses on the LGBTQ community while including some lines about racial equality. The songs aren’t exactly the same, but the vibe of “Born This Way” is close enough to that of “Express Yourself” that it can reasonably be called a rip-off. “Born This Way” also includes a rap verse that recalls the cadence of Madonna’s “Vogue.” Love or hate “Born This Way,” it didn’t help Gaga seem more original.
Lady Gaga’s producer defended the song
“Born This Way” was co-produced by frequent Gaga collaborator DJ White Shadow. During a 2011 interview with Gaganews.com quoted in The Guardian, DJ White Shadow dismissed the controversy surrounding the song. “I think it was bulls*** to be honest,” he said. “I guess there are a hundred songs that you could put a pitch shift and a BPM change and loop and make them sound like anything. In addition, there are five songs on the radio right now that have the exact same chords and progression.”
The DJ went on to critique other radio hits of the day. “Actually, there are five songs out there that are exactly the same song, on the radio at the same time,” he opined. “Right now. Why doesn’t anyone ever bring that up? That’s a f****** felony.”
He also noted the influence of the “Bad Romance” singer. “How many people have been copying Gaga since she came out?” he said. “Oh, I have the answer: everyone. Have you seen all the lightning bolts painted on faces, or the one hand eye cover-ups during photos?
“How about the fact that there was barely any dance music on the radio until Just Dance came out?” he added. “Come on motherf******, let’s keep it real here.” Gaga’s influence on other pop stars like Kesha, Nicki Minaj, and Miley Cyrus was clear at the time.
Madonna and Gaga are both seminal artists even if “Born This Way” sounds a little too much like “Express Yourself.”
