Lady Gaga is far enough into her career now that’s she’s forged her own distinctive brand of artistry, but in her early days, the Madonna comparisons were famously inescapable. Things turned sour in 2012 after Gaga released “Born This Way,” which Madonna said on Good Morning America was “reductive” of her 1989 hit “Express Yourself.” Gaga addressed the criticism at a concert shortly after it happened, saying, “I don’t even want to fight back because it’s more important to me to keep writing music.”
This beef hasn’t been entirely squashed, though: As Entertainment Weekly notes, in her upcoming documentary Five Foot Two, Gaga takes some time to say that their public squabbles haven’t soured her feelings towards the pop legend: “So the thing with me and Madonna, for example, is that I admired her always. And I still admire her, no matter what she might think of me.”
That said, she wishes Madonna had expressed herself differently:
“She wouldn’t look me in the eye and tell me that I was reductive or whatever. Telling me you think I’m a piece of s**t through the media? It’s like a guy passing me a note through his friend. […] I just want Madonna to push me up against the wall and kiss me and tell me I’m a piece of s**t.”
Well, that’s one way to work through conflict I suppose. Gaga would have more time now to mend fences with Madonna if the two were to bury the hatchet, since she just announced that she’s taking a break from music and getting some rest for the time being.
Gaga: Five Foot Two premieres on Netflix on September 22. Watch the trailer here.
