So apparently Madonna thinks Lady Gaga is “reductive”. She’s currently making the rounds promoting her album, M.D.N.A., as well as her film “W.E.”, and all ears pricked up when she spoke to Cynthia McFadden from GMA on the ABC about her thoughts on Lady Gaga
Here’s a quick transcript in case you can’t watch right now but try to watch it later because it’s not so much the words as the way she says them :
Cynthia: “What do you think about Lady Gaga – do you feel she’s copying you?”
Madonna: “I certainly think she references me a lot in her work, sometimes I think it’s amusing and flattering and well done. I can’t really be annoyed by it or insulted by it, because obviously I’ve influenced her.”
C: “It doesn’t feel like a rip off?”
M: “No, because she’s she and I’m me.”
C: “Would you ever do a duet with her?”
M: “It hasn’t occurred to me, but never say never.”
C: “And when you saw Born This Way -”
M: “When I heard it on the radio, I said yes, that sounds very familiar.”
C: “And that doesn’t feel annoying?”
M: “Um.. it feels reductive.”
C: “Is that good?”
M: “Look it up.”
In a later interview with The Graham Norton Show, Madonna spoke about being impressed when she first saw Gaga performing at a small club in Manhattan a few years ago: “I thought she was really cool and she did remind me of me back in the day. I liked her rawness and there was something fresh about there and ballsy, and when she spoke to the audience, she sounded like she had a similar sense of humor to me, quite ironic, and I liked her. So I do think she is very talented.”
The first single from the new album, ”Gimme All Your Luvin,” features Nicki Minaj and M.I.A.; it’s set for release later this month ahead of Madonna’s performance at the Super Bowl XLVI halftime show.

Lady Gaga and Madonna at Marc Jacobs
Do you think Gaga is the new Madonna? Are you Team Madonna or Team Gaga?






Comments
63 Comments so far
A Madonna and Gaga duet would be beyond cool… Show the world that gutsy, wild and talented ladies can and DO work together. Such reminders never hurt us
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Did Madonna and Lady Gaga not give you a clue what it was going to be about?
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No, just a little perplexed that your first thought when you saw that headline was ‘oh, this must be a thesis about the Madonna and Lady Gaga personalities and careers’. I don’t know what more the headline could have said that made it obvious it was a post about Madonna having a go at Gaga aside from including a disclaimer that said ‘by the way this isn’t an analysis piece’. Which you don’t get to do in a headline because, well, it’s a headline.
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Well, for starters we’re a website, not a magazine. And yes we do post multimedia content. We post a little bit of everything. The fun is in the seeking! Sometimes we have really in depth articles, sometimes we don’t. We’re not the Wall Street Journal all the time!
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Well played, Madge.
But I do have to say I reckon Marilyn Monroe would say the same about Madonna, don’t you?
Who was it that said that genius is only ever standing on the shoulders of Giants?
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Storm in a tea cup – literally! She doesn’t call Gaga reductive, she calls ‘Born this way’ a reductive response to ‘Express Yourself’; as in, sure it’s derivative but the original is still the best.
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I don’t like Lady Gaga. Weirdly I could quite like her music if I didn’t have to look at her. I watched one of her clips for the first time the other day when it came on to a music show I was watching, and I have to say the clip had nothing to do with the music (well unless she was singing about prostitutes which I’m pretty sure she wasn’t!). At least Madonna’s clips usually told a story to do with the song, even if she was being racy in them. Gaga just goes for shock, and porn, even if it is completely unwarranted. I guess I feel we have enough of that around without her version of soft porn added in. I like the sentiments of some of her music like ‘Born this way’ and don’t mind the idea of my kids listening to that, but I won’t play it for them because I don’t want them to learn to like Gaga and then see the rest of the stuff she has out there (her clips etc).
She just always strikes me as very lost, and screaming out for some to help her. A shame really as I have heard she is one very intelligent lady, and she obviously has enormous talent.
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she was tongue in check people with the first interviewer!!!!
I love them both, and may they have many years of career left in them – such nastiness here……
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I really don’t think Madonna rubbishes Lady Gaga at all. In fact I only heard praise for Gaga. I got the sense that Madonna disliked the interviewer.
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I neither like nor dislike either of them. Meh.
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The headline dosen’t fit the interview
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Gosh, what a nasty way to answer the interviewer’s question. So patronising. I think it was completely unnecessary. She always seems to come off as holier than thou… and to be honest, not very likeable.
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The first time I heard Born this way I was shocked because I couldn’t believe how much it sounded like Express Yourself. I don’t listen to commercial radio so I don’t know any of her other songs really. It just sounded like a rip off to me.
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Madonna was the original Queen of controversy. I idolised her as a teenager & queued to see Desperately Seeking Susan ( which sucked!)
Her clothing, image changing and originality were always second to none in the 80′s. Things in music are a lot looser no, raunchier and often to the point of soft porn, so what she did then looks tame now! But she was at the cutting edge always pushing the boundaries, with her lyrics “like a virgin’ & content “like a Prayer”
Lady Gaga has really encapsulated many of Madonnas ideas, but she has not had as much success as people are more accepting of crazinesses now! Her zanyness seems more normal.
Unfortunately Madonna seems to have turned into the ‘big I am’ which is a shame as she really was truly awesome.
Personally I have never taken a shine to either Gaga or her voice.
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Lady Gaga is just to wierd I can’t really get past the costume like the meat dress to listen to the music and her best song Born this way is very much like Express Yourself!
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Does it bother anybody else that Madonna can’t sing?
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obviously not?
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what are you saying she can’t sing!! She is a great singer listen to some of her earlier work which really shows her voice off.
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Did anyone else get the impression that Madonna thought her interviewer (“C”) was a bit dumb?
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Definitely, more so than anything negative about gaga.
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What was the point of this post, other than getting people to say Madonna’s a bitch or Lady Gaga sucks?
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One more opportunity to set women up against one another. Mamamia, this is getting to be a bit of a theme.
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Agreed. The headline “Maddona Rubbishes Lady Gaga. Ouch” says it all. The headline actually tells you who to side with. The other “anonymous” below makes the comment that this post sets women up against one another. Again, agreed . What art doesn’t reference other art? Shakespeare was the referencing or “reduction” . Midsummer Night’s Dream heavily references the old myth of Pyramus and Thisbe. If he can do it, so can Gaga. And Madonna KNOWS that it’s inevitable which is why her comments are diplomatic. She may feel peeved at such heavy referencing but she does actually stop herself from slagging off Gaga. She probably feels miffed, peeved, maybe even jealous… but she doesn’t say what’s really on her mind. Diplomacy! I don’t give a shit. It’s just pop music.
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Should have said, “Shakespeare was heavy on referencing or “reduction”….” Sorry, fellow Mamamia followers. Two glasses of wine and I’m all over the shop! It’s still holidays for me!
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I love Madonna! She is the original and the best.Lady Gaga is an imitator.
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I am failing to see where Madonna rubbishes GAGA..I only see praise and politeness..and facts are GAGA is heavily influenced by Madonna..I don’t get the GAGA thing..she underwhelms me completely, because it has been all done before..by Madonna..and it was done a lot better. I am not a mad Madonna fan, and I think she can be quite narcissistic at times, but I have watched GAGA in concert and it feels so heavily influenced by Madonna ..in a very obvious way.
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Ooooooh I really enjoyed watching these. I LOVE the Graham Norton Show and I’m really impressed with Madonna’s wit while sitting on his couch.
As a 40 year old woman I’m a tad jealous that she has the financial means to access each and every treatment available to her in the battle against ageing. She looks good. In my 20s I couldn’t understand why anyone would have surgery or use botox or worry so much about ageing. Now I’m 40, I UNDERSTAND! It’s difficult letting go of your youth.
So, to all you gorgeous, dewey young things out there, please be a little more gentle on women who are more advanced in age. It’s not nice to use the word ‘Grandma’ in a derogatory way. Most of us will be grandmas one day but none of us will want to feel irrelevant or invisible when we get there.
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Let’s be truthful – Madonna is a dancer who had amazing producers to help her. GaGa is a performer/singer/pianist/songwriter. You can’t compare them!
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has anyone heard Gaga live? She’s not a singer.
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COMPLETELY disagree. Heard her in 2010 at the O2 in London and she was fabulous, anyone who can belt out a tune with nothing behind her other than a piano is definitely a singer. In saying that, I love both Mads & Lady G – don’t see why we can’t just appreciate them as different artists and have to compare them.
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I’m with Lisa, seen her twice, and yep, the chick can sing
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This is ovbiously an ignorant bitchy comment. Written by ‘anonymous’… really brave. If you’d done even an inch of research on youtube or the like, you would realise that she is not only an incredinle talended singer, she’s actually quite an accomplished classicly trained pionist and muscian.
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Bitch is the new black! Snaps. Madonna has always been a bitch bit says it like it is. She shouldatay away from acting and directing and plastic surgery and…
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Team Madonna.
Did she rubbish Lady Ga Ga like the title of this post suggests? I must have missed that part in the interview……
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I totes agree LKW ..and I am Team Madonna if I had to pick a side.
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I think both these ‘artists’ are overrated and derivative. They exist in a bubble of their own hype.
Next!
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madonna scares me.
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Sometimes ageing women become bitter women. Their youthful competition does this to them. Madonna is an example of one .
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Born This Way sounds incredibly similar to Express Yourself. There’s no two ways about it.
I’ve never really liked Madonna and I see nothing endearing about her now. She needs to leave her face alone before it explodes.
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Team Madonna or Team Gaga? Why do we have to choose? They aren’t having a fight. Please, MM, don’t whip up controversy where it doesn’t exist.
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Indeed. We are talking about two women here, who undoubtedly have feelings. This article seems to intend to incite negative characterisations and gossip. Not nice.
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this is why lady gaga is on a mission to build up the self esteem of victims of bullying. go the ga!
(ps- i have been fortunate enough to see both gaga and madonna in concert, twice each, and lady gaga blew madonna out of the water.)
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Haha, I loved it. Both clips made me admire Madonna all over again. The interviewer was trying to bait her into making a bitchy comment and she managed to say what she thinks honestly and with a bit of wit and sass thrown in for good measure.
Whether you’re a fan or not, you’ve gotta admit, she’s a smart lady.
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It’s kinda sad that the media have jumped all over this. Gaga was just a tiny aspect of an otherwise enlightening interview.
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Yup, totally with you on that one
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Lady Gaga has always seemed a bit derivative to me of Madonna – with the benefit that Lady Gaga actually has a better singing voice.
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Madonna has always been very abrupt what’s new? She’s been doing it forever because she can! Anyone remember a few months ago the flower incident from a fan?! She probably just makes money from selling her back catalogue than any of her new stuff. Gosh I miss her blonde ambition days! Madonna is a confidant to Lady Gaga – Lady G has publicly admitted she calls Madonna for advice whether it be from how to handle fame to even conceptual direction of her performances. Madonna is seen at Lady Gaga’s concerts with her daughter Lourdes. I think this is a case of the media trying to pitch two strong females against each other… like they would with Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey when Mariah burst onto the scene etc. But i do agree Madonna has to give it up….retire gracefully she has had over 25 years of success….
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i thought it was quite graceful, for madonna. it felt quite truthful, rather than bitchy.
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it would have been graceful had she not had her nose in the air, looking down on the interviewer. As Mamamia said, “it’s not so much the words as the way she says them”.
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mmm, shouldda watched the clip
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just watched it and still feel the same! i think it’s just her way.
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Madonna, you shit me. Please retire. No need to look that up.
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hahaha, love it.
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Why do we have to be Team anything? It doesn’t sound like they’re at war to me. The whole “Team” concept is a little sensationalist don’t you think? Why can’t we all just get along?
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I pretty much said the same thing. Yes, sensationalist, I think.
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I looked it up. I’m none the wiser.
re·duc·tive
[ri-duhk-tiv]
adjective
1.
of, pertaining to, characterized by, or producing reduction or abridgment: an urgent need for reductive measures.
2.
of or pertaining to change from one form to another.
3.
of, pertaining to, or employing reductionism; reductionistic.
ps. I think they are both pretty meh
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I looked it up to but the definition I got sheds much more light.
1. tending to present a subject or problem in a simplified form, esp. one viewed as crude.
– now, which one is in Madonna’s dictionary?
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And that’s a big MEH from me too Jane. Yawn.
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How do you spell bitch? M.A.D.O.N.N.A. Might be time to hang up your corset Grandma and make way for the new breed. Or at least accept that you’ve had your day. I’m with Mickey. I grew up with Madonna and loved but over the years she has become a caricature. The British “Lady” she wants to be… she ain’t. Today I’m loving Lady Gaga and hopes she ages a little more gracefully than Madonna has.
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Wowzers! I cant watch the video at work but just reading it, it sounds very entertaining!
M “Um.. it feels reductive.”
C: “Is that good?”
M: “Look it up.”
Ouch!!
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I’ve heard the half finished demo of Give Me All Your Luvin’ a few days ago and have to say – I loved it. Completely catchy. I’ve had it on repeat actually. Can’t wait to hear the final version. I also think her comments about Lady Gaga aren’t that bad. Lady Gaga does reference Madonna a lot and Born this Way is very similar to Express Yourself. But she was diplomatic and gracious about the comments. I say this as a fan of both, by the way. Maybe I’m biased.
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Well Madonna, you are hoary. It’s time for you to hang up the mircophone . . .
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I feel madonna has become very bitter. I used to LOVE her, but no so much now. She paved the way for talented females to push boundaries and was extremely influential. Now she just can’t let the new talent shine without some sly comment. She is no longer a positive role model for females in the industry.
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