Madonna and Lady Gaga Argue Over Songs They Didn't Create On Their Own

Does the Lady Gaga song Born This Way sound like Madonna’s song Express Yourself?  Yes, it certainly does.  Should Madonna take credit for creating a song that Lady Gaga copied? No, she should not. In my opinion neither performer truly created either song.  Once again, I find it baffling that two entertainers are arguing over songs that were written and produced factory style, with multiple songwriters and producers cobbling together a sound that was then presented to said “artists.” In an interview that aired on ABC news today, Gaga took things one step further and claimed that she was simply working off of a “disco chord progression that has been around for fifty years.”

Let’s skip past the fact that disco has not been around for fifty years, and go right to the heart of the matter.  Neither entertainer should lay exclusive claim to the songs that have created this fake controversy.  These two songs were written by no less than six people.  Listed as “co-producers” of the song Born This Way is Lady Gaga, Fernando Garibay, Jeppe Laursen and DJ White Shadow. Stephen Bray and Madonna take credit for the creation of Express Yourself. Bray and Madonna worked together on some early projects that failed to gain traction. Bray played drums in their rock band named Breakfast Club, and then went on to help work on her third album titled True Blue, well after she was molded into the look and style now known world-wide.

Madonna and Gaga Co-Write Their Own Music 
In an earlier post, I touched upon the fact that it’s a rare thing when pop stars write their own songs.  Things are no different in the genre of disco or dance music.  When record labels invest millions of dollars on a sound and look for an artist of this type, rarely do they trust that artist to come up with the next hit song.  I will give Gaga credit for the fact that she was once a songwriter for other artists, just like Sheryl Crow was a backing and guide vocalist for other stars.  What most people don’t know is that Madonna came to New York City around 1977 with just three songs that she had created on her own.  These three songs were played by DJ’s at dance clubs, and eventually pushed Madonna into the local spotlight.

Fast forward to 1981, and Madonna still didn’t have enough of her own material for her first full length album.  It took the work of other songwriters and producers to cobble together enough music to make her self titled album. Of the twelve albums Madonna has co-created, I can find only one song that she is credited for writing on her own.  It’s titled Shoo Bee Doo. As for Lady Gaga, once again I would challenge anyone to reply to this post with a song that she is credited for creating on her own. Her first hit song titled Just Dance was co-written by Red One, Akon, and Gaga.  Stefani Germanotta and Nadir Khayat are listed as writers of her second hit song Poker Face.  So let’s stop this nonsense about who was the original creator of the song in question. By my count, six people wrote two songs that sound very similar.