Unless you've been living under a rock for the past week or so, you should be well aware of the apparent "feud" going on between Madonna and Lady GaGa. The whole thing is said to have started when GaGa released 'Born This Way' which sounds eerily similar to the Queen's 'Express Yourself'. Madonna never commented on it until she did an interview promoting her film W.E. and the upcoming Super Bowl performance where all she said was the following:

“It sometimes makes people feel better about themselves to put other people down or make fun of them or maybe make mockery of their work. And that doesn’t make me feel good at all. That just makes me feel like I’m not being a good human being.”

There's no doubt that GaGa is taking the high road in this situation, but it is hard to sympathize with her when Madonna is the Queen of Pop, is still putting on shows better than anyone else while in her 50's, and it's hard to justify the extremely prominent similarities between the songs. While it may not be right for Madge to be performing GaGa's song every night on tour, you have to admit that it's entertaining, and the crowd seems to get quite a kick out of it all. Even though this "feud" may seem trivial, I think it's important to pay attention to because of the integrity of the music industry. It's difficult to say that the music industry even has any integrity left, but for the moment just imagine that it does and think about what Madonna is doing. She's taking a stand, asserting her dominance as the Queen of Pop, and protecting originality. If you're going to rip someone off at least have to decency to own up to what you did. I love GaGa and think she's done some incredible things during her short time in the game, but she's lost some of her spunk and has been flat-lining for a while now.
I also want to point out what this "feud" means for the pop music industry. We all remember that infamous kiss Madonna and Britney Spears shared at the MTV Video Music Awards back in 2003. That was the moment when Madonna "passed on" her royalty and made Britney her rightful heir. Since then they have collaborated on music and music videos, shared the stage on Madonna's Sticky & Sweet Tour, and Madonna even reached out to Britney during her breakdown and tried to help. During some Twitter promo for her new album MDNA, Madonna and Britney even had a Twitter convo where they joked around about their kiss. Madonna has continually shown and supported artists that she feel are worthy to follow in her footsteps, and so this "feud" with GaGa points out that Madonna doesn't feel GaGa has what it takes to obtain the title "Queen of Pop." I LOVE GaGa, don't get me wrong, but I do feel that she's going to burn out in a few years and then quietly disappear from the music scene. I honestly don't see her having longevity. Britney, on the other hand, has had a mental breakdown and bounced back, although slowly. Her new stint as a judge on The X Factor USA as already proven that she is confident and a respected member of the music community. Just wait until the show premieres in September because I promise you that you'll see the "true" Britney that we have not seen in years. On a side note, Britney's legendary album Blackout was just inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame today. Congrats, Brit Brit!! It'll be interesting to see what comes out of this whole thing, but there's definitely room for both Madonna and Lady GaGa to both make great music. I really what to know what you all think about this "controversy" so please leave your thoughts in the comments below. Thanks!