An old Lady Gaga interview is making the rounds again online, bringing back a moment when the superstar made it very clear that she did not want her career — or her personal story — compared to Madonna’s.
The exchange originally took place in October 2016 during an interview with Zane Lowe for Beats 1, as Gaga was promoting her album Joanne.
“Madonna and I Are Very Different”
The conversation turned to Gaga’s relationship with her father when Lowe suggested that Madonna had experienced a somewhat parallel story. Gaga immediately pushed back on the comparison.
While praising Madonna’s enormous career and calling her one of the biggest pop stars of all time, Gaga stressed that she viewed their creative processes as fundamentally different.
She pointed to her own work as an instrumentalist, songwriter and producer, explaining that she spends long hours in the studio creating her music and that spontaneity and imperfection are important parts of her approach.
Gaga Draws a Line Under the Comparisons
Gaga also insisted that her comments were not intended as an attack on Madonna. Instead, she said she was tired of having her identity measured against other artists.
“I just will not be compared to anyone anymore,” Gaga said during the interview, before making the point that her life story and artistic identity were her own.
The clip has resurfaced nearly a decade later, reviving a conversation that followed Gaga throughout the early years of her career, particularly after comparisons were made between “Born This Way” and Madonna’s “Express Yourself.”
Years later, the exchange remains a striking snapshot of Gaga at a moment when she was determined to define herself on her own terms rather than through comparisons with another pop icon.