Is Lady “Mother Monster”Gaga a copycat?
February 18, 2026 1:55 PM
On Friday. Feb. 11, Lady Gaga released her much anticipated single “Born This Way”. Before the single was actually released, Lady Gaga made sure that fans and critics alike were well aware of its existence.
At the MTV Video Music Awards, Gaga, decked out in a dress made entirely of meat, gave viewers a preview of the new single. This preview was a full five months ago, and since then, Lady Gaga has continued to build up hype for the song.
On Jan. 27, in an attempt to create even more excitement for the track, Lady Gaga leaked the lyrics to “Born This Way”. Gaga continued to remind fans of her up coming release by tweeting about the number of days left until the release, expressing her anticipation for the song to be heard by her “little monsters”, a term she uses to describe her diehard fans. Gaga often refers to herself as the “mother monster”.
When the lyrics were released, the pop icon’s fans blogged and tweeted about the importance of the lyrics and the message that it sent out; that you should be proud of who you are because you were born that way.
The LGBTQ community also labeled it as a pride anthem. Gaga’s plan to generate excitement about the song was working.
“Born This Way” premiered at 6:00 a.m. on many radio stations throughout the world. Despite all the work Lady Gaga went through to create positive press for the song, “Born This Way” fell short of some expectations.
Though it can be admitted that like many other of her songs, “Born This Way” has a catchy beat that some may even find yourself dancing along to, the meaningful lyrics are lost behind the sounds of a typical pop song.
The sound of the song is not only disappointing, but also strangely familiar. The song has a strong resemblance to the sound of early Madonna tracks, specifically “Express Yourself”, which was released in 1989.
Madonna’s younger brother, Christopher Ciccone was astonished by Lady Gaga’s audacity to put out a song so similar to his sisters. When questioned on the subject, Ciccone was quoted as saying "All I can say is 'What the FUCK! It sounds just like “Express Yourself”. I can't believe it to tell you the truth."
While some may interpret the similarities between the two songs as a compliment to Madonna, Ciccone was generally offended by Lady Gaga’s new song. Gaga has often expressed in interviews how Madonna was and still is a huge influence on her.
Not only was there uproar about the actual song and its similarities to other singles, but the pop queen’s cover art also raised some questions.
Gaga changed her Twitter background to the album cover before the song was released, which has a striking resemblance to Kylie Minogue’s 2007 album cover 2 Hearts.
Lady Gaga’s seemingly copycat style has been noticed by virtually every review written about the song, ranging from the view that she had no creative ability, to the view that she was just paying tribute to the best of the past.
Despite all the negativity surrounding “Born This Way”, the song has landed the coveted number one spot on iTunes sales and is only getting more and more popular with each passing day.
It has garnered praise from legends such as Elton John, and was met with a standing ovation following her abstract yet perfectly choreographed performance at the Grammys.
It seems that no matter what Lady Gaga does, whether it be wearing food as an outfit or borrowing ideas from other artists, her army of little monsters will continue to remain loyal.
