Madonna has said a mix of shady, complimentary, and more recently playful things about Lady Gaga over the years, so the “answer” depends on which era people mean when they ask what did Madonna say about Lady Gaga?

H1: What did Madonna say about Lady Gaga?

In the early 2010s, during the height of the “Born This Way” vs “Express Yourself” drama, Madonna famously described Gaga’s song “Born This Way” as “reductive” when asked about the similarity to her own hit “Express Yourself.” She also said she recognized the chord changes and that Gaga “references” her a lot, adding that sometimes she finds it “amusing and flattering and well done,” which fans read as both a jab and a half-compliment.

Years later, in an Italian interview that was widely reported in music media, Madonna was quoted as calling Lady Gaga “an artist with a great, high level of talent” when asked if Gaga was a threat or just a temporary act, which was taken as one of her more straightforwardly positive remarks. This softer tone contrasted with the earlier feud narrative and suggested at least some public respect for Gaga’s artistry.

H2: “Reductive” and the feud era

The core of the feud narrative comes from Madonna’s reaction when people compared Gaga’s “Born This Way” (2011) to “Express Yourself.” In a high‑profile interview, she said she thought of the song as “a wonderful way to redo my song,” but then undercut it by calling “Born This Way” “reductive,” a word that became infamous among fans.

She also said Gaga referenced her a lot and implied that sometimes it worked and sometimes it did not, which reinforced the idea that she saw Gaga as imitating her legacy rather than standing entirely on her own. Around the same period, she leaned into the drama on tour by performing a mashup of “Express Yourself” with “Born This Way,” which many fans interpreted as a live onstage dig more than a friendly homage.

H2: Compliments and warmer comments

Despite the shade, Madonna has at times spoken about Gaga in a clearly positive way. In the much‑circulated Italian magazine quote, she responded to the question about whether Gaga was a threat or “another temporary ‘spice girl’” by saying Gaga is “an artist with a great, high level of talent,” which fans saw as rare open praise.

In more recent years, she has added little disclaimers of affection when Gaga comes up. On stage in Toronto in January 2024, she joked that it would be like the crowd shouting “Lady Gaga’s playing tonight!” after she accidentally greeted the city as Boston, then quickly added, “Nothing against Lady Gaga. Love her. I love anyone shorter than me,” turning it into a playful nod rather than open hostility.

H2: Recent “copied” talk and cryptic posts

The theme of Gaga “copying” Madonna hasn’t completely disappeared. In 2025, Madonna stirred online debate again with a cryptic post about people saying someone had copied her, paired with the line “God forbid a woman takes inspiration,” and a caption that read, “I see you, I love you. You’re doing great sweeties!” which many fans linked to Gaga, especially coming right after Gaga’s big Coachella performance.

While she did not name Gaga directly, the combination of the word “copied,” their long history around “Born This Way,” and the timing led fans and commentators to frame it as Madonna subtly revisiting that old rivalry while also presenting herself as more supportive and self‑aware. The fan reaction included criticism that this encouraging tone came “decades” late and that she could have been more publicly supportive during Gaga’s early breakthrough instead of calling her work “reductive.”

H2: How fans and media frame it

Media timelines tend to frame the relationship as a long‑running, on‑off feud built from layered comments: pointed criticisms like “reductive,” playful tour mashups, occasional direct praise, and modern‑day social posts that can be read either as shade or solidarity. Gaga herself has acknowledged the tension in interviews and in her documentary, saying being criticized indirectly through the media felt like someone sending a note through a friend, and that part of her almost wanted Madonna to “push [her] up against a wall and kiss [her] and tell [her] [she’s] a piece of s—,” underlining how charged and oddly intimate the whole discourse felt.

So when people now ask “what did Madonna say about Lady Gaga,” they are usually referring to a spectrum that runs from that sharp “reductive” critique and “copying” subtext, through to later quotes where she calls Gaga a highly talented artist and jokes onstage that she loves her.

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