14 DAY TRIAL // When Lady Gaga released the first single off her upcoming album “Born This Way,” there was a lot of talk about how it copied Madonna’s “Express Herself,” with some even accusing her of shamelessly ripping off the Queen of Pop. That’s just dumb, producer DJ White Shadow says.
DJ White Shadow helped produce the “Born This Way” single and, since Gaga has already done her part to address the so-called controversy but people are still talking about it, he’s taking a stand in the matter.
Comparing Lady Gaga to Madonna and, most importantly, saying that the former is ripping off the latter without as much as acknowledging her as an inspiration is dumb, to put it simply, he says in an interview cited by Contact Music.
“I think it was bull[expletive] to be honest. I guess there are a hundred songs that you could put a pitch shift and a Bpm (beats per minute) change on and loop and make them sound like anything,” the producer says of the accusations brought against Gaga by the media and fans.
“Actually there are five songs out that are exactly the same song, on the radio at the same time. Right now. Why doesn’t anyone ever bring that up? That’s a [expletive]-ing felony,” DJ White Shadow adds.
There’s also another aspect of this controversy that, for some reason, no one wants to focus on, he goes on to say: while many were quick to jump to say that Gaga copied Madonna, very few actually pointed out that countless other pop singers are doing the same to Gaga.
“How many people have been copying Gaga since she came out? Oh, I have that answer: everyone. Have you seen all the lightning bolts painted on faces, or the one hand eye cover-ups during photos?” the producer asks.
Musically too, Gaga’s influence is sharply felt because, before “Just Dance” came out, there was very little dance music getting airplay on the radio, he argues.
“Come on mother[expletive]s, let’s keep it real here. If we are going to talk about who is chasing who, I think we all know the answer to that,” DJ White Shadow concludes by saying.