Unleash the monster! Lady Gaga didn’t hold back while discussing drugs and “dipping in the lady pond” on Watch What Happens Live Wednesday, Sept. 11, but did keep the peace when discussing fellow female artists Miley Cyrus and Christina Aguilera.
When asked by host Andy Cohen what she thought of Cyrus’ raunchy MTV VMAs performance with Robin Thicke last month, Gaga, 27, was quick to defend the controversial singer.
“I just think everyone has to lighten up and leave her alone. Because it’s pop music, everybody is entitled to their own artistic expression. And if you have a problem with it, change the channel,” she said. “She’s growing up in front of the entire world, and maybe she’s not so happy with the things that she did in her career when she was younger and she wants to be free. So let her do what she wants!”
The “Applause” singer was equally complimentary of Aguilera, with whom she was rumored to have a feud after her own career launched in 2008. When asked by a viewer to share her opinion of the “Your Body” singer, 32, Gaga only had nice things to say.
“I’m a very big fan of Christina Aguilera,” she said. “From the very beginning of when my career started there was all this controversy about the two of us, and I always felt that it was very unfair to her.”
“The controversy was that people said that she released an album that was kind of chasing your sound,” Cohen said. “Is that what it was?”
“All I know was that people were talking about Christina Aguilera and Lady Gaga in the same sentence . . . and I was nobody,” Gaga explained of her status in the industry five years ago. “I just think it’s very unfair of anyone to pit another woman against another woman especially in the space of music when we are all just trying to be taken seriously at all . . . as females because we’re not taken seriously as real musicians. And Christina is an incredible vocalist and an incredible artist. From me to her, I’m so sorry for anything that anyone ever said to her because of my existence. I hope that she never felt anyway about it because when I was 15, I was singing “I Turn to You” at the top of my lungs trying to hit all her notes. So she was an inspiration to me to have a wider vocal range, and I just think it’s all total nonsense the way that they do that.”
Back in 2010, Aguilera’s “Not Myself Tonight” video led some to suggest she was copying Gaga’s look and sound. “”That, in particular, is not even worth wasting the breath to comment on,” Aguilera said of the accusations at that time. “I’ve been around for over a decade and I think my work speaks for myself.”
She later clarified in a statement on her website, “I have absolutely nothing against Lady Gaga or any other female artist in this business . . . She has earned her success with hard work and a clear focus and I have nothing but respect for that. There is room for all of us on everyone’s iPods.”
