Tuned In: Madonna Fires a Shot at Lady Gaga... Again
In today's music news, it's a good news/bad news situation for Justin Bieber fans, Britney Spears and Jennifer Lopez have paycheck envy, and Lady Gaga gets dissed by Madonna.
• The fires of the Lady Gaga/Madonna flame war have been stoked once again thanks to footage from Madge's recent concert rehearsal in Tel Aviv. As she is wont to do (see: Elton John, hydrangeas, etc.), Madonna previously made a fuss over Lady Gaga's "Born This Way," claiming the song was a rip-off of her own 1989 track, "Express Yourself."
In the condescending, passive-aggressive fashion that has unfortunately become Madonna's trademark, she told Newsweek back in January, "["Born This Way"] is a wonderful way to redo my song "Express Yourself." I mean, I recognized the chord changes. I thought it was… interesting." Now, as if to prove her point, Madonna is incorporating Gaga's song into her tour.
The rehearsal footage (right) captured before her show in Israel reveals a mash-up of "Express Yourself" and "Born This Way." To drive things home, Madonna finishes with lyrics from her 2008 Hard Candy hit "She's Not Me." Zing! To Madonna's credit, hearing the mash-up of the two songs makes it hard to deny their striking similarities.
• They say you should never compare yourself to anybody, but apparently that's not the case when it comes to reality TV judging salaries. According to TMZ, Britney Spears had one very specific stipulation before signing her contract with X Factor: She had to make more than Jennifer Lopez did for her first season of American Idol. J.Lo's salary that year was a cool $12 mil, which made Britney's minimum $13 million.
Britney Spears and her $15 million dollar smile (FameFlynet)
According to X Factor sources talking to TMZ, Spears started negotiations around $20 million before settling with Simon Cowell and company at the highly-publicized $15 million mark. The question now is what Britney's salary will mean for Lopez when she sits down to work out a new deal with Idol. Given the precedent and the level of diva-ness involved in the situation, it's safe to assume J.Lo won't stand for anything less than what Britney's making, but with Idol having it's lowest ratings in years, can they afford it?
• It's been a busy couple of days for one of music's biggest names. Over the weekend Justin Bieber got in a bit of a scrap with a member of the paparazzi when the photog tried to snap a shot of Justin and his lady love Selena Gomez. The photographer was rushed to the hospital after complaining of chest pains (he was released soon after) and is accusing the 18-year-old pop star of battery.
TMZ reports that the case will be referred to the LA County D.A. for possible criminal prosecution. The investigation is ongoing, and the police have requested an interview with Bieber, who is currently in Norway. If Bieber is charged and convicted, he could face up to six months in jail.
So that's the bad news. The good news for Bieber fans is that the long weekend also saw the release of a new song. Following his "Boyfriend" single, Bieber has dropped another track off his upcoming Believe. Unlike "Boyfriend," which went for a Justin Timberlake "SexyBack" kind of vibe, "Die in Your Arms" is more of a sunny pop song a la the Jackson 5. It's sure to make tween girls across the world swoon. And for those worried about how Bieber's post-pubescent voice holds up, there's a heavy dose of autotune to put those concerns to rest. Have a listen to the new track below.
