In Defense of Lady Gaga

So I know this is WAY late, but since I just published my review of her album "Born This Way", I think it's about time to de-bunk the accusation that "Born This Way" is a rip-off of "Express Yourself" by Madonna. First of all, I will let you know that I have listened to both songs. When I first heard "Express Yourself" I thought "Really?! This is the song that everyone keeps comparing 'Born This Way' to?!" I'm sorry, but they do NOT sound alike. I will agree they compliment each other and go off the same chord progression, but they are in different keys, different rhythms, and have different messages. True, Madonna and Gaga both share the same vocal range, which is a very good possibility for why everybody freaked out, but the fact is, they are different songs. End of story. Still don't believe me? Here's a video of the two songs played side by side:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u48oWMGZR3E

But as long as we're on the subject of plagiarism and ripping songs off, why don't we discuss artists who have ACTUALLY ripped off other singers. Let's start with Madonna. Yep, that's right, even the queen of pop ripped off a song. And guess what, she did it with "Express Yourself" (GASP!!). "Express Yourself" is a rip-off of the 1971 song "Respect Yourself", so if you're still following this: people get mad at Gaga for supposedly ripping off one of Madonna's songs which actually ripped off an earlier song. True story. But the harsh reality of pop today: EVERY artist does it. Pop is getting so generic to the point where beats, chords, and everything in between is just getting recycled over and over again. But no one gets mad at those artists, just Gaga. Here's what I mean, here are some songs that sound a lot more alike than "Born This Way" and "Express Yourself:

Song 1                                     Song 2
"Halo" by Beyonce                 "Already Gone" by Kelly Clarkson
"Right Round" by Flo Rida    "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)" by Dead or Alive
"Good Feeling" by Flo Rida   "Levels" by Aviici
"Tik Tok" by Kesha                "California Gurls" by Katy Perry and Snoop Dogg
"Check it Out" by Will I Am  "Video Killed the Radio Star" by the Bugles

Especially "California Gurls" and "Tik Tok", they only difference between them is the lyrics. They have the exact same chord progression, beat, vocal range, and key. But did anyone get mad at Kesha or Katy Perry? Does anyone get pissed off at Flo Rida for not being original at all for ANY of his songs? Seriously, all he does is take a super popular song from the olden days, puts it in his song and then adds a rap to it. And I'm pretty sure no one was mad at Kelly Clarkson for releasing "Already Gone" which is a carbon copy of "Halo". So why did the public get so infuriated with "Born This Way" when it only sounds vaguely similar to "Express Yourself"? Get over it people, because recylcing old songs is the norm for pop music, don't get mad at Gaga just because she's already become one of the most famous people in the entire world. And she is definitely more original than Flo Rida and Katy Perry, who just use generic pop and hip-hop beats to their material over and over again until they become almost indistinguisable from one another.