AceShowbiz -

Madonna is aware that Lady GaGa's self-empowerment anthem "Born This Way" is similar to her single "Express Yourself". In an interview with Newsweek, the Material Girl shares what she thought when she first heard the song.

"I thought, 'What a wonderful way to redo my song'," Madge tells the publication for an upcoming profile which is set to appear on January 30. She adds, "I mean, I recognized the chord changes. I thought it was ... interesting."

Madge also talked about GaGa when having a chat with Graham Norton recently. Praising her as "very talented" artist, she gushed, "When I first saw her [GaGa] I was really impressed by her and she was cool. She did remind me of me back in the day."

GaGa herself is a fan of Madge. When appearing on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" last year, she praised her senior, "There is really no one that is a more adoring or loving Madonna fan than me. I am the hugest fan personally and professionally."

However, when the media kept pressing her about the similarities between her and Madge's songs, the Mother Monster lost her cool. "Just because I'm the first f***ing artist in 25 years to think of putting it on Top 40 radio, it doesn't mean I'm a plagiarist, it means I'm f***ing smart. Sorry," she once said in another occasion.

Calling the rip-off claim "retarded," an offending term she later apologized for, GaGa defended herself, "If you put the songs next to each other, side by side, the only similarities are the chord progression. It's the same one that's been in disco music for the last 50 years."