Inside Lady Gaga and Christina Aguilera's historic feud
Inside Lady Gaga and Christina Aguilera’s historic feud after Perez Hilton CONFESSED to launching hate campaign against Dirrty hitmaker in her 2010 ‘flop era’ due to Oscar winner’s ‘disdain for star’
It was the battle of the worldwide divas when Lady Gaga broke onto the music scene in 2008 and quickly made waves, all while fellow blonde superstar Christina Aguilera plotted her career comeback.
However in 2010, as Gaga’s career and unique artistic futuristic style broke boundaries, Christina suffered a monumental fall from grace with her flop comeback album Bionic.
The album – which featured widely-derided single, Not Myself Tonight – was roundly criticized for seemingly ripping off Gaga’s sound and artistic direction.
Xtina dressed in spandex bondage costumes, admitted she was bisexual and posed for a naked magazine cover to promote her album – but that did not help her record sales.
Lady Gaga’s once fiercest supporter and confidante Perez Hilton, who championed her career in its early days – began writing a slew of negative stories about Xtina, branding her ‘Floptina’ and accusing her of being a copycat.
Now as Perez has admitted to launching a hate campaign against Xtina in the past, claiming he was spurred on by Gaga calling him to complain about the Lotus hitmaker – DailyMail.com looks back at Gaga and Xtina’s feud…
It’s war: It was the battle of the worldwide divas when Lady Gaga broke onto the music scene in 2008 and quickly made waves, all while fellow blonde superstar Christina Aguilera plotted her career comeback (pictured together 2013)
BEGINNINGS – 2008
Similarities: The women’s feud is said to date back several years when Christina was accused of stealing the-then less-well known Gaga’s style, as she was trying to make a name for herself in 2008 (Gaga’s album cover for The Fame L, Christina’s for Keeps Gettin’ Better R)
The women’s feud is said to date back several years when Christina was accused of stealing the-then less-well known Gaga’s style, as she was trying to make a name for herself in 2008.
Aguilera was first accused of copying GaGa in the promotional material for her Keeps Gettin’ Better: A Decade Of Hits album – which went on sale just two weeks after GaGa’s debut The Fame was released.
Christina defended herself then, reportedly saying: ‘I’m not quite sure who this person is, to be honest. I don’t know if it is a man or a woman. I just wasn’t sure. I really don’t spend any time on the Internet, so I guess I live a little under a rock in that respect.
Gaga, then 27, later said the claims helped boost her fame.
PEREZ HILTON AND ‘FLOPTINA’ GATE
Good pals (then) As Xtina prepared to launch a huge comeback in 2010, four years since her last studio album, noted celebrity blogger Perez Hilton – then a close pal of Gaga – began to ramp up his negative articles about the ‘has-been’ star (pictured 2009)
As Xtina prepared to launch a huge comeback in 2010, four years since her last studio album, noted celebrity blogger Hilton began to ramp up his negative articles about the ‘has-been’ star.
Known for his close friendship with Gaga, who he knew before her rise to fame, his articles were pointed in what he perceived to be Christina copycatting Gaga’s original ideas.
He began to brand her ‘Floptina’ and derided much of her new work – which with its electronic dance-inspired sound was a clear departure from her power ballad past.
CLAIMS GAGA WAS RESPONSIBLE
Perez and Lady Gaga were friends in the early 2000s, but had a falling out in 2011.
He has previously said of Gaga – who has been open about her past drug use: ‘As she became Lady Gaga to the world, she began drinking in a different, more serious way, while also popping all kinds of pills.
He said Gaga would call him up and allege Christina copied the Bad Romance hitmaker’s ‘sound and visuals’ for one of her albums
He said: ‘Looking back now, it’s one of the things I’m most ashamed of, and I can also see that Gaga was using me as a tool – not only against Christina but against other rivals too.
‘She never explicitly asked me to write nasty things about people, but by moaning to me she made me feel like I, her best friend, should do something about it.’
Comment: He said Gaga would call him up and allege Christina copied the Bad Romance hitmaker’s ‘sound and visuals’ for one of her albums (pictured 2010)
Perez explained that the pair started out as ‘really good friends’ but had a falling out when she achieved a certain level of fame.
‘Everybody here has experienced fame to some degree, but – and this is not an insult – not a single person in this camp has experienced fame like Lady Gaga did,’ he said.
‘Well, when you have that kind of fame, it really warps your entire life, your perception, how people treat you.’
Perez went on to say that he was shocked for someone he considered a ‘real friend’ to have ‘betrayed’ him.
‘Now, I look back and she was going through a lot, and she’s no longer with those people who were at the beginning of her career that helped, and part of the team. It it is what it is. You live and your learn.’
When asked whether he misses Lady Gaga, real name Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta he was quick to say that he’s moved on.
‘We had a lot of good times, but I’m not sitting around missing her, no. Gaga has never reached out to me. I have reached out to her to apologize, even though I don’t think I was in the wrong.’
‘I was hurt and betrayed and stabbed in the back, but it was never my intention to hurt her,’ he concluded.
Their feud kicked off in 2011 when Perez interviewed an allegedly drunk Lady Gaga, for a cooking segment in Australia.
Lady Gaga did not like the questions Perez was asking, and stormed off set.
‘He started asking me really terrible questions, and he was being very negative about (single) Born This Way, and we had had a lot to drink,’ she told Howard Stern in 2013.
‘He was supposed to be my friend and I felt betrayed, so I started crying. And then my [other] friend had to come in and pull the camera out, they wouldn’t turn the cameras off.’
2010 – BIONIC BECOMES MONUMENTAL FLOP AND ALLEGATIONS OF RIPPING OFF
Not to be: Bionic was the sixth studio album by Christina and suffered the biggest single-week drop in UK chart history upon its release
Seeing double? Not Myself Tonight saw Xtina try an edgy new style – but it look similar to Gaga (pictured R IN 2009)
Raunchy: Even R&B singer Akon – Gaga’s mentor- suggested Aguilera was feeling ‘insecure’ about GaGa’s huge fame
Bionic was the sixth studio album by Christina and suffered the biggest single-week drop in UK chart history upon its release.
Bionic plummeted to No29 in the charts after debuting at No1 when released and it only sold 24,000 units – the lowest sales figure for a No1 album in eight years.
Even R&B singer Akon – Gaga’s mentor- suggested Aguilera was feeling ‘insecure’ about GaGa’s huge fame.
He told Vibe magazine: ‘I think sometimes she gets insecure because of all of the success Gaga has had, not realising that she was already successful before Gaga came out.
‘Soon as Gaga came out, everything switched up. Christina stepped out of her own shell to become something different.’
Aguilera wasn’t impressed with the comparison: ‘It just comes with the territory. That, in particular, is not even worth wasting the breath to comment on.
‘I’ve been around for over a decade and I think my work speaks for myself.’
When Aguilera first leaped to fame, she was compared to Britney Spears, but soon stood out from the Toxic singer with her more powerful vocal range.
While not signalling out GaGa for praise, Aguilera said: ‘No rip-offs, we’re all inspired by different things. I was inspired by artists that came before me.
‘You know what I love about the new breed of newcomers is that they’re risk takers. They’re doing things that aren’t so safe. I always had the guts and passion to do things like that.’
The raunchy video for lead single Not Myself Tonight saw Christina dress in bondage gear, have a sex scene and enjoy a lesbian kiss with a tied-up Jenna Dewan – but it wasn’t enough to stave off the constant comparisons to the edgier Gaga.
While Aguilera’s last studio album Back To Basics sold 4million copies worldwide, GaGa dwarfed that figure by shifting 10million copies of her debut The Fame.
2013 – ALL IS FORGIVEN?
Pals again: Although the pair were long considered sworn enemies and as Lady Gaga’s star has risen, Christina Aguilera has watched her own fade – the pair put any differences aside as they performed together on The Voice
Although the pair were long considered sworn enemies and as Lady Gaga’s star has risen, Christina Aguilera has watched her own fade – the pair put any differences aside as they performed together on The Voice.
Seemingly battling it out to see who had the biggest voice and the biggest hair, Christina joined Gaga in singing her latest hit Do What U Want.
Christina emerged in a matching outfit from behind a giant silver shell that was lifted up into the air before the two former enemies held hands as they sang Do What U Want to one another, before Gaga stroked her face and put her head next to Aguilera’s bosom while a waiter served them champagne.
At the end of the performance they locked arms and drank, before smashing their glasses on the ground, and hugged.
‘Wow, that was unbelievable,’ said Carson. ‘How did this collaboration come about?’She said producers had called her and asked her to be on the season finale.
Gaga said: ’I said I’ll do it but I want to know if Christina will do it for me.’
‘This is the first time we’ve ever met, and I have to say when I heard she wanted to collaborate I said, ‘Of course! Lady Gaga!,’ said Christina.
‘I’ve been waiting to meet her and she’s such an innovative artist and risk taker.
‘And as a fellow female I have so much respect for that,’ she added. ‘And I have to say, she’s like the most down to earth. real person that I’ve ever met in this business.
‘And female to female in this industry its really hard to find that kind of a person so I love you, girl and you deserve everything that you’ve earned.’
‘This is the holiday spirit, right here,’ said Carson.
Gaga later told host Andy Cohen there was no bad blood between them.
‘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. 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.”
2019 – CHRISTINA DEFENDS GAGA AMID R. KELLY COLLAB
Xtina support: Lady Gaga apologized for collaborating with R. Kelly on her 2013 single Do What U Want, and vowed to to remove the song from iTunes and other streaming platforms, as well as to never work with R. Kelly again (pictured 2013)
Lady Gaga apologized for collaborating with R. Kelly on her 2013 single Do What U Want, and vowed to to remove the song from iTunes and other streaming platforms, as well as to never work with R. Kelly again.
Christina took to Instagram to applaud the Bad Romance songstress for ‘doing the right thing.’
The Genie in a Bottle singer shared a photo of the two on stage in 2013 after performing the song during The Voice finale.
‘Cool to see the version of this song I did with @ladygaga on the charts again — this is a reminder of women sticking together— and not letting a man take ownership of a great song/ moment,’ began Aguilera in her caption.
‘And if anything the message of this song remains that although you may have had my body, you will never have my heart, my voice my life or my mind.
‘Being a survivor of past predators myself, these lines spoke to me, which is why I did the song.
‘I embrace all survivors of sexual and domestic violence and abuse holding a special place in my heart, and you @ladygaga, for doing the right thing!’ finished the statement.
After collaborating with R. Kelly for the original version of Do What U Want, Gaga created an alternate studio version of the track with Aguilera taking over supporting duties.
2023 – PEREZ HILTON’S MEA CULPA OVER FLOPTINA GATE
Sorry: On a recent podcast, Perez said: ‘I apologized for more than the name calling, it was a straight up hate campaign, it was impactful on Christina’s career (pictured last month)
Appearing on a recent podcast Hilton apologized to Christina for running negative stories about her, saying: ‘I wouldn’t say we’re cool but I’ve apologized many times in many ways and she’s addressed it. She talked about it with Andy Cohen once.
‘I apologized for more than the name calling, it was a straight up hate campaign, it was impactful on her career
‘The power of words, what you say can really hurt other people, I was friends with Gaga…
Speaking about Gaga ‘using’ him to tarnish Christina, he said: ‘There is truth to that, she didn’t explicitly say “I want you to write negative stories about her…” but she would call me complaining about Christina Aguilera.
You know, “Christina’s copying me” and we would talk on the phone all the time and see each other in person and in my misguided way that was how I was helping my friend.’
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