The Complete Sheet

MADONNA'S passive-aggressive assault on LADY GAGA continues!

--Last week, she told "Newsweek" that "Born This Way" was, quote, "a wonderful way to redo my song ['Express Yourself']" . . . and she elaborated a little more in a "20/20" interview Friday night.

--She said, quote, "I mean, I recognized the chord changes.  I thought it was . . . interesting.  When I heard ['Born This Way'] on the radio . . . I said, 'that sounds very familiar' . . . It felt reductive."

(--Here's the definition of 'reductive':  Quote, "Tending to present a subject or problem in a simplified form, especially one viewed as crude.")

--Madonna added that Lady Gaga mimics her in, quote, "taking something that was in the Zeitgeist, you know, 20 years ago and turning it inside out and reinterpreting it."

--But she didn't seem too upset about it.

--She said, quote, "There's a lot of ways to look at it.  I can't really be annoyed by it . . . because, obviously, I've influenced her."

--She added, quote, "I certainly think she references me a lot in her work.  And sometimes I think it's amusing and flattering and well done."

--And in a separate interview that aired in Britain on Friday, Madonna said, quote, "When I first saw her . . . I was actually really impressed by her. I thought she was really cool and she did remind me of me back in the day.

--"I liked her rawness and there was something fresh about her and ballsy, and when she spoke to the audience, she sounded like she had a similar sense of humor to me, quite ironic, and I liked her.  So I do think she is very talented."

--Lady Gaga hasn't commented on this, but she has admitted to being heavily influenced by Madonna in the past.

--In November, she said, quote, "Madonna is a wonderful influence on me.  I feel blessed to have grown up with a powerful, blonde woman to show us the ropes.  It's all down to her that I'm able to do what I do."