In retrospect, lets recall Gaga's childish thoughts on being asked about BTW/Madonna in an interview with NME:
A bit of it does sound quite a lot like ‘Express Yourself’, though, doesn’t it?
“I don’t think… I swear to you. I am not stupid enough to put out a record and be that moronic.”
The reference seemed so obvious that it had to be intentional because, as you say, you’re not stupid…
“No. Listen to me. Why the ****…? I’m a songwriter. I’ve written loads of music. Why would I try to put out a song and think I’m getting one over on everybody? That’s retarded. What a completely ridiculous thing to even question me about. I will look you in your eyes and tell you that I am not dumb enough or moronic enough to think that you are dumb enough or moronic enough not to see that I would have stolen a melody. 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. Just because I’m the first ****ing artist in 25 years to think of putting it on Top 40 radio, it doesn’t mean I’m a plagiarist, it means that I’m ****ing smart. Sorry.”
The criticism did seem to take the wind out of the song’s sails.
“There’s a lot of people who want to see me fail. The minute they see something to shoot at, they shoot, and the bigger I become the bigger target I am. Nobody in this room at any point looked around and said ‘Oh my God, it’s ‘Express Yourself’. ‘ Not once. Listen. I swear to you. I can only be honest with you about it.”
Dumbass.