Rapper/singer M.I.A. has blasted critics who compare her to Lady GaGa - because she doesn't think the pop star is very original.
The Paper Planes hitmaker is impressed by the singer's ability to "mimic" her heroes but insists Gaga hasn't done enough to establish herself as an innovator.
M.I.A. tells Britain's NME, "People say we're similar, that we both mix all these things (influences) in the pot and spit them out differently, but she spits it out exactly the same! None of her music's reflective of how weird she wants to be or thinks she is. She models herself on Grace Jones and Madonna, but the music sounds like 20-year-old Ibiza music, you know? She's not progressive, but she's a good mimic. She sounds more like me than I f**king do! That's a talent and she's got a great team behind her, but she's the industry's last stab at making itself important - saying, 'You need our money behind you, the endorsements, the stadiums'. Respect to her, she's keeping a hundred thousand people in work, but my belief is: Do it yourself."
And the star, real name Maya Arulpragasam, isn't fond of Gaga's latest hit single, Telephone, either.
She rants, "Lady Gaga plugs (promotes) 15 things in her new video. Dude, she even plugs a burger! That’s probably how (record companies) are making money right now - buying up the burger joint, putting the burger in a music video and making loads of burger money."