Joanna Newsom vs. Lady Gaga: Round One

Joanna Newsom is the latest to join in on the Lady Gaga bashing. (From Left to Right: Brandon Wu/FTWP; Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)

By Allison Stewart

First Andy Rooney, now this.

Lady Gaga has weathered the slings and arrows of peers like M.I.A., but recent comments by Joanna Newsom may have been the worst. In a recent interview in the Guardian, the elfin harpist took Gaga down with such delicacy, such surgical precision, it was like watching Gaga get mauled by a unicorn. Newsom's premise:

1. People think Lady Gaga is the new Madonna, but she's basically just making trite pop albums. "She is the new Madonna, but Madonna's a dumb-ass!"

2. Yes, she really did just call Madonna a dumb-ass.

3. Gaga takes herself very seriously, referring to herself in the third person "like she's [super-serious German playwright] Brecht or something," but she's no better than her pop peers. "She's fully marketing her body/sexuality; she's just doing it while wearing, like, a 'fierce' telephone hair-hat….[S]he's Arty Spice!"

As for Gaga, she's kept a dignified distance from the controversy, but considering she was last seen wandering around Stockholm in see-through panties, we're guessing her idea of dignity may be significantly different than yours.

What do you think? Does Newsom have a point? Or must all Gaga haters be silenced, even the adorable ones? Vote in our poll below.