Chris Feil wraps up his look at the musical legacy of A Star is Born...
Bradley Cooper has kept with the 1976 A Star is Born’s arena template, largely correcting many of that film’s pitfalls for his directorial debut. Most obvious, the songs don’t mostly suck. And though it does lose sight of the perspective of Lady Gaga’s emerging singer somewhat, it’s more of a two-hander in terms of musical responsibility.
That shared weight is evident in the film’s showstopper “Shallow”, the song that already defines the film’s iconography and identity. It matches the “yes-and” nature of falling in love: Ally’s lyrics and soaring melody presenting the fear of taking the leap, Jackson orchestrating it to something cohesive and singular, both of them contributing the personal and universal essential to any ballad worth its luster. They’re both observational and confessional, with “I’m falling” being the most terrifying admission. Like love, the song begins with a simple feeling, and its eventual rush of emotion builds until it must be submitted to.
But the song also represents Ally’s sudden launch onto a world stage, a reckoning with the insecurities and perceptions that have kept a moment like this out of her reach. Thanks to reality television, we’ve grown accustomed to watching people, musicians in particular, achieving their dreams right before us and in real time. Gaga however turns this into an art, Ally’s trepidation sketched on her face in a flurry of confusion and mixed emotions, her voice straining beautifully with nerves. The emotional subtext for us in the audience is that of seeing superstar destiny fulfilled. She’s also a for-real movie star now.
Though “Shallow” may be this film’s signature song, it finds more thematically weighted kinship to the 1954 Cukor version’s musical peak with “Always Remember Us This Way”. With so much happening in “Shallow”’s narrative moment, this number seems initially like the first time the film allows us to just bask in the music. But like how “The Man That Got Away” is an omen for its heroine’s future, this song is also like a ghost from the future, a warning from the future to enjoy it while it’s easy. There’s a graveness to the sound before it gets swoony, like the unavoidability of Jackson’s affliction that casts a shadow over their romance.
Much like “Maybe It’s Time” feels like Jackson’s past selves haunting him in the present, taking on new meaning in the years since it became his definitive song, it’s not difficult to imagine a future Ally performing the song with more tragic overtones. Or with the gratitude of hindsight if the song holds true, if Jack’s legacy remains their connection rather than the pain that consumed him.
Call it a simple ballad, maybe the most accessible outside of the film’s narrative, but it should be “Shallow”’s primary challenger for the Original Song Oscar. Even worthy of overtaking it.
The revelry of song appropriately halves the film before it focuses on darker days. This gives way to the more outright pop stylings that have been equal parts praised for bopability and condemned as the signifying trait of the film’s ills, depending on which of the vocal vantages you belong. To my ear, these songs are presented appropriately as business rather than the joyful indulgences of their collaboration - presented no differently or less distanced than Jackson’s performances while on the road.
They are written as consumable product (I’d argue without condescension), so it’s no surprise that we enjoy them more when listening back rather than watching them unfold. They’re singles and we’re allowed to like those too.
In terms of Oscar (and pesky rules limiting only two nominees in the category), the stronger chances may fall to the film’s big emotional finish, “I”ll Never Love Again”. Here Lady Gaga gets the big orchestral moment we hoped for with her screen debut, and one to convince any stray naysayers unconvinced by her rooted reality. Though Cooper codas the finale with a bruising note of grace for the tragic love story, he saves the best A Star is Born trope for last: diva worship for his star. With her final tear fading into her powerful vocals in “Is That Alright” over the closing credits, we’ve witnessed her next, most triumphant evolution. Her Ally moves forward too.
Soundtracking A Star Is Born:
1954 and Judy Garland
1976 and Barbra Streisand
All Soundtracking installments can be found here!