The Pop Predicament in “A Star is Born”
What is the fine line between artistry and artificiality? Leave it to Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper to help us figure it out.
Written by Zoe Judilla
Illustrated by Ayesha Din
When the mononymous pop star Ally, portrayed by an enigmatic Lady Gaga, strides across the stage with an army of backup dancers and electronic backing singing, “Why’d you come around me with an ass like that?” are we, as an audience, meant to undermine her music’s value?
The distinction between artistry and artificiality is at the center of debate in Bradley Cooper’s “A Star is Born.” The film often questions the purity of pop as a medium. However, its true conflict lies not in the quality of the easily-dismissed genre, but between modernism versus traditionalism in a new-age music industry.
The remake subverts the “popular equals bad” narrative, instead pivoting the issue towards an artist’s ability to adapt to the changing music scene. This calls to question what makes art authentic in a society that is beginning to embrace the coexistence of thoughtfulness and theatricality.
Sure, it would be much easier for the film to reinforce the tired rejection of pop as capable of virtue. While Ally’s burgeoning career increasingly favors synthesizers over strings, her husband undermines her new persona, deeming it to be of lesser value than his conventionally Americana style, despite Americana’s decline in popularity. Ally’s increasing lean towards pop principles is perceived as a corruption of her raw talent. What happened to the patron of the emotional piano ballad? What happened to the shy ingenue, declaring her departure from the shallow?
Simply, she evolved – and, as the film continually emphasizes, the decision to do so “was Ally’s choice.”
Reflecting the reality of the current music industry, pop remains one of the more commercially-successful genres through its catchy, repetitive format. However, it is often dismissed by critics because of its assumed unoriginality. But, a new wave of experimentation with pop’s boundaries complicates the critical outlook towards the genre. “A Star is Born” makes this observation without hailing one type of music over another – instead, it chooses to focus on the importance of self-assurance when creating any type of art.
When Jack expresses disgust for his wife’s new sound, she defends the dancefloor banger. “It’s my song!” she says, and we believe the genuine pride in her eyes when she asserts its power. While the single is distinctly different from Ally’s previous creations, she refuses to dub it as inauthentic. Plus, it is, objectively, a bop.
This is partially a testament to the songwriting capabilities of Lady Gaga, who penned a majority of the film’s original soundtrack, and is widely considered a trailblazer to the revitalization of pop. Gaga's ability to consistently mass-market unorthodox projects in both theme and production showcases the endless potential for the genre she is a proud champion of.
Interestingly enough, the trajectory of Gaga's own music career is the antithesis of her character in the film. The pop sensation’s real-life rise to fame was characterized by raunchy dancefloor hits, meat dresses, controversial music videos, and a multitude of (now infamous) rah-rahs. However, her most current form, presented in the more nuanced, country-tinged Joanne, dials down on Gaga’s signature theatrics, trading bedazzled masks for pastel pink cowboy hats.
By contrast, the initially folk-rock powerhouse of Ally, who Gaga portrays in the film, begins as a standard songwriter and later fully embodies the archetype of the pop princess with backup dancers, repetitive hooks, and flashy costumes. Regardless of the path, there is an emphasis on change and the necessary fluidity of a music career.
In its essence, “A Star is Born” is a film about maintaining artistic authenticity in a continually evolving setting – whether that be physically or emotionally. When we watch Ally belting a powerful, almost Whitney Houston-esque tribute to Jack at the film’s end, we could see it as a return to her more “naturalistic” melodies, a certain homage to the rockstar that discovered her. Or, we could interpret it as a synthesis of her past and present styles to create something wholly different – and once again, having to adapt and express her artistic vision without boundaries, using the medium of best fit.
So long as sincerity remains, such a star will continue to shine.