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Her songs were punctuated by icy and punchy beats, even as her lyrics emphasized darker impulses of attachment and obsession: "Hunt until you love me," she swore. in anxious to prove that she was a pianist and an eminent singer who had paid her dues at the piano bar and had remained an artist of flesh and blood, without distinction of appearance. Like Madonna before her, she made theatrical pop show and self expression in the same package. But a battle between the perceived ephemeral of pop and the supposed durability of something more authentic has raged in his music.
She followed her 2008 debut album, "The Fame," and her extended version, "The Fame Monster," with "Born This Way," an album that mixes electro-pop tracks with year-old arena-type hymns. 80, featuring an emissary of "True" rock music: saxophonist Clarence Clemons of Bruce Springsteen. The deliberate Artpop has returned to the playful artifice, ambitions of the art world and decreasing returns. Lady Gaga then swung the clock in the other direction, returning to a well-established ground – as a song and dance singer who combines Broadway and film music conventions with the demands of today's pop. She sang a medley of "The Sound of Music" at the Oscars; she made an album with Tony Bennett. "Joanne", from 2016, has demonstrated authenticity: a painful story of her family's past, acoustic guitars, a broad-brimmed hat.
In "A star is born", she wants to be both accessible and bigger than life. The film tells a tragic love story, so of course, the album is filled with love songs. The 1954 version of Judy Garland's "A Star Is Born" focused her songs on the love and ambition of show business; Barbra Streisand's 1976 vehicle put love next to the woman's self-assertion. The new resolutely advocates sincerity and truth. Jackson Maine arrives on the scene in the opening sequence of the film to swallow some alcohol and pills, and then sing: "It's time to testify / There's no room for them lies. "
[[[[Read our review of "A star is born."]
For its character, the outward signs of authenticity are simple. He is a long-time rock archetype: a road warrior with a loud voice, who plays the guitar, drinks all the time and has national roots. His record collection is vinyl; the camera lingers on its vintage stereo system. In the 1970s, his music was classified in the Southern Rock or Outlaw category; in the 2010s, it lands on the noisiest side of the country's mainstream arena. His collaborator and band leader on stage is Lukas Nelson, Willie's son.
Like Ally, Lady Gaga gets all the best songs from the movie; The modes of operation of Cooper vary from usable to troublesome ("Music to My Eyes" remains as laborious as its title). But she also has a much more complicated relationship to so-called unvarnished self-expression.
