Side Note

There can be 100 ways to thank someone but Lady Gaga only needs one

A prominent theme in A Star Is Born, a very entertaining new movie about how deep Bradley Cooper can make his voice, is whether the price of musical stardom is worth the cost of your soul. Throughout the movie, the titular star (Lady Gaga, who plays a mononymic singer named Ally) slowly transitions from an earthy singer-songwriter to a glossy pop star, as she progresses through the music industry. Her new music isn’t exactly bad, per se (or at least the movie doesn’t judge it too hard, and anyways it’s included on the soundtrack so how bad can it be), but she’s easily sucked up into a system that makes brands out of human beings, which makes her mentor-husband figure Jackson Maine (Cooper) very sad. Does Maine have a point about her new identity? Is he just being an old guitar fogey who doesn’t understand the value of music that’s actually fun?

Now, we can debate that all day, or you can watch this compiled video of Gaga giving the same quote about A Star Is Born over and over again. Pay attention to Cooper’s face as he barely disguises his lack of emotion over the repeated comment.

Gaga is obviously not the first celebrity to repeat themselves in an effort to save energy, but still: Justice for Jackson Maine!