21 pop culture moments from 2018 we’re celebrating

“Shallow”

For a while, A Star Is Born seemed destined to fail. It had been percolating for years, with Clint Eastwood, Beyoncé, and Russell Crowe attached at various points. No one was exactly begging for another version of a story that had already been remade three times (four if you count 1932’s What Price Hollywood? as the original). Bradley Cooper’s eventual decision to direct as well as act carried a whiff of vanity, as actor-to-director transitions often do. Lady Gaga’s sole thespian experience was two poorly received seasons of American Horror Story.

All of that changed when Warner Bros. dropped the first trailer. The clip is well-edited, full of lovingly lit images of the stars, but it is one specific moment that caused a sensation: the scream, the holler, whatever you want to call it, uttered by Lady Gaga in an outpouring of pure, soaring euphoria. Suddenly, A Star Is Born seemed destined to be a smash hit.

Luckily for Cooper and company, the ubiquity of that trailer did nothing to diminish the power of “Shallow” in context. Due to a series of coincidences and contrivances, Gaga’s character Ally winds up behind the scenes at country-rock singer Jackson Maine’s concert. He urges her to join him on stage to perform a song that she had written and shared with him the previous night in a convenience store parking lot. Quite understandably, she’s reticent at first, but the camera closes in on her face and the lighting shifts from green to red, and as Ally strides to the microphone, it feels how that scream sounds.

It represents the peak of Ally and Jackson’s creative collaboration and the highlight of A Star Is Born, a sublime showcase not only for Cooper and Gaga but also for Matthew Libatique, whose swirling, intoxicating cinematography imbues the romance with melodramatic grandeur. Frankly, all other movie concert scenes seem pedestrian in comparison (looking at you, Bohemian Rhapsody).

“Shallow” is also just a good song. Structurally, it mirrors the intertwining trajectories of the characters. Lyrically, it sums up the film’s themes of ambition, desire, and regret. Catchy and complex, uplifting and poignant, it’s the perfect antidote to 2018.

What pop culture from 2018 made your year better? Let us know in the comments below!