The Inside Story of the Music in A Star is Born

Here's how the viral sensation led to Oscars nominations [ view in browser.   add esquire@newsletter.esquire.com to your address book ]             FOLLOW US       Addiction, Tears, and Neil Young: Inside the Making of the A Star Is Born Soundtrack   More than a year before it would become a viral Internet phenomenon via the trailer for A Star is Born, Lady Gaga was holed up in a Los Angeles studio presenting "Shallow" to a group of songwriters. Surrounded by some of the most accomplished musicians in the industry, Gaga was emphatically discussing her character in the film, Ally, a young singer so far rebuked by the industry on the account of her looks. Down the hall, handfuls of other writers were working on more songs—some for Ally, others for the world-weary, addiction-addled Jackson Maine played tenderly by Bradley Cooper for his directorial debut and the fourth iteration of the fabled Hollywood tale. Cooper spent four years in research for the role, co-wrote the script, and even lowered his vocal register a full octave to sound like the raspy drifter he hoped to embody. And when it came to the soundtrack, he, along with Gaga and Lukas Nelson (frontman and bandleader of Promise of the Real, and Willie Nelson's son), were being equally ambitious. They enlisted a murderer's row of favorite producers and songwriters like Mark Ronson, Dave Cobb, Lori McKenna, Jason Isbell, Natalie Hemby, Hillary Lindsey, and more, to collaborate. The results are, in a word, dizzying. "Mystifying" also might work. Bradley Cooper is not a rock star, but across the expansive soundtrack you'll find yourself second-guessing that reality with increasing frequency. This is the story of how it all came together. READ MORE       The Case for Roma Winning Best Picture, and 5 More 2019 Oscars Predictions   Let's be honest: It has not been a great couple of months for the Oscars. From a disastrous attempt to find a host—a gig that used to be a coveted one, but is now a job no one in Hollywood wants to do—and the controversial decision to cut four categories from the live broadcast, Hollywood's biggest night has turned into Hollywood's biggest pain in the ass. And yet, there's still a show to do. The categories are star-studded and full of incredible artists who might very well earn the awards they deserve. Here's who are most likely to go home with little gold men on Oscars night. Read On         Bohemian Rhapsody's Historical Inaccuracies Aren't Just Dramatic License. They Are Signs of Lazy Filmmaking.   One of the major issues with the Oscar-nominated film—beyond its clunky editing, those infamously unsettling fake teeth—is the script's extremely fast and loose retelling of Mercury's life story. One can expect a Hollywood film to fiddle with historical facts in an effort to tell a streamlined narrative in the span of two hours. But many critics have called into question the way Bohemian Rhapsody dramatized the real events of its story—and, in many cases throughout the film, completely made things up entirely to fit the story that Queen's Brian May and Roger Taylor (who served as "executive music producers") wanted to tell. Read On         The Biggest Controversies Surrounding the 2019 Oscars   If you feel like the Oscars should have happened months ago, you're not alone. The awards ceremony has been in the news constantly since last summer thanks to some particularly high-profile controversies. But the show is finally happening this weekend—and there are likely some surprises still in store. Here's a refresher on all the outrage, missteps, and drama that got us here. Read On         In an Oscars Filled With True Stories, BlacKkKlansman Is the One That Got It Right   It's an interesting year for the Academy Award for Best Picture when six of the eight nominees are based loosely on real events. Bohemian Rhapsody twists the truth of Freddie Mercury's time with Queen in a questionable way. Green Book's telling of Dr. Don Shirley's life has been disavowed by the famed pianist's family. Roma is loosely based on director Alfonso Cuaron's own childhood. The Favourite morphs the life of Queen Anne into an arthouse black comedy. And Vice is basically a lengthy SNL sketch about Dick Cheney. Though BlacKkKlansman plays with the truth in a few key moments, it remains faithful to actual events—especially when compared to other Best Picture nominees. So, where exactly did BlacKkKlansman deviate from actual events? Here's the full breakdown. Read On         Here's Who's Performing at This Year's Academy Awards   No matter how long they'll get to perform, four of the five nominated songs will get their on-air due—and Oscar viewers will be treated to an additional performance pegged to the Best Picture-nominated Bohemian Rhapsody. Here is the list of the artists who will perform at the Academy Awards this year. Read On       Unsubscribe •  Privacy Notice   esquire.com ©2019 Hearst Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. Hearst Email Privacy, 300 W 57th St., Fl. 19 (sta 1-1), New York, NY 10019