Shallow

This song is emotive both melodically and lyrically. The sparse acoustic guitar underscores the desire to escape a modern world that is increasingly shallow and, at times, isolating—with its reality TV shows, selfies, and instant social-media “friendships.” The song makes you think, and the instrumental pauses allow you to catch your breath, take in the words, and contemplate a deeper meaning.

The words “I’m falling” are the emotional peak of the song and have a dual meaning for me, reminding me of going off the deep end but also of falling in love. In this duet with Bradley Cooper, the singers yearn for something more and are falling—almost freefalling—in order to break through the surface veneer of happiness, due in part to the trappings of fame—because they are longing to reach a deeper place of meaning, both in their relationship and within themselves.

I feel like the song is saying when we have real, meaningful, authentic, deep conversations, we're "out of the shallow." So much of life is lived in the shallow end when what matters most is in the deep (but perhaps scarier end). Talk about what really matters. Live your life in the deep and meaningful instead of the shallow and meaningless.

“Off the deep end” usually means something risky or uncertain. However, the “shallow” is usually not too deep or emotionally meaningful. However again... the shallow is usually a safe place to be in with no risk of drowning. Often, love songs or songs in general have a dichotomy of two contradictory concepts existing concurrently. Lady Gaga is saying she wants to break free from the mundane, day to day life. She is “Off the deep end,” exploring new ideas. But, she is also “far from the shallow... where they can’t hurt us.” There is no consequence of being injured because the water in the deep end is enough not to “meet the ground.” Nevertheless, the final outro repeats, “in the shallow, shallow,” because she is reiterating that she may be scared of change and she is precautious not to jump into anything too quickly. Thus, in the safety of the shallow and yearning to break free, yet also off the deep end to explore new ideas all the while, in a safe environment and with good intentions. Thank you.

Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper really explore the idea of the "deep and troubled" artist in this song. They sing about how ill content they are with average, everyday life and can't settle for living "in the shallow" (as a young millennial who just entered the workforce and has fallen into a steady routine, I can relate). While everyone else is meandering around "on the surface" they lament about their own personal depth and how it makes them crave to have so much more from this life. They have to put on a brave face and "keep it so hardcore" in order to even deal with living a normal, humdrum life. They've dived deeply into this life, and now they cannot go back since they have experienced all of the richness that life has to offer.

As someone who has been a fan of Mama Monster since day 1, I can't wait to see "A Star Is Born"...as an introvert who avoids crowds, I will be waiting to see it until it comes onto DVD. But you can bet that I'll be listening to this soundtrack on repeat in the meantime!

Bradley Cooper is Marx singing to the proletariat, and Lady Gaga is capitalism singing to Marx

About par for Lady GaGa. Guess I'm just from another time when music had more meaning (Woodstock was AWESOME!). Saddest thing was after what many thought to be his most memorable performance Jimmy Hendrix was dead almost a year to the day later. Today we get 'stars?' of this calabre. Very sad. Since I gave my age away is there anyone else of my vintage out there who understands what I'm saying about a time when you could tell what band did what song just by hearing the song, even if you'd never heard THAT particular song before (If you're from my generation, think of Boston......heard one of their songs, you heard 'em all but there was ever a question about what group recorded the song? ELO, The Stones, The Beatles, The Mama's & The Papa's, Rod Stewart, The Who, The Guess Who, etc., etc., etc.. Groups had an individual style back then. Today they all sound the same with lyrics which are just meaningless babble.

Being "far from the shallow" is layered with meaning, since it can refer to the shallowness of people. Conversely, you're safe in the shallow end because it's warm and you can't down. Nothing can harm you there, in much the same way that nothing can harm you when you live life on the surface - "in the shallow" - nothing can harm you because you're not involved. But in the deep end, where we find the core of ourselves and others, we're attached and can't let go without losing a part of ourselves and maybe drowning in loss.

This song was released in September of 1987, roughly 9 months after the shuttle Challenger exploded. I always thought this would have been close to the final thoughts of one onboard as it fell for some 11 minutes. And just after all of the garbled radio traffic you hear what sounds like a distant explosion, just before the lyrics "Above the planet..."

It's about getting away from superficial, selfish, narcissistic or shallow people.

I know nothing of Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper, or the movie "A Star is Born" but I can feel the emotion in this song and the bond between these two performers. Truly special and magical. Rare in today's world.