See Lady Gaga Posed On The Side Of A Plane For Top Gun: Maverick
Is Lady Gaga in the Danger Zone?
We’ve all been feeling the need lately – the need to finally see Top Gun: Maverick in theaters, after a delay of nearly three years since its original release date. As if the anticipation for the film wasn’t enough (the new trailer looks fantastic), it was announced today that the Top Gun: Maverick soundtrack will feature an original song written and performed by Lady Gaga, titled “Hold My Hand.” The Oscar and Grammy winner made the announcement on her Instagram account today, along with a picture of her leaning against what appears to be one of the jets from the film. We’ve also learned that the picture might hint to something even more about the singer.
In her Instagram post announcing the song and a release date of May 3, Lady Gaga discussed the long path it has taken to finally being heard by fans. “I’ve been working on it for years, perfecting it, trying to make it ours,” she wrote. “I wanted to make music into a song where we share our deep need to both be understood and try to understand each other—a longing to be close when we feel so far away and an ability to celebrate life’s heroes. I’m so grateful to Tom (Cruise) and Hans (Zimmer, the composer) and Joe (Kosinski, the director) for this opportunity.” She also shared a few line of lyrics, stating “But if you decide to…I’ll ride in this life with you…I won’t let go till the end.”
The song hopefully continues a tradition of a Top Gun movie having a killer soundtrack. The soundtrack to the original 1986 film is one of the best-selling movie soundtracks of all time, with over 9 million copies sold. It contains some of the most iconic songs of the 1980s, including Kenny Loggins’ Danger Zone, Cheap Trick’s Mighty Wings, and Berlin’s Take My Breath Away, which won the Academy Award for Best Song in 1987. As the first single released from the Top Gun: Maverick soundtrack, it seems they expect Lady Gaga to compete for a Best Song Oscar once again. She already won an Oscar for Best Song in 2019 for Shallow, the song she wrote for Bradley Cooper’s A Star Is Born.
Even better, Music-News.com is reporting that Lady Gaga has already shot a music video for the song. That likely means that the picture she posted on Instragram was taken on the music video set. Since she appears to be wearing military-like clothing (right down to the dog tags) and leaning against what looks like an F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet, it stands to reason the photo shoot and music video shoot all happened at the same time.
Top Gun: Maverick marks the return of Tom Cruise to the cockpit as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, more than 30 years after the original film. In the sequel, Maverick has to train Lt. Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw (Miles Teller), the son of Radar Intercept Officer Lt. Nick “Goose” Bradshaw (Anthony Edwards), his wingman who died in a training accident in the first film. They and a new group of Top Gun pilots are sent on a dangerous mission never before attempted by any living pilot. Although Lady Gaga is an acclaimed actress herself, she has not been mentioned as appearing in the film, except perhaps in song.
The film has taken a long, winding road to theaters. It has had five different release date changes, mostly due to the COVID-19 pandemic closing theaters. The movie was filmed in 2018, and was originally supposed to release on July 12, 2019. Production delays pushed the release to the summer of 2020, but the pandemic caused it to be delayed four more times, waiting for theaters to fully open worldwide. It is finally set on a May 27, 2022 release. It should also be no surprise, then, that the release of the Lady Gaga song was delayed as well. It was due to release this month, but the date was pushed to May 3, likely to help it promote the film.
