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Alec Olson

ENG 1201

31 January 2021

Summary of Wesley Morris’s Article

In Wesley Morris’s article “The Real Star Of ‘A Star Is Born’ Is A Song That Few Can
Agree On. Is It Any Good? Yes. Yes It Is.” Which is in the number six spot on The Top 25
Songs That Matter Right Now on The New York Times Magazine website, Morris is explaining
how the song “Why Did You Do That?” by Lady Gaga, from the Bradley Cooper movie “A Star
Is Born”, is a great song. He thinks the character Jackson Maine from the movie is wrong about
the song being bad. Morris thinks that Jackson, and those like him in the real world, should let go
of the music of the past and move on/get with the times.

Morris begins the article by describing the beginning and premise of the movie to the
reader. The movie is about a, more or less, nobody singer named Alley. She fears performing her
song until a famous musician drags her out and has her perform with him. That song is the song
“Shallow.” As Morris states, the song “Shallow” comes past the halfway point of the movie and
the viewers’ response to the song shows how much Cooper has grasped you. He explains how
Alley is almost to the point of superstardom, but all of her singing has been with Cooper’s
character, Jackson Maine. Who, according to Morris, is a darker, but real, character. He states
that Jackson is attracted to Alley because, she too, is authentic.

Then, Morris explains how he had expected Alley to become a popular artist through
being grounded and real. But Alley then turns to dancing, he writes, and doing many of the other
popular popstar tropes when she is invited onto “Saturday Night Live” as the musical guest. This
is where she sings the subject song of Morris’s article, “Why Did You Do That?” Morris
explains that, while he loves the song, the movie expects you to be conflicted by it, since it is
Jackson’s ideas versus Alley’s manager; rock versus pop, as Morris writes. Morris also explains
that the song was written by Lady Gaga, who plays Alley, and Diane Warren. Both are masters
of songs such as this one, according to him.
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Morris then continues by explaining how Jackson is devastated seeing Alley perform this
song, as this song is a concoction of what Jackson is against in music; sex, feel-copping, etc.
Morris then explain how Jackson later berates Alley, saying he failed her and mocking her song.
Morris explains how Jackson does not want to see Alley’s work become just another
meaningless pop song that is eventually replaced with another one like it by another pop star
making it big. Morris continues by explaining how the song provoked many perplexed essays
and had many asking if the song was meant to be bad, like Jackson thinks it is in the movie.
Morris then writes about Jackson, “As much as I wanted to save this sexy, damaged, doomed
man, on this, we disagree. ‘Maybe it’s time to let the old ways die,’ goes his most mournful lyric.
But maybe it’s also time to admit nothing’s wrong with an ass like that” (Morris 1).
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Works Cited

Morris, Wesley. “The Real Star Of ‘A Star Is Born’ Is A Song Few Can Agree On. Is It Any

Good? Yes. Yes It Is.” The Top 25 Songs That Matter Right Now. New York Times

Magazine. March 2019.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/03/07/magazine/top-songs.html#/lady-gaga.

Accessed on 31 January 2021