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Listen to Lady Gaga's new song, 'Hold My Hand,' from 'Top Gun: Maverick'

The long-awaited "Top Gun" sequel flies into theaters May 27.

Lady Gaga's new song, "Hold My Hand," from the new Tom Cruise movie "Top Gun: Maverick" is finally here.

The "A Star Is Born" actress' vocals shine in this ballad, in which she instills a message of hope, encouragement and support.

MORE: Lady Gaga unveils 'Hold My Hand,' a new song for 'Top Gun: Maverick'

"So cry tonight/ But don't you let go of my hand," the pop star pleads in the chorus. "You can cry every last tear/ I won't leave 'til I understand/ Promise me, just hold my hand."

Last week, Lady Gaga took to social media to share the artwork for "Hold My Hand" and revealed that she'd been "been working on it for years, perfecting it, trying to make it ours."

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"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," she explained in the caption. "This song is a love letter to the world during and after a very hard time. I've wanted you to hear it for so long."

"Hold My Hand," which was produced by Gaga, Bloodpop and Benjamin Rice, is available to stream now.

The long-awaited "Top Gun" sequel flies into theaters May 27.

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Tom Cruise Cries in Lady Gaga’s ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Music Video for ‘Hold My Hand’ Ballad

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The loss of Goose (Anthony Edwards) still haunts the “Top Gun” films, despite Pete “Maverick” Mitchell ( Tom Cruise ) flying high once more.

Oscar winner Lady Gaga announced original song “Hold My Hand” for “ Top Gun: Maverick ,” the sequel to the hit 1986 film, in theaters May 27. The “House of Gucci” star released the emotional music video for the ballad on May 6, ahead of the “Top Gun: Maverick” premiere at Cannes in a few weeks.

Director Joseph Kosinski filmed Gaga belting the moving single while at an airfield in the desert. Flashbacks to the original film, helmed by Tony Scott, revisit Goose’s heartbreaking death as Cruise’s Maverick holds him. The follow-up film is set 30 years after the original, with Maverick now training a detachment of TOPGUN graduates, including Goose’s son Lt. Bradley Bradshaw (Miles Teller) aka Rooster, for a dangerous, specialized mission.

The lyrics for “Hold My Hand” include: “I see that you’re bleeding / You don’t need to show me again. But if you decide to, I’ll ride in this life with you / I won’t let go ’til the end.”

“When I wrote this song for ‘Top Gun: Maverick,’ I didn’t even realize the multiple layers it spanned across the film’s heart, my own psyche, and the nature of the world we’ve been living in,” Gaga, who also contributed to the “Top Gun: Maverick” score along with Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer, Lorne Balfe, and Harold Faltermeyer, tweeted .

The “A Star Is Born” Academy Award winner continued, “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…This song is a love letter to the world during and after a very hard time.”

Lead star Cruise praised Gaga’s dedication to the film while on “ The Late Late Show ,” saying that the song “opened up the whole movie” and grounded the “emotional core” of the epic film.

“The song she’d written just fell right in and became, really, the underlying score and the heartbeat of our film,” Cruise said.

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Tom Cruise revisits Goose's Top Gun death in Lady Gaga's 'Hold My Hand' music video

Anthony Edwards' emotional death replays in Cruise's memory in the music video for Gaga's Top Gun: Maverick soundtrack song.

Get ready to cry over Goose's death all over again — this time as Tom Cruise revisits classic Top Gun movie moments from the 1986 film in Lady Gaga 's new "Hold My Hand" music video.

The clip, directed by Top Gun: Maverick helmer Joseph Kosinski, follows Gaga as she sings at an airfield in the middle of the desert, while flashes of Cruise — who reprises his role in the 2022 sequel as Captain Pete "Maverick" Mitchel — show the actor reminiscing on key moments from the Tony Scott-directed original. One moment sees Cruise staring at photos from his past before cutting to a shot of him holding Goose ( Anthony Edwards ) in the ocean as the character dies.

Cruise has said that Gaga's work on the film was key to highlighting the sequel's heart.

"There was a sound we were looking for.... she presented her song to us and it just opened up the whole movie," he said on The Late Late Show . "It opened those doors to the emotional core of the film that we had. That moment, things just came together in such a beautiful way. The song she'd written just fell right in and became, really, the underlying score and the heartbeat of our film."

Gaga previously said that the song was a "love letter to the world" amid difficult times.

"When I wrote this song for Top Gun: Maverick , I didn't even realize the multiple layers it spanned across the film's heart, my own psyche, and the nature of the world we've been living in," she wrote on Instagram upon announcing the track. "I've been working on it for years, perfecting it, trying to make it ours. 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."

In addition to penning "Hold My Hand" as an original song for the film, Gaga also contributed to the Top Gun: Maverick score with Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer , Lorne Balfe, and Harold Faltermeyer, who worked on the original Top Gun soundtrack in 1986.

Gaga also told EW that she's considering her next musical moves as a solo act in a November 2021 interview amid the promotional cycle for her second jazz album with Tony Bennett, Love for Sale .

"There's always music in my heart, in the works. It's just about [asking], 'What will it be?'" she explained when asked about releasing new pop music for the first time since unveiling her Grammy-winning 2020 album Chromatica . "I'm not ready to answer that yet. But what I will say is that... I'm always thinking about music. It just comes out in different forms."

Top Gun: Maverick is in theaters on May 27. Watch Gaga's "Hold My Hand" music video above.

Check out more from EW's The Awardist , featuring awards analysis, exclusive interviews, and our podcast diving into all the highlights from the year's movies and performances.

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Listen to Lady Gaga's new song, 'Hold My Hand,' from 'Top Gun: Maverick'

Lady Gaga's new song, "Hold My Hand," from the new Tom Cruise movie "Top Gun: Maverick" is finally here.

The "A Star Is Born" actress' vocals shine in this ballad, in which she instills a message of hope, encouragement and support.

MORE: Lady Gaga unveils 'Hold My Hand,' a new song for 'Top Gun: Maverick'

"So cry tonight/ But don't you let go of my hand," the pop star pleads in the chorus. "You can cry every last tear/ I won't leave 'til I understand/ Promise me, just hold my hand."

Last week, Lady Gaga took to social media to share the artwork for "Hold My Hand" and revealed that she'd been "been working on it for years, perfecting it, trying to make it ours."

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"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," she explained in the caption. "This song is a love letter to the world during and after a very hard time. I've wanted you to hear it for so long."

"Hold My Hand," which was produced by Gaga, Bloodpop and Benjamin Rice, is available to stream now.

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Lady Gaga takes flight in ‘Hold My Hand’ music video for ‘Top Gun: Maverick’

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“Hold My Hand” took flight Friday when Lady Gaga shared the music video for the new single for the long-anticipated “Top Gun” sequel.

The Oscar- and Grammy Award-winner’s song was written for “Top Gun: Maverick,” an undertaking that “Top Gun” star Tom Cruise said this week became the “heartbeat” of the new Paramount Pictures film.

In an attempt to re-create the rock ’n’ roll magic of “Take My Breath Away” and “Danger Zone” from Tony Scott’s 1986 classic — released the year Gaga was born — the video pulls imagery from “Top Gun” as well as “Maverick.” Mother Monster is no U.S. Navy fighter pilot, but the theatrical performer embraces the role in the video and is certainly costumed for it in aviators and a bomber jacket while belting out the lyrics in and around an airplane hangar.

“So cry tonight / But don’t you let go of my hand / You can cry every last tear / I won’t leave ’til I understand / Promise you’ll just hold my hand / Hold my hand,” she sings, sitting under jets, rolling onto a wing and playing piano on a runway.

The single — produced by Gaga, longtime collaborator BloodPop and Benjamin Rice — was released by Interscope Records earlier this week and is a slow-building ballad about love, loyalty and perseverance. “Top Gun: Maverick” director Joe Kosinski also directed the music video.

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The film version of “Hold My Hand” features additional production and score by Harold Faltermeyer and Academy Award-winner Hans Zimmer.

The new single marks Gaga’s return to writing and producing original music for a film after 2018’s “A Star Is Born” soundtrack. Her work in that musical film, in which she also starred, earned her an Oscar and four Grammys, among other accolades.

“When I wrote this song for Top Gun: Maverick, I didn’t even realize the multiple layers it spanned across the film’s heart, my own psyche, and the nature of the world we’ve been living in,” Lady Gaga tweeted in late April. “I’ve been working on it for years, perfecting it, trying to make it ours. 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.”

During a Wednesday appearance on “The Late Late Show,” Cruise heaped praise on Gaga, calling her “incredible” and “extraordinary.”

“She’s not just on the soundtrack. She actually helped to compose the score and it was incredible,” Cruise said. (The feeling was mutual, apparently, as the the actor also attended a Gaga show in Las Vegas on Sunday and she thanked him for it on Instagram .)

Cruise told “Late Late Show” host James Corden that Gaga brought “Hold My Hand” to him and composer Hans Zimmer when they were struggling to find a right fit.

“Obviously making the soundtrack and the music in every movie is very important and this one was very particular,” Cruise said, adding: “There was just a sound and something we were looking for and it just, it wasn’t right. She presented her song to us and it just opened up the whole movie. She’s amazing.

“And it just opened those doors to the emotional core of the film that we had,” he added. “Things just came together in such a beautiful way. Her song that she’d written just fell right in and became, really, the underlying score and the heartbeat of our film. She’s amazing. She’s an actress, a jazz singer, pop singer, I mean her talent is just boundless. So you’ll love the music in this movie.”

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“Top Gun: Maverick” occurs about 30 years after the original and also stars Jennifer Connelly, Miles Teller, Lewis Pullman, Val Kilmer and Ed Harris. It hits theaters on May 27.

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Lady Gaga Unveils Her Top Gun: Maverick Power Ballad, “Hold My Hand”

By Savannah Walsh

Months after being snubbed in the best-actress Oscar race for House of Gucci, Lady Gaga has willed herself back into the awards conversation. On Tuesday, she unveiled “Hold My Hand,” her soaring power ballad from the long-awaited Top Gun: Maverick, which opens in theaters May 27.

“When I wrote this song for Top Gun: Maverick , I didn’t even realize the multiple layers it spanned across the film’s heart, my own psyche, and the nature of the world we’ve been living in,” Gaga wrote on Twitter . “I’ve been working on it for years, perfecting it, trying to make it ours.”

The sequel to Tom Cruise ’s 1986 classic has been delayed multiple times , with its most recent setbacks due to the pandemic. In her Twitter thread, Gaga said she wanted to make the music, produced with BloodPop and Ben Rice, 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.”

Gaga’s song will reportedly play over the end credits of the movie, which reunites Cruise with his Top Gun costar Val Kilmer, as well as a squad of new pilots , including Miles Teller (playing the son of Anthony Edwards ’s “Goose”), Glen Powell, Jay Ellis, Manny Jacinto, and Monica Barbaro (the franchise’s first female pilot). 

First showcased at last week’s CinemaCon in Las Vegas, “Hold My Hand” is evocative of ’80s rock anthems. Which is appropriate, particularly since Tom Whitlock and Giorgio Moroder ’s “Take My Breath Away,” Top Gun ’s enduring theme performed by Berlin, won the best-original-song trophy in 1987. Gaga herself won that category in 2019 for “Shallow” from A Star Is Born .  

In her Twitter thread, Gaga also thanked Cruise, composer Hans Zimmer, and director Joseph Kosinski for the “beautiful experience” of working on the track. She added, “This song is a love letter to the world during and after a very hard time.”

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Lady Gaga and Tom Cruise Go Flying in the "Hold My Hand" Music Video

Updated on 5/6/2022 at 1:10 PM

New Lady Gaga music has arrived, but no, it's not a new album. On May 3, the multihyphenate released a new song, "Hold My Hand," which she wrote and recorded for the upcoming film " Top Gun: Maverick ." Gaga shared the song's music video, which stars herself and "Top Gun" star Tom Cruise , on May 6.

Gaga first announced the track on social media on April 27, tweeting, "When I wrote this song for Top Gun: Maverick, I didn't even realize the multiple layers it spanned across the film's heart, my own psyche, and the nature of the world we've been living in. I've been working on it for years, perfecting it, trying to make it ours. 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." She went on to thank main star Tom Cruise , musician Hans Zimmer, and director Joseph Kosinski for the opportunity.

Leading up to the reveal, Gaga seemingly shared lyrics from the song on Twitter. One line read , "Hold my hand everything will be ok I heard from the heavens that clouds have been grey," while another read , "Pull me close wrap me in your aching arms I see that you're hurtin'."

The singer's social media announcement continued, "This song is a love letter to the world during and after a very hard time. I've wanted you to hear it for so long. And I'm so excited to give it to you on May 3." On April 29, she tweeted a 10-second snippet of the forthcoming track, again teasing the song's release date.

While "Top Gun: Maverick" was originally scheduled to be released in July 2019, it was initially delayed due to the movie's complicated flight sequences and then further postponed as a result of the pandemic. It will now hit theaters on May 27.

Gaga is no stranger to penning songs for movies. She wrote all the music for "A Star Is Born," winning an Oscar — along with Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando, and Andrew Wyatt — for best original song for "Shallow." The original "Top Gun" film had one of the most popular soundtracks of all time, including Berlin's "Take My Breath Away," which won an Oscar in 1986. No other songs on the "Top Gun: Maverick" soundtrack have yet been announced, but it won't be a surprise if the movie has a few more music superstars up its sleeve.

Listen to Lady Gaga's new song from "Top Gun: Maverick" here.

Lady Gaga's "Hold My Hand" Music Video

Tom Cruise Gives His Honest Review Of Lady Gaga’s New Song For Top Gun: Maverick

On May 6, Gaga released the ballad’s music video.

Tom Cruise is in full promotional mode as he gears up for his new movie Top Gun: Maverick , which flies into theaters on May 27. After arriving via helicopter at the film’s world premiere in San Diego this week, which took place on an aircraft carrier, the action star revealed how it was working with Lady Gaga on the movie’s music. The 13-time Grammy winner wrote the film’s soaring ballad “Hold My Hand,” and she released the music video for it on May 6.

“[Gaga] sent the song over … it was perfect,” Cruise told Extra . “I called her and I said, ‘You don’t understand. Your story, this story, how it comes together, it became the heartbeat of the score’.”

Cruise also talked about visiting Gaga in person at her Enigma residency . “I went to Vegas to thank her. We were working on the music at that point, and then I was going to come back and see her jazz show, and then the pandemic hit,” he said. “The next live show I was able to see was her jazz show. It was two years [later in May 2022]. It was a moment of celebration for us that finally people get to hear her music, and our film. It’s our film, together. ... And it builds up. The story of how her score is laid in to just build to that moment, I feel grateful to her for that.”

Gaga wrote “Hold My Hand” specifically for Top Gun: Maverick , though she didn’t reveal that she was involved until April 27 when she announced the single on Twitter , saying, “When I wrote this song ... I didn’t even realize the multiple layers it spanned across the film’s heart, my own psyche, and the nature of the world we’ve been living in. I’ve been working on it for years, perfecting it, trying to make it ours.” Gaga was involved in creating all the music for Top Gun: Maverick . A look at the soundtrack album , which is slated to drop May 27, shows she is credited on nine of the 12 tracks. Credited alongside Gaga are composers Hans Zimmer and Harold Faltermeyer.

Just days before the Top Gun: Maverick premiere, Gaga posted photos with Cruise at her Vegas residency Jazz + Piano. She captioned the snaps, which featured her planting a kiss on his cheek, “Thank you for coming to the show last night. I love you my friend @tomcruise.”

Gaga has a history of writing songs for movies. She was nominated for her first Academy Award in 2015 for “Til It Happens to You.” Co-written and produced by Diane Warren , the track was featured in the documentary The Hunting Ground , and it earned the pair an Oscar nod for Best Original Song. Three years later, Gaga was a double nominee, as she was up for Best Actress for her performance in A Star Is Born , while one cut from the film’s soundtrack, “Shallow,” competed for Best Original Song. Gaga and her collaborators Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando, and Andrew Wyatt all collected the latter prize.

After performing “Shallow” at the Academy Awards with duet partner and A Star Is Born co-star Bradley Cooper, the single shot to No. 1 on Billboard ’s Hot 100, giving her another chart-topper and turning Cooper into a pop star nearly overnight. The song went on to earn them several Grammy nominations, and they shared the win for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance.

Tom Cruise: Lady Gaga’s ‘Hold My Hand’ Became the ‘Heartbeat of Our Film’

• By Emily Zemler

Emily Zemler

Tom Cruise appeared on The Late Late Show to discuss his new movie, Top Gun : Maverick , and spent a significant amount of his interview singing Lady Gaga ‘s praises. The actor said the singer’s contribution to the soundtrack, “Hold My Hand,” became the “heartbeat of our film.”

“She’s incredible,” Cruise told host James Corden. “She’s not just on the soundtrack. She actually helped to compose the score and it was incredible.”

Cruise recounted how Gaga brought her song to him and Hans Zimmer, who also composed the music for the film, after they were struggling to find the right fit. “Obviously making the soundtrack and the music in every movie is very important and this one was very particular,” he said. “There was just a sound and something we were looking for and it just wasn’t right. She presented her song to us and it just opened up the whole movie.”

He added, “It just opened those doors to the emotional core of the film that we had. In that moment, things just came together in such a beautiful way. Her song that she’d written just fell right in and became, really, the underlying score and the heartbeat of our film.”

“Hold My Hand,” produced by Lady Gaga and longtime collaborator BloodPop, with additional production by Benjamin Rice, was released last week. The version of the song that appears in the film features additional production and scoring by Harold Faltermeyer and Zimmer.

“When I wrote this song for  Top Gun: Maverick , I didn’t even realize the multiple layers it spanned across the film’s heart, my own psyche, and the nature of the world we’ve been living in,” Lady Gaga  explained on Twitter . “I’ve been working on it for years, perfecting it, trying to make it ours. 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.”

The long-awaited sequel to 1986’s  Top Gun  was originally scheduled for release in 2019, but was postponed to “work out all the complex flight sequences.” It was  delayed once more due to the pandemic. The film stars Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, John Hamm, and Glen Powell, among others. It premieres on May 27.

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Tom Cruise Praises Lady Gaga’s ‘Top Gun’ Song, Reveals She Helped Compose the Score: ‘Her Talent Is Just Boundless’

"Her song that she'd written just fell right in and became really the underlying score and the heartbeat of our film," the actor told James Corden about Gaga.

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Someone get Tom Cruise an official Lady Gaga fan club membership, stat. He definitely earned it during his Tuesday (May 3) appearance on The Late Late Show With James Corden , where he spent a big chunk of his interview praising Lady Gaga — who’s a featured artist on the soundtrack for his upcoming movie Top Gun: Maverick  — for her artistry, performance ability, songwriting talent and more.

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As announced in April by the 36-year-old pop star herself, Gaga had the task of writing the theme song for Cruise’s May 26-slated sequel to the original 1986 Top Gun  film. The result was “Hold My Hand,” an uplifting lyrical ballad that the Mission: Impossible actor told Corden was the element that tied the entire movie together. “There was just a sound and something we were looking for, it just wasn’t right,” he recalled. “She presented her song to us and it just opened up the whole movie. She’s amazing.”

Is Lady Gaga's 'Hold My Hand' Already an Oscar Front-Runner?

“It just opened those doors to the emotional core of the film that we had,” he continued, explaining that they had approached Gaga after most of the film had been shot. “Things just came together in such a beautiful way. Her song that she’d written just fell right in and became really the underlying score and the heartbeat of our film.”

He also revealed to Corden that the “Rain On Me” singer’s musical contributions to  Top Gun: Maverick  don’t stop at “Hold My Hand.” “She’s not just on the soundtrack, she actually helped to compose the score,” he said, speaking about the film’s Hans Zimmer-crafted music.

Luckily for the Oscar-nominated actor, it looks like his admiration for Gaga goes both ways. On Monday (May 2), she posted photos with him — writing “I love you my friend” — from when he attended her Las Vegas show, something he also took time to rave about during his talk with Corden.

“It was incredible,” Cruise said of her performance. “Last time I saw a live concert, it was Lady Gaga two years ago. I went to go thank her when we were starting to work on the final pieces of Top Gun. She’s extraordinary. She’s an actress, a jazz singer, pop singer — her talent is just boundless.”

Watch Tom Cruise talk about his appreciation for Lady Gaga below:

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The Real Reason Lady Gaga’s New Song Replaced ‘Take My Breath Away’ In Top Gun: Maverick, According To The Director

This makes sense.

Those who took the time to see Tom Cruise in Top Gun: Maverick over the holiday weekend – and based on the box office results , it was a lot of you – know that the sequel opened with two very familiar pieces of music. The first was the official Top Gun theme, composed by Harold Faltermeyer. And then, once the jets begin to take off from the decks of the aircraft carrier, Kenny Loggins’ hit song “Danger Zone” kicks in. Immediately, we’re right back into the late 1980s, pumping our fists and shouting for Maverick to take to the skies and take down a faceless enemy. But if you also wanted to hear the very famous love song from 1987’s Top Gun , “Take My Breath Away,” it didn’t appear… but for good reason. 

In place of the Berlin track “Take My Breath Away,” Top Gun : Maverick relies on a brand new track from Lady Gaga . It’s a beautiful and emotional song, and one that Tom Cruise says became the beating heart of the sequel . But Top Gun: Maverick director Joseph Kosinski had yet another reason for not bringing “Take My Breath Away” back for the 2022 movie, and told CinemaBlend’s ReelBlend podcast :

Take My Breath Away is an incredible song, but it's really connected with that relationship (between Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis), you know? So for Maverick and Penny, we needed something new. Lady Gaga wrote this song for us that, like you said, from the first time I heard it, I was like, ‘Well, this is just a classic song. It's got a great melody.’ And when Hans Zimmer heard it, he was like, ‘I can build the love theme of the movie off this.’ That's why you see Lady Gaga has a credit with Hans and Harold (Faltermeyer) at the beginning, because that song became the melody for the love theme used orchestrally throughout the film.

That makes so much sense. The Berlin track is definitely associated with Maverick and Charlie (Kelly McGillis), mainly because the music video created for the tune heavily featured footage from Top Gun , helping to make the movie and the song more popular.

But Joseph Kosinski has already given the reasons why McGillis and co-star Meg Ryan didn’t return for the sequel , and so taking it the extra step, it makes sense that the musical cue associated with McGillis’ character Charlie would be dropped in favor of Lady Gaga’s “Hold My Hand.” As more people hear the song as part of the movie, Kosinski has talked about the double meaning found in the track’s lyrics , and fans discovered that Lady Gaga only got the part because Tom Cruise fired 21 Pilots , who originally were supposed to work on tunes for the sequel. That’s how the rumor goes, anyway.

If you haven’t yet seen Top Gun: Maverick, try to grab tickets. The reviews have been off the charts positive , and we expect the movie to continue to perform well until Jurassic World : Dominion roars into theaters on June 10. Keep track of that and all of the 2022 upcoming movies by relying on our up-to-date chart of planned openings.

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Sean O’Connell is a journalist and CinemaBlend’s Managing Editor. Having been with the site since 2011, Sean interviewed myriad directors, actors and producers, and created ReelBlend, which he proudly cohosts with Jake Hamilton and Kevin McCarthy. And he's the author of RELEASE THE SNYDER CUT, the Spider-Man history book WITH GREAT POWER, and an upcoming book about Bruce Willis.

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Inside the Messy Music of ‘Top Gun: Maverick’: Lady Gaga Gets First Scoring Credit, but Song Selection Goes Sideways

The main title credits to “ Top Gun: Maverick ” are both surprising and confusing: “Music by Harold Faltermeyer, Lady Gaga and Hans Zimmer . Score produced by Lorne Balfe .”

That may sound like a musical mess, but aside from Gaga, all the players have connections to the original “Top Gun” or each other through previous collaborations. Berlin-based Faltermeyer scored the original 1986 “Top Gun,” winning a Grammy for the instrumental “Top Gun Anthem,” while Zimmer scored four earlier Tom Cruise films including “Rain Man,” “Days of Thunder” and “Mission: Impossible II.”

The London-based Balfe has frequently collaborated with Zimmer on various scores (from “The Dark Knight” to “Dunkirk”), scored “Mission: Impossible – Fallout” for Cruise, and and is currently working with Cruise on “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning.” The Oscar- and multiple Grammy-winning Gaga penned the new movie’s “Hold My Hand,” already touted as an original song front-runner.

So how did their musical duties on “Top Gun: Maverick” break down?

“Each of them contributed significantly,” says Randy Spendlove, president of motion picture music at Paramount. “Harold came in and was here collaborating with Hans. And when we showed the movie to Gaga early on, she wrote this amazing song, and as that evolved, we asked her to contribute to the score.”

“Hold My Hand” plays during a bar scene when Penny (Jennifer Connelly) and her daughter are having a conversation. Cues from the song are woven into the score, and the full song is played near the end with Penny and Maverick (Cruise).

Spendlove explains that Lady Gaga had “written the love theme, which is the heartbeat of the movie. Harold’s theme is the incredible epic theme that’s always been associated with ‘Top Gun,’ and all the music in between — all those action sequences, dogfights and training sequences — was created by Hans and Harold. Lorne produced all that music from all those places.”

According to Faltermeyer, Cruise asked him to participate even before shooting began in 2018. “Let’s keep the spirit of the first one,” Faltermeyer quotes the star-producer as saying. “Thank God we had the iconic ‘Top Gun Anthem’ in our bag” the Berlin-based composer tells Variety via email. “That led to determining the tone of the entire score.”

Faltermeyer’s original theme “was the first thing we started delving into,” Balfe adds. “The audience wants to hear it, but it’s got to be slightly reinvented. There are nods to it throughout the movie.”

Faltermeyer worked with Zimmer at the latter’s Santa Monica studio off and on through 2019. “I wish we could have spent more time together,” Faltermeyer adds. “Our creative moments, one on one, were limited,” he notes, citing Zimmer’s multiple film commitments (including the James Bond film “No Time to Die,” which occupied Zimmer through late 2019 and early 2020).

Balfe remembers recording Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith for the score “three years ago” and says that the entire score was recorded in Los Angeles — “remotely,” he says, mainly because of COVID restrictions, so the key players cited in the film’s end titles (including cellist Tina Guo and electric guitarist Lexii Lynn Frazier) were performing in their own studios.

While the creative efforts began in Los Angeles, with Zimmer, Faltermeyer, and later Gaga, additional work took place in London, where Balfe resides, where Cruise was working on the next two “Mission: Impossible” movies, and where Zimmer spent considerable time during the past three years.

“Top Gun: Maverick” marks Lady Gaga’s first effort at film scoring. “Hans and Gaga worked very closely,” says Balfe. “There were quite a few writing sessions. They were working on it for a long time.”

Gaga recently said on social media that she spent years perfecting “Hold My Hand.” Cruise was spotted at the singer’s Las Vegas residency in December 2019. That was the first rumblings of a collaboration happening. In her post, Gaga called the song “a love letter to the world during and after a very hard time.”

Balfe considers the song the movie’s love theme in more ways than one. “We start using that theme when it’s to do with the love of two people, but also when it’s an emotional moment, embracing the sacrifices that these pilots go through,” he says. “The love of flight was always a subject we talked about. At the end of that first sequence, when Maverick’s trying to beat the speed record, we hear a nod to that theme.”

What of the film’s music supervision? Kathy Nelson made the final credits, but at one stage, another music supervisor — KCRW vet Jason Bentley, whose credits include “Tron: Legacy” — was on board mapping out a musical template. But as things moved into post-production and the long pandemic pause set in, the process was reconsidered and changes were made.

The resulting soundtrack, out May 27, is a shadow of its 1986 predecessor, which offered Kenny Loggins’ “Danger Zone” (back for an encore on “Maverick”), Berlin’s hit ballad “Take My Breath Away” (an Oscar winner for original song), and, lest we forget, the Righteous Brothers’ “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling.” Originally released in 1964, it saw a surge of popularity following the film’s release, and while omitted from the original soundtrack, was later added to an expanded edition.

“Top Gun: Maverick” features a new song by OneRepublic, “I Ain’t Worried,” and Miles Teller performing Jerry Lee Lewis’ “Great Balls of Fire,” nodding to the original film where Goose plays the song in a bar, and “Hold My Hand” — the rest of the collection is elements of score music.

According to sources, various “very opinionated” stakeholders took the reins on the music supervision. And according to Twenty One Pilots frontman Tyler Joseph, that included Cruise himself. As the singer-rapper told KROQ’s “Klein and Ally Show” earlier this month : “I was working with the music placement person for the new ‘Top Gun’ on writing a new song for them. And then I believe Tom Cruise came in and just fired everyone.”

Cruise was “intimately involved” with every aspect of the music, Spendlove affirms. “He is the vision and the custodian of the franchise. Everything goes through Tom.”

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Lady Gaga Plants a Smooch on Tom Cruise as He Supports Her at Concert: 'I Love You My Friend'

Lady Gaga, who is set to release a new song for Top Gun: Maverick on Tuesday, was supported by the film's star Tom Cruise at her show in Las Vegas Sunday

Lady Gaga had the support of a very special guest at her concert Sunday night: Tom Cruise !

The Top Gun: Maverick star, 59, stopped by the Park MGM in Las Vegas to support Gaga, 36, as she performed at the resort's Dolby Live amphitheater.

Gaga — who recently announced she'd be releasing a new song this week for Top Gun: Maverick — shared two photos to Instagram on Monday of herself and Cruise planting a kiss on each other's cheeks.

"Thank you for coming to the show last night. I love you my friend @tomcruise ," the singer wrote.

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In her Wednesday announcement, Gaga revealed that her song for the film, titled "Hold My Hand," would premiere this Tuesday — and called it a "love letter" to her fans.

"When I wrote this song for Top Gun: Maverick , I didn't even realize the multiple layers it spanned across the film's heart, my own psyche, and the nature of the world we've been living in. I've been working on it for years, perfecting it, trying to make it ours," she wrote on Instagram announcing the news. "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."

Gaga continued, "I'm so grateful to Tom and Hans and Joe for this opportunity — and it's been a beautiful experience working with them. Me, BloodPop, Ben Rice and everyone else who worked on it with us are so excited to share it with you. This song is a love letter to the world during and after a very hard time. I've wanted you to hear it for so long. And I'm so excited to give it to you on May 3. 'Hold My Hand.' "

Two days earlier, Gaga teased the single by tweeting a few lyrics from it: "Hold my hand everything will be ok I heard from the heavens that clouds have been grey."

RELATED VIDEO: Tom Cruise Surprises Fans at Comic-Con and Debuts the First Trailer for Top Gun: Maverick

Top Gun: Maverick sees the return of Cruise for his role as Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, a pilot student training with the U.S. Navy in the 1986 original. The movie will hit theaters May 27.

"We worked with the Navy and the Top Gun school to formulate how to shoot it practically. Because if we're gonna do it, we're gonna fly in the F-18s," said Cruise in a behind-the-scenes featurette released last month. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer added, "The aviation sequences had to be real, so our actors went through three months of grueling training ."

Footage showed Miles Teller , Glen Powell , Monica Barbaro, Greg Tarzan Davis , Jay Ellis and more stars doing training exercises and flying in the high-speed planes. Cruise said they did a "challenging" underwater program that simulates how to get out of an aircraft if they landed in water.

"Tom designed this all-encompassing aviation training for all the actors," said Barbaro.

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