Lady Gaga’s Top Gun, not least because of the 36-year wait between movies. As well as these lengthy delays, Top Gun: Maverick is also plagued by a tonal issue that the music could look to remedy.
Since Maverick is now older and reaching the end of his career, Top Gun: Maverick could be a sadder look back on his life than the fun-focused, sunny 80s original. However, few viewers want to see a summer blockbuster about aging, death, and a growing sense of obsolescence. In many ways, the first film was defined by its now-iconic soundtrack, with several hits entering into pop-culture and helping set the movie's general tone. Given the importance of music to Top Gun: Maverick's iconic forebear, it's clear that the sequel will have to use its songs just as effectively.
Luckily, Lady Gaga’s recently-released Top Gun: Maverick theme song proves that the movie can—if the sequel follows the path carved by its soundtrack’s lead single—nail the careful balance of cheesy bombast and genuine emotion that made the original Top Gun so memorable. Lady Gaga’s Top Gun: Maverick theme song “Hold My Hand” is an 80s-influenced ballad and the sort of massive anthem that wouldn’t be out of place on the original Top Gun soundtrack. While Top Gun: Maverick already A Star Is Born tie-in “The Shallows” and proving that, if the sequel lives up to its theme song, Top Gun: Maverick can be as simultaneously stirring and shamelessly cheesy as the original movie.
The original Top Gun’s tonal balancing act required viewers to take characters with names like “Viper,” “Iceman,” and “Goose” seriously, but Cruise’s combination of cocksure charisma and vulnerability made this work. In Top Gun: Maverick, Cruise will likely be sidelined to make room for new franchise stars, but the presence of reliable screen talents like Monica Barbaro, Glen Powell, and Miles Teller bodes well for the next generation’s likability. The Top Gun sequel will require viewers to laugh at its inherent absurdity while still getting invested in its high-flying drama at the same time, making Lady Gaga a perfect choice for the movie’s theme song.
Like many of Gaga’s biggest hits, “Hold My Hand” fuses grandiose instrumentation with surprisingly simple, sweet lyrics about love. It’s a perfect fit for Top Gun: Maverick, which pairs gravity-defying action and over-the-top characters with perennially relatable themes of friendship and teamwork. While the musician isn’t always a good fit for movies or television (as Gaga’s disastrous Simpsons cameo proved), her larger-than-life pop is a perfect fit for Top Gun: Maverick and proves the sequel could succeed if the movie manages to marry its silly, showy side with its more universal, human themes.
