For Paul Blair, higher often called DJ White Shadow, the songwriting course of for the Bradley Cooper-directed, Lady Gaga-starring film musical A Star Is Born, out Oct. 5, was a “family affair.” “You know that video of the 7-year-old kid who stole his grandma’s car and was like, ‘I wanted to do hoodrat stuff with my friends?’” he says. “That’s how I feel about all of this.”
Blair, 40, who has six co-writing credit on the remake’s soundtrack, has been Gaga’s right-hand man since 2011. He produced 9 songs on Born This Way, together with the title observe and “The Edge of Glory,” and labored with the singer on her 2013 album, Artpop, and 2017 single “The Cure.” Blair says he can’t recall when precisely his work with Gaga on A Star Is Born began, given the fluidity of his collaborative work together with her. “You’re bouncing off of each other — just, ‘Here’s what we got, let’s work on more shit,’” he says. “As the movie developed and the script got honed in, you have better ideas and build stuff more concisely. It wasn’t like, ‘Gentlemen, start your engines!’”
The movie, tailored for the display screen thrice earlier than, is already producing Academy Award buzz for Gaga, who performs an aspiring singer named Ally who’s caught in a thankless job. When she’s serendipitously found by rock star Jackson Maine (Cooper) whereas acting at a drag bar, she adopts her mononymous pop persona, for whom Blair co-wrote the songs. Gaga mined her personal profession trajectory — she was found at a burlesque present — for her character’s storyline.
“With any good actor, they draw on their own personal experiences to do that role,” says Blair. “It’s the same for writing the songs for Ally. We drew on that arc and wrote songs toward it.”
This article originally appeared in the Sept. 29 issue of Billboard.
