Why Did You Do That To Us?
EntertainmentAfter exhausting the memetic value of Lady Gaga’s wily war cry in A Star Is Born’s signature track “Shallow,” the second most talked about song from the film’s soundtrack, “Why Did You Do That?” was instantly dismissed as frivolous pop on screen. That’s a natural response given the infamous butt lyric in the first stanza (“Why’d you come around me with an ass like that?”) and its repetitive chorus: “Why did you do that, do that, do that, do that, do that to me?” Music fans and critics, however, realized this song was perfect precisely because it’s so close to absurd. There’s the woozy, bass-heavy, dance-pop beat that practically forces your body to find the rhythm, the infectious hook that burrows itself deep into the furthest recesses of your brain, and lyrics that are easy to memorize. “Why Did You Do That?” hits its maximum appeal if you’re riding in the car with friends or jamming out in your bedroom alone while slightly tipsy. Its usefulness has no boundaries. Its pulsing enthusiasm is tailor-made to dominate the charts and achieve total cultural ubiquity. Jackson Maine’s music in the movie is (arguably) good, but it’s not that good.
We first hear “Why Did You Do that?” at the movie’s midpoint, when Ally, Lady Gaga’s aspiring pop star character, performs the track as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live, and again later when she wins a Grammy. Contributing songwriter Diane Warren confirmed that the song was not intended to be bad. There’s no accounting for taste, but is it really wise to dispute the Oscar nominee who gave us gems that run the gamut from “I Decide,” off the Princess Diaries 2 soundtrack, to the iconic Whitney Houston/Enrique Iglesias duet “Could I Have This Kiss Forever”?
Of course he hates the song. Never in his life could he write something so genuinely and sincerely rhapsodic!
The problem is not with “Why Did You Do That?” but with the fact that A Star Is Born is largely framed through the eyes of Jackson, played by Bradley Cooper. His resentment of Ally’s rising success as his own star declines colors the way he perceives her music, and by extension, the way the film frames the music’s quality. The movie thinks “Why Did You Do That?” is a bad song because Jackson thinks it’s a bad record, and the movie is by and large a reflection of his experiences of their relationship.