Ahead of tomorrow’s Top Gun: Maverick San Diego world premiere, Lady Gaga has released “Hold My Hand,” the official song she co-wrote and performs for Paramount/Skydance’s over-35-years-in-the-making sequel.
You can listen to the song on various streaming platforms here. An official audio video of the song has been released on Lady Gaga’s YouTube channel here.
Written and produced by Gaga and BloodPop, with additional production from Benjamin Rice, “Hold My Hand” plays over the end credits of the film and if Gaga’s track record is anything to go by, it wouldn’t be a surprise if the song goes on to win an Academy Award as did Berlin’s “Take My Breath Away” when it won a Best Original Song Academy Award for the original Top Gun back in 1986. Gaga a Best Original Song Academy Award in 2019 for A Star Is Born’s “Shallow.”
Taking to Instagram to comment on the writing process behind the track, Gaga said, “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… 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.”
Directed by Joseph Kosinski (Oblivion), from a screenplay written by Christopher McQuarrie, Eric Warren, and Ehren Kruger, Top Gun: Maverick falls back into formation with top Navy top aviators, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Cruise) pushing the envelope as a courageous test pilot and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him. When he finds himself training a detachment of Top Gun graduates for a specialized mission the likes of which no living pilot has ever seen, Maverick encounters Lt. Bradley Bradshaw (Miles Teller), call sign: “Rooster”, the son of Maverick’s late best friend and Radar Intercept Officer Lt. Nick Bradshaw, aka “Goose”. Facing an uncertain future and confronting the ghosts of his past, Maverick is drawn into a confrontation with his own deepest fears, culminating in a mission that demands the ultimate sacrifice from those who will be chosen to fly it.
Following the San Diego premiere, Top Gun: Maverick will screen as part of the Cannes Official Selection on May 18, followed by a Royal Film Performance™ in London on May 19. Subsequently, the film will start landing in cinemas around the globe, releasing in North America and the UK on May 27.
