Shallow
Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper · A Star Is Born Soundtrack
A longing for depth that rings true
What do these signals mean?
- Edifying: Points the heart toward God, truth, hope, or love.
- Worth Weighing: Real good and real concern together. Test it before you take it in.
- Take Caution: Leans toward what could dull or mislead. Approach carefully.
- Consider Avoiding: Celebrates what Scripture warns against. Little here builds up.
Weighed against Scripture
“All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.”
The Preacher names the same restlessness the song circles: the eye is never satisfied, the ear never full. The song's longing for more than the modern world offers echoes this ancient diagnosis of life lived on the surface.
“As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?”
The psalmist pants for God the way a deer pants for water, a thirst no shallow stream can meet. The song's imagery of diving past the surface and the refrain 'we're far from the shallow now' resonates with this kind of deep, unmet longing.
“Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.”
Jesus warns of seed that springs up quickly in shallow soil but withers because it has no root. The song is aware of shallowness as a danger, though it does not name what the deeper ground actually is. That remains the open question.
Shallow is a song about the quiet dissatisfaction of living on the surface and the courage it takes to dive into something real. The two voices ask each other the questions most people avoid: are you actually happy, or just filling the void? The chorus is a leap, not a guarantee, but the leap is toward authenticity and connection rather than away from them. It is not a worship song, but it reaches in the direction worship comes from.
No profanity, explicit content, or glorified harm. The language is honest and emotionally direct.
The song names the ache beneath a comfortable surface life and reaches toward something more real, even at personal risk. It does not arrive at God, but the direction it points is away from numbness and toward genuine depth.
Written for the film 'A Star Is Born,' the song captures two people daring to leave shallow living behind for something true and costly. The intent is honest and the emotional invitation is toward vulnerability, not vice.
When you hear these two voices daring each other off the deep end, what is it in your own life that you sense you have been keeping safely shallow?