"Always Remember Us This Way" was critically praised for its emotional intensity, melodic warmth, and Gaga's vocal performance, and was regarded by several reviewers as one of the soundtrack's standout tracks. Commercially, it topped the chart in Iceland and reached the top ten in several countries, including Belgium, Hungary, Ireland, Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Sweden, and Switzerland, while receiving multi-platinum certifications in Australia and New Zealand. It was nominated for Song of the Year at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards, becoming the second track from A Star Is Born to receive a nomination in that category after "Shallow". In 2022, Gaga performed the song during her stadium tour The Chromatica Ball, while in 2025–2026, she included it in FireAid and select concerts in promotion of her album Mayhem.
"Always Remember Us This Way" was written by Lady Gaga, Natalie Hemby, Hillary Lindsey, and Lori McKenna, and produced by Dave Cobb and Gaga for the 2018 film A Star Is Born and its soundtrack.[1][2]Bradley Cooper had approached Cobb for crafting the sound of the album, after listening to the latter's work. Cobb flew out to Los Angeles and met Gaga and Cooper for a writing session. He played the track "Maybe It's Time" (written by singer-songwriter Jason Isbell), which impressed Gaga and Cooper and set the tone for the soundtrack. They asked Hemby, Lindsey and McKenna to come down to Los Angeles and start composing tracks.[3]
"Always Remember Us This Way" was released to Italian radio on January 4, 2019, followed by release to French radio two weeks later.[4][5] A music video for the song was released previously, showing the sequence from the film when Gaga sings the track after being introduced by Jackson onstage, who sweetly tells her, "I love you, I'll always remember us this way". A vertical-shaped version of the clip was released to Spotify.[6] Brooke Bajgrowicz from Billboard explained that the "reflective video" showed Ally and Jackson "falling in love with each other", while interspersed with scenes of the couple going on a motorbike ride, kissing in a parking lot and performing music together. The clip ends with the crowd chanting Ally's name, and Jackson walks over to embrace her.[7]
Development and composition
McKenna described the songwriting as a powerful moment because the lyrics made them all tearful, and they decided that if "Maybe It's Time" was Cooper's character Jackson's song, then "Always Remember Us This Way" belonged with Ally.[8] She later recalled that the script was still changing constantly while they were writing for the film, so the writers did not yet know the exact scene for which the song would be used. She said that she sat on the studio floor while Hemby and Lindsey took turns at the piano before Gaga joined them, and that the four women "sat there and wrote that song and cried", describing it as "a good girl session". McKenna said she was surprised the song remained in the film because of how much the script kept evolving.[9] She also praised Gaga's collaborative approach during the session, saying that the singer was "so trusting" and "really was a team player" despite her stature.[10]
"Always Remember Us This Way" was recorded immediately after the songwriters finished composing it.[3] They also provided backing vocals as Gaga recorded her vocals in the studio.[11] Cobb said, "It was pure magic when that went down and you can hear it in the film—the energy and the excitement that was happening. It's amazing to hear that kind of voice come through headphones."[3] He recalled that "all of us had goosebumps" and that such a reaction "happens very seldomly".[8] Lindsey, who had previously collaborated with Gaga on her fifth studio album, Joanne (2016), recalled that the singer had imbibed in the character of Ally she was playing in the film completely. "She was living in the hurt and ache of Ally losing the love of her life. We all just wanted to hug her. She was so broken up and in so much raw pain," Lindsey added.[3]
"Always Remember Us This Way" is a piano-driven countryballad,[12][13] inspired by the music of the 1970s,[14] and is "pushed along" by Gaga's raw, powerful vocals.[7] Her performance moves from the soft, whispering opening lines to a heroic belt in the chorus.[15] Following the first verse being on piano, the guitars and drums kick in from the second verse and Gaga's vocals build up to the final chorus uttering the lines, "When the sun goes down/ And the band won't play/ I'll always remember us this way".[16] The song is composed in the time signature of common time and is performed in the key of A minor with a slow tempo of 65 beats per minute. It follows a chord progression of Am–F–C–G, and the vocals span from G3 to E5.[17]
Writing for American Songwriter, Alex Hopper interpreted the song as reflecting on the early days of a relationship in the wake of its end, with the narrator asking to be remembered fondly, thanking her partner for revealing a light within her she had not known was there, and looking back with gratitude as the relationship fades. She added that the lyrics evoke Jackson and Ally's shared musical life, referring to them as poets who "don't know how to rhyme" and interpreting the "Arizona sky burnin' in your eyes" line as a nod to their time on the road while touring. Hopper further said that the song mirrors Jackson and Ally's relationship in A Star Is Born, with Jackson recognizing Ally's star potential and Ally ultimately remembering him with love rather than bitterness after his death.[10]
Reception
Critical response
Upon release, "Always Remember Us This Way" was widely praised by critics. Jon Pareles of The New York Times described the song as a "hushed-to-heroic", Elton John-inspired "showstopper".[18]Rolling Stone's Brittany Spanos and The Washington Post's Emily Yahr called the song "explosive" and "haunting", respectively.[2][19]USA Today's Patrick Ryan said the song "ranks up there with 2009's "Speechless" and 2013's "Dope" as one of Gaga's best ballads".[12] Natalie Walker of Vulture thought that "this song really illuminates what a virtuosic vocal chameleon Gaga is", and compared aspects of the track to Lorde's "Liability" and the songs of Adele.[20] For Kristen S. Hé, also from Vulture, the track "sounds like vintage Carole King, with a hint of modern Nashville", and felt "it's the kind of song that charms you over multiple listens with its warm, familiar delivery".[21]
Maureen Lee Lenker of Entertainment Weekly picked "Always Remember Us This Way" as the best track of the soundtrack, describing it as "a poem in its own right, evocative and elegiac" and a "showcase for Gaga's powerhouse voice".[15] Alex Ungerman of Entertainment Tonight similarly singled the track out as one of the soundtrack's highlights, praising its emotional force, melancholy sense of finality, and Gaga's full-throated vocal performance; the reviewer also suggested that it would have been a more fitting closing song for the film than "I'll Never Love Again".[22]The Guardian's Michael Cragg found it to be Gaga's "finest ballad", noting, "like most of her best songs, it was written and recorded quickly, with the creases and scuffs in her vocals adding to the emotion behind the delicate pre-chorus, before she finds more solid ground on the gorgeous open road of a chorus."[23]
Alyssa Bereznak of The Ringer described "Always Remember Us This Way" as Ally's defining ballad, praising its poetic piano-driven style and Gaga's "fearless, unwavering voice", and suggesting that Gaga had found in her character the inspiration she had been missing on Joanne.[24] Carl Wilson of Slate expressed a similar view, writing that "this is the song she was searching for on Joanne", adding that "like a fearless vocal assassin, she annihilates anyone who remembers only the meat dress..."[25] Jeremy Winogard of Slant Magazine thought that the song "allow[s] Gaga to flex her pipes."[26]The Plain Dealer's Joey Morona wrote, "Her considerable vocal prowess and control are ... on full display on the heartfelt slow jam".[27] Adam White of The Independent felt that due to its "gorgeous melodies" it is a song which is "easy to return to over and over again".[28]
The Daily Telegraph'sNeil McCormick considered "I'll Never Love Again" and "Always Remember Us This Way" Gaga's best solo tracks on the album, writing that although they are "clichéd, sentimental and old-fashioned", they are delivered with enough "conviction and vocal drama" to show that Gaga "has the star power to go supernova in any musical era".[14] Maeve McDermott of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote that "Always Remember Us This Way" was the soundtrack's "most intriguing entry",[11] and Pitchfork's Larry Fitzmaurice listed it as one of the album's best, calling it "unabashedly sentimental", though he felt the soundtrack recording could not fully reproduce the emotional impact of watching Gaga perform the song in the film.[29]
Following the soundtrack's release, "Always Remember Us This Way" debuted at number-two on the US Digital Songs chart.[32] The song consecutively debuted at number 41 on the Billboard Hot 100 along with four other tracks from the album charting.[33] It was present on the chart for a total of nine weeks.[34] As of February 2019, the track has sold 248,000 copies in the United States and accumulated 71million streams.[35] The track debuted at number 32 on the Canadian Hot 100 while entering their Digital Songs chart at number-two.[36][37] In Australia, the song entered the ARIA Singles Chart at number 18, and by next week reached a peak of number 12.[38] The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) certified it nine-times platinum for selling over 630,000 units in the country.[39] Similarly in New Zealand, the song entered the singles chart at number 39, and after a few weeks reached a peak of number 14.[40] The Recorded Music NZ (RMNZ) certified it sextuple platinum for selling over 180,000 units in the country.[41]
"Always Remember Us This Way" entered the UK Singles Chart at number 39 with sales of 11,029 units on the chart dated October 12, 2018.[42] By its third week on the chart, the track had moved up to reach a peak of number 25 while selling 16,815 units, being present within the top 100 for eleven weeks.[43][44] As of February 2025, the song has sold 1.6 million copies in the UK with 189 million streams[45][46] and is certified double platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).[47]
In Ireland the song reached number three on the chart in its third week. That same week first single "Shallow" held the top-spot on the Irish Singles Chart while album track "I'll Never Love Again" also reached the top-ten.[48][49] "Always Remember Us This Way" also reached the top-ten of the charts in Scotland, Sweden and Switzerland (number-one in the French-speaking part of Romandie), in the latter two in the same week,[50][51][52] as well as in Belgium (both Flanders and Wallonia),[53][54] Hungary,[55] Norway[56] and Portugal[57] the digital charts of Luxembourg,[58] Slovakia[59] and the combined European chart, the top twenty in Denmark[60], Estonia,[61] France,[62] Malaysia,[63] and on the digital chart of Czech Republic,[64] top thirty in Austria,[65] Singapore[66] and the Netherlands[67] and top forty in Italy.[68]
In 2022, Gaga performed "Always Remember Us This Way" at The Chromatica Ball stadium tour while playing on the piano, which was set inside a sculpture of thorns.[69][70] The performance was called "beautiful" and "gorgeus" by Lauren O'Neill from i and The Guardian's Michael Cragg, respectively.[71][72] While reviewing the concert, Bob Gendron of the Chicago Tribune opined that the "balladic renditions of 'Always Remember Us This Way' and 'The Edge of Glory' exposed another facet of Gaga: that of a gospel singer in hiding".[73] During the tour's stop at East Rutherford, New Jersey, Gaga dedicated "Always Remember Us This Way" to friend/frequent collaborator Tony Bennett, and also interjected a reminder to be "kind to those dealing with mental health" toward the end of the song.[74] In Houston's Minute Maid Park, she dedicated the song to her Houston-born friend Sonja Durham, who died years earlier due to cancer.[75]
Published by Sony/ATV Songs LLC / Happygowrucke/Creative Pulse Music/These Are Pulse Songs (BMI). All rights administered by These Are Pulse Songs, BIRB Music (ASCAP).
All Rights Administered by BMG Rights Management (US) LLC, Maps And Records Music/Creative Pulse Music (BMI).
All rights administered by These Are Pulse Songs, Warner-Barham Music LLC (BMI) admin. by Songs of Universal (BMI) Warner-Olive Music LLC (ASCAP) admin. by Universal Music Corp. (ASCAP).
↑A Star Is Born (Credits from Liner notes). Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. Interscope Records. 2018. B0028726-01. Archived from the original on October 9, 2018. Retrieved October 10, 2018.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
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