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One of the most memorable parts of the original Top Gun is the Soundtrack. “Highway to the Danger Zone” by Kenny Loggins and “Take My Breath Away” by Berlin became huge hits due to their use in Top Gun. The soundtrack for Top Gun: Maverick will include a few new songs including one from Lady Gaga. Tom Cruise says that the new song from Lady Gaga is the “heartbeat” of Top Gun: Maverick. 

‘Top Gun: Maverick’ continues the story of Tom Cruise’s Maverick

Tom Cruise attends the Mexico premiere of 'Top Gun: Maverick'
Tom Cruise | Hector Vivas/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures

It’s been 36 years since the original Top Gun debuted in theaters. Now, Tom Cruise is returning to Top Gun and bringing his cocky Maverick character back to the big screen. In this sequel, Maverick returns to the academy to train a group of graduate pilots for a special mission. 

The new cast for the movie includes Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, Miles Teller, and Monica Barbaro. Val Kilmer will be returning as Iceman along with Cruise. Early screenings for Top Gun: Maverick took place during CinemaCon 2022 and reactions from audiences and critics have been overwhelmingly positive. 

Tom Cruise praises the new song from Lady Gaga for ‘Top Gun: Maverick’

In an appearance on The Late Late Show with James Corden, Cruise praised the new song from Lady Gaga for the Top Gun sequel called “Hold My Hand.” He says he is a fan of the artist and even said she contributed to the musical score from composer Hans Zimmer.

“She’s incredible,” Cruise told host James Corden. “She’s not just on the soundtrack. She actually helped to compose the score and it was incredible.”

“Obviously making the soundtrack and the music in every movie is very important and this one was very particular,” he continued. “There was just a sound and something we were looking for and it just wasn’t right. She presented her song to us and it just opened up the whole movie. It just opened those doors to the emotional core of the film that we had. In that moment, things just came together in such a beautiful way. Her song that she’d written just fell right in and became, really, the underlying score and the heartbeat of our film.”

Lady Gaga worked on “Hold My Hand” with frequent producer BloodPop and producer Benjamin Rice. The song is available now on all platforms. 

Lady Gaga wanted to ‘celebrate life’s heroes’ with ‘Hold My Hand’

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Before the song was released, Lady Gaga shared on her Twitter a thread that explained how much the song means to her. The April 27 post talked about how she wanted to create a song that worked on “multiple layers” and thanked Cruise and Zimmer for the opportunity. 

“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,” Lady Gaga wrote on Twitter. “I’ve been working on it for years, perfecting it, trying to make it ours.”

“I wanted to make music into a song where we share our deep need to both be understood and try to understand each other—a longing to be close when we feel so far away and an ability to celebrate life’s heroes.”

Top Gun: Maverick flies into theaters on May 27. 

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