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Why did Lady Gaga’s new track replace Take My Breath Away in Top Gun: Maverick?

Gaga’s hold My Hand features in the popular sequel

Top Gun gave us some major music moments, be it, Danger Zone, by Kenny Loggins or Berlin’s Take My Breath Away. But the latter does not feature in the film's sequel Top Gun: Maverick. Instead, Lady Gaga’s Hold My Hand was featured as the headlining track of the film’s album. And now the film’s director Joseph Kosinski has opened up about why the famous Berlin track was replaced in the film. 

“Take My Breath Away is an incredible song, but it's really connected with that relationship (between Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis), you know? So for Maverick and Penny, we needed something new. Lady Gaga wrote this song for us that, like you said, from the first time I heard it, I was like, ‘Well, this is just a classic song. It's got a great melody.’ And when Hans Zimmer heard it, he was like, ‘I can build the love theme of the movie off this.’ That's why you see Lady Gaga has a credit with Hans and Harold (Faltermeyer) at the beginning because that song became the melody for the love theme used orchestrally throughout the film,” he revealed.