Lady Gaga is being threatened with legal action over her award-winning song “Shallow.”
Songwriter Steve Ronsen claims the single, performed by Gaga and Bradley Cooper in A Star Is Born, rips off his 2012 song “Almost.”
Ronsen’s lawyer Mark D. Shirian said in a statement to the New York Post that he provided Gaga’s legal team with a report from a musicologist who concluded “there are significant tempo, melodic, rhythmic and harmonic similarities between the two ‘hooks’ of the songs.”
At issue is a three-note progression – G, A, B – in both “Shallow” and “Almost.” But, this same progression can be heard in many compositions, notably in the 1978 Kansas song “Dust In The Wind.”
“Shallow” was written by Gaga with Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando and Andrew Wyatt. It won Best Original Song at the Oscars as well as a pair of Grammy Awards.
Gaga’s lawyer Orin Snyder told the New York Post that Ronsen’s legal threat is a “brazen shakedown” and “shameful and wrong.” He said if Ronsen sues, the pop star “will fight vigorously and will prevail.”