Is this actually how pop music works in 2018? I'm not sure it is.

Rating: 7/10 (3 January 2019)

Let's get all the good stuff out of the way. Yes, Lady Gaga is a revelation. And yes, Bradley Cooper does shred his guitar, quite well. And yes, heart strings are indeed pulled, in a masterly fashion.
But.
There's a nagging question that followed me all the way through "A Star Is Born."
Does Bradley Cooper, or anyone working on "A Star Is Born" - a movie all about the music/celebrity/fame industry - actually understand how the music/celebrity/fame industry actually works in 2018?
You'd assume that he/they do, since Bradley is a celebrity, and Lady Gaga has released one and half albums about the very subject of fame ("The Fame" plus the "Fame Monster" EP); but on the other hand there are so many that-doesn't-quite-feel-right aspects about "A Star Is Born" that is really makes you wonder.
A lot of this is the managers fault. We know we are supposed to hate the manager because... he doesn't wear socks? Or he wears very, very short socks?
But regardless of his sock-wearing habits he does seem to be utterly clueless at how pop music works in 2018.
Let me get this right? You sign Ally after she becomes Internet-famous for singing a self-penned power ballad with an aging has-been country-rock-star. And you've heard a couple of her other songs, and they are all very power-ballady as well. So why do you think it's a good idea to market her as a dance troupe fronting pop diva of songs about butts?
Now I'm not dissing dance troupe front pop divas of songs about butts. Some of my favourite songs are by dance troupe fronting pop divas of songs about butts. But in a world full of Adeles, Lordes and Lana Del Reys - all of whom have managed to avoid that sort of thing, whilst remaining both pretty amazing and very successful - why does this seem like a good career move to you?
Then there's that weird insistence that having Jackson urinate on himself at the Grammys would destroy Ally's career, which - whilst no doubt embarrassing for all involved - would clearly not be the case. Do these people not understand how memes work?
Whilst it's never quite clear just how big Ally is - outside of the original YouTube video, no-one seems to talk about chart positions or first-day streaming figures, which in itself seems a bit weird - we can assume that prior to the Grammys she hadn't quite hit household name status yet. Well, having your husband urinate on stage in front of a global audience will solve that problem for you. I mean, as famous as Kanye and Taylor already were prior to the VMAs, their fame quotient probably doubled afterwards. And it's probably fair to say that the impact of Urin-gate would be far greater.
I'm not saying that Ally wouldn't have been humiliated, and actually that's another issue: where was the scene where she broke down crying after reading all the mean tweets? And then got cheered up by a Buzzfeed listicle of "10 Reasons Why Ally's Handling Of Urin-gate Is An Inspiration To Us All"?
Actually, come to think of it, does Ally even have a Twitter account? Does she even tweet? We are never told, and again - in 2018, for an up-and-coming pop star - that seems a little odd.
For a movie all about fame, it sometimes behaves as though the media/social media, and hell, even fame itself barely even exits. And we know that Lady Gaga for one, is hyper-aware that it does.