"Shallow" was written by Gaga with Andrew Wyatt, Anthony Rossomando and Mark Ronson, and produced by Gaga with Benjamin Rice. The song is heard three times in the film, most prominently during a sequence when Cooper's character Jackson Maine invites Gaga's character Ally to perform it onstage with him.

For example, the melody of “Shallow” (A Star is Born) contains a low G3 and a high D5.

Out of 18 original tracks on the soundtrack, Lady Gaga is credited as a writer or cowriter on 13 of them, including the powerful finale "I'll Never Love Again." The big ballad featured in the trailers, "Shallow," is one of her signature songs, co-written with Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando, and Andrew Wyatt.