A voice returns in memory: “I’ll Never Love Again” at GLV

The farewell turns toward a memory

Lady Gaga carries “I’ll Never Love Again (Film Version)” almost to its end. Bradley Cooper’s voice arrives only in the closing passage, as the film turns to a flashback. His entrance changes the time of the story: the farewell reaches back to a moment shared before it. Two names appear in the credits, but the song unfolds through Gaga’s sustained lead and this brief return to the past.

That ending gives the performance a particular poignancy. For most of the song, the listener stays with one singer; the other voice is held back until memory brings it into reach. The change of singer also changes our relationship to what came before. A song addressed to someone absent briefly lets that person be heard.

Aaron Raitiere, Hillary Lindsey, Lady Gaga and Natalie Hemby wrote the song. HFI used the 48 kHz/24-bit edition of A Star Is Born (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), released by Interscope Records on 5 October 2018.¹

Digital playback at GLV

The GLV system used a Melco S1 network switch, an Aurender N50 digital-output network transport and an MC10 master clock. Conversion was handled by an MSB Technology The Select DAC, with M500 monoblock power amplifiers driving YG Acoustics Sonja 3.3 loudspeakers.

One practical detail of the S1 is its individual port control. Melco specifies four SFP+ ports and seven RJ45 ports, with front-panel selection of link speed and the ability to turn unused ports off. The network connections can therefore be configured separately rather than all running with the same setting.²

Take the listening chair at GLV

HFI recorded the system at GLV in Seoul on 26 March 2025. A matched pair of DPA-4011 microphones fed a Zoom F8n Pro at 192 kHz/32-bit float. A laser distance meter matched the microphones’ distances from the loudspeakers at the position where that pair most closely captured the sound heard at the sweet spot.

Headphones offer a place to settle into this GLV session at your own sweet spot. The full performance is here, with time to stay with the song and its ending.