Shallow: key, vocal range, and what the vocal line actually asks of you
Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper's Shallow, from A Star Is Born, is the duet people type into search boxes when they want the original key, the vocal range, and a straight answer on whether it is hard to sing. This page uses measured stats from the sung vocal line of a user upload of the official music video: range B2–D#5 (28 semitones), tessitura mostly A3–G4, phrasing tempo about 65 BPM, difficulty hard, longest note G3 held 3.3 seconds, 0.6 notes per second, duration 216 seconds.
The released recording sits in E minor. That is the key karaoke tracks and most published charts use. If you transpose, you are leaving the version audiences expect.
What makes it easy or hard to sing
The difficulty label is hard, and the numbers explain why. Twenty-eight semitones from B2 to D#5 is a wide map for one piece. The low end (B2) is Cooper's spoken-sung floor; the high end (D#5) is Gaga's belt. Most of the line sits A3–G4, so the middle of the song is not extreme, but the arrangement still asks you to own both ends if you sing the full duet as one part.
Phrasing tempo is about 65 BPM. That is not a sprint. At 0.6 notes per second the writing is relatively sparse, which sounds easier until you account for breath and register. Slow phrases expose pitch. You cannot hide a scoop or a late consonant the way you can at 120 BPM. The longest measured hold is only 3.3 seconds on G3, so stamina here is not about one marathon note. It is about staying in tune through long, speech-like lines and then switching into a brighter mix without a run-up.
Hard, in this measurement set, means the combination of range width plus a tessitura that keeps returning to A3–G4 while still requiring B2 and D#5. A singer who is comfortable from A3 to G4 can still fail the opening verses or the climactic belt. The 216-second duration is a full-length take: you have to manage two contrasting vocal characters without resetting.
Who it suits
Measured range B2–D#5 does not mean one voice type should sing every pitch. Baritones and low tenors own B2 through the A3–G4 pocket if they stay in a speech-like chest mix and do not chase D#5. Tenors and high baritones who mix cleanly through G4 and can place D#5 without yelling match Gaga's half of the line. Altos with a solid mix above G4 can take the female part if they skip the B2 verses or split the duet. True basses will find D#5 unrelated to their instrument; light sopranos will find B2 the same way.
If your comfortable speaking range already lives near A3–G4, the body of the song will feel familiar. The test is whether you can add a secure B2 without fry collapse and a D#5 that stays on pitch at 65 BPM, where every wobble is audible.
How to practice it
Work the song as two jobs. First, speak-sing the low phrases around B2–A3 on a comfortable vowel, matching the 65 BPM pacing so you do not rush the consonants. Keep air quiet; the 0.6 notes-per-second density means extra notes will sound like you are filling space the original left empty. Second, isolate the A3–G4 belt zone. That is where the tessitura lives. Onsets should be clean; the 3.3-second G3 hold is a useful checkpoint for steady tone without adding volume you cannot sustain later.
Do not start on D#5. Build mix through G4, then add the top as a short target once the middle is stable. Because the piece is marked hard from range, not from note speed, your practice should be register changes and breath placement, not agility drills. Split the 216 seconds into verse, lift, and climax. Repeat each chunk until pitch is boring, then stitch them. If you only have one voice, pick one part and stay there rather than jumping octaves that the original splits between two singers.
Upload the song to PitchHighway and learn it phrase by phrase.