‘Emily in Paris’ Star Ashley Park Recalls Only Having 12 Hours To Learn “Shallow” in French

So many scenes in Emily in Paris Season 3 are off the deep end, but Ashley Park singing her heart out in French to A Star Is Born‘s hit song “Shallow” is utter perfection.

In Episode 5, “Ooo La La Liste,” Park’s character Mindy and her boyfriend Benoît (Kevin Dias) hit the stage to belt the powerful duet. But prior to their performance, they have an argument in their dressing room that sets some seriously somber vibes. When the new man in Mindy’s life, Nicolas de Leon (Paul Forman), sends her flowers ahead of the show, Benoît feels threatened so Mindy tells him that they might not have a future together.

The performance that follows their fight is an emotionally charged masterpiece that would have Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga shaking. With Park on piano and Dias on guitar the two exchange crushing glances throughout, and towards the end of the song Mindy makes a bold choice to steal the spotlight by overpowering Benoît’s vocals, and when the performance concludes, Benoît leaves Mindy alone on stage to a standing ovation.

When asked what it was like not only tackling such an iconic song for the show, but singing it in French, Ashley Park told Decider she was “really intimidated” by the song at first. “Just because any song that we really can’t get the singer’s voice out of our head, you know, you don’t just want to do an impression,” she explained over Zoom. “I was really happy that the scene landed in such a story-driven place and [I] felt like it propelled exactly what the characters were experiencing. I think the scene before is a really good launching off point for it.”

On top of the pressures that came with the song choice, Park faced another major challenge ahead of filming the scene. “I thought we were singing it in English until about a few days before,” she revealed. Emily in Paris press materials note that Park only had about 12 hours to learn the translated lyrics before recording the song, and she told Decider that the original translation was laughable.

“So I had to learn it in French, and I think they did like a Google translate version of it at first. I will play you the original lyrics later, because I think the first lyrics were like…’my daughter’ instead of ‘my girl.’ It was so funny,” she explained to co-stars Lily Collins and Camille Razat, who were also on the call.

“Me and Kevin Dias, and our music producer Will Wells, and Brienne Rose [music supervisor] really worked hard, cause it had to feel like it was such a passionately gutteral version of it. So yeah, I’m really pleased with how it came out now,” Park said.

Emily in Paris Season 3 is filled with a number of phenomenal musical performances from Park, who sings everything from Nat King Cole’s “Smile” to Dua Lipa’s “Don’t Start Now.” Even Lily Collins has a surprise musical moment in Episode 2, but “Shallow” is undoubtedly the standout song of the season.

Emily in Paris Season 3 is now streaming on Netflix.