With a dearth of memorable nominees in the Best Original Song category, the producers of the 97th Academy Awards clearly believed they needed to take drastic action, and, boy, have they. The Academy revealed today there will be at least three musical moments during the show featuring Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, LISA (from Blackpink), Doja Cat, RAYE, and Queen Latifah. The Los Angeles Master Chorale will also make a special appearance.
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Erivo and Grande have been rumored for weeks to be kicking off the show with a medley from their blockbuster musical “Wicked” which was ineligible for the Best Original Song category. The latter basically gave it away during a red carpet-moment in Santa Barbara two weeks ago. Whether Erivo, a Best Actress nominee, gets flying into the air for “Defying Gravity” remains to be seen.
Queen Latifah in theory could be this year’s In Memoriam performer, although she already took that role in 2009 singing “I’ll Be Seeing You” at the 81st Academy Awards. She may be on hand to sing or perform something else.
LISA, Doja Cat, and RAYE are the most surprising performers. They currently have a relatively new track, “Born Again,” that was released on February 6th. It currently has 68 million streams on Spotify in less than three weeks. It doesn’t make much sense to book them unless they are performing at least part of that track. The move is also very Grammys-esque, which is a longtime coming for the Oscars.
Doja Cat is a Grammy Award winner who has had several tracks featured in theatrical releases including “Boss Bitch” from “Birds of Prey.” RAYE is an acclaimed performer finally breaking in the U.S. Last year she dominated the BRIT Awards taking six trophies. As part of Blackpink, LISA is part of one of the most popular girl groups in history.
While this year’s Best Original Songs may not be as knockout as previous years, they do include potential performers such as previous Oscar winners Elton John and H.E.R., as well as Zoe Saldana and Selena Gomez. Considering the controversies over “Emilia Perez,” which has two songs nominated, the Academy may have lucked out making this decision early on in the process. Perhaps it will also be a subtle jab at the Music Branch to fix all the problems ailing this category.
Hosted by Conan O’Brien, the 97th Academy Awards will feature several returning winners and nominees such as Halle Berry, Penélope Cruz, Robert Downey Jr., Whoopi Goldberg, Scarlett Johansson, John Lithgow, Cillian Murphy, Amy Poehler, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Emma Stone, Sterling K. Brown, Willem Dafoe, Ana de Armas, Lily-Rose Depp, Goldie Hawn, and Oprah Winfrey. Other presenters include Elle Fanning, Bowen Yang, June Squibb, Joe Alwyn, Connie Nelsen, Selena Gomez, and Ben Stiller.
The 2025 Academy Awards will air live on ABC and stream live on Hulu on Sunday, March 2, 2025 beginning at 4 PM PT/ 7 PM ET. Look for full coverage on The Playlist.
