You can’t escape her. You can only hope to contain her. Yes, Diane Warren is threatening to earn her 15th Oscar nomination in the Best Original Song category. Despite winning an honorary Oscar last year, Warren is obsessed with getting a “real” one, and one of her two contenders this time around, “The Fire Inside” from Eva Longoria‘s “Flamin’ Hot,” has made the shortlist. You’ve been warned. The good news for producers Raj Kapoor and Katy Mullan is that Dua Lipa, Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo, Jon Baptiste, and Metro Boomin, among others, may be performing on the Dolby Theater stage on Oscar night.
Of the 15 songs that made the shortlist, three are from Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie,” two are from the new musical version of “The Color Purple” (including one co-written by Halle Bailey) and two are from John Carney’s “Flora and Son.” The shortlist also includes “Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People)” from “Killers of the Flower Moon,” a song in the indigenous Osage nation language, and “Dear Alien” from “Asteroid City” which would give Wes Anderson a nomination in this category.
It should be noted that AMPAS rules allow only two songs from a film to earn an Oscar nomination in the category. That means one of the three “Barbie” songs will not earn a nod. Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?” earned Grammy nominations in the top categories of Record of the Year and Song of the Year, so it’s likely quite safe and the frontrunner to win this category overall. The question is whether Dua Lipa‘s impressive campaigning, over 585 million Spotify streams, and own Grammy noms can help “Dance The Night” overcome the inherent popularity of “I’m Just Ken.” Ponder.
Best Original Song is a category ripe with snubs and this year was no exception. Overlooked songs include “I Am” from Ava Duvernay’s “Origin,” “Peaches” from “The Super Marios Bros. Movie,” “Better Place” from “Trolls,” “This Wish” from “Wish,” “Camp Isn’t Home” from “Theater Camp,” and “A World of Your Own” from “Wonka” (#JusticeFor ScrubScrub).
AMPAS also announced the shortlist for Original Score with likely nominees “Oppenheimer,” “Poor Things,” and “Killers of the Flower Moon” making the list. Notable compositions for “All of Us Strangers,” “Origin,” “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” (the legendary John Williams), “The Creator,” and “Napoleon” did not make the cut.
The shortlists for both Music Branch categories are as follows:
Music (Original Song)
“It Never Went Away” from “American Symphony”
“Dear Alien (Who Art In Heaven)” from “Asteroid City”
“Dance The Night” from “Barbie”
“I’m Just Ken” from “Barbie”
“What Was I Made For?” from “Barbie”
“Keep It Movin’” from “The Color Purple”
“Superpower (I)” from “The Color Purple”
“The Fire Inside” from “Flamin’ Hot”
“High Life” from “Flora and Son”
“Meet In The Middle” from “Flora and Son”
“Can’t Catch Me Now” from “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes”
“Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People)” from “Killers of the Flower Moon”
“Quiet Eyes” from “Past Lives”
“Road To Freedom” from “Rustin”
“Am I Dreaming” from “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”
Music (Original Score)
“American Fiction”
“American Symphony”
“Barbie”
“The Boy and the Heron”
“The Color Purple”
“Elemental”
“The Holdovers”
“Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny”
“Killers of the Flower Moon”
“Oppenheimer”
“Poor Things”
“Saltburn”
“Society of the Snow”
“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”
“The Zone of Interest”
Oscar nominations voting begins on Thursday, January 11, and ends on Tuesday, January 16. Nominations for the 96th Academy Awards will be announced, once again, at some ungodly hour on Tuesday, January 23. The 96th Oscars will be held on Sunday, March 10, and broadcast live on ABC and in more than 200 territories worldwide.
