While last year’s Oscar original song short list was dominated by pop stars such as Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa and Olivia Rodrigo, this year’s lineup is filled with several ditties from musically themed movies such as Emila Perez, Moana 2, The Lion King, Piece by Piece to name a few with Oscar vets such as Diane Warren, Nicholas Britell and more eyeing a potential return to the Dolby Theatre on March 2.
Today, AMPAS cleared 15 songs as finalists for Oscar’s original song category which will be whittled down to five when nominations are announced on Jan. 17, 2025.
The most eyebrow-raising snub in original song by the Academy goes to the Miley Cyrus end credits tune “Beautiful This Way” from Roadside Attractions’ Pamala Anderson comeback The Last Showgirl. The Cyrus, Lykke Li and Andrew Wyatt-penned song is nominated at the Golden Globes. Note the Disney Channel alum Cyrus has yet to be nominated at the Oscars.
Not included in this year’s shortlist are any songs from the highest-grossing Broadway musical movie ever at the domestic box office, Wicked. That’s because there weren’t any new tunes written for Part One. But when Wicked: For Good opens next Thanksgiving there will be two new songs in the Jon M. Chu directed feature.
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It wouldn’t be Oscar season without Diane Warren, and the Grammy, Emmy and 2x Golden Globe winner has a shot at her 16th Original Song nomination for the end credits song “The Journey” from Tyler Perry’s Netflix movie The Six Triple Eight performed by H.E.R. While Warren still has yet to win an original song Oscar, she was lauded with a Governors Award Oscar. Six Triple Eight follows the women who delivered mail in Europe during World War II. Warren said at Deadline’s Sound and Screen concert that H.E.R. “got very emotional” when the songwriter first played the song for her. “We all have our own journey. No journey’s easy,” said Warren about the tune’s significance in the movie.
Other potential returning Oscar vets include original song winner Elton John with his end credits tune “Never Too Late” for the R.J Cutler directed Disney+ documentary about the legendary singer, Elton John: Never Too Late. “Never Too Late” was performed and co-written by John and Brandi Carlile, and also written by Andrew Att. John won the original song Oscar for “Can You Feel The Love Tonight” from 1994’s The Lion King.
There’s also the Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross penned and performed song “Compress/Repress” from Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers. If cleared, it would rep the first original song nomination for the film duo who already have two trophies for scoring Soul and The Social Network.
There’s also the 1940s love song “Winter Coat” from Blitz written by filmmaker Steve McQueen, musician Taura Stinson and 3x Oscar-nominated composer Nicholas Britell. It’s performed by Saoirse Ronan in the WWII pic, in which she plays a young mother searching for her son who has gone missing during Germany’s bombing of London. In one scene, she is chosen to sing for a live BBC wartime radio broadcast and performs this gentle but defiant song.
Pharrell is also a previous 2x Oscar nominee for the Despicable Me original song “Happy” and as a producer for 2017 Best Picture nominee Hidden Figures. He’s possibly in the running for the title song from the Focus Features Lego documentary about his life Piece by Piece.
Showing up with better odds of getting nominated than any other title on today’s list is “El Mal” from Netflix’s Emilia Perez. It was performed by Zoe Saldana’s criminal attorney protag in the film in a sequence where she calls out the fake rich people at a charity function. There’s also “Mi Camino” performed by Selena Gomez’s drug lord spouse character, who is embracing her identity amid life’s challenges. Camille and Clement Ducol penned the songs in the Jacques Audiard directed movie which continues to burn a path since its 11-minute standing ovation and Jury Prize and Best Actress ensemble win at the Cannes Film Festival.
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Coursing toward a possible EGOT once again is Lin-Manuel Miranda with his song “Tell Me It’s You” performed by Mufasa (Aaron Pierre) and Sarabi (Tiffany Boone) in the Disney prequel Mufasa. Miranda is a 2x Oscar nominee in original song for 2022’s “Dos Oruguitas” from Encanto and 2017’s “How Far I’ll Go” from Moana.
Speaking of Moana, the sequel’s new songwriters, The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical architects Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, are possibly landing their first Oscar nom for “Beyond,” sung by Moana herself, Auli’ Cravalho.
And there were a slew of first-time nominees this year:
- Sean Douglas and Josh Greenbaum, co-scribes on the bouncy Kristen Wiig guitar strum “Harper and Will Go West” from the Netflix documentary Will & Harper. Wiig, a former original screenplay Oscar nominee for Bridesmaids, co-wrote and performs the song.
- “Sick in the Head” by the Belfast hip-hop trio Kneecap from the movie named after them, Kneecap
- The Jim Croce-sounding folk guitar-infused “Forbidden Road” by Robbie Williams for his avant-garde biopic Better Man from Paramount.
- “Like a Bird” from A24’s Sing Sing with music and lyrics and performance by Abraham Alexander and Adrian Quesada
- “Kiss the Sky” from DreamWorks Animation’s The Wild Robot, performed by Marren Morris with music and lyrics by Morris, Michael Pollack, Ali Tamposi, Delacey, Stefan & Jordan Johnson. The song plays in the middle of the movie over a 6½-minute stretch; essentially the DNA of Wild Robot.
- The Lainey Wilson country hit “Out Of Oklahoma” from Twisters, which Wilson wrote with Shane McAnally and Luke Dick. The track also has two Grammy noms including Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media. Wilson is a CMA Entertainer of the Year winner and current holder of Grammy’s Country Album of the Year.
