Barbie is the first film to spawn two best song nominees since La La Land seven years ago.
Two songs from Barbie were nominated for best original song on Tuesday (Jan. 23) – “I’m Just Ken” (written by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt) and “What Was I Made For?” (written by Billie Eilish and Finneas). A third song from the blockbuster film, “Dance the Night” (on which Ronson and Wyatt collaborated with Dua Lipa and Caroline Ailin) failed to advance to the finals. (Based on a 2008 rule change, no more than two songs from a film can be nominated.)
Barbie is the first film to spawn two best song nominees since La La Land seven years ago. “City of Stars” and “Audition (The Fools Who Dream)” were both nominated, with the former going on to win. Unlike with Barbie, both songs were written by the same team – composer Justin Hurwitz and lyricists Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.
Oscar perennial Diane Warren was nominated with “The Fire Inside” from Flamin’ Hot. This is her 15th best original song nomination, a benchmark that only five other songwriters have reached. This is the seventh consecutive year in which Warren has been nominated, the longest streak in this category since Sammy Cahn was nominated eight years running, from 1954 to 1961.
Warren has yet to win a competitive Oscar. She is one of just five people in Oscar history to amass so many nominations without a win. She joins sound mixer Greg P. Russell (16 nods), the late art director Roland Anderson (15), composer Thomas Newman (15) and the late composer Alex North (15).
Jon Batiste, who won an Oscar three years ago for collaborating on the Soul score with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, landed his first best original song nod for “It Never Went Away” from American Symphony, a documentary about a year in his life. Batiste co-wrote the song with Dan Wilson. The pair also have a Grammy song of the year nomination, but for a different song, “Butterfly.” American Symphony was passed over for a nod for best documentary feature.
“Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People)” from Killers of the Flower Moon was a surprise nominee. Many expected Lenny Kravitz’s “Road to Freedom” to be nominated, but it fell short.
In the best original score category, Ludwig Göransson was nominated for his score for Oppenheimer. The Swedish composer won in this category five years ago for scoring Black Panther and was nominated last year for co-writing a song for the sequel.
Fuente: Billboard