Defying gravity, dissing nominees: Oscars included ‘Wicked,’ Queen Latifah, and Mozart, but not Best Original Song contenders
You can't separate music from the movies, especially in an Oscar year like this one with two musicals nominated for Best Picture (Wicked and Emilia Pérez). As usual, the Motion Picture Academy incorporated music into Sunday's Oscars telecast, though not always in the usual way.
Wicked stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, both Oscar nominees for their roles, performed the opening number. Grande started things off, appropriately enough, with "Over the Rainbow" from The Wizard of Oz. Erivo followed that with a rendition of "Home." Fans might have revolted had they not dueted during their time on stage together, so they closed the medley with "Defying Gravity"; Grande even stepped aside to let Erivo belt those final notes in the spotlight. They received a standing ovation.
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Other artists included on Sunday night were K-pop star Lisa from Blackpink, Grammy winner Doja Cat, and Grammy nominee Raye, who contributed to a special tribute to James Bond in honor of Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award-winning producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson. After an interpretive 007 dance featuring Margaret Qualley, Lisa performed "Live and Let Die," originally recorded by rock group Wings. Doja Cat sang "Diamonds Are Forever," made famous by the legendary Shirley Bassey. Raye closed out with Adele's "Skyfall," which was the first Bond song ever to win the Oscar for Best Original Song (now three Bond songs have done so).
The Los Angeles Master Chorale played "Lacrimosa" from Mozart's Requiem during the "In Memoriam" segment honoring the industry professionals who died this past year, including Gene Hackman, Donald Sutherland, David Lynch, and many more artists in front of and behind the camera. But Oscar nominee Queen Latifah had the distinct honor of honoring Quincy Jones, who died on Nov. 3 at age 91, before he was able to accept the Honorary Oscar he was awarded. The Color Purple stars Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey introduced her performance of "Ease on Down the Road" from The Wiz after singing the praises of the legendary musician, composer, and producer.
But the nominees for Best Original Song were nixed from the telecast. Instead, the Academy focused on the nominated songwriters in clip packages to "celebrate their artistry through personal reflections from the teams who bring these songs to life," as Academy President Janet Yang and CEO Bill Kramer said in a statement announcing the change. But that decision led to some industry pushback.
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The Society of Composers and Lyricists, which is made up of music professionals, including many Oscar voters, wrote a letter asking the Academy to reverse its decision: "The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and an award like the Oscar, has always served to amplify and honor the work of talented craftspeople, but this decision to exclude the song performances presents as just another example of the devaluation of music, and its creators."
The nominees themselves expressed their concerns during a virtual talk at the Songwriters Hall of Fame. "Songs are important. We've all written songs that are really integral to the movies they're in. And to me, it's unfair to both the nominees and the audience out there to not be able to hear them," said Diane Warren, nominated for "The Journey" from The Six Triple Eight. But this wasn't the first time the nominated songs were excluded. As Warren noted, "In 2021 they did all the songs in a pre-show, which no one kind of knew was on, and it wasn't shown outside of America. And there were really beautiful performances."
Warren's fellow nominees were Camille, Clément Ducol, and Jacques Audiard for "El Mal" from Emilia Pérez; Camille and Ducol again for "El Camino" from Emilia Pérez; Abraham Alexander and Adrian Quesada for "Like a Bird" from Sing Sing; and Brandi Carlile, Elton John, Bernie Taupin, and Andrew Watt for "Never Too Late" from Elton John: Never Too Late. Contending for Best Original Score were The Brutalist, Conclave, Emilia Pérez, Wicked, and The Wild Robot What did you think of the music of the night?
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