Oscars 2017 Preview: The Hottest Best Song Race in Years
There have been years when the Oscars appeared to struggle to keep the Best Song category alive. Five years ago, there were just two nominees in the category. For Oscar fans (and music-lovers), it was sad to see. But this year, there’s a spirited contest for the Best Song trophy. Let’s take a look at this year’s music categories.
Music (Original Song)
Two songs are nominated from La La Land. The bittersweet “City of Stars” is the more hummable of the two and has a better chance of winning, but “Audition (The Fools Who Dream),” which grows out of spoken dialogue, is arguably a more distinctive song. It gave Emma Stone one of her most powerful scenes in the film.
Justin Hurwitz, who scored the film, composed both songs. Benj Pasek and Justin Paul wrote the lyrics. (Pasek and Paul went on to write the songs for the hit Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen.) This marks the first time in seven years that two songs have been nominated from one film. This last happened when Randy Newman made the finals with two songs from the animated movie The Princess and the Frog.
Lin-Manuel Miranda is also a strong contender with the motivational “How Far I’ll Go” from the animated film Moana. If it wins, Miranda will become the 13th member of the exclusive “EGOT” club (meaning he would have Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony wins to his credit.) Moreover, he would become the youngest person ever to complete the EGOT. Miranda, 37, would swipe that title from Robert Lopez, who was 39 in 2014 when he completed his awards sweep. Miranda has won an Emmy, two Grammys and three Tonys so far.
Justin Timberlake and Swedish hit-makers Max Martin and Shellback (whose real name is Karl Johan Schuster) are in the running with “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” from the animated film Trolls. The feelgood smash was the best-selling digital single of 2016 and a recent Grammy-winner for Best Song Written for Visual Media. An Oscar win would give Timberlake an EGO. He has won four Emmys and 10 Grammys.
Sting and J. Ralph round out the category with the poignant “The Empty Chair,” which they wrote for the feature documentary Jim: The James Foley Story. It’s Sting’s fourth Oscar nom; J. Ralph’s third. An Oscar win would give Sting an EGO. He has won an Emmy and 16 Grammys.
Music (Original Score)
Justin Hurwitz is nominated for scoring La La Land. He’s the first composer to receive three Oscar nominations in one year since A.R. Rahman achieved the feat eight years ago with Slumdog Millionaire and its songs “Jai Ho” and “O… Saya.” (Slumdog won Best Picture and took both music awards. La La Land may well follow suit.)
Mica Levi, nominated for scoring Jackie, is vying to become just the third woman to win an Oscar for Original Score. The first two were Rachel Portman (for 1996’s Emma) and Anne Dudley (for 1997’s The Full Monty). All three of these women are English. A fourth woman, lyricist Marilyn Bergman, won in the discontinued Original Song Score category for co-writing the songs for 1983’s Yentl.
Thomas Newman, nominated for scoring Passengers, is vying to win his first Oscar. This is his 14th career nom; his 13th for a score. Newman is closing in on Alex North’s dubious distinction as the composer with the most noms without a win. North amassed 15 noms (14 scores and one song), but never took home a competitive Oscar. (North received an honorary Oscar in 1985.)
This is the 90th (!) Oscar nomination for a member of the venerable Newman family of film music composers. Brothers Alfred (43 noms), Lionel (11), and Emil (1) have been succeeded by second-generation composers Randy (20), Thomas (14), and David (1). (Thomas and David are Alfred’s sons.) The Newmans have received more Oscar nominations than any other family — not just in the music field, but in any field.
Dustin O’Halloran and German composer Hauschka are nominated for scoring Lion. This is the first nom for each. They are vying to become the first composers to win for a collaborative score since Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross shared the award for The Social Network six years ago. Hauschka is vying to become the first German composer to win in this category since Hans Zimmer won for 1994’s The Lion King.
Nicholas Britell rounds out the category with his score for Moonlight. This is his first nom. Moonlight is considered the only film with a real chance at upsetting La La Land for Best Picture.
Post-script: Move to the front of the class if you noticed that three of this year’s music nominees are named Justin. Justin Hurwitz, Justin Paul, and Justin Timberlake are all in the mix.
