Original Song: Pharrell Will Sing "Happy" at the Oscars
Tuesday, February 4, 2014 at 2:00PM One down. Four more Three more songs to go (unless I missed an announcement)...
It's official: there will be Song performances at the Oscars. Pharrell Williams, fresh off his hat-loving Grammy success, will be performing Despicable Me 2's hit song "Happy", currently #11 on Billboard's Hot 100 and rising, on Oscar night. No word yet on the other songs up for the gold but if anyone other than Idina Menzel is asked to sing "Let It Go", currently #26 on Billboard's Hot 100 and rising (and when was the last time two Original Song nominees were actual hits???), I hope there are protests / riots. I'm not even a huge Idina fan but come on! (Still it'd be just like the Oscars to pull something like that.)
Stay tuned...
Related: Aural Oscar Charts, Song Nomination Revoked
Reader Comments (31)
Can they at least let them sing "Alone Yet Not Alone?" I want to see and hear how that song would go over.
Please, please, please not the Demi Lovato version of 'Let it Go." Idina Menzel version only with the wonderful glory notes please!
I love Happy so FREAKING much. Glad it will be performed.
I heard the Demi version of Let It Go for the first time the other day, and Yikes! It's like it's on the soundtrack just to underline how great the Idina version is.
Perhaps this is the year where they do a stirring tribute to the just-missed? I can't be the only one who would want to see Cher, Bruce Springsteen and Lana Del Rey do a group rendition of "Alone Yet Not Alone."
Anyone?
Margaret: LOL.
Pharrell is a great songwriter and performer. I've been a fan ever since he wrote that irresistible Hella Good for No Doubt. Not happy he helped Daft Punk steal Imagine Dragons' Grammy for Record of the Year, but them's da breaks. Can't wait to see him sing this at The Big Dance.
Nathan, you bring up a great question. When was the last time we had two actual radio hits nommed for Best Song? I did some googling, and there were three for the 1997 Oscars: My Heart Will Go On, How Do I Live from Con Air, and Go the Distance from Hercules (not a huge hit).
Tangent alert: I remember when the 1978 Oscars were on, and they made a big deal out of it being the first time all five songs were performed at the show by the original artists--Donna Summer for Last Dance, Olivia Newton-John for Hopelessly Devoted to You, Johnny Mathis and Jane Olivor for The Last Time I Felt Like This, Debbie Boone for When You're Loved, and Barry Manilow for Ready to Take a Chance Again.
According to a documentary I saw, when the Carpenters were nominated for For All We Know in 1970, AMPAS asked Petula Clark to perform the tune because they had some weird rule that you could only perform at the Oscars if you had appeared in a film. Strange. Still, Petula did a great job.
It'd just be silly to ask Demi Lovato to do her version though. I mean her version is not nominated! It'd be like getting the Pussycat Dolls to sing their version of JAI HO during the telecast.
Just hoping Idina is free if they ask her. Her new Broadway show begins previews just a few days after Oscars.
I have very little faith in this regard, and am perified that Lovato will sing or they'll do it as a duet or something.
They probably will have a duet of Let It Go with Idina and Demi. AMPAS notoriously always wants that 18-49 age bracket for rating and trust me, they won't let Demi not perform. Anything to increase the rating and act youthful!!!
brookesboy: At least it wasn't Blurred Lines, easily the LEAST of the nominees in that category. The only thing distinguishing it from, say, Enrique Iglesias' "Tonight (I'm Loving/F**king you)" is the catchier beat.
Which...doesn't that show outdated thinking, Drew? First of all, I totally agree with everything you said. And I think it demonstrates a very fundamental understanding of the way that people watch television today. Your average Demi Lovato fan...I'm guessing (I don't exactly truck in those circles) is not checking for the Oscars. Nor are they going to even watch the ceremony (I don't think) sitting through Emmanuel Lubezki's speech, waiting for Demi Lovato to perform. They'll just go on Youtube or Hulu the next day and watch that performance...if anything. It's like SNL. No one watches SNL in its entirety anymore. People who do still watch that show watch it piecemeal, picking the sketches they care about, discarding the other ones that look unappealing and ignoring the musical performances altogether. I'd be shocked if more than 2 people have watched a musical performance on SNL since streaming video became ubiquitous. And, with the Oscars...the demo they're trying to draw in and get to watch the ceremony BECAUSE of Demi Lovato are savvy enough that they know they don't have to watch the Oscars to see that performance. Which means that they're not going to get this ratings uptick that they think the Disney channel set will bring.
I love Nicole Kidman. She's one of my favorite actresses/people. And if you had told me beforehand that she would be at the Grammys that year, clapping, dancing and having fun to a Katy Perry song...I'm still not watching the Grammys because they're the Grammys and I'd rather have a tooth pulled than watch the Grammys. That's what the internet is for. I saw a video on Youtube. I watched it in GIF form. All without having to sit down and watch the Grammys. And I actually remember a time when computers, let alone streaming video were not ubiquitous, so...I think the current 18-25 demo will figure out how the skip the ceremony and still get their Demi Lovato fix.
http://pixel.nymag.com/imgs/daily/vulture/2013/02/10/10-grammys-dance-1.o.jpg/a_560x0.jpg
Here's a GIF right here. I barely had to search for it. Okay, done.
Volvagia, so true! LOL. Blurred Lines is so damn misogynist, I think peeps forget that cuz it's so catchy. Sigh. If that had won, I really would have thrown up.
Well if Young and Beautiful had gotten nominated (as it should have), there'd be three hits nominated this year.
I'm thrilled "Happy" is hearing the love. That song never fails to lift my mood. For more Pharrell delight, ya'll should really check his David Poland DP/30 interview to discuss Despicable Me.
jtagliere, have you heard his band N.E.R.D.? I have two of their CDs and they groove hard!
Is Ann Reinking not available?
It's okay. They'll just have Beyonce sing Let It Got to cover for Idina doing previews for If/Then.
Brookesboy your post made me play all those songs from 1978 on spotify , that's a great little playlist :-)
Anyone else think "Happy" is going to be the opening number? That seems like such a perfect Ellen intro song. I can just see her dancing with Pharrell across the stage.
You almost lost me at "not really being an Idina fan", how can you? But boy if they put Demi Lovato to sing her version of the song, I want riots in the audience to happen.
brookesboy, I only knew the song Hot N Fun from N.E.R.D.. Somehow I knew of them, but didn't actually know what they did besides that song. My Pharrell education came much, much later.
I used to joke that Pharrell was our generation's Al Kooper but I now just think Al Kooper was the Pharrell of my parent's generation.
The Pretensious, I totally agree with what you are saying. That's why it's so frustrating whenever AMPAS tinkers with the show by shoving down Twilight actors, Miley Cyrus to present on the show. Like, I wish they were proud to their identity and just accept that only certain people will stick for 3 hours to watch the whole ceremony. It just seems they want to be classy while also being hip; it's very frustrating.. Lol
Rami, I like all those songs too. Good year for the category! They honored the one non-ballad ...Oscar was ready to get down lol
Drew -- this also suggests that being young is hip which i always found a laughable notion. Hipness is totally person dependent. Tilda Swinton is far more hip than Taylor Lautner you know? And that was true even at the heighth of Lautner's popularity. Coolness can happen at any age. but our pop culture has this weird thing that equates youth with perfection. Does anyone really think Miley Cyrus (ps i like bangerz) should be determining what is cool for everyone?
Leo - i am really just more of a Kristin Chenoweth person (that was where it was at for me with Wicked) but i've seen most of Idina's key work (rent, wicked, see what i wanna see, frozen) and i will surely see if/then too... i just always want her voice to be a smidgeon softer cuz it's so assaultive!
They need to have Let It Go sung. It has tons more recognition than any song nominated, but if anyone except Idina Menzel is singing it, then they can forget it. She's the only one allowed to sing this. I'm gonna pray that she's free Oscar night and not busy with If/Then on that day because that would be phenomenal. And she should definitely take best original song which she was robbed of at the golden globes. Let It Go is amazing and I cannot get enough of Idina! <3
If they can't Idina to sing, maybe get this woman...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXEHA7BOlgQ
Idina said in an interview just after the nonimations that she'll be free to sing if they invite her. She said she'd be in tech, but that she'd make it regardless, something about trying to have them do something that doesn't involve her character. So yeah, count me in for riots if they invite Demi.
th -- surely they can fly her in and out. she misses one day of tech. they'll survive.
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