La Pfeiffer and the Original Song Oscar Race
Friday, October 27, 2017 at 1:30PM by Nathaniel R
Here's some rather surprising news: Michelle Pfeiffer sings the closing credits song of Murder on the Orient Express. The song is called "Never Forget" which we never in danger of doing for anything Pfeiffer. Though opinions vary about how well the goddess sings, we personally love it when she croons. Case in point: Grease 2 (1982), The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989), The Prince of Egypt (1998), and Hairspray (2007). Listen it's not her fault that her character in Up Close and Personal (1996) was supposed to be a bad singer or that "Miss Baltimore Crabs" is Hairspray's worst song!
"Never Forget" is written by two-time Oscar nominee Patrick Doyle, a regular on Kenneth Branagh films, who also composes the score. La Pfeiffer is, of course, not the sort who would deign to sing in front of the whole world on Oscar night so they will reassign the vocals if the song is nominated.
Regardless the Original Song category is beginning to show its possible contenders so we've updated that chart and still suspect the leader is The Greatest Showman's catchy "This Is Me" - which was recently performed in NYC by Keala Settle & Darren Criss.
We eagerly await the full eligibility list of 80ish songs we've never heard from 40 movies we've heard of and 20 movies we didn't know existed before this always surprising list hits.
Reader Comments (39)
As our resident song guy, I gotta say it's a little disappointing that this is shaping up to be a dismal year after last year gave us such treasures - especially what didn't get nominated. The Greatest Showman's tracks are rough.
But singing Pfeiffer has me giddy! How do we get her to perform "Cool Rider" on the telecast?
I feel like Beauty and The Beast will get two nominations. Wish Sufjan Stevens would get two nominations.
Pfeiffer is defintely there at the Oscars this year nominated or not.
I agree that Beauty and the Beast will receive two noms. I only hope one of them will be How Does a Moment Last Forever.
Chris- I don't know. I really dig the two songs they've revealed from The Greatest Showman. What makes you consider them rough?
I thought songs in the closing credits were no longer eligible for Oscars.
Not sure if it's true, but I read that the studio had so little hope in this movie, and it went so over budget, that they did not want to pay extra for a music score.
Johann Johannson was replaced from blade runner 2049.
Cash- Only the first song of the closing credits is eligible. Any song after isn't.
Nobody is talking about Patti Cake$ in the Original Song race, and that makes me sad. :(
Such a fun film where the songs are a crucial part of the narrative, and yet it´s ignored.
Why is that? Did the poor box-office necessariliy kill it?
I'm still excited for this project but neither of the two songs released were good. Just buildup, buildup and then screeeaaaaaaaaaaaaams!!!! and music and screaaaaaaams!!!
I'm pushing really hard for Stevens to win here. He absolutely deserves it. He'd be the best winner this category has had in maybe a decade. A beautiful song, amazingly used in the movie and relevant to the themes. That's what this category should reward.
Cash - what Brian said. as long as the song is the first thing you hear during closing credits it's eligible. Weirdly a lot of films immediately ruin their oscar chances by not following that rule.
Chris -- what Brian said again (heyyy). I love This is Me. Not sure why people are so negative on it. interested to hear the whole song score before judging though.
Will MOTOE flop.
Would back-to-back Best Song Oscar wins for Benj Pasek (Ps - He’s soooo dreamy!!) and Justin Paul be an Oscar first?
Nathaniel (or anyone), has there been ANY behind the scenes buzz for this movie, good or bad? Not even for the purposes of awards, just whether it helps propel the career rePfeiffal we all so desperately crave.
Mary J Blige has a song for Mudbound and One Republic for Inconvenient Sequel that could be contenders.
Oh God, not this movie. Sigh.
BillyHeldAnOscar - No. Menken won two in a row for Beauty and the Beast & A Whole New World, for example. And I think there've been a few other cases.
Seeing you add If I Dare into your predictions made my day.
Mancini & Mercer won twice in a row also for Moon River and Days of Wine and Roses.
From the above clip “This Is Me” does not sound great at all, but I’ll reserve judgment until the final production. I’m not sure why but The Greatest Showman is becoming very unappealing.
All for Pfeiffer singing the closing credits. I agree she will be at the telecast somehow, someway (hopefully nominated for Mother however unlikely that may be).
Sufjan Stevens for the win even though I haven't heard the songs from Call Me By Your Name yet.
Sufjan must win this. His songs are incredible and serve the film so well.
Only today I have discover that La Pfeiffer sings in 'Prince of Egypt' and her version of 'When You Believe' is my favorite of all versions and the only one who I listen.
Personal story: I've always listen 'When You Believe' since I was young, but at the time I became more older, and the things in my life become really more difficult, that music and 'Climb Ev'ry Mountain' became my amulet. My songs to encourage me to get out of bed, believe that good things will happen no matter what I was facing, being not so scary about the things around me (like helping my best friend to avoid his suicide ideas who scary us a lot). Knowing today that one of my favorite actress of all time is the voice who almost always help me in difficult times was unbelivable to describe.
She deserves every single award for been who she is. =')
(I'm hoping Sufjan Stevens got two nominations, Pfeffeir the third, Coco the fourth and Beauty and the Beast the fifity)
p.s.: Michelle is top 3 favorite actress of my best friend. I'm really emotional now with this coincidence.
This line from "When You Believe" feels so relevant right now:
"Hope is fragile, but it's hard to kill."
The songs from THE GREATEST SHOWMAN sound like rejected numbers from DEAR EVAN HANSEN (and I LIKED that show!) Oof.
That was a great post!
Brian/Nathaniel - The lyrics on "This Is Me" just ring so false and trite. That said, it's still annoyingly catchy - I'd joked that some songs are just math when it comes to creating an effect and it's definitely true here. "The Greatest Show" however is embarrassing. Like a trashy Fall Out Boy song.
Pedro - Patti Cake$ would be a fun inclusion!! Get Cathy Moriarty on the Oscar stage!
LOL perhaps this isn't the time for me to say I also think the Sufjan songs are the absolute worst part of CALL ME BY YOUR NAME. Again, bad lyrics that obliterate any sense of nuance happening on screen
I loved the first song in Meyerowitz Stories, Genius Girl, co-written by Sandler and Baumbach. I'd love to see it make the final list of nominees.
I do love the utter randomness of the Original Song category - and every year it draws my attention to some surprising catchy numbers that no-one else has ever hear of.
If you don't believe me put Juanes' Junton (from McFarland) or Paloma Faith's The Crazy Ones (from Miss You Already) and try not to sing along.
Chris- What you see as false and trite, I see as honest and empowering, but hey art is subjective. As for The Greatest Show maybe since I like Fall Out Boy is the reason the song works for me.
What I've gathered from the songs from the Greatest Showman is that it's looking at grand scope and pure entertainment as opposed something more nuanced which is exciting in a different way..
The "Coco" song is "Remember Me" and it's from Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez. There's also a song from the "Inconvenient Truth" sequel called "Truth to Power" by Ryan Tedder and T-Bone Burnett. There's also "Friends are Family" from "The LEGO Batman Movie" and "Old Man" for "The Meyerowitz Stories" (by Randy freakin' Newman).
I'll be very disappointed if there isn't a song by J Ralph from a documentary nominated this year! It's become a nomination-day tradition!
Brian - oh I agree that that would be exciting too, but I'm not at all sure TGS will deliver based on what we've seen. For the song, there's a certain formula being followed here that makes the empowerment aspect feel inauthentic (for me, at least)
I'm happy to see all of the Sufjan Stevens love here. He's quite talented, and his last album (Carrie & Lowell) is a flat-out masterpiece and one of my favorite records of all time.
That said, if he gets in he seems like the sort of nominee that might be unlikely to make it to the podium--in the tradition of great talents like Aimee Mann or Elliott Smith. It seems like the category has changed over time, though, with theme songs from animated films and bombastic ballads no longer dominating in the same way that they used to. So who knows?
Edward L -- J Ralph composed the score of FILM STARS DON'T DIE IN LIVERPOOL this year ! (though i can't remember if there was a song over the closing credits)
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Rangtaari Lyrics from Loveratri is Garba song sung by Yo Yo Honey Singh & Dev Negi. Its music is given by Tanishk Bagchi and lyrics are written by Shabbir Ahmed. There are some rap in this song which is written by Yo Yo Honey Singh & Hommie Dilliwala while some addition vicals are given by Raja Hassan.