Soundtracking: The 2019 Oscar Original Song Bake-Off
Wednesday, December 18, 2019 at 9:09AM by Chris Feil
One of the biggest headlines among the Monday release of Oscar's shortlists among nine categories was a popstar omission from the season's splashiest musical. Yes, it turns out Taylor Swift will have to wait to lift up to Oscar's Heaviside Layer as "Beautiful Ghosts" (the original track she cowrote with Andrew Lloyd Webber from Cats) was left off the list of songs that will advance towards hopeful nominations. But perhaps "Ghosts" is a strong reminder that these days doesn't clear the runway for popstars or new songs for preexisting musicals as easily as we might expect.
But among the lineup of hopefuls are films huge and small, expected names and a few genuine surprises - and it may be a more competitive field than originally expected. Let's run down the fifteen songs that did make the lineup and their chances at a nomination...
“Speechless” - Aladdin
Aladdin shares the strange, new distinction with fellow competitor The Lion King of featuring new music for a musical that first began as a screen musical that also won an Original Song Oscar. Head-spinning! Because "Speechless" features so prominently in the film's narrative, and was written by former winners Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, it could be a safe prediction. But it's easy to imagine it as Disney's lowest priority among its stacked field of original songs.
“Letter To My Godfather” - The Black Godfather
This opus to the subject of the documentary, record executive Clarence Avant, has several things in its favor. It's cowritten (with Chad Hugo) and performed by previous nominee and legend Pharrell Williams and has the weight of Netflix behind it. The songwriting branch is also unafraid to nominate documentaries, and this one is already based in the music industry.
“I’m Standing With You” - Breakthrough
If you think that a song from this faith-based drama means we're headed for Alone Yet Not Alone part deux, guess again. Not only does this boast having This Is Us' Chrissy Metz on vocals (she's the film's headliner), but it comes from one of Oscar's most nominated and still tropheyless songwriters: Diane Warren. The fact that the song is abjectly terrible won't make much of a hindrance considering some of her nominations have been on the dubious side. Oscar, stop making me root against Diane Warren!!
“Da Bronx” - The Bronx USA
Written by Oscar winner Paul Williams and nominee Charles Fox, the pedigree and trying to prepare for that unpredictable documentary nominee give plenty of pause. But its lack of availability to listen to the track on platforms like YouTube or Spotify suggest that this is sadly the very lowest profile of the nominees. An HBO doc hasn't shown up in this category before.
“Into The Unknown” - Frozen II
Disney followed suit with last year's winner "Shallow" and only campaigned one song for the film, despite some equally worthy (ahem, or even moreso) songs in the same film. "Into the Unknown"'s disadvantage perhaps is that it stands in the shadow of the titanic "Let It Go" - but that's probably more of a hindrance to a win than a nomination. Prep your Adele Dazeem jokes now, because the Lopezes and Idina Menzel are likely coming back to the Dolby.
“Stand Up” - Harriet
I've called this the frontrunner, and I still stand by this. You can see the opportunity for Cynthia Erivo to perform the song while stumping for her Best Actress campaign, fueling the heat for both. In this shortened Oscar season, the movies that can simply be widely seen have a leg up - and Harriet's hit status ensures it will be one of those. Erivo and her co-songwriter Joshuah Brian Campbell are at least one of the safest bests for a nomination.
“Catchy Song” - The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part
Will everything be awesome again? While we welcome something this bananas and buoyant opposite a field packed with ballads and brooding (not to mention its hilarious POV on the sinister side of addictive pop), it seems like a bit of a pipe dream. But Jonathan Lajoie and Alaya High deserve equal consideration for one-upping the original's over-caffeinated brilliance.
“Never Too Late” - The Lion King
You'd think the Elton John / Tim Rice collaboration might have more clout, but this one is a major case of internal competition. The only film with two shortlisted songs, this one is not only overshadowed by the buzzier "Spirit" in the same film but by John's more personal song he's actively campaigning for in Rocketman.
“Spirit” - The Lion King
This might need the boost of Beyoncé campaigning for it, honestly. But the many folks who were underwhelmed by the song - cowritten between the icon, Ilya Salmanzadeh, and Labrinth - might be assuaged by... some of its competition. For my money, the song is lovely and the only moment in the remake that moves the dial in the least, but I think the original's Oscar history might be a major unexpected roadblock.
“Daily Battles” - Motherless Brooklyn
Oscar might continue to giveth and taketh away from Thom Yorke again this year, after last year's shortlisting of Suspiria. I'm not sure if this song's anachronistic sound to Brooklyn's period will hinder its chances or help it stand out. They'll certainly honor him eventually if he keeps up this prestige pace.
“A Glass of Soju” - Parasite
Yes, Parasite has an original song; no, it is not "Jessica, Only Child"; everyone please calm down. While we are very into Oscar loving Parasite this much (and hopeful that the film's composer Jung Jaeil could get some love here since the film's brilliant score didn't make that shortlist) we won't get our hopes up. The last non-English song nominated was Paris 36's "Loin de Paname". Something cool to only get your hopes up further: Bong Joon ho wrote the lyrics.
“(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again” - Rocketman
Concerts at historic LA theatres as an FYC event? Methinks that's how you land a nomination, especially if it's for a film honoring the artist's life. Elton could be the only actual music megastar in the final five, and it will be because he's willing to campaign and campaign hard.
“High Above The Water” - Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am
Perhaps I'm overstating the Original Song trend of documentaries, but it should be noted that half of them in the past decade have been from biodocs. This one is maybe the most likely to show up of this lineup anyway, with songwriter Kathryn Bostic giving a joyful sound to a figure we were heartbroken to lose this year.
“I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away” - Toy Story 4
Randy Newman could also be a double nominee this year between this and his score for Marriage Story. As we've pointed out before, he's one of Oscar's favorites and doubting his chances here would be particularly foolish - he's been nominated for each round of this franchise. Since the song centers on the series' newest oddball character, consider this one Oscar For Forky.
“Glasgow” - Wild Rose
The one that has the most vocal fans and champions among Oscar obsessives, but will that overlap with Oscar voters? We've been singing its praises for months here at TFE, so you can count us among the hopeful. Mary Steenburgen's unexpected contribution to the song (along with collaborators Caitlyn Smith and Kate York) makes for a great story, but this still may be too small in the face of giant names and films.
PREDICTIONS:
Breakthrough
Frozen II
Harriet
The Lion King ("Spirit")
Rocketman
All Soundtracking installments can be found here!
Reader Comments (15)
I love Diane Warren and can't believe she did not win an oscar already (Justice for Burlesque, btw... Should have been nominated and won for the Cher ballad) but this song she has out this year is the worst. And Chrissy Metz is such a dear, but even her charisma can't save it.
In an ideal world Cynthia Erivo and Joshuah Brian Campbell would win this. It is tied with the Frozen song for me but the Lopez have two already so make Cynthia an EGOT.
Love Cynthia, but if she wins the Oscar I will need to pretend she's not an EGOT. It's just tacky that EG & T all came from the same work.
“Glasgow” - Wild Rose for the deserved Win!!!
I find "Super Cool" catchier than "Catchy Song" from The LEGO Movie 2
I recomend all of you to hear the spanish version of "Into the Unkown" named "Mucho Más Allá" performed by David Bisbal. His vocals sounds great.
Nnnvg - Shit, get it how you can, sis!
I haven't seen Wild Rose but just clicking through this article, it's the obvious stand-out.
There may be two Best Supporting Actress winners earning second Oscars in new categories this year—a fun first. Personally, I'd love to see Mira Sorvino win Best Sound Mixing or Mercedes Ruehl win Best Production Design.
If Steenburgen gets nominated she will be the first of the supporting actress of 1980 to get another nomination (Eileen Brennen and Eva La Galliene have passed away and Diana Scarwid and Cathy Moriarty have not been nominated since despite still working. Steenburgen won the SAG for ensemble for The Help and has played the older hot girlfriend in a lot of movies recently, but also has not been nominated since 1980.)
JF - I'm here for Marcia Gay Harden's visual effects oscar!
"Glasgow" deserves to win, though I'm shocked with how much I enjoy "Into the Unknown" after being such an agnostic to "Let It Go."
Maybe I'm just mistaking my own feelings for those of others, but I actually think it's between those two for the win. "Speechless" and "Spirit" each have their detractors and the rest are either by-the-numbers ballads or niche songs unlikely to catch buzz.
I'd guess that "Into the Unknown" gets the win unless more folks discover the magic of Wild Rose.
Please, have "Catchy Song" be nominated though I think they should've gone with "Gotham City Guys" which is a better song.
Catchy Song
No Competition. Wild Rose thoroughly deserves the win, but I have more than a sneaking suspicion that Harriet (surprise, surprise) will take this as compensation for losing actress.
The Black Godfather and Motherless Brooklyn songs are god awful, hard to even finish listening to them. And the Randy Newman song is embarrassingly obvious, probably took as long to write it as it does to perform it (note that it's barely over 2 minutes long, so yeah). And Beyonce's Lion King song feels so calculated to sell albums and win the Oscar that I'm kinda hoping it doesn't even get nominated.
The two best are Glasgow and Stand Up, followed by Into the Unknown, although Show Yourself should have been their sole submission. They only submitted Let It Go from the first Frozen, btw. Catchy Song is fun but I'm strangely obsessed with the Tiffany Hadish villain song Not Evil, sad to see it didn't advance.
I think “Glasgow” will get in and could win in a MOTORCYCLE DIARIES sorta way. Otherwise “Stand Up” would be my pick even though it only plays over the credits it’s a very good song and speaks to its film, its subject and its performer. That chanting really sells the song as more than, say, “A Mighty River” from Mudbound.