by Chris Feil
This year, songwriting legend Diane Warren scored her 11th nomination. Readers, er, listeners will know her stamp on big ballads and pop music from as far ranging of legendary artists from Celine Dion to Cher to Mariah Carey. Ballading has mostly been the name of her game, and she's one of the greatest contributors to the past quarter century of pop music because of it.
Despite her legendary status, recent years have had some Oscar obsessives confusing her Oscar history for an entirely sour one. It's true that this year's Breakthrough nomination shows a music branch defaulting to her good name (without yet offering a win) all while sometimes overlooking more prominent work such as Burlesque or even A Star is Born's butt song. Yet what also remains true is that she is one of the great unawarded yet multinominated crafts artists among Oscar history. If music is essential to our relationship to movies, then she's written so many of our memories.
To celebrate Warren, here's a ranking of her 11 Original Song nominations...
11. 2019 - Breakthrough - “I’m Standing With You”
Yes, let's get this one out of the way. Folks, this nomination is smelly. Not just for the chintzy movie but for the ghastly song itself. As a major proponent of keeping Original Song both as a category and a telecast mainstay, I am losing faith. But we won’t let it diminish our love for Warren, because even the best of Oscar’s perennial nominees can show up for bad work.
10. 2018 - RBG - “I’ll Fight”
Last year’s clear fifth place nominee naturally makes for Warren’s most forgettable nomination. Even at the time it felt more rewarding to see its singer Jennifer Hudson back on the Oscar stage than anything to do with the song or its tangential very relationship to the heroic subject of the documentary.
9. 1999 - Music of the Heart - “Music of the Heart”
Okay, maybe this is where I lose some of you. This is certainly one of the more known songs of Warren’s Oscar history, but it’s representative of some of her worst tendencies. Maudlin tones, maudlin lyrics, even with its catchy pop swing. The type of late 90s earnestness that inspires cringing instead of nostalgia.
8. 2015 - The Hunting Ground - “Til It Happens to You”
Many might place this collaboration with Lady Gaga even closer to the bottom, but I find less at fault with this righteous conviction. Is that partly because of Gaga’s emotional production on the telecast? Maybe so. But anyone who sideeyed this well-meaning song at the time is lying to themselves if they say that they would rather Sam Smith’s fully dubious Spectre win over this. It’s among the best of Original Song nominees from documentaries, at least.
7. 2017 - Marshall - “Stand Up for Something”
Another song (a shared nomination with previous winner Common) that had a better performance on the Oscar ceremony than it got credit for! Marshall had already been forgotten by Oscar nomination morning and the song’s mildly formulaic inspiration stylings made this nomination more of an eyeroll than it deserved by a decent margin. Consider it an opposite effect to Breakthrough - the film’s aura shouldn’t affect our perception of the song.
6. 2014 - Beyond the Lights - “Grateful”
A bonafide musical nominated in Original Song is more of a rarity than you might assume, honestly. Beyond the Lights was one of the underrated and under-rewarded gems of its season, so at least its Oscar success was something that acknowledged the emotional journey of the film. And this one felt like a Warren ballad instead of a watered down copy.
5. 1997 - Con Air - “How Do I Live”
Ah, now on to the mega hits. I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but this one holds up the least among them. But it still places Warren where she’s most comfortable: making all of your friends scream for you at karaoke. It’s also still a ballad that got versions from not one but two country divas, so it deserves our respect.
4. 2001 - Pearl Harbor - “There You’ll Be”
On chorus alone, this could’ve been a big contender, yet the verses are what holds it back. But this was a song written to have Faith Hill’s (and our) hair in the dramatic wind of tragedy and Diane knows how to bring the drama. The film owes at least half of its box office to Diane Warren’s Convicted Emotionalism, an emotion it couldn’t evoke on its own, and that is simply a fact.
3. 1998 - Armageddon - “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing”
The cheesiness factor is high in heterosexual drag that captured the weepiness of a very loud blockbuster. But it’s maybe thanks to Warren and Aerosmith that this was such a four quadrant success, dooming the song to a generation’s worth of weddings and school dances until we simply couldn’t stand it anymore. Divorce it from all that context and we can see the song for what it truly is: a high production value, one-of-a-kind ballad they just don’t make anymore.
2. 1996 - Up Close & Personal - “Because You Loved Me”
Diane Warren deserves more credit for helping catapult Celine Dion into the stratosphere at a key point in her career - and before that even bigger Original Song nominee would send her even further into the cosmos. This is a gratitude ballad that everyone loves and can stand in for any kind of loving relationship - parents, teachers, lovers - without feeling like some kind of vague catchall pop silliness. It simply rules.
1. 1987 - Mannequin - “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now”
See, Original Song nominations for terrible movies have always been part of Diane Warren’s charm. But few of them stand the test of time as much as “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now”, a song that has inspired repeated use in other movies with their own special meaning like The Skeleton Twins. For those who think that the song sucks because Jefferson Starhip sucks, you are wrong on both counts. Not only is it Diane Warren’s best nomination, it’s her coolest nomination. And yes, it should’ve beat Dirty Dancing.
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