Oscar Volley: It's a Barbie World in Original Song

Team Experience is discussing each Oscar category as we head into the precursors. Today's Oscar Volley, on Best Original Song, is brought to you by Mark Brinkherhoff and Baby Clyde...

Will we see "I'm Just Ken" performed on Oscar night?

MARK: Barbie! Long may she reign.  The pop-cultural juggernaut of 2023 not only drew moviegoers worldwide (to the tune of $1.5 billion globally—Warner Brothers’ biggest hit ever), but also ruled the music charts with international smashes like "Barbie World", "Dance the Night", "What Was I Made For?", etc. And that doesn’t even do justice to perhaps Barbie’s biggest earworm, the delightfully daffy "I’m Just Ken". 

All of them were technically eligible for Academy Awards submission; yet AMPAS rules are such that only three songs from a single film can be submitted for Best Original Song consideration, and only two of them can land actual Oscar nominations... 

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Who's the Diane Warren of Every Category?

by Cláudio Alves

Another year, another Diane Warren campaign to finally get herself that Oscar. She's already got an Honorary Award, but the competitive prize eludes her. This year, the songwriter's best bets are Flamin' Hot and 80 for Brady, though Warren also penned an original tune for My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3. After she got a in for the virtually unreleased Tell It Like a Woman, anything's possible.

This got me thinking about the other people the Academy nominated constantly without ever giving them the win. Who's the Diane Warren in the categories beyond Best Original Song? Trying to answer that question, I dove deep into Oscar history, counting who's the most honored person who never won their respective race for gold. I focused on feature films and living artists, those who still have a chance to win or increase their record. Like Warren, some names are back in contention this season. From Picture to Documentary, here they are...

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Oscar Volley: "Naatu Naatu" vs Pop Divas for Best Original Song

Team Experience is discussing each Oscar category in the lead up to the ceremony. Here's Baby Clyde and Chris James to talk Costume Design.

CHRIS: A round of APPLAUSE for my volley co-host, Baby Clyde. Now, let's Tell It Like A Pundit - what is going on with the Original Song race? On the surface, it seems like "Naatu Naatu" has this category in the bag after winning this prize at the Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards. RRR's grand dance number is one of the most memorable scenes of the year and would make for a worthy winner. However, one can't forget that it is against some heavy hitters, such as Rihanna and Lady Gaga, both for films that made over a billion dollars at the box office. Are we underestimating them?

And do you have any favourites that weren't nominated?...

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Nom Reactions Pt 2: Lovely Craft, Headscratching Honors, Default Diane, and Sexiest Shortlist

We polled the team plus some friends of the site about their Oscar nomination reactions and wanted to share those little blurbs with you! (Here's the first four of eight questions if you missed those). Today's questions are...

1. What was your favourite non-acting nomination?
2. Which nomination was the biggest headscratcher?
3. Can anything be done about Diane Warren?
4. The sexiest category is ______

Our answers are after the jump and yours go in the comments...

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A hard push for "80 For Brady". Will you see it?

by Nathaniel R

Photo by Phillip Faraone / Getty Images for Paramount Pictures

Though the talk this time of year is mostly around Oscar, the new comedy 80 For Brady claimed some space of its own this week in the media as it gears up to open in theaters. The movie "inspired by the true story offour best friends living life to the fullest when they take a wild trip to the 2017 Super Bowl LI to see their hero Tom Brady play"  premiered at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. It's gorgeous quartet of superstars (pictured above) were there "FONDA! MORENO! TOMLIN! FIELD!" Between them they have 12 Emmys, 8 Golden Globes, 5 Oscars, 2 Grammys, 2 Tonys, and numerous other awards, nominations, special honors, and lifetime achievement prizes.  But that's not all in 80 for Brady news...

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