As the Oscars roll around once again, one of the highlights of the show will be the live performances of the five Academy Award Nominees for Best Original Song.
This year, we’ll be joined on Sunday February 26th, by a previous Oscar winner, a global star who has been nominated three times before, a favourite of both screen and popular music and the 16 year old voice of Moana herself.
The Oscars have featured live performances of the best Original Song nominations since the 1946, when famous Las Vegas crooner and original Ocean’s Eleven cast member, Frank Sinatra, was amongst the nominees, singing the hit ‘I fall In Love Too Easily’ from ‘Anchors Aweigh’.
Sinatra went on to win an Oscar himself, as Best Supporting Actor in 1954 war epic ‘From Here to Eternity’.
Unusually this year, the five nominated songs come from just four films, with the all-conquering ‘La La Land’ getting two nods amongst its record equaling 14 Oscar nominations.
Even more unusually, the original artists will be singing neither of the songs, with one of the film’s other stars, John Legend, performing both Emma Stone’s ‘Audition (The Fools Who Dream)’ and the Stone / Gosling duet ‘City of Stars’. Legend is no stranger to the ceremony, having won the Best Original Song statue himself in 2014 for the track ‘Glory’ from civil rights film ‘Selma’.
Another familiar face at the Oscars is former Police vocalist, Sting. He has left empty handed before, in 2001, for his song from ‘Emperor’s New Groove’, 2002 for his contribution to ‘Kate and Leopold’, and 2004 for his song in ‘Cold Mountain’.
He is nominated this year for his track ‘The Empty Chair’ from the film ‘Jim: The James Foley Story’, yet despite the poignant source material, with La La Land on such a roll, you can’t help thinking he’ll be going home disappointed once again.
New to the Oscars is megastar Justin Timberlake, who has been nominated for his catchy ‘Can’t Stop The Feeling’ from the relentlessly upbeat ‘Trolls’, in which he also voices the grumpy troll Branch. He’ll be hoping to add to his vast collection of awards, which already includes four Grammys.
Completing the line up is ‘Hamilton’ composer and star Lin-Manuel Miranda, who will be joined on stage by South Sea Islander Auli’I Cravalho, to perform ‘How Far I’ll Go’ from the Disney smash hit animation ‘Moana’. Possibly the dark horse of the evening, this could be the best chance of spoiling La La Land’s dominance of the awards.
Here is the full list of nominated songs and their composers:
- “Audition (The Fools Who Dream)” from La La Land – Music by Justin Hurwitz; lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul
- “City Of Stars” from La La Land – Music by Justin Hurwitz; lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul
- “Can’t Stop The Feeling” from Trolls – Music and lyrics by Justin Timberlake, Max Martin and Karl Johan Schuster
- “The Empty Chair” from Jim: The James Foley Story – Music and lyrics by J. Ralph and Sting
- “How Far I’ll Go” from Moana – Music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda