It’s been a rough year for Oscar-eligible songs. First, Robbie Williams’ entry from “Better Man” was disqualified, then some of the best tunes on the shortlist (including those from “Wild Robot,” “Moana 2” and “Twisters”) failed to make the cut. Now, producers have nixed song performances from the March 2 telecast. The final five:
El Mal
Emilia Pérez
This showstopping number from Jacques Audiard’s operatic drama is a three-minute tour de force for Zoe Saldaña as lawyer Rita Castro, a fantasy in which she dances around a room filled with the rich and powerful, decrying the hypocrisy of those responsible for the murders of thousands of Mexicans during the drug wars.
“When the lights go down and Jacques gives you the impression that we’re inside her thoughts, that’s when she unleashes,” Saldaña told Variety. Audiard is one of the three credited songwriters for the rock-plus-rap number, collaborating with Camille and Clément Ducol.
Popular on Variety
The Journey
The Six Triple Eight
Songwriter Diane Warren’s 16th Oscar nomination (her eighth in a row) is for the closing moments of Tyler Perry’s film about a heroic unit of Black American women soldiers during World War II. Producer Keri Selig brought her into the project and, Warren says, “walked me through every scene. I was like, ‘How did nobody ever tell this story before?’
“I came up with the chord progression and just started singing, ‘It’s the journey.’ That chorus kind of came out. It’s these women’s journey, and not an easy one. This one really wrote itself.” H.E.R. visited the studio “and did that vocal in one day,” Warren adds.
Like a Bird
Sing Sing
Texas musicians Abraham Alexander and Adrian Quesada collaborated on this bittersweet ballad that concludes Greg Kwedar’s prison drama starring Colman Domingo. Under pressure as the film was being finished, they saw only a trailer and the closing scene … and wrote and recorded the song in 48 hours.
“I was so moved by just the trailer,” says Alexander. “Sometimes you don’t need to see much for you to feel the emotion and capture a moment and a feeling that someone is exuding. I started to strum the chords, and the words started to come. [Singing about] a bird was the best way that I could encapsulate all those emotions.”
Mi Camino
Emilia Pérez
The final act of “Emilia Pérez” opens with Rita spotting Jessi (Selena Gomez) singing a romantic ballad with her lover in a karaoke bar. It was the last song that Camille and Ducol wrote for the movie, after Gomez arrived for the shoot. “Jacques wanted it to sound like an ’80s hit people were dancing to in this nightclub,” Ducol told Variety.
“He told us to watch the documentary [“My Mind & Me,” about Gomez’s life], to dive into the Selena personality,” he added. “I composed the song after watching it, and Camille wrote the lyrics. It was very natural, a very fast process, and Selena loved the song because it spoke about her.”
Never Too Late
Elton John: Never Too Late
Pop superstar Elton John, who already has two Oscars (for “The Lion King” and “Rocketman”), duets with Brandi Carlile (who’s never been nominated) on this nostalgic song that closes the documentary about his life. Bernie Taupin (who has one Oscar) and Andrew Watt (also a first-timer) are their co-writers.
John and Carlile are longtime friends but first-time collaborators. As Carlile told Variety: “I wanted to write this song that just showed his tenacity and perseverance and constant commitment to just overcome.” Added John: “And it was a great title for the documentary, ‘Never Too Late” — that’s what the documentary is about.”