Countdown to the Oscars: Best Original Song

We’re counting down the days until the Academy Awards! We’ll be here, breaking down each of the 23 categories, talking a bit of history, and trying to figure out who is going to win all those gold statues. So check back throughout the next three weeks for Last Cinema Standing’s Countdown to the Oscars.

Best Original Song

The nominees are:

“Lift Me Up” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

“This Is a Life” from Everything Everywhere All at Once

“Naatu Naatu” from RRR

“Applause” from Tell It Like a Woman

“Hold My Hand” from Top Gun: Maverick

You don’t need to hear me go on about this category again. Go back and read every previous installment of this series over the years if you want to know my complaints. At this point, it’s a plus if the Music Branch of the Academy doesn’t actively embarrass itself with its nominees. With one glaring, annual exception, this list accomplishes at least that.

“Naatu Naatu” – I can’t guarantee M.M. Keeravani’s and Chandrabose’s absolute banger of a pop song is going to win the Oscar, but I can guarantee that the three minutes it takes to perform will be the best three minutes of the ceremony. This ear worm is impossible not to move to, and it’s likely you have seen videos on social media of people dancing in the aisles to this song at packed screenings of the film. Get Hugh Jackman up on stage to perform this song with the film’s stars and open the show that way – boom, instant hit.

A critical darling, there was buzz around RRR for nominations up to and including Best Picture. None of that materialized, but “Naatu Naatu” is undeniable, and as the film’s only nomination, there’s a good chance fans of this wild ride will take the opportunity to reward it in the only way they can. For what it’s worth, it’s also the only song in the lineup that fits what I believe to be the spirit of the award, in that its performance is integral to the plot of the film. But, the Academy has never really cared about that.

“Lift Me Up” – What a good break for the producers of the Academy Awards. Hot off a much talked-about halftime performance at the Super Bowl, Rihanna has confirmed she will perform her closing credits song from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever at the Oscars. This, combined with the next song we’re going to talk about, is exactly what the Academy hopes for in this category: buzzy stars they can sell to advertisers and young people. Last year, they got Billie Eilish and Beyoncé. As replacements, they could do a lot worse than Rihanna and Lady Gaga (next one down). 

While I’m not a fan of closing credits songs in this category, “Lift Me Up” feels more necessary than most, coming as it does on the heels of a powerfully emotional entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. By the end of Ryan Coogler’s latest Black Panther movie, we are thrilled by what we have seen but mourning for our lost star, Chadwick Boseman. Rihanna’s song, penned with Coogler, composer Ludwig Göransson, and Tems, hits all the right notes, sending the audience out on a high.

“Hold My Hand” – Lady Gaga is quickly becoming a fixture at this ceremony. A three-time Song nominee and one-time winner already, Gaga has also performed as part of past tribute packages and just last year helped Liza Minnelli present the Best Picture Oscar to CODA. Due to Minnelli’s obviously declining health, the moment teetered on the brink of disaster, but Gaga’s grace and compassion under immense pressure saved the day and is now remembered as one of the more heartwarming moments in recent Oscars history.

As for “Hold My Hand,” it is exactly the kind of song you would imagine would accompany a Top Gun sequel in the year 2022. It is listenable, forgettable, and entirely too on the nose. Which is to say, it’s not that far removed from “Take My Breath Away,” the pop anthem from the original Top Gun that won this category in 1986. At the very least, the Academy will get its Gaga ratings bump once again.

“This Is a Life” – Exactly as oppressively whimsical and all over the map as the film in which it appears, this track from Everything Everywhere All at Once is notable mostly for the composers – Son Lux, Mitski, and David Byrne. Byrne is a previous Oscar winner for Best Original Score for The Last Emperor in 1987. Now, 35 years later, if this is what it takes for the man behind the Talking Heads to get another statue, so be it.

“Applause” – This is the Diane Warren song this year. Here is, word for word, exactly what I wrote about her nomination last year:

At a certain point, one really has to feel for the Music Branch – not me, I don’t have any sympathy for a branch that so consistently gets this category wrong. But, members really, really love Diane Warren, and they seem positively desperate to get her an Oscar. This is the fifth consecutive year in which Warren has received a nomination and seventh out of the previous eight. She has 12 total nominations and no wins. She probably could have won for “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” from Armageddon or “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” from Mannequin, but she didn’t. So, here we are in an endless cycle of nominating not very good work every year just to try to get her over that hill.

This brings us to “Somehow You Do,” which not only is not very good, but it is actually quite bad. More than that, it is part of a pretty bad movie. Ironically, the song’s lack of subtlety is kind of a perfect fit for the generically somber addiction drama that is Four Good Days. Once again, Warren will be a bridesmaid, and even if I can muster no sympathy for the Music Branch, I do feel a little bad for Warren having to get dressed up every damn year just to lose an award.

Let me update the numbers for you: This is six consecutive years, eight out of nine, and 13 total nominations with no competitive wins. She does have an Oscar now, as this very year she was the recipient of an honorary award. That did not satisfy her peers, who are demanding she be voted queen for a day at the big show. It ain’t gonna happen. I haven’t watched Tell It Like a Woman. I probably won’t. But, I listened to this song, and once again, it was quite bad. There’s probably nothing to be done about this situation, so perhaps the Academy would be best off just reserving a couple seats for Warren every year.

The final analysis

Anything could win, except the Warren song. There is not really a clear frontrunner. There is no Bond song nominated this year for the Academy to vote blindly for. No Pixar or Disney movie with a catchy pop hit like “Remember Me” (Coco) or “Let It Go” (Frozen). No musical with a single standout tune like “City of Stars” (La La Land) or “Shallow” (A Star Is Born). Just a bunch of really famous people writing popular songs for big hit movies (and Diane Warren).

I am going to place my chips on “Naatu Naatu” because that is what’s most fun to do and because I think the love for RRR is real and needs somewhere to go. But if Rihanna ends up holding an Oscar – which would be a cool but strange win for Coogler, as well – or Lady Gaga wins another, I won’t be the least bit surprised. If the Best Picture heat for Everything Everywhere All at Once carries the day, that wouldn’t be so out of the ordinary either. For now, let’s bet with our dancing shoes on.

Will win: “Naatu Naatu” from RRR

Should win: “Naatu Naatu” from RRR

Should have been here: “Ciao Papa” from Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio

A note about my favorite snub: This is actually the animated musical that deserved recognition in this category, but because it is not from Disney or Pixar, it did not get the same attention. Now, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio is a Netflix production, so no one is crying over lack of promotion, and it will likely win Best Animated Feature, but this jaunty little number that plays a couple of times in the film to great effect deserved to be here.

Next time: Animated Feature