Ken or Billie: Who will win this year’s Oscar for Best Original Song?

Get our free weekly electronic mail for all the newest cinematic information from our movie critic Clarisse Loughrey

Get our The Life Cinematic electronic mail for free

An Oscar for Best Original Song sits excessive on many a musician’s checklist of “dream career moments”. This was very evident at the Academy Awards in 2019, when an emotional Lady Gaga – already the recipient of three Brit Awards, six Grammys and a Golden Globe – gained for her music “Shallow”, the lead single from the soundtrack to A Star is Born.

“All I have to say is that this is hard work,” she mentioned, struggling to catch her breath as she delivered her acceptance speech. “I have worked hard for a long time, and it’s not about winning. What it’s about is not giving up. If you have a dream, fight for it.”

She continued: “It’s not about how many times you get rejected or you fall down or get beaten up. It’s about how many times you stand up and are brave and you keep on going. Thank you.”

Five years in the past, Gaga and her co-star Bradley Cooper, who additionally sings on the monitor, had been deemed clear favourites and appeared to sail by means of to Oscars glory. The 2024 awards, nonetheless, are a unique story. Let’s check out the contenders.

“The Fire Inside” – Becky G (Flamin’ Hot)

Eva Longoria’s feature-length directorial debut tells the story of the (debated) origins of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos by means of the eyes of Richard Montañez, the person who claims to have invented them. Its lead single, “The Fire Inside”, was written by the legendary Diane Warren, broadly thought to be one of many best pop songwriters of all time, and provides some further flavour to the movie’s story of ardour and perseverance.

“The Fire Inside” is carried out by American-Mexican artist Becky G to an earthy Reggaeton beat; it has that particular whistle operating by means of, presumably a deliberate nod to the distinctive custom of whistling in Mexico. The lyrics very clearly faucet into the film’s central message: “They will tell you you’re crazy/ They will call you a fool/ They will think they can stop you/ But there’s no stopping you.”

“I’m Just Ken” – Ryan Gosling (Barbie)

The spectacular “I’m Just Ken” was carried out by Ryan Gosling, who stars as Ken in Greta Gerwig’s Barbie: The Movie, and produced and co-written by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt.

It’s a bit of like one thing New Zealand comedy music duo Flight of the Conchords may need provide you with in the event that they had been writing a rating for Flash Gordon. Gosling’s dramatic efficiency is the proper match for Ronson and Wyatt’s Eighties-style energy ballad, which is melodramatic within the excessive. It’s virtually three songs in a single, veering from My Chemical Romance-level emo into Van Halen energy ballad territory (the late artist’s son, Wolfgang Van Halen, really performs on the monitor) and Elton John pomp.

Beneath the enjoyable facade, although, the music manages to faucet into the movie’s themes simply as efficiently as Eilish’s. Gerwig and Gosling’s Ken is caught within the trappings of his personal fragile masculinity, in love with Barbie however clueless as to how greatest to specific his emotions. There’s a really delicate nod to the basic “good guy”, who claims to be a feminist however shortly exhibits his true colors when rejected: “Spent my life being so polite/ But I’ll sleep alone tonight.”

Access limitless streaming of films and TV exhibits with Amazon Prime Video

Sign up now for a 30-day free trial

Sign up

Access limitless streaming of films and TV exhibits with Amazon Prime Video

Sign up now for a 30-day free trial

Sign up

“It Never Went Away” – Jon Batise (American Symphony)

Jon Batiste’s Oscar nomination for Best Original Song serves because the lead monitor in a characteristic documentary about his personal life. American Symphony is Netflix’s fascinating, transferring exploration of a yr within the lifetime of the extraordinary US artist, whereas supporting his spouse by means of her therapy for leukemia.

“It Never Went Away” is a tribute to the form of love that endures. Batiste and his spouse – journalist, musician and creator Suleika Jaouad – met at summer time camp once they had been 12 and 14.

Over sparse piano notes he sings with a disarming frankness, in easy phrasing: “Summertime adventure/ That’s what we were meant for.” There’s a duality within the which means behind the chorus: “It never went away.” As properly because the love he has for his spouse, Batiste may be mourning the return of his spouse’s most cancers, 10 years after she first went into remission. It’s a good looking music, and precisely the form of tear-jerker that might win hearts on the Oscars.

“Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People)” – Osage Tribal Singers (Killers of the Flower Moon)

Written by Osage Nation music marketing consultant and composer Scott George, “Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People)” options within the closing dance scene of Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon.

George, the primary Native American to obtain an Academy Award nomination for music and lyrics, informed Osage News that he and language director Vann Bighorse needed to put in writing one thing that expressed what the Osage individuals had gone by means of “and still go through today”.

Regardless of whether or not you perceive the language, “Wahzhazhe” holds an influence over the listener. The sudden heavy beat of the drum hits you want a hand to the chest; the choir of voices rise and fall collectively hypnotically.

“What Was I Made For?” – Billie Eilish (Barbie)

Delivered in Eilish’s diaphanous falsetto over tender piano chords, “What Was I Made For” touches on themes of self-worth, fame, and the wrestle to satisfy unimaginable requirements. “Looked so alive/ Turns out I’m not real/ Just something you paid for,” she sings.

These are topics Eilish is aware of properly, however additionally they overlap fantastically with those Gerwig and lead star Margot Robbie sort out within the Barbie, because the doll character tries to trace down the reason for her rising disillusionment along with her excellent, plastic world. Paired with Robbie’s transferring efficiency in a second in the direction of the top of the movie, the music went viral on TikTok as girls used it to soundtrack their ache, trauma and heartache.

Who’s going to win?

“What Was I Made For” is the form of music the Oscars voters have a tendency to like. It’s romantic and transferring, with an necessary message at its coronary heart. It additionally obtained off to an excellent begin after profitable the Best Song class on the Golden Globes. On streaming, too, it’s by far the preferred of the 5, with 500 million extra streams in opposition to “I’m Just Ken”.

However, Ronson took residence the Critics’ Choice Award, which means the 2 songs are just about neck-and-neck to this point this awards season. Both are up for the Oscar, in addition to the Grammy for Best Song for Visual Media. Eilish and her brother/songwriting accomplice Finneas additionally gained the Oscar for Best Song in 2022, for their James Bond theme “No Time to Die”, which means the voters may really feel inclined to offer another person the popularity.

Batiste is already a sizzling favorite at awards ceremonies, having acquired 11 nominations on the 2021 Grammys alone. His music can also be excellent Oscars fodder: sweeping and nostalgic, however straight-forward. “Fire Inside”, whereas catchy, fails to seize the creativeness in the identical means, with its “nothing can hold you back” theme coming off quite pat when in comparison with Batiste’s emotional heft.

Non-English language songs hardly ever win, with “Naatu Naatu” from Indian epic RRR final yr changing into the primary one to triumph since Slumdog Millionaire monitor “Jai Ho” in 2014. However, after Killers of the Flower Moon star Lily Gladstone – one of many favourites to win Best Actress – reminded the Golden Globes viewers of the erasure Hollywood has beforehand tried on Indigenous individuals – maybe the academy will have this in thoughts once they forged their votes for Best Song?

The Academy Awards happen on Sunday 10 March. See the entire Oscars 2024 nominations right here.