04 January 2022
Guest Post
When it comes to Oscars original score and song categories, we have already got the precursors with the 2021 Hollywood Music in Media Awards (HMMA). Nicholas Britell’s score for the upcoming Adam McKay film ‘Don’t Look Up’ emerged as the top winner, taking home the general field Best Score prize.
Furthermore, Sian Heder’s CODA became a double winner after taking awards for the Best Song - Independent Film for “Beyond the Shore” and for Best Onscreen Performance for Emilia Jones’s version of Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now.”
Now, as we look at the Academy Awards 2022, we find Beyonce with the song from “King Richard” and Jay-Z with two from “The Harder They Fall” to be the top contenders for best original song. In case both celebrities get nominated, it will be the first time in Oscar history that a married couple will compete against each other in a category. But that isn’t all. We might also have the opportunity to witness three pairs of siblings vying for the best original song nominations -Ron and Russell Mael, Billie Eilish and FINNEAS, and Aaron and Bryce Dessner.
Furthermore, for the second year in a row, a rock star who also happens to be a successful film composer will dominate the best original score nominations. Lead guitarist and keyboardist in Radiohead, Jonny Greenwood, might receive two nods for “Spencer” and “The Power of the Dog.” Here are the top prospects for the best original song and the best original score.
So May We Start
Ron Mael and Russell Mael, best known as the Mael brothers, co-founded the pop-rock group Sparks, scored the film “Annette.” They also co-wrote the screenplay with Leos Carax, the film’s director. The film features Adam Driver, Marion Cotillard, and Simon Helberg, who performs this song on the screen. Annette from Amazon Studios premiered at the Cannes Film Festival back in July 2021.
Beyond the Shore
Written and directed by Heder and presented by Apple Original Films, CODA is a coming-of-age story that narrates the story of a hearing teenage girl known as the Child of Deaf Adults (CODA). The score “Beyond the Shore” in the film was sung by Emilia Jones.
The movie itself could end up receiving the best picture nod. Nicholai Baxter and Marius de Vries had scored Grammy’s four years back for the La La Land compilation soundtrack.
Every Letter
The score for the movie Cyrano by MGM/UA was done by the Dessner twins—Aaron Dessner and Bryce Dessner. The film stars Peter Dinklage, who you might have seen perform the song on-screen alongside Haley Bennett and Kelvin Harrison Jr. Both Berninger and the Dessners are members of The National, for which Carin Besser, who is married to Matt Berninger, has co-written and sung backup vocals.
My Father’s Daughter
Glen Hansard, who scored this song, had already won an award in this category 14 years ago for “Falling Slowly” from the movie “Once.” However, it would be Eddie Vedder’s first time being nominated for an Academy Award, but he had already received a 2007 Grammy nod for his work “Guaranteed” from the film “Into the Wild.”
Like Into the Wild, “Flag Day” is directed by Sean Penn and offered by United Artists Releasing/MGM. In Flag Day, Sean Penn also stars as a father living a double life in order to provide for his daughter, played by his real-life child Dylan.
Down to Joy
From the movie “Belfast,” Van Morrison can be found performing the song “Down to Joy” on screen. He was added into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2003, and he also bagged its top honor, the Johnny Mercer Award, in 2015. This happens to be his only new song in the movie presented by Focus Features, apart from his eight classics. Belfast was written, directed, and co-produced by Kenneth Branagh, a leading best picture contender.
Here I Am (Singing My Way Home)
Hudson had won an Oscar 15 years back for the best-supporting actress for her performance in the movie “Dreamgirls.” Now she can be seen performing the song ``Here I Am' in the Aretha Franklin biopic “Respect” from MGM/UA.
Carole King has never been nominated for an Oscar, but he does have a Grammy nod for writing “Now and Forever” from the film “A League of Their Own.”
