Oscars 101: Best Original Song

In which I run down on the nominees (and likely winners) of the Academy Awards.

And now we come to the final "sound" category for this year's Oscars: Best Original Song.  It oddly is the only category where you don't have to see the film to properly assess the nominees, since around fifteen minutes is all that's needed to listen to all of the nominees.  That being said, there are really only two songs worth much of anything this year, with three decent enough ones rounding out an extremely disappointing category.

Everything Is Awesome from The Lego Movie
Glory from Selma
Grateful from Beyond the Lights
I'm Not Gonna Miss You from Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me
Lost Stars from Begin Again

The first snubbed song to immediately spring to mind is The Last Goodbye from The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies: a touching and incredibly poignant song about loss and having to let go.  Of the three songs submitted from Boyhood - all of which are deserving of nominations - Split the Difference is the most egregious omission from the list of nominees, although Ryan's Song is likewise excellent: a microcosm for the film's sprawling narrative.  Yellow Flicker Beat from The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 is perhaps the catchiest song from the last year (from film or otherwise), done in Lorde's typically haunting and driven style.

"Everything Is Awesome" from The Lego Movie - While definitely the catchiest of the nominees, its uphill battle to Oscar gold comes from its intentionally shallow lyrics.  The fact that it's a tongue-and-cheek parody of vapid, mainstream pop songs might be lost on voters who won't care enough to parse through that fact for themselves.

In most any other year, I would be predicting "Everything Is Awesome" as an easy front runner in this category.  The Lego Movie's snub for Best Animated Feature (the sting of which has still not abated) would make it a prime candidate to win as a "make up" contender, but the same could be said for Selma's "Glory" (and that's fighting against apparent snubs for Best Actor, Best Director an Best Original Screenplay).  It's a strong candidate to upset the likely winner, but stands to be shut out all the same.

"Glory" from Selma - "Glory" is the unquestionable front runner in this category.  And this is not just as a "make up award" for its apparent snubs, either (although I have certainly covered those already).  It is the most instrumentally complex, lyrically inspired and thematically kairotic nominee in its field: the perfect combination of merit and message at a time when both are sorely needed

I do not agree with the accusations that the Academy of Motion Picture Sciences is racially motivated to keep black films and black filmmakers "in their place" or that after 12 Years a Slave last year, they're ready for a change of color.  If that is the case however - or at least some variation on it - then of course it won't win.  Another obstacle in its way is The Lego Movie's snub for Best Animated Feature Film, which ultimately means that this is the one and only chance to recognize that film's accomplishments - potentially driving Selma out of the running.

"Grateful" from Beyond the Lights - How "Gratefull" ever warranted awards consideration, let alone an Oscar nomination, I'll never know.  It's an unironic version of everything "Everything Is Awesome" parodies: a vapid, formulaic, overly produced pop song that burrows deep inside your brain after listening to it once and steadfastly refuses to ever leave.

I can safely say that "Grateful" has no shot of winning on Sunday.  Its film lacks the overall support within the Academy to pull off an upset against the two front runners.  The song itself is, as I have already mentioned, as vapidly unimaginative and identical to an other pop song on the radio.  And in a ceremony embroiled by alleged racist snubs, it's competing against the most slighted film in that regard.

"I'm Not Gonna Miss You" from Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me - While "Grateful" was the worst possible version of what it was trying to be, "I'm Not Gonna Miss You" is simply the least interesting and least memorable version of what it wanted to be.  That's not to say that it was bad, nor that it didn't work in its context, just that there was nothing exceptional about it.

The song starts, runs its course, then ends.  There's no single thing that makes it stand out from the crowd: no rapturous fanfare, no epic solo, no memorable lyrics.  The song simply is, which will simply not do, not even in this weak of a category.

"Lost Stars" from Begin Again - Like "I'm Not Gonna Miss You," "Lost Stars" is inoffensively unmemorable, which is especially sad, given that it's my third favorite of the nominees.  It's catchy enough, clever enough and deep enough to warrant listening all the way through to the end, but is forgotten just as soon as the last chord fades out.

There just isn't any kind of meaty hook to elevate this song from an auditory oddity within its film to something exceptional in its own right.  As I mentioned above, the song simply is.  

Safe Bet:  "Glory" from Selma

Long Shot: "Everything Is Awesome" from The Lego Movie

Longer Shot: "Lost Stars" from Begin Again

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