I would like to write a post for each category, ranking all the nominees. I thought I would start with Best Original Song even though I really do not have a lot of strong feelings here. I think all of the nominated songs are… fine. There is nothing particularly awful here, but there is no Shallow either. So this order is pretty random and I am not too attached to it.
5. Breakthrough, „I’m Standing with You”
Let’s start with one of my favourite Oscar traditions: a random Christian film no one heard about that somehow gets nominated for Best Song. This year, it is Breakthrough, a story of a boy who falls into a frozen lake and gets saved thanks to the power of prayer. The song is very whatever – not terrible, but if they sing it during the ceremony it is going to be very boring.
4. Toy Story 4, „I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away”
I love Randy Newman but this year I am going to cheer for him in the Original Score category. „I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away” is no „You’ve Got a Friend in Me”. It is not very memorable, feels like a montage song which does not work well for re-listens in my opinion. But I guess it has a nice message for the millennials?
3. Harriet, „Stand Up”
Song from the Harriet Tubman biopic sang by its lead actress, Cynthia Erivo. She has a wonderful voice and the song is powerful. The lyrics are kind of literal but I guess that is fine. There is a lot of singing in the film, but weirdly enough, I do not remember this particular song. Still, it sounds nice.
2. Rocketman, „(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again”
Rocketman is MUCH better than Bohemian Rhapsody which somehow got nominated for a million awards last year. At least they got the song. And the song is fun, one you can dance too, it is always nice to get something other than a ballad. And it is probably the one I would actually want to see performed during the Oscars.
1. Frozen II, „Into the Unknown”
This might be a boring choice and „Into the Unknown” is nowhere near as iconic as „Let It Go”, but it is the one nominated song that actually stayed in my head after I finished listening to it. I did not love the film that much but I love Idina Menzel and she delivered once again. A nice melody with some interesting lyrics about finding yourself (lesbian subtext again?). This would be my choice for the award.
(I just wish they would have nominated „Catchy Song” from The LEGO Movie 2).
Swingin' at the Seance 