Last night’s Oscar 2016 nominations for ‘Best Original Song’ reminded us how Eminem won in the same category back in 2003 for “Lose Yourself” from the movie ‘8 Mile.’ What an honor it has been to have witnessed that. The Best Original Song category at the 88th Academy Awards is filled with some very impressive tracks from a wide range of soundtracks.
The 74 songs nominated are as follows:
“Happy” from “Altered Minds”
“Home” from “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip”
“None Of Them Are You” from “Anomalisa”
“Stem To The Rose” from “Becoming Bulletproof”
“The Mystery Of Your Gift” from “Boychoir”
“I Run” from “Chi-Raq”
“Pray 4 My City” from “Chi-Raq”
“Sit Down For This” from “Chi-Raq”
“Strong” from “Cinderella”
“So Long” from “Concussion”
“Fighting Stronger” from “Creed”
“Grip” from “Creed”
“Waiting For My Moment” from “Creed”
“Don’t Look Down” from “Danny Collins”
“Hey Baby Doll” from “Danny Collins”
“Dreamsong” from “The Diary of a Teenage Girl”
“It’s My Turn Now” from “Dope”
“Ya Rahem, Maula Maula” from “Dukhtar”
“Earned It” from “Fifty Shades of Grey”
“Love Me Like You Do” from “Fifty Shades of Grey”
“Salted Wound” from “Fifty Shades of Grey”
“Hands Of Love” from “Freeheld”
“See You Again” from “Furious Seven”
“Brother” from “Godspeed: The Story of Page Jones”
“As Real As You And Me” from “Home”
“Dancing In The Dark” from “Home”
“Feel The Light” from “Home”
“Red Balloon” from “Home”
“Two Of A Crime” from “Hot Pursuit”
“Til It Happens To You” from “The Hunting Ground”
“I’ll See You In My Dreams” from “I’ll See You in My Dreams”
“The Movie About Us” from “Ingrid Bergman – In Her Own Words”
“Bhoomiyilenghanumundo” from “Jalam”
“Koodu Vaykkan” from “Jalam”
“Pakalppaathi Chaari” from “Jalam”
“Yaathra Manoradhamerum” from “Jalam”
“Lost In Love” from “Jenny’s Wedding”
“True Love Avenue” from “Jenny’s Wedding”
“Hypnosis” from “Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet”
“Juntos (Together)” from “McFarland, USA”
“The Light That Never Fails” from “Meru”
“The Crazy Ones” from “Miss You Already”
“There’s A Place” from “Miss You Already”
“Johanna” from “Mortdecai”
“Little Soldier” from “Pan”
“Something’s Not Right” from “Pan”
“Paranoid Girl” from “Paranoid Girls”
“Better When I’m Dancin'” from “The Peanuts Movie”
“Pink & Blue” from “Pink & Blue: Colors of Hereditary Cancer”
“Flashlight” from “Pitch Perfect 2”
“Birds Of A Feather” from “Poached”
“Still Breathing” from “Point Break”
“Manta Ray” from “Racing Extinction”
“Cold One” from “Ricki and the Flash”
“Torch” from “Rock the Kasbah”
“Someone Like You” from “The Rumperbutts”
“Aankhon Me Samaye Dil” from “Salt Bridge”
“Bachpana Thaa” from “Salt Bridge”
“Kanpne Lage Tum” from “Salt Bridge”
“Kyaa Bataaun Tujhe” from “Salt Bridge”
“Le Jaaye Jo Door Tumse” from “Salt Bridge”
“Na Jaane Kitni Door” from “Salt Bridge”
“Sookha Hi Rang Daalo” from “Salt Bridge”
“Feels Like Summer” from “Shaun the Sheep Movie”
“Phenomenal” from “Southpaw”
“Writing’s On The Wall” from “Spectre”
“Squeeze Me” from “The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge out of Water”
“Teamwork” from “The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge out of Water”
“Who Can You Trust” from “Spy”
“Came To Win” from “Sweet Micky for President”
“Mean Ol’ Moon” from “Ted 2”
“Love Was My Alibi” from “The Water Diviner”
“Fine On The Outside” from “When Marnie Was There”
“Simple Song #3” from “Youth”
Among these impressive nominations, a few stand out.
O course, “Phenomenal” by Eminem appears on the list from the movie ‘Southpaw’ starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Amy Adams. The movie alone should win an Oscar for the script or something. Jake Gyllenhaal was buffed up for the movie and the emotions he made us encounter were Oscar-worthy. Only a handful of rappers from the past two decades have been honored with an Oscar. Common, Juicy J, Three-6 Mafia, Diddy are a few of them. No one has had the honor of holding two Oscars though. So, should “Phenomenal” grab the award, Eminem will be the only rapper in history to hold two Academy Awards.
One of the hottest movies of 2015-‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ has been able to secure three nominations at 88th Academy Awards, to the much delight of Ellie Goulding. The Weeknd’s “Earned It” and Ellie Goulding’s “Love Me Like You Do” have both been nominated for ‘Best Original Song’ and should drive a tough challenge for “Phenomenal.” Sia’s “Salted Wound’ too was nominated for an Oscar.
One of the biggest movie franchises of all time came to an end this year with the tragic passing away of Paul Walker (RIP!). The Furious 7 movie had an emotional tribute track to their late best friend. “See You Again” by Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth has also been nominated for the Best Original Song at the 88th Academy Awards. Should “See You Again” grab the award, it would be an honorable final nod to the memory of Paul Walker.
Among these songs, there still are a handful to be closely monitored. Because they are pretty awesome.
Miley Cyrus too has been nominated-no, not for any of her ‘Bangerz’ music-but for an awesome track titled “Hands Of Love” done for the movie ‘Freeheld’. Listen to the track if you haven’t already and it should change the impression you have on Miley.
Rihanna too has secured a nomination for her work for ‘Home’ animated movie. ‘Dancing In The Dark” by Rihanna , “Feel The Light” by Jennifer Lawrence and “Red Balloon” by Charlie XCX have all grabbed 88th Academy Nominations.
Lastly I would give an honorable mention to Jessie J-such an amazing artist who always seems to be unspoken in the music industry. Jessie J’s awesome track “Flashlight” too has been nominated for Bets Original Song which appears in Pitch Perfect 2 movie soundtrack.
Well, there is one more nomination that needs to be mentioned. Sam Smith has been nominated for his work “Writing’s On The Wall” which appears in the movie Spectre which was an thriller of a movie.
With that, I leave you to your imaginations to decide on the most suitable suitor for the Best Original Song category at the 88th Academy Awards to be held on February 28th, 2016, and will be live telecast on ABC Television Network. So tune in.
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The total absence or scant mention of “Feels Like Summer” from Shaun The Sheep in the discussion of Best Original Song contenders thus far utterly breaks my heart. That song, to me, was the best original film song of 2015 by far, not just because of its composition and clever songwriting, but most especially because of the song’s thematic relevance and importance within the film for which it was written. It’s not just some ditty that some studio hacks (e.g. “See You Again”, “Love Me Like You Do” or more appropriately, “F*ck Me Like You Do”), a bored/boring popular artist (e.g. “See You Again”, “Love Me Like You Do”, and even “Writing’s On The Wall”—already an all-time bottom five Bond theme song for me due to its complete lack of non-piano percussion, some forced rhymes, and a technically-perfect-but-emotionally-tedious performance by Sam Smith), and/or an earnest but uninteresting singer-songwriter with nothing but a guitar or a piano (e.g. most of the other eligible songs) written for just the opening/closing titles and barely anywhere else.
No, compared to those types of modern movie songs, “Feels Like Summer” is a true collaboration between the composers and the storytellers and filmmakers that desired for it to play a key role in Shaun The Sheep. It’s played during the opening titles, the credits, and more than twice within the body of the film (which includes a sheep barbershop quartet rendition that truly solidifies its importance to the characters in the story. And even after all of that…the song both sounds gorgeous and is extremely fun and memorable. It’s a perfect film song.
“Feels Like Summer” from Shaun The Sheep deserves a Best Original Song nomination, full stop. I don’t care if “Feels Like Summer” wins or not at this point (though it would be perfect justice—not to mention a great joy—if it actually did). I’m just praying for it to just get the nomination because its Oscar performance would have the opportunity to express to the entire Academy “Look at and listen to what you missed out on if you didn’t vote for our song”. (Why else would they place “Let It Go” from Frozen and “Glory” from Selma last in the sequence of Best Original Song nominee performances in their respective telecasts if not for the obvious understanding that those two were the best songs of their respective categories by a fair margin and that they deserved to win the most?)
On the other hand, we no longer have Brian Wilson as a possibility in the category, which is a damn shame in itself, but hey, rules are rules and they’re totally understandable—2nd credit songs just aren’t as important to their films as the 1st credit song, and 1st credit songs nowadays either already have barely anything to do with their films as it is and/or audience members have already left the auditorium before the songs have finished. (Speaking for myself, I left Love & Mercy right after the video of Brian performing previously-released title song at the start of the credits ended, so I didn’t even listen to “One Kind Of Love” until I went to YouTube at least several days later.)
With that unfortunate absence in mind, we should at least have a Beach Boys-esque song such as “Feels Like Summer” take one of the five spots instead. Spurious connection, maybe, but then again…the song is called “Feels Like Summer” for crying out loud! What band in popular music has embodied summer the most other than the Beach Boys?
(Now that I think about it…What if the Academy actually nominated “Feels Like Summer” and then had Brian Wilson sing the song with Tim Wheeler and Co. at the the telecast? That would be SO PERFECT! =D )
Come on, Music branch at the Academy. Please just nominate “Feels Like Summer” for Best Original Song—and the Animation branch nominate Shaun The Sheep for Best Animated Feature—and then I’ll be happy for the rest of the awards season. ^_^
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MY NOMINEES FOR BEST ORIGINAL SONG:
“Cold One” (Ricki & The Flash)
“Feels Like Summer” (Shaun The Sheep) *MY VOTE*
“Fine On The Outside” (When Marnie Was There)
“Who Can You Trust” (Spy) … [For the record, I think that this song made for a better Bond theme then this year’s actual Bond theme.]
“Writing’s On The Wall” (Spectre)