OVP: Best Original Song (2017)
The Nominees Were...
"Mighty River," Music & Lyric by Mary J. Blige, Raphael Saadiq, & Taura Stinson, Mudbound
"Mystery of Love," Music & Lyric by Sufjan Stevens, Call Me By Your Name
"Remember Me," Music & Lyric by Kristen Anderson-Lopez & Robert Lopez, Coco
"Stand Up for Something," Music & Lyric by Diane Warren & Lonnie R. Lynn, Marshall
"This is Me," Music & Lyric by Benj Pasek & Justin Paul, The Greatest Showman
My Thoughts: We are moving into the Best Original Song category today, and with it something we haven't seen as often with this category even though during the category's heyday of the 1940's & 50's, it was commonplace: two original musicals. Yes, both Coco and The Greatest Showman (two films in quality that couldn't be more different if they tried), are actual original musicals, not Broadway transfers, and so we're going to commence our conversations with these two films since they're only two guarantees that we have that the film is a part of the movie itself.
Coco is littered with instant classic songs (and admittedly one cover), but none goes for the emotional core quite like "Remember Me" (one of the primary reasons that Oscar isn't talking about "Bruno" this year is because "Remember Me" was able to take this trophy even if other songs in the film might've had more bounce). It's a beautiful song, shown both for comic effect early in the film (with a surprise death at the song's climax), and then later as a way for Grandmama Coco to remember her father one last time. It's a beautiful piece-of-music, and totally fits the movie...exactly what you want from a film's signature song.
This isn't quite the case for "This is Me." The Greatest Showman is, and this cannot be understated, a profoundly unsuccessful movie (that admittedly made an unexpected fortune). I generally like a musical, and even I was at a loss here; this is partially driven by the fact that Hugh Jackman is not a good singer (I know I'm in the minority on this one, but I also know I have my defenders). That's not a problem for "This is Me," which has Keala Settle (who can sing) on lead vocals, but the lyrics of this song are so insipid & "rah rah/love yourself" in the way that virtually every musical has had for the past 15 years as to be hopelessly generic. I much preferred the "holy crap" vocals of "Never Enough" to "This is Me" if we had to have a nomination from The Greatest Showman.
The only other movie that doesn't lose a point for not incorporating their song enough into the movie is "Mystery of Love," which, while not sung by the actors, becomes something of a hallmark for Call Me By Your Name. The entire song score of this movie is incredible-fresh, but still of its time, it feels like the sort of soundtrack you hear and remember your youth. That's particularly true for "Mystery of Love," which Sufjan Stevens melds marvelously with the songs in the movie we already know by heart, but also making it feel truly romantic. We know that this is a song that will be played by both Elio & Oliver in the years to come as they remember what once was.
"Stand Up for Something" is the annual Diane Warren nomination that has become so routine with the Oscars as to be absurdly funny at this point (when it should probably be more eye-rollingly baffling). Warren's song is an end credits song exclusively, but she has the good sense to have future Oscar nominee Andra Day sing it, so it's belted to the sky. Honestly, for a movie that's truly terrible (it does neither its lead actor nor its subject matter any justice), this song is way better than anything you see before it. If it was more important to the plot, it'd be Warren's best recent nomination.
"Mighty River" also started off a trend that nearly continued this past year with Jennifer Hudson being in the running twice for Respect: actors getting dually-nominated for both acting & music in the same film/year (following Mary J. Blige were Lady Gaga, Cynthia Erivo, and Leslie Odom, Jr.). The song is sung with Blige's controlled vibrato, but it's also not all-that-memorable, feeling very similar in terms of compositional structure to her song a few years earlier in The Help. We'l talk about Blige's acting in two weeks, but this is the better of the two nominations...it just also isn't necessary.
Other Precursor Contenders: The Golden Globes mixed it up a bit, giving their trophy to "This is Me" (nope, I didn't remember that either), over "Mighty River," "Remember Me," "Home" (Ferdinand), & "The Star" (The Star), the latter two having the added benefit of Nick Jonas & Mariah Carey, respectively (the Globes LOVE to nominate their celebrities). The Grammys, due to eligibility windows, split their nominations for this category over two years, so in 2018 we saw "Stand Up for Something" and "I Don't Wanna Live Forever" (Fifty Shades Darker) cited (losing to "How Far I'll Go" from the previous year's Moana) while 2019's ceremony gave nominations to "This is Me," "Mystery of Love," & "Remember Me" (but lost to "Shallow" from A Star is Born), meaning 2017 is one of the rare years we've encountered that got five Grammy nominations but no wins. In terms of sixth place, I think it's probably "Evermore" from Beauty and the Beast (which was my alternate at the time), as this branch loves to repeat nominations, and Alan Menken is never far away from being cited (I love Menken, but that easily would've been a discredit to every nominee in this lineup had it happened as the song is bland).
Songs I Would Have Nominated: I would've doubled-up on the Coco and Call Me By Your Name. There's no reason that the iconic final moments that create "Visions of Gideon" and the lively "Un Poco Loco" shouldn't be amongst the nominees in this category.
Oscar’s Choice: Though "This is Me" and its mountains of box office gold were surely enticing, in the end Oscar made the wise choice of "Remember Me" in the duel between the two pictures.
My Choice: I'm going with "Mystery of Love" here. It's the better song of the two, and while "Remember Me" is more crucial to the plot of Coco, it's not just about that-"Mystery of Love" is embedded in Call Me By Your Name's fabric (it's not just an end credits song), and as a result I'm going to tip the hat here (I don't begrudge Oscar though-both of these songs will be on My Ballot when we conclude this season). After that we'll go with Marshall, The Greatest Showman, and Mudbound, in that order.
Those are my thoughts-how about yours? Are you with me over strumming my guitar alongside Sufjan, or are you still sobbing over Coco's loveliness? I know they must exist out there-are there still people obsessed with The Greatest Showman or are we collectively pretending that didn't happen? And do you think we'll ever see another Oscar nomination thrown Alan Menken's way? Share your thoughts below!
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