OVP: Best Original Song (2016)
The Nominees Were...
"Audition (The Fools Who Dream)," Music & Lyric by Justin Hurwitz, Benj Pasek, & Justin Paul, La La Land
"Can't Stop the Feeling," Music & Lyric by Justin Timberlake, Max Martin, & Karl Johan Schuster, Trolls
"City of Stars," Music & Lyric by Justin Hurwitz, Benj Pasek, & Justin Paul, La La Land
"The Empty Chair," Music & Lyric by J. Ralph & Sting, Jim: The James Foley Story
"How Far I'll Go," Music & Lyric by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Moana
"Can't Stop the Feeling," Music & Lyric by Justin Timberlake, Max Martin, & Karl Johan Schuster, Trolls
"City of Stars," Music & Lyric by Justin Hurwitz, Benj Pasek, & Justin Paul, La La Land
"The Empty Chair," Music & Lyric by J. Ralph & Sting, Jim: The James Foley Story
"How Far I'll Go," Music & Lyric by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Moana
My Thoughts: We move from the visual categories this week to the sound/aural categories, starting with music. Best Original Song has never really recovered from its 1980's heyday, where the Academy was able to embrace the plethora of movie-related hits in films like Top Gun, Dirty Dancing, and Fame that were ear-worms in the post-musical era. Today most musicals are from Broadway, with maybe a cursory song thrown in to help get an Andrew Lloyd Webber an Oscar, but generally this isn't the case. There's an exception of course, and that's the most-celebrated original musical of this new millennium, La La Land, which won two citations in this category.
The first nomination for the film is "City of Stars," the one that is probably best-remembered today if you recall the songs from the film rather than just a dreamy-eyed Ryan Gosling & Emma Stone dancing in the sky. The song is actually sold at two moments of the picture, once by Gosling on a bridge and then later by Stone & Gosling as a duet. The song is arguably the emotional high-point of the film, and perhaps the closest the movie comes to properly catching the magical potential it clearly had (and achieved, for some people). The singing is thin (neither actor is a truly great vocalist, which some argue is the point but it has to be noted), but I see nothing wrong with this-it's a strong song well-positioned in the movie.
"Audition" is less in that same vein, though it's also an emotional climax in the movie. The song's chorus is melodic, and an ode to not just the actors on the screen, but it's also to the audience, trying to find escapist fare that will take us briefly away from the troubles of our lives. It almost works, but the story-within-the-song plays as silly and easily mockable, and considering that Chazelle is trying to make a movie that pays homage to the musical, but in a way that it's sort of "for people who don't like musicals," the winking throughout the film sort of makes this moment where we're supposed to be earnest fall flat. Stone's best number, but it's not as memorable or as successful as "City of Stars."
La La Land wasn't the only musical in 2016. Something like Trolls, for example, is a lot of fun. The movie is easy to pre-judge (it looks like one of those trailers that will inevitably be a big hit with kids, but that adults can safely skip if they don't have rugrats around), but the lead work from Anna Kendrick is cute & the score is winning. Hidden amid covers of classic ditties by Simon & Garfunkel, Cyndi Lauper, and Lionel Richie is a new tune from Justin Timberlake, and it totally works in the context of the picture. "Can't Stop the Feeling" is the best Timberlake song since "SexyBack," an indisputable ear-worm bop that feels more at home in the 1980's era of radio-friendly hits getting cited by Oscar than today. It's not breaking any new ground, but it's rare to find a song this fluffy & delicious embedded in a film already brimming with sugar.
The other animated musical is Moana, which is original and penned by Lin-Manuel Miranda, who is surely going to win an Oscar at some point, right (I mean he already got a Kennedy Center Honor before the age of forty!)? Moana is a gorgeous marvel, and while this isn't quite at the same level of the Menken/Ashman hits of the early 1990's, it's the closest they've come since. The big ballad number is sweeping, and gorgeously sung in the film (and critical to the movie's plot). The entire score is delicious (I might have avoided "Shiny" if it were me, but what are you going to do?), but this was the right choice to single out from the picture even if I'd have made more room for Disney.
The final nomination is the requisite documentary, here armed with a Sting-approved sad ballad. "The Empty Chair" is the best part of Jim, a documentary that otherwise fails spectacularly to carve new ground. It's the sort of song that's going to be hard to remember unless you're listening for it, but in many ways it gets some of the message of the film (a moving tribute to James Foley's life) across in ways that just aren't achievable in the context of Brian Oakes' actual picture. This is the sort of music Sting makes quite a lot in his post-Police days, but it doesn't negate that it's a good complement to the picture and not a half bad song on its own.
The first nomination for the film is "City of Stars," the one that is probably best-remembered today if you recall the songs from the film rather than just a dreamy-eyed Ryan Gosling & Emma Stone dancing in the sky. The song is actually sold at two moments of the picture, once by Gosling on a bridge and then later by Stone & Gosling as a duet. The song is arguably the emotional high-point of the film, and perhaps the closest the movie comes to properly catching the magical potential it clearly had (and achieved, for some people). The singing is thin (neither actor is a truly great vocalist, which some argue is the point but it has to be noted), but I see nothing wrong with this-it's a strong song well-positioned in the movie.
"Audition" is less in that same vein, though it's also an emotional climax in the movie. The song's chorus is melodic, and an ode to not just the actors on the screen, but it's also to the audience, trying to find escapist fare that will take us briefly away from the troubles of our lives. It almost works, but the story-within-the-song plays as silly and easily mockable, and considering that Chazelle is trying to make a movie that pays homage to the musical, but in a way that it's sort of "for people who don't like musicals," the winking throughout the film sort of makes this moment where we're supposed to be earnest fall flat. Stone's best number, but it's not as memorable or as successful as "City of Stars."
La La Land wasn't the only musical in 2016. Something like Trolls, for example, is a lot of fun. The movie is easy to pre-judge (it looks like one of those trailers that will inevitably be a big hit with kids, but that adults can safely skip if they don't have rugrats around), but the lead work from Anna Kendrick is cute & the score is winning. Hidden amid covers of classic ditties by Simon & Garfunkel, Cyndi Lauper, and Lionel Richie is a new tune from Justin Timberlake, and it totally works in the context of the picture. "Can't Stop the Feeling" is the best Timberlake song since "SexyBack," an indisputable ear-worm bop that feels more at home in the 1980's era of radio-friendly hits getting cited by Oscar than today. It's not breaking any new ground, but it's rare to find a song this fluffy & delicious embedded in a film already brimming with sugar.
The other animated musical is Moana, which is original and penned by Lin-Manuel Miranda, who is surely going to win an Oscar at some point, right (I mean he already got a Kennedy Center Honor before the age of forty!)? Moana is a gorgeous marvel, and while this isn't quite at the same level of the Menken/Ashman hits of the early 1990's, it's the closest they've come since. The big ballad number is sweeping, and gorgeously sung in the film (and critical to the movie's plot). The entire score is delicious (I might have avoided "Shiny" if it were me, but what are you going to do?), but this was the right choice to single out from the picture even if I'd have made more room for Disney.
The final nomination is the requisite documentary, here armed with a Sting-approved sad ballad. "The Empty Chair" is the best part of Jim, a documentary that otherwise fails spectacularly to carve new ground. It's the sort of song that's going to be hard to remember unless you're listening for it, but in many ways it gets some of the message of the film (a moving tribute to James Foley's life) across in ways that just aren't achievable in the context of Brian Oakes' actual picture. This is the sort of music Sting makes quite a lot in his post-Police days, but it doesn't negate that it's a good complement to the picture and not a half bad song on its own.
Other Precursor Contenders: The Golden Globes tend to lead a bit harder onto celebrity, but in a year with Lin-Manuel Miranda, Justin Timberlake, and Sting already cited for the Oscars, there wasn't much difference they could make here. They kept "City of Stars," (which won) "How Far I'll Go," and "Can't Stop the Feeling!" but included two other major names-"Faith" from Sing (written by Stevie Wonder, amongst others) and "Gold" from Gold (written by Iggy Pop), the latter being one of those Globes-nominated films that you aren't entirely sure ever actually existed.
Songs I Would Have Nominated: If it hasn't already gotten across, I quite liked this lineup. Oscar doesn't always do well with this category, and there's honestly not a clunker in the lineup. That said, I would have included "Drive It Like You Stole It," from Sing Street, as John Carney continues to craft interesting original musicals (it's probable that his comments at the time about Keira Knightley hurt the movie's Oscar chances), and maybe another ditty from Moana such as "I Am Moana" or "We Know the Way," though Disney didn't like competing against itself, which may have also been why Shakira's peppy ballad "Try Everything" couldn't even get love from the Globes, despite being in the Disney-produced Zootopia
Oscar’s Choice: There was no competing against itself-"City of Stars" was too big of a deal to miss here.
My Choice: I'm going to give La La Land another silver here. While I loved "City of Stars" (it'd get second place for me overall for this category), I'm more partial to the soaring "How Far I'll Go," which hits a bigger place in its movie. For third I'll pick Trolls, followed by "Audition" and "The Empty Chair."
Those are my thoughts-how about yours? Were you with me that Moana had this coming, or are you already protesting yet another La La Land miss at this OVP? Does anyone think Sting will ever win an Oscar (he's 0/4 as of this date)? And for real-has anyone actually seen Gold? Share your thoughts below in the comments!
Also in 2016: Production Design, Cinematography, Costume, Film Editing, Visual Effects, Makeup & Hairstyling, Previously in 2016
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