I've been thinking a lot about the Best Original Song contender in this year's Oscar race. For some reason, it's one of my favorite categories even though the music branch seems to do whatever they want. I like consistency, and they are the least consistent branch in the Academy, it seems. Usually they nominate five songs...sometimes three...or two...or sometimes they deem something ineligible and they pull it from the roster completely. That crazy music branch!
It seemed that Frozen's "Let It Go" was the song to beat right out of the gate, but with U2's "Ordinary Love" picking up the Golden Globe could the empowerment track be in trouble? I only bring this up, because I am a huge Frozen fan, and I want to see it win in both categories that it's nominated in (Original Song and Animated Feature, respectively). Could another song stand in its way of Oscar gold? Let's take a look at the songs in the category.
"Ordinary Love" has only one win to its name at the moment, but "Let It Go" hasn't won anything yet. To be fair, the music categories aren't honored at every guild or every critics group, so the only other major awards body to give a song trophy is the Golden Globes. The Globes don't always match up with Oscar (there's that Oscar music branch again), and Globes tend to lean more towards big stars like Madonna and Sting. In the last 10 years, only 3 winners at the Golden Globes went on to win Best Original Song. I am sure I am stressing over nothing.
"Ordinary Love" is a pretty stand alone song. I didn't see Mandela: A Long Walk to Freedom, so I don't know how it fits in the context of the film. It's a song you can hear on the radio. It doesn't seem, I don't think, that you need to know the film to really dig the song. That's why I worry a bit about Frozen. Is the song too specific to the story and film for people to really listen to it over and over again? It's a great anthem, and it's one of the best moments in the entire movie. I am sure I am stressing over nothing.
I would be totally cool if "Happy" from Despicable Me 2 won. It's so effing catchy! I sometimes sit at work and listen to it repeatedly without knowing that it ended. Pharrell Williams is having a great year with "Blurred Lines," "Get Lucky" and now this little diddy. I don't think it is really a threat to Frozen, but it's fun.
I like "The Moon Song" from Her. It fits the dreamy tone all the music has, and I love when Joaquin Phoenix sings it in the film. Does it have a chance? I don't think so.
To be honest, I would be fine with any of the songs winning (maybe not "Ordinary Love"), because I like all of them so much. "Alone Yet Not Alone" would have been the black sheep if it had stayed in the race, but you have to wonder who is going to get all of that song's votes now that it is out of competition?
I might be the wrong person to ask about this category, because I love Frozen so much. Then again, isn't everyone overly enamoured with it? You can't go on BuzzFeed without hearing a new story about Frozen's dominance over the world, or go on YouTube and find tons of videos. Here's a sampling, you know, in case you haven't seen them already.
Frozen sung in 25 languages...
Censored Frozen
"Despair of an Alto"
If "Let It Go" does lose on Oscar night, will riots ensue? I might throw something at the television. No lie. I just love it so much, and I think the cultural impact and love of the film will skyrocket it to win both of its categories. Do you agree?
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