It was reported last week that Oscar producers only intended to have two of the five Oscar-nominated songs performed on the broadcast: “All The Stars” and “Shallow”. Evidently there was some pushback to the news. Lin-Manuel Miranda tweeted his disappointment …
The 1st time I stayed up to watch the Oscars, it was because I LOVED The Little Mermaid & they were going to sing songs from the movie I loved on The Oscars.
— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) January 25, 2019
If true, and Poppins’ song won’t be performed, truly disappointing. Hostless AND music-less?
To quote Kendrick: Damn. https://t.co/BEXOy7JCId
…and, according to Variety, the nominees were considering sending a message of solidarity to the Academy behind the scenes that it was all or nothing. It is not clear whether or not that actually happened. What did happen is that yesterday the Academy sent out this message:
Things we'd like to announce today:
— The Academy (@TheAcademy) January 31, 2019
1. @IAMJHUD will perform the nominated song "I'll Fight" on the #Oscars!
2. This has been our favorite tweet of the day.
Spoiler Alert: "The Place Where Lost Things Go" from "Mary Poppins Returns" will be performed on the #Oscars.
— The Academy (@TheAcademy) January 31, 2019
BONUS SPOILER ALERT: It will be performed by a surprise special guest!
That’s only two of the five songs, still. But Variety is saying that all five of the nominees have been invited to be featured during the show in 90 second segments and while it’s not confirmed whether or not they’ve accepted, it’s hard to imagine that after all this, they’d be like, yeah, no thanks…although the way things have played out this year, with so much drama and reversals and so many twists and turns, I guess anything is possible.
As for this “surprise guest”, I mean, presumably Emily Blunt? She’s the one who performs the song in Mary Poppins Returns. If I were on her team, I’d be pushing hard to have it be her. To remind them that they could have nominated her for acting and singing and carrying the film and to continue to build on the goodwill that she already has in the industry for the possibility of future nominations.
In other Oscar music news, Variety says that they were also trying to make this work:
Sources tell Variety a feeler went out to the members of Queen to open the show with one of the hits revived in the “Bohemian Rhapsody” film, but that’s not happening.
Maybe the Avengers can perform "Bohemian Rhapsody"? The lyrics kinda set up to what Thanos did, after all:
Is this the real life?
Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landslide
No escape from reality
And Thor can come out and sing “Thunderbolts of lightning, very, very frightening… me!”
It’s corny…but COME ON. Hemsworth could pull it off. It would be hilarious. This is a brilliant idea (on my part) and the Academy should totally steal it.
