Why was “Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters the only song from the soundtrack shortlisted by the Academy?

Dear Gossips,

The Academy announced the shortlists for nominations in 12 categories yesterday, including for the inaugural casting Oscar. Of the ten films eligible to be nominated in the casting category, nine feature female casting directors, a great start for its debut. The two films that came out with the most shortlist mentions are Sinners and Wicked: For Good. That doesn’t necessarily mean that either film will fare well when the actual nominations are decided but, for today at least, they’re well-positioned in the game.

Both Sinners and Wicked: For Good also have two entries shortlisted in the best original song category. The frontrunner for best original song, though, is believed to be “Golden” from Kpop Demon Hunters. That entire soundtrack is full of bangers and there are other songs, like “Soda Pop”, “Your Idol”, and “What It Sounds Like” that also charted. So there’s been some conversation, particularly at our Substack, The Squawk, about why “Golden” was the only one shortlisted. You can only shortlist songs that have been submitted – and it doesn’t seem like Netflix submitted any tracks other than “Golden”. This, probably, is strategy, to avoid splitting votes as there have been times in Oscars past where more than one song from one movie has resulted in no Oscar-winning songs from the movie. “Golden” has been such a smash hit, a multiple week #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, the campaign focus is obviously to put all the juice behind it and we’ll see if that pays off.

EJAE, Audrey Nuna, and Rei Ami were all at the A Year in TIME party last week and also performed. They’ve been showing up at almost every year-end event either with the trades or the voting boards that can influence the Oscars. Which means that there’s a budget for them to travel and to cover other expenses on the campaign trail. That, typically, comes out of the studio, in this case Netflix. So the point is, while fans of the movie and the music might be feeling a certain type of way about the entire soundtrack and other songs deserving more shine, Huntr/x appears to have full support, with all the concentrated resources.

And this is not a bad thing, not for three young artists who are having the best year of their careers.