‘And the Oscar goes to… ‘Let It Go’ from Frozen! Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez!’
That’s really all that needs to be said about the Best Original Song category.
No, really. That’s what’s going to happen.
The support for ‘Skyfall’ last year has almost nothing on the acclaim that ‘Let It Go’ has received since Elsa first belted her heart out in Frozen and if for some unfathomable reason ‘Let It Go’ wasn’t voted the winner by the Academy, they’ll be changing their minds the instant Idina Menzel opens her mouth during the ceremony. I’m that confident that this song is going to win this category.
Then again, you and I both know that I wouldn’t have started writing this if I only had that to say.
I’ll admit it. I’m a little worried about U2.
It’s a bit of an understatement when I say that I’m a massive U2 fan: seeing them live was one of the highlights of my life and when I’m playing music, I play about three U2 songs for every song by any other artist. They’re supposed to be releasing a new album this year and I’m completely psyched for it, and when I heard that they were doing a song for Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, I jumped on that straight away.
And the result?
Um… eh?
It was a really standard U2 song. It’s exactly the kind of song that you get by asking a non-U2 fan to write a U2 song. It sounds like U2, it hits all the U2 notes that U2 usually hit when they’re busy being U2. It’s not a terrible song; it just seems like its ticking things off a list of what it has to sound right. If only there was a word that I could use to describe how basic, standard, bland and boring ‘Ordinary Love’ was… I know there’s one out there to express how unimpressive or not-special this song it. Oh well.
So why am I worried about it? Mandela died.
Nelson Mandela was an incredible man who did incredible things. He was an important figure culturally and historically and nothing anyone says can change the impact of this man and his actions. His death was, to put it mildly, a big deal.
I also think it was the only reason U2 got nominated for an Oscar. Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom was released after Mandela’s death, just before awards buzz began for the Golden Globes and funnily enough, U2 and their song got nominated for the Globe. And I was fine with that, but then they had to go ahead and give them the award as well. It felt like a political move more than anything else.
But the Golden Globes have had a history of picking the exact wrong song(s) for that category. A couple of years ago, they thought that Madonna had the best song of the year (this has never been the case in the history of anything) and that Gnomeo and Juliet was deserving of a nomination as well. I just assumed that this was one of “those” wins – it honoured Mandela and played it safe on a political level.
When U2 was nominated for the Oscar, I’ll admit I was surprised, and then that surprised turned into worry (not proper worry, but the kind of worry reserved for thoughts such as ‘Who is going to win the award this year?’). Would the Academy do the same thing? Would they give U2 an award they don’t deserve, over a song that so desperately does, based on political motivations?
I’m about 90% certain that they won’t, because ‘Let It Go’ is just so friggen good, but you never really know until the award’s given out.
I suppose I should talk about the other nominees, in fairness. ‘The Moon Song’ from Her is the only other nominee that I think should have a chance – it’s such a minimal, heartfelt song that worked because of the way that the film built up the relationship of Theodore and Samantha. This is also the second year in a row that a song sung by Scarlett Johansson is nominated for the Oscar. ‘Happy’ from Despicable Me 2 is, as my brother described it, “the happiest song ever” and it comes pretty close to that. It’s so upbeat and fun and joyous that makes me want to listen to a lot more of Pharrell Williams’ stuff, but then I remember that he wrote ‘Blurred Lines’ and that literally makes me want to have nothing to do with the guy.
There isn’t a strong enough word to describe my dislike of ‘Blurred Lines’.
But obviously, I think that ‘Let It Go’ is going to win, and it should win. It’s easily the most deserving, especially as it was accompanied by the best Disney visuals since the opening of The Lion King. I did think that a couple of other songs from Frozen deserved a nomination. ‘For the First Time in Forever’ is a sweeping, wondrous song performed exquisitely by Kristen Bell that really deserved more recognition than it got, and also established a great contrast between the two sisters, which was the entire point of the movie. I’d also be remiss if I didn’t mention that my brother desperately wanted ‘In Summer’ to be nominated, and I kind of agree with him – that song is almost a perfect way to spend two-minutes.
As for other songs this year? I haven’t seen/heard Inside Llewyn Davis, but I’ve heard that there were some great tracks in that. I liked ‘Atlas’ by Coldplay from Hunger Games: Catching Fire, but not enough to warrant a nomination or anything like that.
No, there’s pretty much been one song for me this year, and that’s ‘Let It Go’. And to be honest, I’m completely fine with that. I can’t wait for it to take home the gold.
(And yes, I’m aware that the title was way too easy.)
Crazy is Perfect 