(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
AISHA HARRIS, HOST:
What do Will Ferrell and Leslie Odom Jr. have in common? They play a part in the Academy Awards best original song category.
STEPHEN THOMPSON, HOST:
This year's five nominated songs are stacked with star power and grand themes. Among the bunch are soulful songs about fighting for justice, as well as a sweeping power ballad about mountains singing through the screams of seagulls.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HUSAVIK")
MOLLY SANDEN: (Singing) Where the mountains sing through the screams of seagulls, where the whales can live 'cause they're gentle people in my hometown, my hometown.
THOMPSON: I'm Stephen Thompson.
HARRIS: And I'm Aisha Harris. And today, we're talking about this year's Oscar-nominated original songs on POP CULTURE HAPPY HOUR from NPR. So don't go away.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HUSAVIK")
SANDEN: (Singing) ...We just didn't see it. All I need...
HARRIS: Welcome back. It's just the two of us today. We'll get to this year's Oscar-nominated songs in a minute. But before we weigh in on those songs and their chances, Stephen, can you talk a little bit about the common themes we've seen from some of the Oscar winners and nominees of the last few years?
THOMPSON: Well, each year this category has been a different kind of mixed bag, depending on what sort of movies are coming out in a given year. You often have a song or more from a Disney musical. You often have a song from a big blockbuster, so something like "All The Stars" from "Black Panther" from a couple of years ago. Big songs from big movies often wind up making their way into these nominations. And then they'll be mixed in with - sometimes, it's a song you've never heard of by an artist you've never heard of from a movie you've never heard of.
So it really is a very, very mixed bag from year to year with some recurring themes. Diane Warren is very often nominated as a songwriter. Very often, especially in recent years, you have a lot of songs that I call - for lack of a better term - "Glory" core.
HARRIS: (Laughter).
THOMPSON: It's so named for the song "Glory" by Common and John Legend from the movie "Selma" a few years ago, songs that play over the closing credits of movies about social justice, all of which have titles that kind of blur together to form this, like, I will rise and fight and raise my voice to stand for you.
HARRIS: (Laughter).
THOMPSON: And so this year is a little bit of an unusual year for a bunch of obvious reasons, many of them related to the pandemic. You didn't have a big Disney musical, so you didn't kind of have a "Let It Go," "Into The Unknown," big Disney banger. And you didn't have a lot of blockbusters. You didn't have, for example, "No Time To Die," the James Bond movie, which had a theme song by Billy Eilish, which came out, which was pretty well received and I think would have been a shoo-in at least to be nominated and probably to win had the movie actually come out and thus been eligible. So that has kind of opened this year's field to what has turned out to be a whole lot of "Glory" core.
(LAUGHTER)
HARRIS: I love that you call it that because I've noticed that trend as well. Let's get into the songs. I think we have three that kind of fall pretty squarely into that category this year. They all have that similar theme, and they all come from - for lack of a better word - movies that are social-justice oriented. One of those songs is "Fight For You," which is performed by the pop, R&B star H.E.R. And that is from the movie "Judas And The Black Messiah."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FIGHT FOR YOU")
H E R: (Singing) All the smoke in the air, feel the hate when they stare. All the pain that we bear...
HARRIS: This is one of those songs that I actually feel like doesn't have the "Glory"-core aesthetic musically, and thus I like it a little bit. It has a little bit of like a Marvin Gaye kind of vibe to it circa "What's Going On," "Let's Get It On" era.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FIGHT FOR YOU")
H E R: (Singing) There's no one, there's no one like you. Long as I'm standing, we could never lose. I will always, always fight for you. I will always, always fight for you.
HARRIS: So, yeah, that song is decidedly not told from the point of view of Bill O'Neal, who was...
(LAUGHTER)
HARRIS: ...Who was played by LaKeith Stanfield in "Judas And The Black Messiah" and was one of the people responsible for the murder of Fred Hampton. What did you think of this song, Stephen?
THOMPSON: Yeah, this is actually one of my favorite of this field, kind of in part for the reasons that you mentioned. In some ways, it's "Glory"-core or at least "Glory"-core adjacent. It also plays over the closing credits, which is a little bit of a frustration I have with a lot of these original songs, is that they're not necessarily integrated into the movies themselves.
That said, thematically and sonically, it fits the sound of the movie. "Judas And The Black Messiah" has a lot of kind of period music scattered throughout, and it has a little bit of a kind of a brassy quality to it that comes out in this song by H.E.R. So it's not just boilerplate, I will speak and raise my voice; lyrically speaking, sonically, it really, really stands out. And I will say it is not just a song about speaking; it is a song about revolution. And therefore, it kind of fits a lot of the themes of the movie. But also, it just feels more action-oriented than some of these songs, which just kind of sit there.
HARRIS: Yeah. In a similar vein, you also have "Speak Now," which is performed by Leslie Odom Jr., and that's from "One Night In Miami..." And again, these movies - "One Night In Miami..." and "Judas And The Black Messiah" - are set just a few years apart. And this song is similar in theme. Obviously, he's talking about speaking and writing with a theme of having these four very famous revolutionary men. You have Jim Brown, Muhammad Ali, Sam Cooke, who Leslie Odom plays in the movie, and Malcolm X.
And so I think that this is very similar to, you know, "Fight For You," but has a little bit of a different tone. And again, unlike "Glory" - both of those songs, I think - they kind of stay in one place. They don't have, like, that soaring crescendo moment that a lot of these songs tend to have. But I think that's another reason why I gravitate towards it. Let's have a little listen to "Speak Now."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SPEAK NOW")
LESLIE ODOM JR: (Singing) Can you hear bells ring out? Speak now. Speak now. Can you hear the angels cry out? Speak now. Speak now. Don't you hold your tongue. Speak now. Speak now.
HARRIS: Yeah, you can easily see that song - you can hear the organ in the background. I think you could easily, like, expect a giant sweeping gospel chorus to come in. But it restrains itself.
THOMPSON: I mean, it's kind of what I like about this song and about "Fight For You," is that they're a little bit more restrained. I think also, this song works in part because it ties into the Sam Cooke character arc in "One Night In Miami..." Over the course of the film, his arc is kind of about learning to speak up on social issues and not just sing pop songs. And - you know, and so it's kind of leading into the part of his career where he records "A Change Is Gonna Come." So I think thematically, it fits.
And in keeping with that performance by Leslie Odom Jr., it is not an impersonation of Sam Cooke. And so - I mean, it sounds very much like a Leslie Odom Jr. song, but with kind of hints of Sam Cooke. And so I like it. I don't think it's a song that's necessarily going to echo through the ages. I don't know that it's a song that would really have much of a commercial place outside of the closing credits of that movie. But it's good.
HARRIS: I would agree with that. And I - sometimes I say this to mean it as a slight, but I do feel like it's sort of perfect Starbucks coffeehouse music. And I mean that like in a less slighted way.
THOMPSON: Yeah.
(LAUGHTER)
HARRIS: So there's a third song that I think fits very heavily into this "Glory"-core theme, which is "Hear My Voice." And that is performed by Celeste, and it's from "The Trial Of The Chicago 7."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HEAR MY VOICE")
CELESTE: (Singing) Hear my voice. Hear my dreams.
HARRIS: Now I think I'm already on record as having not really liked this movie.
THOMPSON: (Laughter).
HARRIS: And I had to say that that energy also goes towards this song. I think it's very kind of - it glides over you. And you can easily forget about it after the fact, which I did until I...
THOMPSON: Until we were preparing for this conversation.
HARRIS: Exactly.
(LAUGHTER)
HARRIS: But it has, like - it kind of has Adele vibes a little bit just...
THOMPSON: Yeah.
HARRIS: ...In terms of both Celeste's vocals and the sort of energy of this song. And it's actually only got one verse, technically. And the chorus kind of sounds like a bridge. Let's listen to it.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HEAR MY VOICE")
CELESTE: (Singing) You may think I won't be heard. Still, I'll raise this hand, spread these words, these words of fire, of hope and desire. And I'll let them free.
HARRIS: Coffeehouse.
THOMPSON: (Laughter).
HARRIS: Absolutely coffeehouse, even more so than "Speak Now," I think. What do you think, Stephen (laughter)?
THOMPSON: So, Aisha, I've been planning for this segment for, I think, several months now - like, really, ever since they launched the short list of the 15 songs that were being considered to be nominated in this category. And so for months, I have kind of gone back to this song. And a few days ago, as we were preparing for this, I racked my brain trying to remember the name of this song because it is so profoundly forgettable in every way imaginable. It is the most, like, baseline, C-plus Glorycore you can possibly imagine. And this is not a slight on Celeste, who will now and forever be an Oscar nominee.
HARRIS: Yes.
THOMPSON: She has a lovely voice. I do think she is - you know, she operates very much in Adele's lane. But this song you could put over the closing credits of 50 different movies that came out last year, and you wouldn't bat an eyelash. One of the things I say is this song could have been written by an app. Like, this song could have been written by an app. You know, download this app. It will help you get nominated for best original song at the Oscars. There is nothing interesting about this song whatsoever.
(LAUGHTER)
HARRIS: Well (laughter), since there's nothing else we have to say about it, let's get to the Diane Warren of it all.
THOMPSON: Yes.
HARRIS: So as you already mentioned, she's been nominated - this is her 12th nomination in this category. She has never won, so this is her Susan Lucci here, as I call it. And I feel like this has a pretty good shot, really only because of that. Let's hear a little bit of that.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "IO SI (SEEN)")
LAURA PAUSINI: (Singing in Italian).
HARRIS: I think, you know, she has - it is as Diane Warren of a song as you can think of, except for the fact that it's sung in Italian. The performer is Laura Pausini, and it's from the movie "The Life Ahead." It starts off as a sort of typical story about a young boy who befriends an older person, and that older person is played by Sophia Loren. And she adopts him kind of informally and also hesitantly, but then they form a bond. And also on top of that, she's a Holocaust survivor, so, like, checking all of the Oscar boxes right there. But it was a really sweet movie, I think, overall, and I thought the performances were really great. This song does nothing for me. And I think Diane Warren has written better sort of gloopy (ph) songs...
THOMPSON: (Laughter).
HARRIS: ...Before that have been nominated. There is "Music Of My Heart" from the movie "Music Of The Heart," "Because You Loved Me," sung by the one and only Celine Dion, from "Up Close And Personal." There's some great songs she's written, and I don't think this is her best, but I do think it is the one that might win her the award.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "IO SI (SEEN)")
PAUSINI: (Singing in Italian).
HARRIS: I mean, it sounds like this could have come out in 1995, no?
THOMPSON: Yeah. I will say this song has grown on me a little bit as I've listened to it a few times and as I saw the movie. The lyrics of the song translated do kind of fit the themes of the movie. The movie is very much about - and again, man, these songs come back to these themes over and over again. It's about being seen. But the themes of the movie are very much about people who are not usually being seen, seeing each other and being able to help each other in that way. And this song does fit into those themes. But, boy, you know, gloopy is a pretty good word for it. And if you look over the history of Diane Warren's 12 Oscar nominations, I mean, she has written some very indelible movie songs. She wrote - you mentioned several. I think the one she probably should have won for is "Til It Happens To You," her collaboration with Lady Gaga that lost out to this super boring Sam Smith James Bond song a few years back.
This is her fourth year in a row being nominated. And some of those songs in the most recent years have just been the most boilerplate Glorycore imaginable, these completely forgettable songs. And I think the fact that this song stands out a little bit more, in addition to being her Susan Lucci moment, in addition to the fact that there's not a really, really strong frontrunner - there's not a "Shallow," there's not a "Let It Go," you know, in this field - it does seem like it could be her year.
HARRIS: It could be. But what do we hope it will be, Stephen?
THOMPSON: Oh, my God. What I hope it is, is our last song, which I love.
HARRIS: Let's just - let's not even get into it. Let's just play it.
THOMPSON: (Laughter).
HARRIS: Let's play another clip (laughter).
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "EUROVISION SONG CONTEST")
SANDEN: (As Sigrit, singing) All I need is you and me and my home. (Singing in Icelandic). You want the world.
WILL FERRELL: (As Lars, singing) Want the world.
HARRIS: Yes, that is "Husavik," a.k.a. "My Home Town," from (laughter) the bafflingly long "Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga" (laughter), which is a movie I really wanted to love, didn't. But this song, I think, for all the reasons - Stephen, why don't you just name all the reasons that this song should win?
THOMPSON: "Eurovision Song Contest" is not great. It is too long. I did think it was really fun, and one of the reasons that I thought it was really fun is the songs. As the title suggests, Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams are Fire Saga, an Icelandic duo who winds up performing in the Eurovision Song Contest through machinations. It's a movie that's parodying something that is already kind of parodying itself, is already very, very, very over-the-top. It's certainly a field ripe for silliness, but I don't know that it really needed to be satirized because it's sort of self-satirizing.
That said, unlike every other song that is nominated for best original song, this song is pivotal to the movie. It is pivotal to the climactic scene in the movie, where they perform a song that has to be great when they have been performing songs and when we've been hearing songs that are sort of ridiculous. This song has to actually soar and actually be wonderfully performed, except by Will Ferrell, and has to lift you up in this weird way. But it also has to be funny, and it has to be silly and weird at the same time. And to me, it completely knocks that out of the park.
So I don't really like the way best original song has kind of become - here's how you win an Oscar. Write a song about standing and speaking and rising and fighting, and we'll put it over the closing credits, and maybe you'll win an Oscar. The song that wins best original song ideally has a reason to exist in the movie and has a way of advancing the plot of the movie in some way. And this does that, and it's still funny and weird and soaring and beautiful. I am a really, really big fan of this song. I have gone back and watched this clip from this movie, like, 10 times because it's gorgeous.
HARRIS: Yes, we could even go as far as to say it is the "Over The Rainbow" of this...
THOMPSON: (Laughter).
HARRIS: ...Of this year. It really does fit well into the story, as you said. And it's just a really delightful song that I think, whenever karaoke opens up again, will be a karaoke staple, at least amongst my crew, because it is a perfect karaoke song.
THOMPSON: I'd like to see them try to hit that note.
(LAUGHTER)
HARRIS: Try, try, try, we will (laughter).
Well, we want to know what you think about this year's Oscar-nominated original songs. Find us at facebook.com/pchh and on Twitter at @PCHH. On Friday, we'll have our big Oscars preview where we'll predict who we think will win in the major categories. Stephen, thank you so much for this discussion.
THOMPSON: Thank you, Aisha.
HARRIS: And one last thing before we go, we are going to talk about "The Nanny," and we want your questions. You can email a voice memo with your question to pchh@npr.org. Again, you can email a voice memo with your question to pchh@npr.org. We'll see you all tomorrow.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
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