The 2014 Oscar nominations were announced overnight and music fans will notice a few familiar names turning up in the nods for the 86th Annual Academy Awards.
The likes of Arcade Fire, U2, Karen O, and Pharrell Williams could be making room in their trophy cabinets for the film industry’s most famous gold statuette as they land nods in the Best Original Song category, as Rolling Stone reports.
The strongest contender for Oscar glory is tipped to be the Nelson Mandela tribute, ‘Ordinary Love’, written by Paul Hewson, Dave Evans, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen – better known collectively as U2. The first new single from the band in three years, taken from Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom (with Idris Elba in the titular role), has already scooped the Best Song award at the recent Golden Globes.
Also up against Bono and co. in the Academy stakes is Pharrell Williams’ ‘Happy’, the Daft Punk/Robin Thicke-collaborator’s contribution to animated feature Despicable Me 2 (and the world’s first 24 hour-long music video), as well as Yeah Yeah Yeahs frontwoman Karen O for the delicate ‘The Moon Song’, taken from Spike Jonze’s Her, with lyrics co-written by the director.
Spike Jonze’s Joaquin Phoneix-starring feature about a man who falls in love with a computer AI (voiced by Scarlett Johannson, so fair enough) also sees Arcade Fire frontman Win Butler and long-term musical pal Owen Pallett (aka Final Fantasy) nominated in the Best Original Score category. The strongest contender for Oscar glory is tipped to be the Nelson Mandela tribute, ‘Ordinary Love’, by U2
The Arcade Fire muso’s Her score is up against some stiff competition however, including multiple Oscar winner John Williams (for The Book Thief), composer Thomas Newman (Saving Mr. Banks), Alexandre Desplat (Philomena), and Steven Price (Gravity).
Rounding out the Best Original Song nominations for the 86th Annual Academy Awards is ‘Let It Go’, written by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez for Disney’s winter-themed animated movie Frozen, with two separate versions of the show tune recorded by Demi Lovato and Idina Menzel. Lastly, and most bizarrely, is the strongly Christian film Alone Yet Not Alone and its eponymous theme tune.
Composed by previous Oscar nominee Bruce Broughton (in 1986 for Silverado) and lyrics by Dennis Spiegel (who’s worked on Xena: Warrior Princess), ‘Alone Yet Not Alone’ is sung with hymnal sobriety by Joni Eareckson Tada; a quadriplegic evangelical Christian author.
The five Best Song nominees for the 2014 Oscars widens what has been a very slim selection in recent years, which saw Adele’s James Bond theme ‘Skyfall‘ conquering last year and Bret McKenzie of Flight of The Conchords winning in 2012 of ‘Man or Muppet’ from The Muppets – in a field of two nominees.
Its not that the Academy has been without strong selections to draw nominations from, but even then has snubbed the likes of Neil Finn, Fiona Apple, and The Black Keys in recent years, as well as Arcade Fire and Karen O.
The same can be said for the 2014 Oscar nominations which sees a few likely contenders missing out on official shortlisting. Most prominently Lana Del Rey, for ‘Young And Beautiful’ from The Great Gatsby. Likely to cause a major upset given the smear campaign to damage the singer’s chance of Oscar glory, and one of five songs from Baz Luhrmann’s cinematic adaptation that missed out on recognition from The Academy.
Dave Grohl and Paul McCartney also missed out, with ‘Cut Me Some Slack’ from the Foo Fighters frontman’s Sound City rockumentary failing to make the cut, blowing away the Nirvana drummer’s hopes for an Oscar (the knighted Beatle already has one for 1970’s Let It Be). Coldplay also failed to make an appearance for the British four-piece’s contribution to The Hunger Games franchise, ‘Atlas’.
Another interesting musical presence in the 2014 Oscars is for Jared Leto, though it’s not for his role as frontman of 30 Seconds To Mars, but as Best Supporting Actor for his role as drag queen Rayon in Dallas Buyers Club, which also marks the acting debut of one Bradford Cox of Deerhunter and Atlas Genius fame.
View the 2014 Oscar nominees here and listen to the five Best Original Song nominations below.
Best Original Song
Bruce Broughton and Dennis Spiegel – ‘Alone Yet Not Alone’ from Alone Yet Not Alone
Pharrell Williams – ‘Happy’ from Despicable Me 2
Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez – ‘Let It Go’ from Frozen
Karen O and Spike Jonze – ‘The Moon Song’ from Her
U2 – ‘Ordinary Love’ (written by Paul Hewson, Dave Evans, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen) from Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
