In the winnowing down of what was the most pop-star-studded shortlist for best original song in Oscar history, it was inevitable that there would be some big and beloved names left out what that field got narrowed from 15 to five. Among the music stars not making the cut: Jay-Z, U2, Ariana Grande, Kid Cudi, Brian Wilson, Jennifer Hudson, Carole King, Sparks and last year’s winner in the category, H.E.R. Making it: Beyonce, Billie Eilish, Van Morrison, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Diane Warren.
Oscar voters made history by delivering a pair of music nominations for the animated Disney film “Encanto”: Lin-Manuel Miranda for best song and Germaine Franco for best original score.
Franco becomes only the sixth woman to be nominated for composing an original score, the first Latina nominated in the category, and only the second American-born woman to be nominated (three of her predecessors were British, one Icelandic; only Ann Ronell, a 1945 nominee, was American).
Miranda’s nod, for the Spanish-language “Dos Oruguitas,” is only the 11th time in Oscar history that a song not in the English language has been nominated. Only three foreign-language songs have ever won, and only one of those (“Al Otro Lado Del Rio” from 2004’s “The Motorcycle Diaries”) was in Spanish.
Much has been made in recent weeks about the TikTok hit “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” but the Disney studio entered only the more emotional “Dos Oruguitas” from “Encanto,” a decision made months before “Bruno” videos started going viral.