When the Oscars announced the 2017 nominations on Tuesday, La La Land garnered 14 nominations, matching the record held by James Camerons 1990s juggernautTitanic. Two of those 14 went to Justin Hurwitzs music in the Best Original Song category. But Hurwitz will be competing with heavy hitters, with the other nominees either voiced or written by proven pop stars: Alessia Cara, who recorded a Lin-Manuel Miranda composition, How Far Ill Go, for Moana; Sting, who co-wrote The Empty Chair with J. Ralph for Jim: The James Foley Story; and Justin Timberlake, who penned Cant Stop the Feeling with Swedish pop savants Max Martin and Shellback for Trolls.
The Oscars ceremony airs on February 26th at 7 p.m. EST on ABC. Listen to the nominations for Best Original Song below.
La La Land Audition ( The Fools Who Dream)
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Hurwitz went to Harvard with La La Land director Damien Chazelle and contributed music to his directorial debut, Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench, and the acclaimed follow-up Whiplash. He described the grueling process of writing for La La Land in an interview with Rolling Stone in December. I made over 1,900 demos for this movie, he explained. We throw out lots of material. Its No, no, no, maybe; no, no, no, no! Eventually we get to no, no oh my god, I love that!'
Once he got the music in order, he passed it on to Benj Pasek and Justin Paul to write lyrics. The approach seems to be paying off: La La Land was already awarded Best Original Score at the Golden Globes earlier this month, and the soundtrack album peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard albums chart.
Trolls Cant Stop the Feeling
Justin Timberlake recruited one of the best pop songwriters in history, Max Martin, to help with Cant Stop the Feeling. The result: a shiny disco cut that debuted at No. 1 on the Hot 100. Its Timberlakes fifth No. 1 as a solo artist and Martins 22nd as a songwriter. Maybe theyll get an Oscar to add to their plaque display.
La La Land City of Stars
City of Stars probably has the advantage over Audition in the La La Land category: it builds around an easy-rolling, hummable piano riff, easily condensing the movies theme into the tight parameters of a pop song. It also benefits from its on-screen treatment, as its performed as an endearing duet between Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone.
Jim: The James Foley Story The Empty Chair
Sting recorded this melancholy piano ballad to pay tribute to James Foley, a journalist killed by ISIS in 2014. [J. Ralph] invited me down to his studio in Chinatown and showed me the film, which devastated me, and then he said, would you write a song with this musical setting Ive done?' Sting toldDeadline. I said, I dont think I can. Its too devastating.'
But the songs central metaphor came to him later that evening after he showed the film to his wife. I gave it to Josh the next day, Sting remembered. He said, Youre supposed to make this look hard.'
Moana How Far Ill Go
How Far Ill Go unites two proven young talents: Lin-Manuel Miranda, who create the massive hit musical Hamilton, and Alessia Cara, who continues to pump out popular singles since debuting with Here in 2015. (Her latest, Scars to Your Beautiful, is sitting at No. 13 on the Hot 100.) Cara brings her usual verve to How Far Ill Go, soaring into Mirandas lines to emphasize the importance of choosing adventure over inertia.