When looking over the nominees for the Best Original Song Oscar, were you overwhelmed with joy to see the title, “When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings,” and think, “Wow, I can’t wait to see Tim Blake Nelson don a cowboy hat and sing that onstage.” Well, too bad for you, because the Academy has decided to destroy our dreams by announcing that this year only two of the five nominated songs will be performed live during the broadcast.
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According to a report from Variety, the Academy has decided to forego performances of all the nominated songs, opting instead to have only Lady Gaga’s “Shallow” from A STAR IS BORN and Kendrick Lamarr’s “All the Stars” performed. Word is that in an attempt to keep the show’s runtime to a strict three hours the performances of the other three songs – “The Place Where Lost Things Go” from MARY POPPINS RETURNS, “I’ll Fight” from RBG and “Spurs for Wings” from THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS – would be cut in favor of the two other chart-topping hits.
Despite the fact the two songs are vastly more popular and would appeal to the mainstream viewers, the decision is still receiving considerable blowback on social media – especially those in need of a Nelson-cowboy fix. In the past songs have been cut, including every song entirely in 2010 and 2012, while in 2013 and 2016 only three songs were performed. Otherwise, all the songs are often performed live during the telecast before a winner is announced.
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The move is apparently also causing concern within the music branch of the Academy and from the camps of the non-performing nominees, the notion presented the move is being made based on commercial success. As well, there’s a concern of favoritism given that both songs were distributed under the Interscope record label, even though both movies they were attached to are from different studios.
There are a lot of reasons to cite why it sucks not all the songs can’t have their shot at being performed – the biggest being we’re all going to miss the pure joy that would come from seeing Nelson on that stage strumming a guitar. If the goal is to keep the ceremony short perhaps that will already happen this year now that a host won’t be there doing schtick like bringing celebrities to associate with “normal” people, and throw hot dogs at them when they’re trying to watch a movie like last year. Cut that crap out, and let the singers sing.
The Oscars air live on Sunday, February 24.