With the Golden Globes out of the way, the stage is now (quite literally) almost set for the big prizes in the cinema world, namely the Academy Awards or Oscars as they are more commonly known.
The 95th Academy Awards will take place on the 12th of March at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles, and you can expect films like the Banshees of Inisherin, Elvis, The Whale, TÁR, Everything Everywhere All at Once, and The Fablemans to receive a large number of nominations.
The ceremony is watched the world over by an audience of tens of millions and, in 2023, will be hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and no doubt the Academy will hope for a less explosive show than in 2022 when Will Smith famously slapped host Chris Rock, before going on to win the Best Actor Oscar for his role in King Richard.
One field of the Oscars that has steadily grown in stature is that of Best Original Song, and the award was picked up by hugely successful singer-songwriter Billie Elish and her writing partner Finneas O'Connell for their theme song for the 25th James Bond outing, No Time to Die.
You can never underestimate or ignore the importance of music to the overall production of a film, and winning an Oscar for either Best Original Song or Best Original Score is very much the pinnacle of the genre.
Those who are new to the industry or perhaps putting together a student project but want to use outstanding music to give their production an additional air of quality while also offering a more three-dimensional feel to their work might look to use royalty-free music to help keep the relevant costs down though clearly, this isn't something that nominees in this field at the Oscars would necessarily have to consider, though it is worth noting that the quality of music available from royalty-free music providers is very high and continuously improving.
The nominations for the upcoming Oscars are yet to be made, but here are some of the frontrunners and likely contenders for the Best Original Song statuette.
Lift Me Up from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever - Ryan Coogler, Ludwig Goransson, Rihanna and Tems
The impact of the first Black Panther movie can not be overstated. The film packed a real punch, made a ton of money, and was a bona fide cultural phenomenon. In 2018 it received a nomination for Best Original Song; on that occasion, the track came from Kendrick Lamar but lost out to Lady Gaga, and A Star is Born.
The long-awaited sequel has additional resonance following the sad passing of Chadwick Boseman, who, of course, played the title character in the original. Lift Me Up is considered one of the favorites for the gong this time around.
This is a Life from Everything Everywhere All At Once - David Byrne, Ryan Lott, and Mitski
Anyone who has witnessed the explosion of ideas that Everything Everywhere and Once brings with it is left marked by the occasion, in a good way. The multiverse-led creation is quite something to behold, and the nomination for This is a Life is a well-deserved one.
Among the track's writers is Talking Heads legend David Byrne, who is experiencing something of a renaissance of late. He has actually already won an Oscar, picking up the 1988 Oscar for Best Original Score for Bernardo Bertolucci's epic, The Last Emperor.
Ciao Papa from Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio - Alexandre Desplat, Roeban Katz and Guillermo del Toro
Last year saw the release of two mainstream attempts at retelling the classic children's fantasy novel. One was helmed by Tom Hanks and vanished without a trace; the other came in the form of a delightful stop-motion musical from the crazed mind of Guillermo del Toro.
The Mexican filmmaker is no stranger to the Academy Awards, the 58-year-old having previously won two statuettes for his feature film The Shape of Water and was also nominated for Pan's Labyrinth and Nightmare Alley.
French film composer Alexandre Desplat provides the original score and the original song for the movie and has an astounding 11 Oscar nominations to his name, winning Best Original Score for both The Grand Budapest Hotel and The Shape of Water.
Nothing Is Lost (You Give Me Strength) from Avatar: The Way of Water - The Weeknd, Steve Angello Josefsson, Sebastian Ingrosso, Axel Hedfords, and Simon Franglen
The long-awaited sequel to James Cameron's first Avatar movie has done predictably well at the box office, collecting upwards of $1.9 billion in just over a month since its release. It has been relatively well received by critics and audiences alike and could lead to an Oscar for Canadian superstar The Weeknd.
The 32-year-old, whose 2020 album After Hours sold millions worldwide, was previously nominated in this category for his track Earned It, from the 2015 film Fifty Shades of Grey, but lost out to Sam Smith's song Writing's On the Wall from James Bond: Spectre.
Naatu Naatu from RRR - M.M Keeravani and Chandrabose
The Indian language epic RRR was received with acclaim throughout the world, and if the Golden Globes are anything of an indication, and they usually are, then it's pretty likely that M.M Keeravani and Chandrabose will pick up the Oscar for Best Original Song, having fought off rivals to pick up the Golden Globe earlier this month.
In doing so, it became the first Asian or indeed Indian song to pick up the award. It's highly likely that the Academy Awards will follow suit and give this addictive and hugely popular song the Oscar.
* This is a contributed article and this content does not necessarily represent the views of musictimes.com
