With the Academy’s nominations announcement drawing closer by the day, it’s time to lay it all on the line with my final Oscar nomination predictions. We’ve always known it would be a tight two-horse race for Best Original Song between the tracks from Barbie. Both “What Was I Made For?” and “I’m Just Ken” haven’t missed a beat all season (no pun intended) and they’re safely in the final five. Likewise with “Road to Freedom” from Rustin with Lenny Kravitz picking up noms across the board all season. He’s in.
We know the songwriter’s branch always seems to find a spot for 14-time nominee Diane Warren, so we should basically consider “The Fire Inside” from Flamin’ Hot as locked as the other three tracks. That leaves the final spot wide open. We’ve seen some surprise nominations here in recent years like “This Is a Life” from Everything Everywhere All at Once just last year, so it could be something completely unexpected. But I think the universal adoration for Jon Batiste is enough to get “It Never Went Away” from American Symphony over the line.
BEST ORIGINAL SONG PREDICTIONS:
1. “What Was I Made For?” by Billie Eilish and Finneas from Barbie (Warner Bros.) – CCA, GG, HMMA, SCL
2. “I’m Just Ken” by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt from Barbie (Warner Bros.) – CCA, GG, HMMA, SCL
3. “Road to Freedom” by Lenny Kravitz from Rustin (Netflix) – CCA, GG, HMMA, SCL
4. “The Fire Inside” by Diane Warren from Flamin’ Hot (Disney) – HMMA, SCL
5. “It Never Went Away” by Jon Batiste and Dan Wilson from American Symphony (Netflix) – SCL
Alternate: “Keep It Movin”” by Halle Bailey, Denisia Andrews, Brittany Coney, and Morten Ristorp from The Color Purple (Warner Bros.) – HMMA
