Tracks by Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, LCD Soundsystem, the Weeknd, David Byrne and Mitski, and Selena Gomez have made the cut for the 15-deep best original song Oscar shortlist, which was whittled down from 81 possible nominees. These 15 songs will be further narrowed to five when Oscar nominations are announced on Jan. 24; the 95th edition of the awards ceremony takes place on March 12.
Swift, Rihanna, and Gomez are each in the Oscars song field for the first time, with, respectively, “Carolina” from Where the Crawdads Sing, “Lift Me Up” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forver, and “My Mind & Me” from the documentary of the same name. Lady Gaga made the cut for “Hold My Hand” from Top Gun: Maverick, while the Weeknd was recognized for the just-released “Nothing Is Lost (You Give Me Strength)” from Avatar: The Way of Water.
LCD Soundsystem is shortlisted for “New Body Rhumba” from the Noah Baumbach film White Noise, as are Jazmine Sullivan for “Stand Up” from Till and Byrne and Mitski for “This Is a Life” from Everything Everywhere All at Once. Giveon, heretofore best known for singing on Justin Bieber’s “Peaches,” made the shortlist for his performance of the Daniel Pemberton-penned “Time” from the film Amsterdam.
Additionally, 13-time Oscar songwriting nominee Diane Warren made the list for the Sofia Carson-sung “Applause” from the film Tell It Like a Woman.
Here is the shortlist for the best original song Oscar:
“Time” from Amsterdam
“Nothing Is Lost (You Give Me Strength)” from Avatar: The Way of Water
“Lift Me Up” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
“This Is A Life” from Everything Everywhere All at Once
“Ciao Papa” from Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
“Til You’re Home” from A Man Called Otto
“Naatu Naatu” from RRR
“My Mind & Me” from Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me
“Good Afternoon” from Spirited
“Applause” from Tell It like a Woman
“Stand Up” from Till
“Hold My Hand” from Top Gun: Maverick
“Dust & Ash” from The Voice of Dust and Ash
“Carolina” from Where the Crawdads Sing
“New Body Rhumba” from White Noise
