Despite the tragic (is it though?) demise of the Golden Globes, the Oscars are still going strong. Today, the Academy released this year's nominations, and they've made at least one big pop star really happy (sorry, Gaga). Beyoncé received her first Academy Award nomination for "Be Alive" from King Richard, the film about tennis coach (and father of Serena and Venus Williams) Richard Williams. Another big nom was given to Questlove's directorial debut Summer of Soul. Van Morrison also got his first Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song with Belfast's "Down to Joy" (OK, but is it better than his contribution to The Departed?).
Elsewhere, the Oscars gave nods to familiar faces like Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood for his score in The Power of the Dog. Other nominations for film scores went to Nicholas Britell for his work on Don't Look Up, Hans Zimmer for Dune, and Alberto Iglesias for Parallel Mothers. Also, siblings Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell return to the award circuit with a nomination for "No Time to Die." Also in that category for Best Original Song is music vet Diane Warren for Four Good Days' "Somehow You Do."
The only wild thing that could have happened was Jonny Greenwood getting nominated for the other two films he scored this past past year, Licorice Pizza and Spencer, which grabbed noms in separate categories. However, that did not happen. I mean, most of these music nominations are heavy hitters, whether in the music industry or film industry or both, so there really aren't too many surprises here. The only thing that feels a little odd is that "No Time to Die" was released in 2020, but the 007 film wasn't released until last year. So continues the saga of misunderstanding time in a pandemic world.
