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24 Jan 2023

33 Actors Who Were Oscar-Nominated for Playing Real Musicians & Singers

With his Oscar nomination, announced Tuesday (Jan. 24), for playing Elvis Presley in Elvis, Austin Butler joins an impressive list of actors who have been nominated for playing real-life music personalities.

Twelve of these actors went on to win Oscars. The first to do so was James Cagney for playing entertainer George M. Cohan in Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942). The most recent was Jessica Chastain for playing televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker (who frequently sang on her TV programs and released at least 15 studio albums) in The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2021).

We’ll find out if Butler joins their ranks when the 95th Academy Awards are presented on March 12. If he does, this would be the second time in four years that someone has won best actor for playing a real-life rock star. Rami Malek won four years ago for playing Queen frontman Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody.

The first woman to win an Oscar for playing a real-life music personality was Barbra Streisand for playing comedian, singer and actress Fanny Brice in Funny Girl (1968).

Two actresses have been nominated for best actress for portraying legendary jazz singer Billie Holiday: Diana Ross was nominated for the 1972 film Lady Sings the Blues; Andra Day for the 2020 film The United States vs. Billie Holiday.

Here are 33 actors who have been nominated for Oscars for playing real-life music personalities. The list doesn’t include fictional characters inspired by real-life stars, such as Rose in The Rose (1979), which was loosely based on the life of Janis Joplin, or Effie White in Dreamgirls (2006), which drew on the life story of Florence Ballard of The Supremes.

24 Jan 2023

House Money: Inside the Ugly Lawsuit Pitting Anuel AA Against His Ex-Manager

Lawyers for Latin trap star Anuel AA are heading to a Miami courthouse Tuesday to ask a judge to block his former manager Frabian Eli from selling a $4.8 million Florida mansion — the latest bizarre twist in a nasty legal battle between the “lifelong friends.”

After years of partnership amid rising stardom, the two have suddenly found themselves in an ugly divorce. Eli (full name Frabian Eli Carrion) sued in September, claiming Anuel breached their contracts by abruptly firing him last summer and owes him millions in unpaid fees. The star rapper (real name Emmanuel Gazmey Santiago) fired back with a countersuit in November, accusing Eli of stealing millions in order to “fund his own extravagant lifestyle.”

In the upcoming showdown Tuesday, the lawsuit’s messiness is on full display.

Anuel is seeking an “emergency injunction” that would bar Eli from selling a 6,000-square-foot home in Doral, Fla., worth an alleged $4.8 million — a property the star calls “one of the many illicit purchases made by Carrion using funds from the company’s bank accounts.”  Without the order, they claim Eli will sell the house in an effort to avoid paying back the money he stole.

Eli, meanwhile, says the injunction demand is baseless and the latest example of his former friend choosing to “lash out” rather than pay him his fair share of their success: “Nothing more than an attempt to divert the court, and the public monitoring this case, away from the undisputed facts of the case.”

‘Unilaterally Terminated‘

Anuel and Eli worked together for years, starting well before the Puerto Rican rapper released his 2018 debut, Real Hasta la Muerte, and won the 2019 new artist of the year award at the Billboard Latin Music Awards. Eli then managed Anuel through three subsequent albums that all topped Billboard’s Top Latin Albums chart, and the pair also started and operated their own record label.

But just nine months after Eli gushed about his “childhood friend” to Billboard, on Sept. 4 the manager filed a lawsuit against Anuel in Florida state court, alleging he had been “unilaterally terminated” from their shared company, despite a seven-year contract that hadn’t been set to expire until 2026. The deal allegedly entitled Eli to 10% of Anuel’s gross earnings.

In his complaint, Eli said he had been surprised by the move because he had worked tirelessly to advance the star’s career, including during Anuel’s months-long stint in prison after pleading guilty to a gun possession charge.

“That prison sentence did not stop the manager from continuing to believe in the artist and to work towards the continuation of his career, while working for the artist twenty-four hours a day seven days a week, without receiving any pay,” Eli’s lawyers wrote at the time. “Together, the manager and the artist have enjoyed enormous success in the music industry, which due to the manager’s handling of the artist’s affairs, has parlayed into a number of other successes in life.”

Read Eli’s entire lawsuit here.

‘Maliciously Exploited‘

In November, Anuel told his side of the story – and he went a lot further than simply rebutting Eli’s allegations. In his own counter-suit, the star said Eli had been terminated because he had “maliciously exploited” their friendship to “defraud” him out of millions of dollars.

Among other allegations of wrongdoing, Anuel claimed his manager had secretly taken excess money from music agreements with Sony’s The Orchard and with Kobalt; that he had stolen money set aside for tax payments; and that he had secretly made huge personal purchases with company money, like $191,000 toward a Lamborghini, more than $1 million toward jewelry, and an undisclosed sum for renting private jets for his family.

The lawsuit also claimed Eli had taken “kickbacks” in return accepting bad business deals on Anuel’s behalf. For instance, it claimed that when Eli had arranged the purchase of a Miami condo for Anuel’s parents, he had “conspired” with the realtor to pay “a higher than necessary price” in return for a personal payment from the agent.

“In complete and utter contravention of his contractual and fiduciary duties; all reasonable sense of morality; and his years long friendship with artist, which led artist to place his full trust in Carrion, Carrion …  bilked counter-plaintiffs out of millions of dollars for which they are rightfully entitled,” Anuel’s lawyers wrote at the time.

Read Anuel’s entire counter-suit here.

‘Losing Out On Millions‘

With the lawsuit and counter-suit both still in the earliest stages of litigation, Anuel threw another bomb in early December — demanding the emergency court order restraining Eli from selling the $4.8 million house in Doral. He claimed that more than $1 million in payments for the Doral house had come from company bank accounts.

In the filing, Anuel’s lawyers warned that Eli was already in “a precarious financial position” and that the property was the only asset they could find under his name. Without a court order requiring him to retain it until the lawsuit was over, the lawyers said there might be no other way for Anuel to recover the allegedly stolen money.

“Counter-plaintiffs risk being successful on its claims, and nonetheless losing out on millions of dollars because [Eli] was permitted to dispose of the property – the sole asset currently in his name – and no longer possessed sufficient assets to cover the value of harm he deliberately and calculatedly took,” they wrote in the Dec. 2 motion.

Eli’s attorneys fired back two weeks later, arguing there was no grounds for an extraordinary order like an injunction freezing the sale of a home. Anuel’s core allegations against Eli, they said, were “simply ludicrous” and “non-sensical” — meaning that he would eventually owe money to their client, not vice-versa.

“This case is really about an artist … that rose to stardom based in part on the work done by the manager, who has now chosen to lash out against the manager with falsities in response to a lawsuit which had to be filed due to the artist’s own irrational actions,” Eli’s attorneys wrote. “Instead of litigating this case on provable facts, with evidence, Anuel is trying to use a ‘kitchen sink approach’ to muddy the waters and cause as much harm as he can.”

Read the entire emergency motion and response here.

24 Jan 2023

The Roots Perform At Kennedy Center In New PBS Special ‘The Roots Residency’

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The Roots are best known these days for backing up Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show. But the Grammy-winning Hip-Hop band got there by touring nonstop and crafting hits like “What They Do” and “You Got Me.”

Now they’re taking their knowledge to PBS for the third episode of the PBS show Next at Kennedy Center. Their episode “The Roots Residency” airs Friday, Jan. 27 at 7 p.m. The Roots originated in their hometown of Philadelphia in the ‘90s. Like Stetsasonic before them, they combined Hip-Hop with a live band sound.

Frontman Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter, largely considered one of Hip-Hop’s greatest pure MCs and drummer Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, who won an Oscar for his 2021 documentary Summer of Soul, recalibrated Hip-Hop to make it accessible to a wider audience. The group is the inaugural artist-in-residence at the Kennedy Center’s Hip Hop Culture program.

The Kennedy Center’s Hip Hop Culture program

The new series combines the work of the Kennedy Center’s contemporary culture program with the artists and music that reflect its sensibilities. The program combines a performance by the Roots at the center’s concert hall with interviews and behind-the-scenes footage.

“The Roots Residency” episode includes performances by Ezy Truth, a Washington, D.C.-based Hip-Hop artist who is a member of Black Thought’s School of Thought, and Durrand Bernarr, an R&B artist who participated in the Road to The Roots Picnic initiative. Singer/songwriter India Shawn also performs. Interviews include Questlove and the Rev. Al Sharpton discussing Quest’s latest book, Black Thought and photographer David Allen.

“The Roots have existed at the forefront of culture for over three decades. They are deeply committed to ensuring that generations of artists and communities see themselves powerfully reflected through their work and at venerable institutions like the Kennedy Center,” said Simone Eccleston, the Kennedy Center’s director of hip hop culture and contemporary music.”

“The Roots Residency is a testament to their capacity to not only change the lives of individuals but also to transform institutions,” she added.

“The impact of our partnership is that we are forever changed as an organization. Through their residency, The Roots have created powerful platforms for the celebration of multihyphenates, cultural leaders, and emerging artists. We hope that viewers experience their genius as performers, curators and cultural catalysts.”

You can watch “The Roots Residency” on PBS.org and the PBS Video app.

24 Jan 2023

Justin Bieber Closes Sale to Hipgnosis for $200M — Company’s Biggest Deal to Date

Hipgnosis Songs Capital has closed its deal to buy 100% of Justin Bieber‘s publishing, as well as his artist royalties from his master recordings and neighboring rights, Hipgnosis has confirmed. The deal was priced at just north of $200 million, according to a source familiar with the situation, making this the largest rights sale for any artist of Bieber’s generation. It’s also Hipgnosis’ biggest acquisition to date, covering all 290 titles in Bieber’s catalog released prior to Dec. 31, 2021, including his most recent album Justice (2021).

Billboard originally reported in December that a Bieber deal valued at over $200 million was in the works amid founder and chief executive Merck Mercuriadis‘ efforts to “close about $500 million in deals” between mid-November and mid-December. Although Mercuriadis did not say what the deals were at the time, the Bieber acquisition appears to be part of that disclosure.

Following a hot 2021 for catalog sales, with deals like Bruce Springsteen and Paul Simon making headlines and some of the world’s biggest private equity players including Blackstone, KKR and Apollo Global Management all taking stakes in the market, rising interest rates and changes in currency exchanges cooled the sector in 2022. Still, deals have been getting done. Last year, Justin Timberlake, Leonard Cohen, Nile Rodgers, Kenny Chesney, Neil Young and Nelly Furtado all sold some of their rights to Hipgnosis. Sting, David Bowie‘s estate, Phil Collins and his Genesis bandmates, Future, Frank Zappa and Neil Diamond also sold certain assets to investors in 2022.

Typically, newer catalogs like Bieber’s are considered riskier investments since they don’t have as much history behind them to prove staying power. That means they often sell for lower multiples than those of classic acts. Bieber’s success, however, has been undeniable since his 2009 debut album, My World, and the 2010 follow-up My World 2.0, the latter of which topped the Billboard 200 albums chart and included the hit single “Baby.” In all, Bieber has charted eight No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 chart, including his most recent full-length studio release, 2021’s Justice.

On the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart, Bieber has collected 26 top 10s, including eight No. 1s. His albums have generated 28 million equivalent album units in the U.S., of which 13.2 million are in traditional album sales, according to Luminate. His collected songs billed primarily to him, per Luminate, have generated 16.6 billion on-demand official streams in the U.S.

“The impact of Justin Bieber on global culture over the last 14 years has truly been remarkable,” said Mercuriadis in a statement. “At only 28 years of age, he is one of a handful of defining artists of the streaming era that has revitalized the entire music industry, taking a loyal and worldwide audience with him on a journey from teen phenomenon to culturally important artist. This acquisition ranks among the biggest deals ever made for an artist under the age of 70, such is the power of this incredible catalog that has almost 82 million monthly listeners and over 30 billion streams on Spotify alone. Scooter Braun has helped him build a magnificent catalogue, and it’s a pleasure to welcome Justin and his incredible songs and recordings to the Hipgnosis family.”

“I want to thank Merck and his entire Hipgnosis team and all of our partners involved for working so hard to make this historic deal happen,” says Scooter Braun, Bieber’s manager for 15 years, founder of SB Projects and CEO of HYBE America. “When Justin made the decision to make a catalog deal we quickly found the best partner to preserve and grow this amazing legacy was Merck and Hipgnosis. For over a decade now Justin Bieber has entertained us and moved us with some of the biggest songs in the world. I’m so proud of him and all those involved over the years in helping amass this incredible body of work. Justin is truly a once in a generation artist and that is reflected and acknowledged by the magnitude of this deal. For 15 years I have been grateful to witness this journey and today I am happy for all those involved. Justin’s greatness is just beginning.”

Justin Bieber was represented by Braun, David Bolno of NKSFB, Aaron Rosenberg and Audrey Benoualid of Myman Greenspan Fox Rosenberg Mobasser Younger & Light LLP, and Michael Rhodes of Cooley.

Hipgnosis Songs Capital was represented by William Leibowitz of William R. Leibowitz Law Group, Seth Traxler and Rory Wellever of Kirkland & Ellis LLP, and Robert Fowler and Lisa Ong of H.W. Fisher.

24 Jan 2023

The Chicks, Miranda Lambert, Chris Stapleton & More Set for Willie Nelson 90th Birthday Concert

Willie Nelson will get an illustrious, star-studded celebration in honor of his upcoming 90th birthday (on April 29), when a cavalcade of stars including The Chicks, Miranda Lambert, Chris Stapleton and Tyler Childers gathering for a two-day concert event at Los Angeles’ Hollywood Bowl on April 29 and 30, 2023.

“I can’t think of a better way to spend my 90th birthday than being surrounded by family, friends and of course the fans who made this all possible,” Nelson said via a statement. “It’s an honor to perform with such an incredible group of artists at such an iconic venue.”

Billed as Long Story Short: Willie Nelson 90, A Star-Studded Concert Celebrating Willie’s 90th Birthday and presented by Blackbird Presents and Live Nation Hewitt-Silva, the celebration’s lineup will also include performances from Nelson himself, as well as Allison Russell, Beck, Billy Strings, Bobby Weir, Charley Crockett, Edie Brickell, Kacey Musgraves, Leon Bridges, Lukas Nelson, Lyle Lovett, Margo Price, Nathaniel Rateliff, Neil Young, Norah Jones, Orville Peck, Particle Kid, Rosanne Cash, Sheryl Crow, Snoop Dogg, Sturgill Simpson, The Avett Brothers, The Lumineers, Tom Jones, Warren Haynes and Ziggy Marley. Additional artists will be announced in the coming weeks.

Two-day packages for the general public go on sale Saturday, Jan. 28, at 10 AM PT at ticketmaster.com.

Nelson continues to be prolific, gearing up to release his upcoming studio album, I Don’t Know a Thing About Love, a set of classic Harlan Howard songs, on March 3. Additionally the definitive five-part documentary film on Nelson’s life and career will premiere at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. He also continues to tour the country, headlining festivals including Farm Aid, July 4th Picnic and his Outlaw Music Festival Tour. Last year, he also released his latest book, Me and Paul, chronicling his 70-year friendship with drummer Paul English.

24 Jan 2023

2023 Oscar Nominations: The Complete List

The 2023 Academy Award nominations were revealed on Tuesday (Jan. 24) morning by Riz Ahmed and Allison Williams, and it looks like music will play a starring role in the March 12 Oscars ceremony.

Baz Luhrmann’s biopic on 20th century icon Elvis Presley, Elvis, was nominated for eight Oscars, including best picture; it also earned a best actor nomination for Austin Butler, who portrayed the King of Rock & Roll.

In the best original song category, two major pop stars are nominated: Lady Gaga for “Hold My Hand” (Top Gun: Maverick) and Rihanna for “Lift Me Up (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever). This is Rihanna’s first and Gaga’s fourth Oscar nom; in that same category, Diane Warren receives her 14th Oscar nomination for “Applause” (Tell It Like a Woman). Warren has yet to win an Academy Award, while Gaga won for co-writing “Shallow” from A Star Is Born. Talking Heads co-founder David Byrne, Sox Lux founder Ryan Lott and indie darling Mitski are also Oscar nominees in the best original song category thanks to their song “This Is A Life” from Everything Everywhere All At Once, which is the most-nominated film this year, earning 11 nods.

Head here for our full analysis of the music nominees at the 2023 Oscars.

The 95th Oscars will take place on Sunday, March 12 at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood and air live on ABC.

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Angela Bassett in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”
Hong Chau in “The Whale”
Kerry Condon in “The Banshees of Inisherin”
Jamie Lee Curtis in “Everything Everywhere All at Once”
Stephanie Hsu in “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

Best Costume Design

“Babylon” Mary Zophres
“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” Ruth Carter
“Elvis” Catherine Martin
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” Shirley Kurata
“Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris” Jenny Beavan

Best Sound

“All Quiet on the Western Front” Viktor Prášil, Frank Kruse, Markus Stemler, Lars Ginzel and Stefan Korte
“Avatar: The Way of Water” Julian Howarth, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Dick Bernstein, Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers and Michael Hedges
“The Batman” Stuart Wilson, William Files, Douglas Murray and Andy Nelson
“Elvis” David Lee, Wayne Pashley, Andy Nelson and Michael Keller
“Top Gun: Maverick” Mark Weingarten, James H. Mather, Al Nelson, Chris Burdon and Mark Taylor

Best Original Score

“All Quiet on the Western Front” Volker Bertelmann
“Babylon” Justin Hurwitz
“The Banshees of Inisherin” Carter Burwell
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” Son Lux
“The Fabelmans” John Williams

Best Adapted Screenplay

“All Quiet on the Western Front” Screenplay by Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson & Ian Stokell
“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” Written by Rian Johnson
“Living” Written by Kazuo Ishiguro
“Top Gun: Maverick” Screenplay by Ehren Kruger and Eric Warren Singer and Christopher McQuarrie; Story by Peter Craig and Justin Marks
“Women Talking” Screenplay by Sarah Polley

Best Original Screenplay

“The Banshees of Inisherin” Written by Martin McDonagh
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” Written by Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert
“The Fabelmans” Written by Steven Spielberg & Tony Kushner
“Tár” Written by Todd Field
“Triangle of Sadness” Written by Ruben Östlund

Best Live-Action Short Film

“An Irish Goodbye” Tom Berkeley and Ross White
“Ivalu” Anders Walter and Rebecca Pruzan
“Le Pupille” Alice Rohrwacher and Alfonso Cuarón
“Night Ride” Eirik Tveiten and Gaute Lid Larssen
“The Red Suitcase” Cyrus Neshvad

Best Animated Short Film

“The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse” Charlie Mackesy and Matthew Freud
“The Flying Sailor” Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby
“Ice Merchants” João Gonzalez and Bruno Caetano
“My Year of Dicks” Sara Gunnarsdóttir and Pamela Ribon
“An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It” Lachlan Pendragon

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

Brendan Gleeson in “The Banshees of Inisherin”
Brian Tyree Henry in “Causeway”
Judd Hirsch in “The Fabelmans”
Barry Keoghan in “The Banshees of Inisherin”
Ke Huy Quan in “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

Best Animated Film

“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” Guillermo del Toro, Mark Gustafson, Gary Ungar and Alex Bulkley
“Marcel the Shell with Shoes On” Dean Fleischer Camp, Elisabeth Holm, Andrew Goldman, Caroline Kaplan and Paul Mezey
“Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” Joel Crawford and Mark Swift
“The Sea Beast” Chris Williams and Jed Schlanger
“Turning Red” Domee Shi and Lindsey Collins

Best Original Song

“Applause” from “Tell It like a Woman”; Music and Lyric by Diane Warren
“Hold My Hand” from “Top Gun: Maverick”; Music and Lyric by Lady Gaga and BloodPop
“Lift Me Up” from “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”; Music by Tems, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler and Ludwig Goransson; Lyric by Tems and Ryan Coogler
“Naatu Naatu” from “RRR”; Music by M.M. Keeravaani; Lyric by Chandrabose
“This Is A Life” from “Everything Everywhere All at Once”; Music by Ryan Lott, David Byrne and Mitski; Lyric by Ryan Lott and David Byrne

Best International Feature Film

“All Quiet on the Western Front” Germany
“Argentina, 1985” Argentina
“Close” Belgium
“EO” Poland
“The Quiet Girl” Ireland

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

“All Quiet on the Western Front” Heike Merker and Linda Eisenhamerová
“The Batman” Naomi Donne, Mike Marino and Mike Fontaine
“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” Camille Friend and Joel Harlow
“Elvis” Mark Coulier, Jason Baird and Aldo Signoretti
“The Whale” Adrien Morot, Judy Chin and Anne Marie Bradley

Best Production Design

“All Quiet on the Western Front” Production Design: Christian M. Goldbeck; Set Decoration: Ernestine Hipper
“Avatar: The Way of Water” Production Design: Dylan Cole and Ben Procter; Set Decoration: Vanessa Cole
“Babylon” Production Design: Florencia Martin; Set Decoration: Anthony Carlino
“Elvis” Production Design: Catherine Martin and Karen Murphy; Set Decoration: Bev Dunn
“The Fabelmans” Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Karen O’Hara

Best Cinematography

“All Quiet on the Western Front” James Friend
“Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths” Darius Khondji
“Elvis” Mandy Walker
“Empire of Light” Roger Deakins
“Tár” Florian Hoffmeister

Best Visual Effects

“All Quiet on the Western Front” Frank Petzold, Viktor Müller, Markus Frank and Kamil Jafar
“Avatar: The Way of Water” Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon and Daniel Barrett
“The Batman” Dan Lemmon, Russell Earl, Anders Langlands and Dominic Tuohy
“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” Geoffrey Baumann, Craig Hammack, R. Christopher White and Dan Sudick
“Top Gun: Maverick” Ryan Tudhope, Seth Hill, Bryan Litson and Scott R. Fisher

Best Film Editing

“The Banshees of Inisherin” Mikkel E.G. Nielsen
“Elvis” Matt Villa and Jonathan Redmond
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” Paul Rogers
“Tár” Monika Willi
“Top Gun: Maverick” Eddie Hamilton

Best Documentary Feature

“All That Breathes” Shaunak Sen, Aman Mann and Teddy Leifer
“All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” Laura Poitras, Howard Gertler, John Lyons, Nan Goldin and Yoni Golijov
“Fire of Love” Sara Dosa, Shane Boris and Ina Fichman
“A House Made of Splinters” Simon Lereng Wilmont and Monica Hellström
“Navalny” Daniel Roher, Odessa Rae, Diane Becker, Melanie Miller and Shane Boris

Best Documentary Short Subject

“The Elephant Whisperers” Kartiki Gonsalves and Guneet Monga
“Haulout” Evgenia Arbugaeva and Maxim Arbugaev
“How Do You Measure a Year?” Jay Rosenblatt
“The Martha Mitchell Effect” Anne Alvergue and Beth Levison
“Stranger at the Gate” Joshua Seftel and Conall Jones

Best Actor in a Leading Role

Austin Butler in “Elvis”
Colin Farrell in “The Banshees of Inisherin”
Brendan Fraser in “The Whale”
Paul Mescal in “Aftersun”
Bill Nighy in “Living”

Best Actress in a Leading Role

Cate Blanchett in “Tár”
Ana de Armas in “Blonde”
Andrea Riseborough in “To Leslie”
Michelle Williams in “The Fabelmans”
Michelle Yeoh in “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

Best Directing

“The Banshees of Inisherin” Martin McDonagh
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert
“The Fabelmans” Steven Spielberg
“Tár” Todd Field
“Triangle of Sadness” Ruben Östlund

Best Picture

“All Quiet on the Western Front” Malte Grunert, Producer
“Avatar: The Way of Water” James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers
“The Banshees of Inisherin” Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin and Martin McDonagh, Producers
“Elvis” Baz Luhrmann, Catherine Martin, Gail Berman, Patrick McCormick and Schuyler Weiss, Producers
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert and Jonathan Wang, Producers
“The Fabelmans” Kristie Macosko Krieger, Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner, Producers
“Tá”r Todd Field, Alexandra Milchan and Scott Lambert, Producers
“Top Gun: Maverick” Tom Cruise, Christopher McQuarrie, David Ellison and Jerry Bruckheimer, Producers
“Triangle of Sadness” Erik Hemmendorff and Philippe Bober, Producers
“Women Talking” Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner and Frances McDormand, Producers

24 Jan 2023

Oscar Music Nominations 2023: Rihanna, Lady Gaga, David Byrne & More Receive Nods

Rihanna, who is set to perform at the Super Bowl halftime show on Feb. 12, may well perform on a second mega-platform exactly one month later – the 95th annual Academy Awards. She received her first Oscar nomination for best original song on Tuesday (Jan. 24) for co-writing “Lift Me Up” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

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If, as expected, Rihanna performs on the Oscars, she would be the first person to perform on the Super Bowl halftime show and at the Oscars in the same calendar year since Phil Collins in 2000.

Lady Gaga received her fourth Oscar nomination – her third in the best original song category – for co-writing “Hold My Hand” from Top Gun: Maverick. She was previously nominated for co-writing “Til It Happens to You” from The Hunting Ground (2015) and “Shallow” from A Star Is Born (2018), which won the award. “Take My Breath Away” from the original Top Gun won the 1986 award in this category.

Composer John Williams and songwriter Diane Warren added to their considerable Oscar legacies. Williams received his record-extending 48th nomination in a scoring category for The Fabelmans. Warren received her 14th nomination for best original song, a total matched by only seven songwriters in history – Sammy Cahn (26 nods), Johnny Mercer (18), Paul Francis Webster (16), Alan Bergman (15), Marilyn Bergman (15), Alan Menken (14) and James Van Heusen (14).

Williams has now received scoring nods in seven consecutive decades – each decade since the 1960s. Should he win, Williams, 90, would become the oldest winner, topping James Ivory who was 89 when he won best adapted screenplay for Call Me By Your Name. Williams’ overall total of 53 nominations (including five for best original song) is the most for any living person, and is second only to Walt Disney at 59.

Warren is nominated for best original song for “Applause” from Tell It Like a Woman. This is the sixth consecutive year that Warren has had a nominated song. She is the first songwriter or songwriting team to be nominated six years running since Marilyn & Alan Bergman’s 1968-1973 streak. Though Warren has yet to win an Oscar in competition, she received a Governor’s Award from the Academy on Nov. 19.

Ryan Lott is this year’s only double nominee for best original song and best original score. He is nominated for both awards for his work on Everything Everywhere All at Once. He is up for best song for co-writing “This Is a Life” with David Byrne and Mitski; and for best score along with his colleagues in Son Lux, Rafiq Bhatia and Ian Chang.

This is Byrne’s second Oscar nomination. He shared the award for best original score 35 years ago for The Last Emperor, on which he collaborated with Ryuichi Sakamoto and Cong Su.

Carter Burwell was nominated for scoring The Banshees of Inisherin. This is Burwell’s third nomination in this category, following Carol (2015) and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017). 

“Naatu Naatu” from RRR is nominated for best original song. This Indian Telugu-language song is vying to become the first foreign-language tune to win this category since “Jai Ho,” the festive Hindi song from Slumdog Millionaire that took the prize 14 years ago.

Ryan Coogler, nominated for best original song for co-writing “Lift Me Up” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, was nominated four years ago as a producer of Black Panther. He joins a small group of individuals with nominations in both the best picture and best original song categories (not necessarily in the same year or for the same film). Others include Arthur Freed, Quincy Jones, Spike Jonze, James Schamus, Barbra Streisand, Fran Walsh and Pharrell Williams. To date, only Walsh has won in both categories.

THE NOMINEES

Here’s a closer look at the nominees in the two music categories. In both cases, the nominated works are listed alphabetically by film title.

Best Original Song

“Lift Me Up”; Music by Ryan Coogler, Ludwig Göransson, Rhianna, Tems; Lyric by Coogler and Tems; Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Marvel Studios

“This Is a Life”; Music by David Byrne, Ryan Lott, Mitski; Lyric by Lott and Byrne; Everything Everywhere All at Once, A24

“Naatu Naatu”; Lyric by Chandrabose, Music by M. M. Keeravani; RRR, Variance Films

“Applause”; Music and lyric by Diane Warren;Tell It Like a Woman, Samuel Goldwyn Films

“Hold My Hand”; Music and lyric by BloodPop (Michael Tucker) and Lady Gaga; Top Gun: Maverick, Paramount Pictures

Best Original Score

All Quiet on the Western Front, Netflix; Volker Bertelmann

Babylon, Paramount Pictures; Justin Hurwitz

The Banshees of Inisherin, Searchlight Pictures; Carter Burwell

Everything Everywhere All at Once, A24; Son Lux

The Fabelmans, Universal Pictures; John Williams

SHORTLISTED BUT NOT NOMINATED

On Dec. 21, 15 songs and 15 scores were shortlisted for Oscars.

Here are the 10 songs that were shortlisted but passed over for nominations.

“Time”; Drake, Giveon Evans, Jahaan Akil Sweet, Daniel Pemberton; Amsterdam, 20th Century Studios

“Nothing Is Lost (You Give Me Strength)”;The Weeknd, Steve Angello, Sebastian Ingrosso, Axel Hedfors, Simon Franglen; Avatar: The Way of Water, 20th Century Studios

“Ciao Papa”;Alexandre Desplat, Roeban Katz, Guillermo del Toro; Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, Netflix

“Til You’re Home”; Rita Wilson;A Man Called Otto, Sony Pictures

“My Mind & Me”; Amy Allen, Jonathan Bellion, Selena Gomez, Jordan K Johnson, Stefan Johnson, Michael Pollack;Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me, Apple Original Films

“Good Afternoon”; Khiyon Hursey, Sukari Jones, Benj Pasek, Justin Paul, Mark Sonnenblick; Spirited, Apple Originals

“Stand Up”;Dernst “D’Mile” Emile II, Jazmine Sullivan; Till, Orion/United Artists Releasing

“Dust & Ash”;J. Ralph;The Voice of Dust and Ash, Matilda Productions

“Carolina”;Taylor Swift; Where the Crawdads Sing, Sony Pictures

“New Body Rhumba”; Pat Mahoney, James Murphy, Nancy Whang; White Noise, Netflix

“Vegas,” the biggest hit from Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis, had previously been ruled ineligible because it borrows so heavily from “Hound Dog,” the 1950s classic co-written by Mike Stoller and the late Jerry Leiber.

Here are the 10 scores that were shortlisted but passed over for nominations.

Avatar: The Way of Water, 20th Century Studios; Simon Franglen

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Marvel Studios; Ludwig Göransson

Devotion, Sony Pictures; Chanda Dancy

Don’t Worry Darling, Warner Bros.; John Powell

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, Netflix; Nathan Johnson

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, Netflix; Alexandre Desplat

Nope, Universal Pictures; Michael Abels

She Said, Universal Pictures; Nicholas Britell

The Woman King, Sony Pictures; Terence Blanchard

Women Talking, MGM/United Artists Releasing; Hildur Guðnadóttir

Two high-profile scores – Tár (composed by Hildur Guðnadóttir) and Top Gun: Maverick (composed by Hans Zimmer, Harold Faltermeyer, Lorne Balfe and Lady Gaga) had earlier been ruled ineligible.

The telecast, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, will take place on Sunday, March 12, 2023, airing live on ABC from the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood.

NON-MUSIC NOMINATIONS

Austin Butler was nominated for best actor for his performance as Elvis Presley in Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis. It’s his first nomination. Remarkably, 16 of the 20 acting nominees are first-time nominees.

Elvis is nominated for best picture, giving Luhrmann his second nomination in that category (as a producer), following Moulin Rouge!. He has yet to be nominated for best director.

Steven Spielberg received his 12th nomination for best picture for The Fabelmans, a record for an individual producer since 1951 when producers were first named as nominees. He ties the late William Wyler, at 13 films each, as the director of the most films nominated for best picture.

Spielberg was nominated for best achievement in directing for the ninth time. That puts him in a tie for second place in this category with Martin Scorsese. Wyler is the long-time leader in this category, with 12 nods.

Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert were nominated for best achievement in directing for Everything Everywhere All at Once. This marks the fifth time two directors have been nominated for the same film. The Daniels follow Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins, who won for West Side Story (1961); Warren Beatty and Buck Henry, who were nominated for Heaven Can Wait (1978); and Joel and Ethan Coen, who won for No Country for Old Men (2007), and were nominated for True Grit (2010).

All Quiet on the Western Front (Germany) was nominated for both best picture and best international feature (formerly known as best foreign-language film). It’s the eighth film in Oscar history to be nominated in both categories. It follows Z (1969), The Emigrants (1971/72), Life is Beautiful (1998), Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), Amour (2012), Roma (2018) and Parasite (2019).

24 Jan 2023

Chris Stapleton, Babyface and Sheryl Lee Ralph to Help Kick-Off Super Bowl LVII

The National Anthem will get a country twist at this year’s Super Bowl thanks to Chris Stapleton. The “Starting Over” singer is among the acts revealed for the pre-game segment of Super Bowl LVII, which will take place on Feb. 12 at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.

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In addition to Stapleton singing “The Star-Spangled Banner,” R&B legend Babyface will do the honors on “America the Beautiful” and actress/singer Sheryl Lee Ralph will sing the Black national anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”

Country singer Mickey Guyton sang the Anthem last year, with Jhené Aiko taking on “America the Beautiful” and gospel duo Mary Mary singing “Life Every Voice” with the Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles.

The just-announced trio join a roster of A-list names on tap for 2023’s championship game, including Rihanna, who will be headlining the halftime show being produced by DPS with Rock Nation.

RihRih previewed her performance in a new 30-second spot earlier this month, in which she twirled and snaked to a montage of broadcasters commenting on her lengthy absence from the spotlight. As the voices overlap and form a cacophony there is a dramatic pause and Rihanna gets her close-up as she stares down the barrel of the camera and gives universal sign for “shush.”

The promo closes out with a snippet of “Needed Me,” lifted from the singer’s eighth studio album, Anti — a possible nod to her setlist for the newly rebranded Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show.

This year’s SB showdown will be decided next weekend when the Philadelphia Eagles play the San Francisco 49ers at 3 p.m. ET on Sunday (Jan. 29), followed by the Cincinnati Bengals tackling the Kansas City Chiefs at 6:30 p.m. ET.

24 Jan 2023

Spotify Launches Global LGBTQ Music Program GLOW in Support of Queer Artists

The LGBTQ community has a long history of influencing music history for the better — be it through the creation of whole genres, the success of mainstream queer artists or otherwise. Now, Spotify wants to help amplify that influence.

On Tuesday (Jan. 24), the streaming service debuted their latest music program, GLOW. The project — much like fellow equity global music programs EQUAL and Frequency for female and Black creators, respectively — is specifically catered to LGBTQ artists, aiming to “elevate LGBTQIA+ creators, both on and off platform,” according to Spotify.

To fulfill that goal, GLOW will have a year-round hub on the platform housing LGBTQ-dedicated playlists for fans to discover new music from queer-identifying artists, with new playlists set to be introduced each month. One of these playlists is a global flagship playlist of the same name, featuring LGBTQ voices from around the world and refreshing each month with new offerings.

As with previous equity programs at Spotify, GLOW will also benefit from a “360 program,” which will provide opportunities for editiorial and marketing partnerships with other major brands as well as providing charitable giving to organizations benefiting LGBTQ arts causes, including QORDS, Black Trans Femmes in the Arts (The BTFA Collective), It Gets Better and more.

GLOW will additionally shine a spotlight on different LGBTQ artists every month, with 11 — including Sam Smith, Arlo Parks, Tove Lo and Pabllo Vittar — showcased at launch. Future spotlight artists will be featured on Spotify’s For the Record editorial channel as well as on a Times Square billboard.

Cahleb Derry, an associate manager of music marketing at Spotify, said in a statement that the aim of GLOW was to provide needed support for a community that often doesn’t receive it. “The question we go back to is, ‘How do we tangibly influence the resources that LGBTQIA+ artists have?’” he said. “We know that a lot of artists only get hit up in June during Pride to do campaigns. And then July 1 hits and there’s no work to be found again … we, at Spotify, have a responsibility as the largest music audio platform in the world to fill in these gaps.”

The GLOW launch is a bright spot that comes amid Spotify’s announcement on Monday that they would be cutting 6% of their global workforce and that chief content & advertising business officer Dawn Ostroff would be departing her role. “I hoped to sustain the strong tailwinds from the pandemic and believed that our broad global business and lower risk to the impact of a slowdown in ads would insulate us,” Daniel Ek said in a note to employees posted on the company’s website. “In hindsight, I was too ambitious in investing ahead of our revenue growth.”

Check out the official GLOW Spotify hub here.

24 Jan 2023

Repainting Of Graffiti In Washington Heights Tunnel Creates Community Uproar

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One of New York City’s most unique identifiers is no longer. The graffiti from a very popular tunnel in Washington Heights has been repainted to the ire of some residents.

As spotted on Gothamist the Department of Transportation gave the 191st Street 1 train tunnel in Upper Manhattan a noticeable makeover. On Friday, January 20 a crew of employees repainted the underground passageway in an effort to remove all the graffiti that had been there for decades.

The project was not announced prior to it starting and even local were taken aback by the surprise remodeling. “The continual lack of transparency has long damaged our community’s trust; we are angered and disappointed by the lack of notification and care employed by the Department of Transportation in panting the tunnel without community engagement or planning” a joint statement from Council Member Carmen De La Rosa & Nira E. Leyva-Gutiérrez, Executive Director at NoMAA read.

When news of the project spread it quickly drew backlash from locals. “What happened here is just a slap in the face to the community,” said Luiggy Gomez, Washington Heights resident. “They erased history.” Naturally the controversy prompted the DOT to respond. Vincent Barone, a spokesperson for the Department of Transportation, did not explain why the repainting occurred but shared that the tunnel will receive new artwork in the near future. “We look forward to working closely with the community and local elected officials on a project that celebrates the culture and diversity that makes New York so special,” he said.

At this time the Department of Transportation has not shared details about the forthcoming art project for the tunnel.

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