Music
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Challengers received no Oscar nominations this year, but one snub in particular has baffled fans: the best original score category, which showed no love to the project starring Zendaya, Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor.
After the Academy unveiled its list of nominees Thursday (Jan. 23) — revealing that the Luca Guadagnino-directed film had been completely shut out from all the categories, including music honors — fans flooded social media to protest. Omitting Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ critically acclaimed Challengers album – which the Academy shortlisted in December — the best original score category sees only Daniel Blumberg’s The Brutalist, Volker Bertelmann’s Conclave, Clément Ducol and Camille’s Emilia Pérez, John Powell and Stephen Schwartz’s Wicked and Kris Bowers’ The Wild Robot soundtracks in the running.
The Nine Inch Nails founder and his co-composer also missed out on a best original song recognition for “Compress/Repress,” with only tracks from Emilia Pérez, The Six Triple Eight, Sing Sing and Elton John: Never Too Late making the list.
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Though diehard fans of the film weren’t exactly pleased with any of the snubs, the best original score exclusion hit them the hardest — so much so, the phrase “best original score” as well as the movie’s title were trending on X immediately after nominations went live thanks to an influx of Challengers posts. “No best original score Oscar nomination for CHALLENGERS’ Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is ridiculous,” one person wrote, while another fan posted, “challengers has the best original score of all time idgaf what the academy says.”
One person thought that “recency bias” must be the reason for the original score exclusion — Challengers premiered in April last year, several months before any of the category’s nominees were released — while another person proclaimed, “challengers original score snub cancel the oscars.”
Reznor and Ross’ snub comes despite the duo winning best original score at the 2025 Golden Globes earlier this month, beating out Conclave, The Brutalist, The Wild Robot, Emilia Pérez and Dune: Part Two. The duo previously won Oscars in 2010 for their soundtrack work on The Social Network and in 2020 for Soul, the latter which was shared with Jon Batiste.
See how fans are reacting to Challengers‘ best original score snub below.
challengers has the best original score of all time idgaf what the academy says— syd ✿ (@sowhatfaist) January 23, 2025
challengers original score snub cancel the oscars— zoë rose bryant (@zoerosebryant) January 23, 2025
Sorry there’s been a mistake, challengers you guys won best score. This is not a joke they read the wrong thing. Challengers. Best score.— kam (@kamrynsfilm) January 23, 2025
No CHALLENGERS in original score… I feared days like this would come— Kyle Buchanan (@kylebuchanan) January 23, 2025
No CHALLENGERS for original score, for shame.— Sean Fennessey (@SeanFennessey) January 23, 2025
how on earth did challengers not get nominated for best original score— beatriz¹⁶ ☆ (@margotsprestige) January 23, 2025
Diane Warren received her 16th Oscar nomination for best original song on Thursday (Jan. 23) — a tally equaled by only three other songwriters in the 91-year history of the category. Sammy Cahn leads with 26 nods, followed by Johnny Mercer with 18 and Paul Francis Webster, also with 16. Warren was nominated this year this year for “The Journey,” sung by H.E.R. in The Six Triple Eight.
Moreover, this is the eighth year in a row Warren has been nominated, which enables her to tie Cahn for the longest continuous streak of nominations in this category. Cahn was nominated eight years running from 1954 to 1961.
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Clément Ducol and Camille have two of the five songs that are nominated for best original song — “El Mal” and “Mi Camino,” both from Emilia Pérez. (They cowrote “El Mal” with the film’s director, Jacques Audiard.) This marks the first time that a songwriter or team of songwriters has had two nominated songs in the same year since 2017, when Justin Hurwitz and the team of Pasek & Paul had two nominated songs from La La Land, “City of Stars” (which won the award) and “Audition (The Fools Who Dream).”
Audiard, nominated for directing and original song for Emilia Pérez, becomes only the third person to be nominated in both the directing and original song categories, and the first to do so for the same film. Leo McCarey and Spike Jonze received their nominations in separate years.
This is the fifth year in a row that one or more non-English language songs has been nominated in the original song category. The streak started with “Io Sì (Seen)” from The Life Ahead (La Vita Davanti a Se) and continued with “Dos Oruguitas” from Encanto, “Naatu Naatu” from RRR and “Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People)” from Killers of the Flower Moon.
Elton John received his fifth Oscar nomination for co-writing “Never Too Late” Elton John: Never Too Late. It’s the second nod for his collaborator Bernie Taupin; and the first for fellow collaborators Brandi Carlile and Andrew Watt. “Never Too Late” is the first song written by four songwriters to be nominated for best original song since “Lift Me Up” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever two years ago, which was cowritten by Tems, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler and Ludwig Goransson.
Best Original Song Nominees
“El Mal” from Emilia Pérez; Music by Clément Ducol and Camille; Lyric by Clément Ducol, Camille and Jacques Audiard
“The Journey” from The Six Triple Eight; Music and Lyric by Diane Warren
“Like a Bird: from Sing Sing; Music and Lyric by Abraham Alexander and Adrian Quesada
“Mi Camino” from Emilia Pérez; Music and Lyric by Camille and Clément Ducol
“Never Too Late” from Elton John: Never Too Late; Music and Lyric by Elton John, Brandi Carlile, Andrew Watt and Bernie Taupin
The Motion Picture Academy released a shortlist of 15 contenders for best original song on Dec. 17. One song, “Forbidden Road” from Better Man (Paramount Pictures) was removed from the shortlist two days later because of similarities to a 1973 film song, “I Got a Name” from The Great American Hero.
Among the notable songwriters who were shortlisted but not nominated: Lin-Manuel Miranda, Pharrell Williams, and Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.
Miranda was shortlisted for writing “Tell Me It’s You” from Mufasa: The Lion King. Miranda has been just an Oscar away from an EGOT since 2014, when he won his first Primetime Emmy. He has been Oscar-nominated twice for writing “How Far I’ll Go” from Moana and “Dos Oruguitas” from Encanto.
Shortlisted But Not Nominated for Best Original Song
“Beyond” from Moana 2 (Walt Disney Pictures) — Abigail Barlow, Emily Bear
“Compress/Repress” from Challengers (Amazon MGM) — Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, Luca Guadagnino
“Harper and Will Go West” from Will & Harper (Netflix) — Sean Douglas, Kristen Wiig, Josh Greenbaum
“Kiss the Sky” from The Wild Robot (DreamWorks Animation) — Delacey, Jordan Johnson, Stefan Johnson, Maren Morris, Michael Pollack, Ali Tamposi
“Out of Oklahoma” from Twisters (Universal Pictures) — Lainey Wilson, Luke Dick, Shane McAnally
“Piece by Piece” from Piece by Piece (Focus Features) — Pharrell Williams
“Sick in the Head” from Kneecap (Sony Pictures Classics) — Móglaí Bap, Mo Chara, DJ Próvaí, Adrian Louis Richard Mcleod, Toddla T
“Tell Me It’s You” from Mufasa: The Lion King (Walt Disney Pictures) – Lin-Manuel Miranda
“Winter Coat” from Blitz (Apple Original Films) — Nicholas Britell, Steve McQueen, Taura Stinson
Best Original Score
Volker Bertelmann, who won two years ago for All Quiet on the Western Front, is nominated for Conclave.
Kris Bowers received his first scoring nomination for The Wild Robot. He has been nominated twice in documentary categories, for A Concerto Is a Conversation and The Last Repair Shop (both collabs with Ben Proudfoot).
Clément Ducol and Camille were nominated for Emilia Pérez. They are the third married couple to be nominated in a scoring category. Composer Fred Karlin and lyricist Tylwyth Kymry were nominated in 1971 for best original song score for The Baby Maker. Lyricists Alan and Marilyn Bergman were nominated for best original song score and its adaptation or adaptation score in 1984 for Yentl, on which they teamed with Michel Legrand.
John Powell and Stephen Schwartz were nominated for Wicked. The film has become the top-grossing film ever adapted from a Broadway musical.
Best Original Score Nominees
The Brutalist (A24), Daniel Blumberg
Conclave (Focus Features), Volker Bertelmann
Emilia Pérez (Netflix), Clément Ducol and Camille
Wicked (Universal Pictures) John Powell and Stephen Schwartz
The Wild Robot (DreamWorks Animation), Kris Bowers
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, two-time winners in the category (for The Social Network and Soul, a collab with Jon Batiste), were passed over for Challengers.
This was not Hans Zimmer’s year at the Oscars. First, his score for Dune: Part Two was ruled ineligible due to exceeding the Academy’s limit on pre-existing music. Academy rules state: “In cases such as sequels and franchises from any media, the score must not use more than 20% of pre-existing themes and music borrowed from previous scores in the franchise.” Zimmer’s score for Dune: Part Two incorporates substantial elements from his Oscar-winning score for 2021’s Dune. Zimmer was in on the score shortlist for his work on Steve McQueen’s Blitz, but that score failed to land a nomination.
Andrea Datzman was also passed over for Inside Out 2. With this release, Datzman became the first woman to score a Pixar feature film.
Shortlisted But Not Nominated for Best Original Score
Alien: Romulus (20th Century Studios) – Benjamin Wallfisch
Babygirl (A24) – Critobal Tapia de Veer
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (Warner Bros. Pictures) – Danny Elfman
Blink Twice (Amazon MGM Studios) – Chanda Dancy
Blitz (Apple Original Films) — Hans Zimmer
Challengers (Amazon MGM) — Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
The Fire Inside (Amazon MGM) — Tamar-kali
Gladiator II (Paramount Pictures) — Harry Gregson-Williams
Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1 (New Line Cinema) – John Debney
Inside Out 2 (Pixar) — Andrea Datzman
Nosferatu (Focus Features) – Robin Carolan
The Room Next Door (Sony Pictures Classics) — Alberto Iglesias
Sing Sing (A24) — Bryce Dessner
The Six Triple Eight (Netflix) – Aaron Zigman
Young Woman and the Sea (Walt Disney Pictures) — Amelia Warner
The lineup for Tomorrowland 2025 is here. The organizers of the Belgian mega-festival released a bill with more than 600 dance acts spanning the genre’s sound spectrum on Thursday (Jan. 23).
The bill includes a load of Tomorrowland regulars including Martin Garrix, Steve Aoki, Armin van Buuren, Charlotte de Witte, David Guetta, Hardwell, Nervo, Nicky Romero and many others. The bill also includes John Summit, Fisher, Amelie Lens, Alok, Agents of Time, Miss Monique, The Blessed Madonna and other artists making mainstage, house, techno, trance, bass and more.
The gentlemen of Swedish House Mafia will perform twice, once as Swedish House Mafia and once as a b2b2b featuring the trio’s members — Axwell, Steve Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso — doing a house set on one of the event’s more intimate stages. Solomun will perform not once but thrice with a weekend one set on the mainstage, a weekend two b2b with Anyma and a third set on the festival’s Freedom Stage.
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Tomorrowland will also offer a flurry of b2b sets from Dimitri Vegas b2b Fantasm, DJ Boring b2b Haai, Kevin de Vries b2b Cassian, Kölsch b2b Artbat and many more.
The festival’s 19th edition happens across two weekends — July 18-20 and July 25-27 in Boom, Belgium. The event typically draws more than 400,000 people over its back-to-back weekends. Tickets for Tomorrowland 2025 go on sale Feb. 1.
Before the festival’s flagship summer edition, Tomorrowland Winter happens March 15-22 at Alpe d’Huez, a ski resort in the French Alps roughly two and a half hours southeast of Lyon. 2025 marks the fifth edition of the event, which will host a crowd of roughly 22,000.
See the full lineup for Tomorrowland Belgium below:
Tomorrowland
Courtesy of Tomorrowland
Steven Tyler’s sixth annual Jam for Janie Grammy Awards Viewing Party has been announced, with the star-studded charity event to kick off on Feb. 2 at the Hollywood Palladium.
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Hosted by Grammy-winning comedian Tiffany Haddish, the evening features a powerhouse lineup of performers, including Billy Idol, Joan Jett, Joe Perry, Tom Hamilton, Linda Perry, Matt Sorum, and Nuno Bettencourt. A special highlight will be a reunion performance by members of Aerosmith.
The event supports Janie’s Fund, the rocker’s nonprofit aiding young women and girls who have survived abuse, and expands its philanthropic reach this year to benefit the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation and the Widows, Orphans, and Disabled Firefighter’s Fund. The event will welcome more than 100 firefighters who have been at the forefront of combating the California wildfires, to celebrate the major night in music.
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“What the Los Angeles community has endured with these wildfires is unthinkable. Music has healing powers and we hope to bring a moment of joy and levity to our first-responder firefighters and those most affected by the fires,” Tyler said. “The trauma experienced by the girls we work with is also unthinkable and we will continue to shed light and support the amazing work of Janie’s Fund.”
The night will include a red carpet, cocktail reception, dinner, live auction, and an exclusive after-party benefitting Janie’s Fund, as well as support both the Widows, Orphans and Disabled Firefighters Fund and Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation by raising critical funds to help meet the immediate needs for lifesaving equipment and resources.
Event Chairs include Ace & Matt Sorum, Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, Andrea Bocelli, Ashlee Simpson & Evan Ross, Bill Maher, Bo Derek, Chris & Rich Robinson, Dolly Parton, Flavor Flav, Jane Lynch, Kayte & Kelsey Grammer, Lionel Richie, Melissa Joan Hart, Miley Cyrus, Nuno Bettencourt, Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson, Sammy Hagar, Scarlett Johansson, and Shep Gordon.
Named after Aerosmith’s 1989 hit “Janie’s Got a Gun,” which peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and won the band their first Grammy for best rock performance, Janie’s Fund has been a lifeline for vulnerable girls. With its expanded mission this year, the event promises to raise vital funds for lifesaving equipment and resources.
Tickets and sponsorship details are available at JaniesFund.org.
Let T-Pain buy U a drank down on Bourbon Street — or Rum Street, actually. In celebration of the 2025 Super Bowl taking over New Orleans on Feb. 9, Captain Morgan is transforming the city’s iconic Bourbon Street into Rum Street leading up to the Big Game from Feb. 6 to 8, when T-Pain will […]
Emilia Pérez received 13 nominations for the 97th annual Academy Awards, more than any other film this year and more than any other non-English language film in Oscar history. The latter record was previously held by Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) and Roma (2018) with 10 nods each.
Runners-up to Emilia Pérez for most nominations this year were The Brutalist and Wicked, with 10 nods each; A Complete Unknown and Conclave with eight nods each; Anora with six; and Dune: Part Two and The Substance with five nods each.
Two musicals (Wicked andEmilia Pérez) were among the 10 films nominated for best picture. This marks the first time two musicals have been nominated for best picture in the same year since 1968, when Oliver! and Funny Girl were two of the five nominated films that year. The Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown was also nominated for best picture. The nominations were announced on Thursday (Jan. 23).
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Three actors from A Complete Unknown – Timothée Chalamet (who plays Dylan), Edward Norton (Pete Seeger) and Monica Barbaro (Joan Baez) – are nominated for acting honors, the first time in Oscar history that three actors from a music biopic have been nominated.
Four actors received Oscar nominations for performances in musicals – Karla Sofía Gascón and Zoe Saldaña for Emilia Pérez, and Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande for Wicked.
Three acting nominations are for non-English language performances: Gascón and Saldaña in Emilia Pérez, and Fernanda Torres in I’m Still Here. In eight of the last 10 years, at least one non-English language performance has been nominated.
For the sixth consecutive year, at least one film nominated for best picture has been directed by a woman. Coralie Fargeat’s nomination for The Substance is the 10th directing nomination for a woman.
Diane Warren was nominated for best original song for the 16th time — a tally equaled by only three other songwriters in the 91-year history of the category. Sammy Cahn leads with 26 nods, followed by Johnny Mercer with 18 and Paul Francis Webster, also with 16. Warren was nominated this year this year for “The Journey,” sung by H.E.R. in The Six Triple Eight. Moreover, this is the eighth year in a row she has been nominated, which enables Warren to tie Cahn for the longest continuous streak of nominations in this category. Cahn was nominated eight years running from 1954-61.
Here’s a complete list of nominees for the 2025 Academy Awards.
Best Picture
Anora, Alex Coco, Samantha Quan and Sean Baker, Producers
The Brutalist, Nominees to be determined
A Complete Unknown, Fred Berger, James Mangold and Alex Heineman, Producers
Conclave, Tessa Ross, Juliette Howell and Michael A. Jackman, Producers
Dune: Part Two, Mary Parent, Cale Boyter, Tanya Lapointe and Denis Villeneuve, Producers
Emilia Pérez, Nominees to be determined
I’m Still Here, Nominees to be determined
Nickel Boys, Nominees to be determined
The Substance, Nominees to be determined
Wicked, Marc Platt, Producer
Actor in a Leading Role
Adrien Brody, The Brutalist
Timothée Chalamet, A Complete Unknown
Colman Domingo, Sing Sing
Ralph Fiennes, Conclave
Sebastian Stan, The Apprentice
Actress in a Leading Role
Cynthia Erivo, Wicked
Karla Sofía Gascón, Emilia Pérez
Mikey Madison, Anora
Demi Moore, The Substance
Fernanda Torres, I’m Still Here
Actor in a Supporting Role
Yura Borisov, Anora
Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain
Edward Norton, A Complete Unknown
Guy Pearce, The Brutalist
Jeremy Strong, The Apprentice
Actress in a Supporting Role
Monica Barbaro, A Complete Unknown
Ariana Grande, Wicked
Felicity Jones, The Brutalist
Isabella Rossellini, Conclave
Zoe Saldaña, Emilia Pérez
Directing
Anora, Sean Baker
The Brutalist, Brady Corbet
A Complete Unknown, James Mangold
Emilia Pérez, Jacques Audiard
The Substance, Coralie Fargeat
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
A Complete Unknown, Screenplay by James Mangold and Jay Cocks
Conclave, Screenplay by Peter Straughan
Emilia Pérez, Screenplay by Jacques Audiard; In collaboration with Thomas Bidegain, Léa Mysius and Nicolas Livecchi
Nickel Boys, Screenplay by RaMell Ross & Joslyn Barnes
Sing Sing, Screenplay by Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar; Story by Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar, Clarence Maclin, John “Divine G” Whitfield
Writing (Original Screenplay)
Anora, Written by Sean Baker
The Brutalist, Written by Brady Corbet, Mona Fastvold
A Real Pain, Written by Jesse Eisenberg
September 5, Written by Moritz Binder, Tim Fehlbaum; Co-Written by Alex David
The Substance, Written by Coralie Fargeat
Music (Original Score)
The Brutalist, Daniel Blumberg
Conclave, Volker Bertelmann
Emilia Pérez, Clément Ducol and Camille
Wicked, John Powell and Stephen Schwartz
The Wild Robot, Kris Bowers
Music (Original Song)
“El Mal” from Emilia Pérez; Music by Clément Ducol and Camille; Lyric by Clément Ducol, Camille and Jacques Audiard
“The Journey” from The Six Triple Eight; Music and Lyric by Diane Warren
“Like a Bird” from Sing Sing; Music and Lyric by Abraham Alexander and Adrian Quesada:
“Mi Camino” from Emilia Pérez; Music and Lyric by Camille and Clément Ducol
“Never Too Late” from Elton John: Never Too Late; Music and Lyric by Elton John, Brandi Carlile, Andrew Watt and Bernie Taupin
Animated Feature Film
Flow, Nominees to be determined
Inside Out 2, Kelsey Mann and Mark Nielsen
Memoir of a Snail, Adam Elliot and Liz Kearney
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, Nominees to be determined
The Wild Robot, Chris Sanders and Jeff Hermann
Animated Short Film
Beautiful Men, Nicolas Keppens and Brecht Van Elslande
In the Shadow of the Cypress, Shirin Sohani and Hossein Molayemi
Magic Candies, Daisuke Nishio and Takashi Washio
Wander to Wonder, Nina Gantz and Stienette Bosklopper
Yuck!, Loïc Espuche and Juliette Marquet
Cinematography
The Brutalist, Lol Crawley
Dune: Part Two, Greig Fraser
Emilia Pérez, Paul Guilhaume
Maria, Ed Lachman
Nosferatu, Jarin Blaschke
Costume Design
A Complete Unknown, Arianne Phillips
Conclave, Lisy Christl
Gladiator II, Janty Yates and Dave Crossman
Nosferatu, Linda Muir
Wicked, Paul Tazewell
Documentary Feature Film
Black Box Diaries, Shiori Ito, Eric Nyari and Hanna Aqvilin
No Other Land, Basel Adra, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal and Yuval Abraham
Porcelain War, Brendan Bellomo, Slava Leontyev, Aniela Sidorska and Paula DuPre’ Pesmen
Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat, Johan Grimonprez, Daan Milius and Rémi Grellety
Sugarcane, Nominees to be determined
Documentary Short Film
Death by Numbers, Kim A. Snyder and Janique L. Robillard
I Am Ready, Warden, Smriti Mundhra and Maya Gnyp
Incident, Bill Morrison and Jamie Kalven
Instruments of a Beating Heart, Ema Ryan Yamazaki and Eric Nyari
The Only Girl in the Orchestra, Molly O’Brien and Lisa Remington
Film Editing
Anora, Sean Baker
The Brutalist, David Jancso
Conclave, Nick Emerson
Emilia Pérez, Juliette Welfling
Wicked, Myron Kerstein
International Feature Film
Brazil, I’m Still Here
Denmark, The Girl with the Needle
France, Emilia Pérez
Germany, The Seed of the Sacred Fig
Latvia, Flow
Makeup and Hairstyling
A Different Man, Mike Marino, David Presto and Crystal Jurado
Emilia Pérez, Julia Floch Carbonel, Emmanuel Janvier and Jean-Christophe Spadaccini
Nosferatu, David White, Traci Loader and Suzanne Stokes-Munton
The Substance, Pierre-Olivier Persin, Stéphanie Guillon and Marilyne Scarselli
Wicked, Frances Hannon, Laura Blount and Sarah Nuth
Production Design
The Brutalist, Production Design: Judy Becker; Set Decoration: Patricia Cuccia
Conclave, Production Design: Suzie Davies; Set Decoration: Cynthia Sleiter
Dune: Part Two, Production Design: Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Shane Vieau
Nosferatu, Production Design: Craig Lathrop; Set Decoration: Beatrice Brentnerová
Wicked, Production Design: Nathan Crowley; Set Decoration: Lee Sandales
Live Action Short Film
A Lien, Sam Cutler-Kreutz and David Cutler-Kreutz
Anuja, Adam J. Graves and Suchitra Mattai
I’m Not a Robot, Victoria Warmerdam and Trent
The Last Ranger, Cindy Lee and Darwin Shaw
The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent, Nebojša Slijepčević and Danijel Pek
Sound
A Complete Unknown, Tod A. Maitland, Donald Sylvester, Ted Caplan, Paul Massey and David Giammarco
Dune: Part Two, Gareth John, Richard King, Ron Bartlett and Doug Hemphill
Emilia Pérez, Erwan Kerzanet, Aymeric Devoldère, Maxence Dussère, Cyril Holtz and Niels Barletta
Wicked, Simon Hayes, Nancy Nugent Title, Jack Dolman, Andy Nelson and John Marquis
The Wild Robot, Randy Thom, Brian Chumney, Gary A. Rizzo and Leff Lefferts
Visual Effects
Alien: Romulus, Eric Barba, Nelson Sepulveda-Fauser, Daniel Macarin and Shane Mahan
Better Man, Luke Millar, David Clayton, Keith Herft and Peter Stubbs
Dune: Part Two, Paul Lambert, Stephen James, Rhys Salcombe and Gerd Nefzer
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Erik Winquist, Stephen Unterfranz, Paul Story and Rodney Burke
Wicked, Pablo Helman, Jonathan Fawkner, David Shirk and Paul Corbould
Singer-songwriter Jason Nelson earns his fifth No. 1 on Billboard’s Gospel Airplay chart (dated Jan. 25) as “Yahweh,” featuring Melvin Crispell III, rises a spot to the top of the Jan. 25-dated survey. During the Jan. 10-16 tracking week, the song increased by 8% in plays, according to Luminate. Nelson, who hails from Baltimore, co-authored […]
01/23/2025
Of the 4,717 tracks identified at the 2024 season, 50 were played more than all the rest.
01/23/2025
For their next act, Linkin Park 2.0 are stripping it down, all the way down. The rebooted rockers announced on Wednesday (Jan. 22) that they will release From Zero A Cappellas on Friday (Jan. 24), a vocals-only version of the group’s Nov. 2024 comeback album featuring new singer Emily Armstrong. Explore Explore See latest videos, […]
One of the survivors of the Oct. 7, 2023 invasion and massacre of Israelis by Hamas forces will represent her county at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest. According to The Hollywood Reporter, 24-year-old aspiring singer Yuval Raphael — who escaped the mass killing of hundreds at Israel’s Nova Music Festival — punched her card this week to sing for her nation at this year’s contest in Basel, Switzerland after she won the 11th season of Israel’s singing competition Rising Star. The victory resulted in her being tapped to represent Israel at the global sing-off.
Previous Eurovision representatives from Israel who went on to Eurovision after winning the show include Israeli singer Netta, who won Eurovision in 2018; pop stars Noa Kirel and Eden Golan finished in third and fifth place, respectively, over the last two years.
According to THR, Raphael won Rising Star on Wednesday (Jan. 22) after performing a stripped-down version of ABBA’s “Dancing Queen,” a nod to the Swedish pop supergroup that blew up after their 1974 Eurovision win; she also performed a cover of Sam Smith’s 2015 Oscar-winning song James Bond Spectre track “Writing’s on the Wall.”
In addition to praising her vocal abilities, the show’s judges said Raphael’s gripping personal story of surviving the massacre resonated with them. The singer described running away from the EDM festival and taking cover inside a public bomb shelter outside of Kibbutz Be’eri, where she hid in a cramped cement bunker, trapped under dead bodies as she herself played dead for more than eight hours to escape being murdered by Hamas invaders.
The singer who is fluent in English, French and her native Hebrew, was rescued by the father of another Nova attendee, who drove into the battle zone to save his daughter, and others’, lives. “Every time we [those who were still alive] raised our heads, we couldn’t understand why there were less and less people in the bomb shelter,” Raphael said in a March 2024 speech in front of the UN Human Rights Council on behalf of the Jerusalem Institute of Justice. “We thought the terrorists were taking the dead bodies. We didn’t realize it was because of the grenades, blowing up their bodies.”
Raphael has been an advocate for Israel over the past year and has said that she hopes, “the world will hear a first-person account of what I went through and have been dealing with every day, so no one could claim otherwise.” The Oct. 7 assault in which Hamas militants killed, sexually assaulted and abused more than 1,200 mostly civilian Israelis and took 251 hostages led to a nearly three-year war between Israel and Hamas that ended over the weekend thanks to a tenuous ceasefire.
The world’s biggest music event — which regularly draws 200 million viewers in more than 40 countries — is headed into its 69th year. Typically averse to any displays of political speech or nationalism, the European Broadcasting Union defended the inclusion of an Israeli contestant last year in the midst of the war that Palestinian authorities said resulted in the death of more than 46,000 residents of Gaza. As some called for Israeli contestant Eden Golan to be left off the stage in much the same way that Russia was uninvited in 2022 following its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, the singer faced boos when she sang “Hurricane” on the show. Golan, who finished fifth, later said she faced death threats during her run in last year’s contest.