OSCARS
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When Emma Stone hit the 2024 Oscars stage on Sunday night (March 10) to accept the best actress prize for Poor Things, she caught Swifties’ attention by using a phrase that also happens to be a Taylor Swift song title.
“I know I have to wrap up, but I really just want to thank my family – my mom, my brother Spencer, my dad, my husband Dave, I love you so much,” Stone said to finish her speech, before shouting out Louise, her daughter with former Saturday Night Live writer Dave McCary, who was born in 2021. “And, most importantly, my daughter, who’s gonna be 3 in three days and has turned our lives technicolor. I love you bigger than the whole sky, my girl.”
Swift has a song called “Bigger Than the Whole Sky” on her 2022 deluxe album Midnights (3am Edition), which peaked at No. 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 the week after the project’s release. Swift wrote the song solo and co-produced it with her longtime collaborator Jack Antonoff.
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While Stone used the phrase in the speech to share her infinite love for her daughter, Swift’s song appears to be about grieving a loss, with the lyric: “Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye/ You were bigger than the whole sky.” In fact, Swift live-debuted the song at an Eras Tour stop in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in November, seemingly in tribute to a fan who had died two days prior after attending her concert.
Swift may not have coined the phrase, though it’s hard to track its definitive origin. Some point out the similarity to an Emily Dickinson poem from 1862 that reads: “The Brain—is wider than the Sky.”
But given Swift and Stone’s longtime friendship – including speculation that the Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) vault track “When Emma Falls in Love” was written about the actress – Swifties were quick to point out Stone’s choice of words on Sunday night, taking to social media to share their delight at the connection.
Find some of the best reaction to Stone’s seeming Swift lyrical reference below:
Emma Stone totally just referenced Bigger Than The Whole Sky! #Oscars— holly flower (@thatsthefunofme) March 11, 2024
Billie Eilish and Finneas entered the Oscar record books on Sunday (March 10) by winning best original song for their Barbie ballad “What Was I Made For?,” two years after winning with their title song from the James Bond film No Time to Die.
They became the youngest two-time Oscar winners in history – in any category. Eilish, 22, and Finneas, 26, took that distinction from actress Luise Rainer, who won her second Oscar (for The Good Earth) at age 28. Next on the leaderboard are Jodie Foster, who won her second Oscar (for Silences of the Lambs) at 29, and Hilary Swank, who won her second Oscar (for Million Dollar Baby) at 30.
This was also the fastest repeat win in the best original song category by any songwriter since Tim Rice won three times in the space of five years in the 1990s (with different collaborators each time).
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Eilish and Finneas are the first songwriting team to win best original song twice in the space of three years since Alan Menken and the late Howard Ashman won with “Under the Sea” from The Little Mermaid in 1990 and the title song from Beauty and the Beast in 1992. Here’s an updated list of all songwriters who have won in this category twice in the space of three years in Oscar history.
Also, “What Was I Made For?,” which won the Grammy for song of the year on Feb. 4, is the first song in a generation to win both the Oscar for best original song and the Grammy for song of the year. The last song to win both awards was “My Heart Will Go On,” the love theme from Titanic. Here’s an updated list of all songs to win both the Grammy for song of the year and the Oscar for best original song.
“What Was I Made For?” is the second winner for best original song from a film that was solely directed by a woman. Greta Gerwig directed Barbie. Ava DuVernay directed Selma, which spawned the 2014 winner, “Glory,” which was written and performed by John Legend and Common. Two films that were co-directed by women spawned best original song winners. The Prince of Egypt, co-directed by Brenda Chapman, gave us “When You Believe.” Frozen, co-directed by Jennifer Lee, spawned “Let It Go.”
Ludwig Göransson won best original score for Oppenheimer, five years after he won for Black Panther. Göransson is one of just five composers or composing teams to win twice in this category since 2000. He follows Howard Shore (the second and third installments in The Lord of the Rings franchise), Gustavo Santaolalla (Brokeback Mountain and Babel), Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (The Social Network and Soul) and Alexandre Desplat (The Grand Budapest Hotel and The Sound of Water).
Oppenheimer won a night-leading seven Oscars, including best picture, followed by Poor Things with four and The Zone of Interest with two. No other film won more than one Oscar.
Killers of the Flower Moon was shut out, despite 10 nominations. It’s director Martin Scorcese’s third film to go 0-10 on Oscar night, following Gangs of New York (2002) and The Irishman (2019).
Oppenheimer has grossed $329.3 million at the domestic boxoffice, which is the fourth-highest total for any Oscar-winning best picture in history. It trails only Titanic ($674.3 million), The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (379.4 million) and Forrest Gump ($330.5 million).
Oppenheimer is the fifth film since 2000 to win for both best picture and best original score. It follows The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Slumdog Millionaire, The Artist and The Shape of Water.
Christopher Nolan and his wife Emma Thomas were among the producers who won best picture Oscars for Oppenheimer (in tandem with Charles Roven). They are the first married couple to win for best picture since Richard D. Zanuck and Lil Fini Zanuck won for producing Driving Miss Daisy, the 1989 winner. Another married couple won on the night. Justine Triet and her husband, Arthur Harari, won best original screenplay for Anatomy of a Fall.
Emma Stone won best actress for the second time for Poor Things in an upset over Lily Gladstone, who was seen as having a slight edge for Killers of the Flower Moon. Stone won seven years ago for La La Land. Stone was the only one of this year’s acting winners who had won previously.
Da’Vine Joy Randolph won best supporting actress for The Holdovers. She’s the 10th Black actress to win in that category, compared to just one in the lead actress category – Halle Berry in Monster’s Ball.
Wes Anderson finally won his first Oscar for best live-action short film for The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, on which he collaborated with Steven Rales. Anderson had received seven previous nominations in a wide range of categories for his work on The Royal Tenenbaums, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Moonrise Kingdom, The Grand Budapest Hotel (three nominations) and Isle of Dogs. Unfortunately, Anderson was a no-show on the night he won his first Oscar.
WAR IS OVER! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko won best animated short. The film’s title was inspired by “Happy Xmas (War Is Over),” a 1971 song by John & Yoko/The Plastic Ono Band with the Harlem Community Choir. John Lennon won an Oscar 53 years ago, along with the other former Beatles, for Let It Be. That film project won for best original song score, a category that still exists but has long been on hiatus, owing to an insufficient number of entries.
The Boy and the Heron won best animated feature film, in what was seen as a close contest with Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. Hayao Miyazaki, who won for The Boy and the Heron, won in the same category 21 years ago for Spirited Away. The Japanese-bornMiyazaki is the first person who was born outside the U.S. to win twice in this category. Here’s an updated list of all winners of best animated feature.
Kris Bowers and Ben Proudfoot took the documentary (short subject) award for The Last Repair Shop, about a shop in Los Angeles that repairs musical instruments for schools. Bowers, who is also a noted film composer, and Proudfoot were nominated in this same category three years ago for A Concerto Is a Conversation.
Godzilla Minus One won best visual effects. It was the first win – or even nomination – for a Godzilla movie.
The 96th annual Academy Awards lit up Hollywood from the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on Sunday, March 10, with comedian and late-night host Jimmy Kimmel helming the ceremony for the fourth time. The star-studded celebration featured many notable moments, from the joyous to the fun to the downright hilarious. Some of those bright spots […]
As Jimmy Kimmel is finding out anew, you can’t make everyone happy. Nobody was off limits during the Oscars host’s speeches at the ceremony Sunday (March 10), including Hailey Bieber — and some fans aren’t happy.
During his opening monologue, during which he joked about everyone from Robert Downey Jr. to U.S. senator Katie Britt, Kimmel name-dropped the model — who is married to Justin Bieber — while referring to the Hollywood collective as “heavily botoxed, Hailey Bieber smoothie drinking, diabetes prescription abusing, gluten sensitive nepo babies with perpetually shivering chihuahuas.”
And while Hailey does actually have her own smoothie available at Erehwon, and is by most definitions a so-called nepo baby (her father is actor Stephen Baldwin), many viewers who tuned in to the awards show weren’t amused.
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“the hailey bieber hate is so forced and tired at this point,” one person tweeted during the show. “leave this woman alone.”
“He was obviously talking about the ‘hailey bieber smoothie’ and wasn’t being shady,” mused another person. “but this was so [badly] worded and unfunny..”
Billboard has reached out to Justin and Hailey Bieber for comment.
Kimmel, however, said just a few days prior to the 2024 Oscars that he knew in advance he’d likely step on some people’s toes. “It’s not that easy,” he told CNN of the hosting gig. “It depends on the person because some people are more sensitive than others. God help you, if I know you. Like, if you’ve been to my house, you’re in trouble on Oscar night.”
During that same interview, the Jimmy Kimmel Live! star also noted that he probably wouldn’t crack any jokes about Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s relationship during the show — a promise he held by the end of the ceremony.
In addition to quips about skincare moguls, this year’s Oscars featured presentations from Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Bad Bunny and more, as well as performances from Billie Eilish with Finneas (who won best original song for “What Was I Made For?”), Ryan Gosling, Becky G, Jon Batiste and Scott George and The Osage Singers. Among the award winners were Emma Stone, who took home best actress for Poor Things, Cillian Murphy, 2024’s best actor for Oppenheimer and more.
Watch Kimmel’s Oscars 2024 monologue above.
Andrea Bocelli and his son Matteo Bocelli did beautiful justice to the Hollywood legends who died in the past year by singing a heart-wrenching duet of “Time to Say Good-Bye (Con Te Partirò)” during the 2024 Oscars Sunday (March 10). The performance began with a simple but elegant string quartet and a group of lyrical […]
Ludwig Göransson took home the prize for best original score at the 2024 Oscars on Sunday night (March 10) for Oppenheimer, marking his second win from three Academy Awards nominations. In his sweet acceptance speech, Göransson thanked director Christopher Nolan and producer Emma Thomas “for inviting me in this incredible world.” “Christopher Nolan: It was […]
Winning is something that Billie Eilish and Finneas were made for. The duo won the Oscar for best original song for their Barbie soundtrack hit “What Was I Made For?” at the 2024 Academy Awards on Sunday (March 10). “I had a nightmare about this last night,” the 22-year-old pop star joked after accepting the […]
At the 2024 Oscars, best original song nominees Ryan Gosling, Mark Ronson and a slew of dancers delivered what was no doubt the most high energy — sorry, Kenergy — performance of the night at Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles Sunday (March 10).
Wearing a pink, bedazzled suit and a black cowboy hat, Gosling began his performance by sitting in the audience and serenading the apple of Ken’s eye — a blushing Margot Robbie, who played the titular character in Greta Gerwig’s blockbuster film. Then, the actor made his way to the stage, where he embraced Mark Ronson — who cowrote the song alongside Andrew Wyatt — playing guitar, and sat on a pink staircase with dozens of fellow cowboy hat-wearing Ken dancers. Among them were Barbie costars Simu Liu and Kingsley Ben-Adir, who joined in on intricate group choreography featuring a sea of 1950s Barbie-head cutouts.
“I’m just Ken/ Where I see love, she sees a friend,” the group sang. “What will it take for her to see the man behind the tan and fight for me?”
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During the emotional breakdown of the song, for which none other than Slash of Guns N’ Roses appeared on stage to deliver a heartfelt guitar solo, Gosling — who was also nominated for best supporting actor for his performance in Barbie — once again returned to the audience to hand off the microphone to Robbie, fellow nominee America Ferrera, Gerwig and his La La Land leading lady, Emma Stone.
The satirical ballad is one of five best original song nominees, along with Billie Eilish and Finneas’ fellow Barbie hit “I’m Just Ken,” as well as Becky G‘s “The Fire Inside” from Flamin’ Hot, Jon Batiste‘s “It Never Went Away” from American Symphony, and Scott George and the Osage Singers’ “Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People)” from Killers of the Flower Moon. All of the best original song candidates performed their respective tracks live during the ceremony.
Following Barbie‘s theatrical release in July, “I’m Just Ken” debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 87 — making Gosling a charting artist on the ranking for the first time. In the film, the high-energy, multi-set number finds the Notebook actor singing his heart out about his “blond fragility” alongside Liu and dozens of other Kens.
As flames rose up on the screen behind her, Becky G performed the red-hot song “The Fire Inside” at Sunday’s (March 10) 2024 Oscars. The best original song nominee, with music and lyrics by Diane Warren, is from the biographical film Flamin’ Hot, which tells the story of Richard Montañez, the former Frito-Lay janitor who […]
Jon Batiste added some romance to the 2024 Oscars on Sunday (March 10) at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles when he took to the stage to perform “It Never Went Away” from American Symphony. Dressed in a stylishly cut white suit, the five-time Grammy winner sat at a grand piano and delivered the sweet […]