Barbie, Spider-Verse Make Oscars Shortlist for Best Original Song

Awards Season is upon us, and shortlists have been released for various Academy Award categories, which narrows down some of the potential nominees. Today saw the release of the shortlists for ten categories, including Best Original Song. According to the official website for the Oscars, 94 songs were eligible for the category, and it’s been narrowed down to 15. You can check out the list of songs below…

“It Never Went Away” from American Symphony, “Dear Alien (Who Art In Heaven)” from Asteroid City, “Dance The Night” from Barbie, “I’m Just Ken” from Barbie, “What Was I Made For?” from Barbie, “Keep It Movin’” from The Color Purple, “Superpower (I)” from The Color Purple, “The Fire Inside” from Flamin’ Hot, “High Life” from Flora and Son, “Meet In The Middle” from Flora and Son, “Can’t Catch Me Now” from The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People)” from Killers of the Flower Moon, “Quiet Eyes” from Past Lives, “Road To Freedom” from Rustin, and “Am I Dreaming” from Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. 

Ryan Gosling Reacts To “I’m Just Ken” Being a Success:

Barbie features songs from many talented artists including Billie Eilish, Ava Max, Charli XCX, Dominic Fike, Dua Lipa, FIFTY FIFTY, Gayle, HAIM, Ice Spice, Kali, KAROL G, Khalid, Lizzo, Nicki Minaj, PinkPantheress, Tame Impala, and The Kid LAROI. Mark Ronson served as the soundtrack’s producer alongside Kevin Weaver and Brandon Davis. In September, the producers were joined by music supervisor George Drakoulias for a special conversation at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles. During the event, Ronson spoke about one of the biggest hits of the album, “I’m Just Ken,” which was performed by Gosling.

“[Greta Gerwig] sent me this funny PDF that her and Noah [Baumbach] had scribbled, like Barbie’s song should be about the world is perfect and everything’s great and there are no shadows and everything’s great because everything’s always great and that will be great. Like just all these silly lyrics,” Ronson explained (via THR). “The Ken song was like, ‘I love horses but they also make me mad.’ And it said Barbie and Ken hit songs, which is always like a funny thing to send to a songwriter, ‘Just give us two hit songs.’”

“Next thing I know, she’s like, ‘Ryan wants to sing the song.’ And I was like, ‘Really?’” Ronson recalled after sending the initial demo to Gerwig. “She goes, ‘Yeah, he said it speaks very deeply to him.’ And I was like, ‘Is he being ironic?’ And she was like, ‘I don’t think so.’”

“He kind of feels like someone who doesn’t get caught up in the hype from the little bit that now I know about him,” Ronson shared, explaining that he would send Gosling updates on the milestones reached by “I’m Just Ken.” “Even he’d be like, ‘This is so surreal, I don’t even know what to tell you.’ I think he’s a real musician, he loves music, and I think he was really touched by that and like when Slash played on it, you know? So there’s certain things that he’s been really, I think, excited about.”

What are you rooting for for Best Original Song at the Oscars? Tell us in the comments!