In a bold move that hasn't gone unnoticed, The Academy Awards have apparently decided to only have two musical performances at this year's ceremony.
Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper's 'Shallow' is said to continue domination, and will be one of two songs performed at The Oscar's 2019. The track garnered immense praise worldwide upon its release last year, and even bagged itself Best Original Song at this year's Golden Globes.
Joining 'Shallow' will be Kendrick Lamar and SZA‘s 'All the Stars' from Marvel's 'Black Panther.' Both songs are up for Best Original Song at the awards, and it's looking likely that the other three nominees on the night will be left out in the cold.
This means that 'The Place Where Lost Things Go' from Disney’s 'Mary Poppins Returns,' 'I’ll Fight' from documentary 'RBG,' and 'When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings' from the Coen brothers’ 'The Ballad of Buster Scruggs' won't be given any attention (unless they win). It's likely the songs will get a mention on the night, but that's as much as they can hope for.
The 'Black Panther' and 'Star Is Born' soundtracks are both on the Interscope label. If the performances become true, the move could be perceived as favouritism toward one record company.
The reason for only choosing two musical numbers is seemingly down to ensuring the awards stay at a trim three hours this year. Apparently its not just the musical numbers that have been left feeling unwanted at this year's ceremony, as some awards (including "craft" categories such as Sound Editing and Sound Mixing) will be handed out during the ad-break. If that happened to us, it would feel like an Oscars-sized slap in the face.
In terms of who's hosting the ceremony this year, no announcement has been made yet. Following Kevin Hart's quick exit, The Academy have apparently been trying to re-assemble the many actors who've appeared in 'The Avengers' movies. However nothing has been confirmed yet; the ceremony was recently in hot water for asking actors to not turn up to other award events, in case their appearance at The Oscars seemed less-exclusive.
You can see 'Shallow' and 'All The Stars' performed at The 2019 Oscars on Sunday, February 24th.
Via Variety.