Film Music Reporter

Starting today, we are publishing our predictions for the Best Original Song category of next year’s 95th Academy Awards on the left side column of this page. The selection and ranking is based on our own experience of the songs in context of the movies, reactions of Academy music branch members and others in the film music community, the level of awards campaigning and awareness of the competing titles, historical data and the response to the movies in other categories. The order of the titles in the ranking is likely to shift as some movies have yet to be released or are early in their release cycle and more reactions are coming in. Predictions in the Original Score have previously been published here.

Predictions updated on December 22 following shortlist and other industry awards announcements:

The Frontrunners:

1. Hold My Hand (from Top Gun: Maverick): Written by Lady Gaga, BloodPop & Benjamin Rice, Performed by Lady Gaga
2. Lift Me Up (from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever): Written by Tems, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler & Ludwig Göransson, Performed by Rihanna
3. Ciao Papa (from Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio): Written by Alexandre Desplat, Roeban Katz & Guillermo del Toro, Performed by Gregory Mann
4. new body rhumba (from White Noise): Written by James Murphy, Patrick Mahoney & Nancy Whang, Performed by LCD Soundsystem
5. Applause (from Tell it Like a Woman): Written by Diane Warren, Performed by Sofia Carson
6. Naatu Naatu (from RRR): Written by M.M. Keeravani, Kala Bhairava & Rahul Sipligunj
7. Carolina (from Where the Crawdads Sing): Written and Performed by Taylor Swift
8. Nothing is Lost (You Give Me Strength) (from Avatar: The Way of Water): Written by Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye, Simon Franglen & Swedish House Mafia, Performed by The Weeknd

Runner-ups:

1. This Is a Life (from Everything Everywhere All at Once), Written and Performed by Ryan Lott (Son Lux), David Byrne and Mitski
2. Good Afternoon (from Spirited): Written by Khiyon Hursey, Sukari Jones, Benj Pasek, Justin Paul & Mark Sonnenblick, Performed by Ryan Reynolds, Will Ferrell & The Spirited Ensemble
3. Time (from Amsterdam), Written by Aubrey Drake Graham, Giveon Evans, Jahaan Akil Sweet & Daniel Pemberton, Performed by Giveon
4. Til You’re Home (from A Man Called Otto): Written by David Hodges & Rita Wilson, Performed by Rita Wilson & Sebastián Yatra
5. My Mind & Me (from Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me): Written by Selena Gomez, Amy Allen, Jonathan Bellion, Michael Pollack, Stefan Johnson & Jordan K Johnson, Performed by Selena Gomez
6. Stand Up (from Till), Written by Jazmine Sullivan & Dernst “D-Mile” Emile II, Performed by Jazmine Sullivan
7. Dust & Ash (from The Voice of Dust and Ash), Written by J. Ralph, Performed by J. Ralph & Norah Jones

———————————–

Original predictions posted on December 10:

1. The Frontrunners:
   1. Hold My Hand (from Top Gun: Maverick): Written by Lady Gaga, BloodPop & Benjamin Rice, Performed by Lady Gaga
   2. Lift Me Up (from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever): Written by Tems, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler & Ludwig Göransson, Performed by Rihanna
   3. Ciao Papa (from Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio): Written by Alexandre Desplat, Roeban Katz & Guillermo del Toro, Performed by Gregory Mann
   4. new body rhumba (from White Noise): Written by James Murphy, Patrick Mahoney & Nancy Whang, Performed by LCD Soundsystem
   5. Applause (from Tell it Like a Woman): Written by Diane Warren, Performed by Sofia Carson
   6. Naatu Naatu (from RRR): Written by M.M. Keeravani, Kala Bhairava & Rahul Sipligunj
   7. Nobody Like U (from Turning Red): Written by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell, Performed by 4*Town

   Runner-ups:

   1. Carolina (from Where the Crawdads Sing): Written and Performed by Taylor Swift
   2. Love Is Not Love (from Bros): Written by Marc Shaiman & Billy Eichner, Performed by Billy Eichner
   3. Nothing is Lost (You Give Me Strength) (from Avatar: The Way of Water): Written by Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye, Simon Franglen & Swedish House Mafia, Performed by The Weeknd
   4. This Is a Life (from Everything Everywhere All at Once), Written and Performed by Ryan Lott (Son Lux), David Byrne and Mitski
   5. Good Afternoon (from Spirited): Written by Khiyon Hursey, Sukari Jones, Benj Pasek, Justin Paul & Mark Sonnenblick, Performed by Ryan Reynolds, Will Ferrell & The Spirited Ensemble
   6. (You Made It Feel Like) Home (from Bones and All), Written by Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross, Performed by written by Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross & Mariqueen Maandig Reznor
   7. Still Holding My Hand (from Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical),Written by Tim Minchin, Performed by The Cast of Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical
   8. Time (from Amsterdam), Written by Aubrey Drake Graham, Giveon Evans, Jahaan Akil Sweet & Daniel Pemberton, Performed by Giveon

The Academy will announce a short list of 15 original songs (and scores) next week and our predictions will be updated accordingly. The nominations for the 95th Academy Awards will be announced on January 24, 2023 and the awards ceremony is set to take place on March 12.