Watch David Byrne, Diane Warren and More Oscar-Nominated Tunesmiths Tell the Stories Behind the Songs

David Byrne knows where he’s going and he knows where he’s been, and the former Talking Heads band leader and near EGOT winner is on his way to the Oscars again, 35 years after taking home the original score Academy Award for Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor (which he shared with Ryuichi Sakamoto and Cong Su) with a song nomination for “This Is a Life” from A24’s 11x Oscar nominated Everything Everywhere All at Once which he co-wrote with the pic’s composers Son Lux and Mitski. If Byrne wins a second Oscar next Sunday, it doesn’t bring him closer to an EGOT; he needs an Emmy win to do that after two Grammys and a special Tony award for his Broadway showstopper American Utopia.

Jon Burlingame editor In what may be the most difficult-to-predict score competition in years, the original-music Oscar could go to a sentimental favorite, a past nominee or the newcomer to the race. Academy members begin voting today. Legendary composer John Williams broke records again by becoming the most nominated living person (53 nominations, winning five), earning the highest number of nominations ever in the music categories, and (it is believed, per the Academy) becoming the oldest nominee ever for a competitive award. He is 91. His nomination for “The Fabelmans” surprised some outsiders, as his fairly spare score is often overshadowed by the several classical pieces performed by Mitzi (Michelle Williams), the character based on director Steven Spielberg’s piano-playing mom. But it passed the 35% rule — that is, more than a third of the total musical content must be original dramatic score — or it would have been disqualified by the Academy’s strict music-branch executive committee.

live performances during the telecast. (Among the performers: David Byrne, Son Lux and Stephanie Hsu and Rihanna.) The list of presenters released Thursday also included Emily Blunt, Jonathan Majors, Questlove, Glenn Close, Ariana DeBose, Jennifer Connelly, Samuel L.

Rosalia, and Sabrina Carpenter stun on the red carpet, leading all the stars to the 2023 Billboard Women in Music held at YouTube Theater on Wednesday night (March 1) in Inglewood, Calif.

Son Lux is the first band ever to be nominated for best original score at the Oscars with Everything Everywhere All at Once, and this year they’re the only composer to own noms in original score and original song the latter for their collaboration with Mitski and Oscar winner/former Talking Heads frontman David Byrne with “This is a Life”, the end credits song of the A24 movie.

The Oscar-nominated song “Naatu Naatu” from S.S. Rajamouli’s RRR (Rise! Roar! Revolt!) will be performed at the 95th Academy Awards by singers Rahul Sipligunj and Kaala Bhairava in their Oscar debut.

Rihanna will perform her Original Song nominee “Lift Me Up,” from “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” Diane Warren and Sofia Carson will also be there to give a live rendition of the Warren-penned nominated song, “Applause,” from “Tell It Like a Woman.” The Academy has not announced whether all the Best Original Song nominees will perform during the telecast, but a person with knowledge of the plans recently told TheWrap that it was likely all the songs would be performed on the show. The producers will be announcing more performers in the weeks ahead.

Thirty-five years after winning the Oscar for original score for Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor, David Byrne is back at the 95th edition of the awards ceremony performing the Oscar-nominated song “This is A Life” from Everything Everywhere All at Once with the pic’s composers and song writer Son Lux and the pic’s Oscar nominated supporting actress Stephanie Hsu. Japanese sing Mitski sings the end credits song in the movie with Byrne.

Tony and Olivier Award winner Lea Salonga will join the Broadway cast of Here Lies Love by David Byrne and Fatboy Slim for a special guest engagement this summer.

Actor and singer Sofia Carson and legendary songwriter Diane Warren will perform together at this year’s Academy Awards.

Descendants star Sofia Carson and Oscar regular Diane Warren are set to perform the Best Song nominee “Applause” at the 95th annual Academy Awards next month.

Jon Burlingame editor “The Fabelmans” music is up for an Oscar and the score for “Indiana Jones 5” is completed, but 91-year-old John Williams is far from retired. He is mulling new concert works for leading classical soloists and preparing for a series of conducting gigs in the coming months that will take him from Chicago to Tokyo. Williams celebrated his birthday on Feb. 8 quietly, just dinner with his wife and daughter, he tells Variety in a rare interview. “When you finally get to be 90, you think, ‘This is great, I made it.’ It’s wonderful. I recommend it to everybody.” Nonagenarian status hasn’t slowed down the five-time Academy Award winner, who is on his 53rd Oscar nomination for Steven Spielberg’s film about his childhood and the trauma of his parents’ divorce. It’s their 29th film together, and three of his five Oscars are for Spielberg films (“Jaws,” “E.T.,” “Schindler’s List”).

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor Actor and singer Sofia Carson and songwriter Diane Warren will perform the Oscar-nominated song “Applause” from “Tell It Like a Woman” at next month’s Academy Awards ceremony. This is the second nominated song announced after Rihanna was confirmed to perform her track from “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” “Applause” marks Warren’s 14th career Oscar nomination, which comes after chart-topping hits such as “I Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing” from “Armageddon” (1998) and “Because You Loved Me” from “Up Close and Personal” (1996). However, she has yet to win. Oscar-winner Cher was tapped to present Warren with an Honorary Oscar at the 2022 Governors Awards.

95th Academy Awards are putting together a star-studded list of performers!On Friday, it was announced that Sofia Carson and Diane Warren will be taking the stage at the upcoming Oscars to perform their song, «Applause,» from the anthology film .The track is nominated for Best Original Song, Warren's 14th nomination in the category. The songwriter received an honorary award at the Academy’s Governors Awards in November. It was previously announced that Rihanna will also be taking the Oscars stage this year, following up her headline-making Super Bowl halftime show with a performance of her nominated song, «Lift Me Up,» from ET spoke with RiRi backstage following her Super Bowl press conference earlier this month, and she admitted that between her epic halftime performance, Oscar nomination and being a mom to her 8-month-old son, «it really feels like a lot's happening all at once.»«Motherhood, Oscars, Super Bowl, I'm still pinching myself, really,» she continued. «I'm grateful.

post-Super Bowl halftime star Rihanna at the Oscar telecast will be actress and singer Sofia Carson, performing nominee Diane Warren’s song “Applause” from the film “Tell it Like a Woman,” starring Jennifer Hudson and Marcia Gay Harden. The duo have previously performed the tune together at the TheWrap’s 2022 Power Women Summit, and will again take the stage at the Dolby Theatre to share their Best Original Song nominee.Singer, actress and activist Sofia Carson took the stage alongside songwriter Diane Warren to perform their award-winning song “Applause” at TheWrap’s 2022 Power Women Summit.

electric Super Bowl halftime performance earlier this month, Oscar nominee Rihanna will perform at the awards ceremony on March 12.The “Shut Up and Drive” crooner, 35, will sing “Lift Me Up” — the theme from the Marvel film “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Thursday.Rihanna — who is pregnant with her second child — wrote the song with Tems, “Black Panther” director Ryan Coogler and Ludwig Göransson.The track is nominated for the Best Original Song Oscar. It’s Rihanna’s first Academy Award nomination.The other nominees for Best Original Song are “Applause” from “Tell It Like a Woman” by Diane Warren, “Hold My Hand” from “Top Gun: Maverick” by Lady Gaga and BloodPop, “Naatu Naatu” from “RRR” by M.M.

is celebrating her first Oscar nomination by gracing the ceremony with her presence. On February 23, the Academy announced that Rihanna will be performing “Lift Me Up” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever at the 95th Oscar Awards, which will be hosted by Jimmy Kimmel on March 12. “Lift Me Up” is nominated for best original song, up against Diane Warren's "Applause" from Tell It Like a Woman; Lady Gaga's "Hold My Hand" from Top Gun: Maverick; NTR and Ram Charan's "Naatu Naatu" from RRR; and Son Lux, Mitski and David Byrne's "This Is a Life" from Everything Everywhere All at Once.While “Lift Me Up” lost its to “Naatu Naatu,” Rihanna was still the in the room on January 10. Oscar victory or not, we're sure the same will hold true at the Academy Awards.

Jon Burlingame This year’s Oscar song competition is the usual mix of musical superstars and intriguing unknowns. But for the first time in 30 years, four out of the five entries have a past Oscar winner among their writers. And for only the 14th time in Oscar history, one of the nominated songs is not sung in English; “Naatu Naatu” is the fourth nominee to be performed in an Indian language (including two from 2008’s “Slumdog Millionaire” and one from 2012’s “Life of Pi”). “Applause” from “Tell It Like a Woman”Diane Warren, who recently received an Honorary Oscar for her body of work, earned her 14th competitive nomination for this little-seen anthology of seven short films made by women directors. “I needed a song that could tie it all together,” she says.

Fresh off her big performance at the 2023 Super Bowl, Rihanna is gearing up for another performance at the 2023 Oscars.

Rihanna is tackling another first! On Thursday, it was announced that the singer will perform her Oscar-nominated single, «Lift Me Up,» from  at the 95th Academy Awards.The nine-time GRAMMY winner earned her first Oscar nomination for the film soundtrack's lead single, which plays during the end credits of the  sequel. The song was penned by singer Tems, Oscar winner Ludwig Göransson, Rihanna and director Ryan Coogler, and serves as a eulogy to Chadwick Boseman, who played King T'Challa, aka Black Panther, and died at the age of 43 after a four-year battle with colon cancer. In the Best Original Song category, the song is up against Diane Warren's «Applause» (Lady Gaga's «Hold My Hand» (NTR and Ram Charan's«Naatu Naatu» (and Son Lux, Mitski and David Byrne's «This Is a Life» (The release of «Lift Me Up» marked the soon-to-be mom of two's first single in six years and the first foray in the next era of Rihanna's iconic career. The single picked up a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song (Motion Picture), but ultimately lost to «Naatu Naatu» from . In October 2022, Coogler opened up to ET about being «forever grateful» for Rihanna's contribution to the emotional track — and for coming out of musical hibernation. «I'll say this, I didn't get [Rihanna] to do anything.