original song nomination for writing the
inspirational ballad for the faith-based film.
Warren has had more nominations without
a win than anyone else in this category.
You were right on the bubble between
being nominated or not.
I thought it was 50/50, but when people
saw the movie and heard the song, they
really loved it. We had screenings, and
Chrissy [Metz, the film’s star] has been
singing it on various shows.
Was the plan always to have Chrissy
sing the song?
No, to be honest. I had a lot of people in
mind — Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson.
I didn’t know how good [Metz] is. [The
filmmakers] asked me to try her out. I said,
“Yeah, I’m a team player.” They went in for
a couple of hours. I left, because I’m a bad
liar. But when I heard it, I was like, “Holy
shit.” Now I can’t think of anyone else I
would rather have do it.
You’ve had more nominations without
a win than anyone else in this category.
Would I like to win? Yeah, it would be
great. But I always say the nomination is a
win. Unlike the Grammys, where there are
a lot of song categories, there’s only one
song category at the Academy Awards.
To be picked by my peers to be in the
top five is great. I had all my friends here
overnight [waiting for the early-morning
announcement]. We stayed up eating
pizza and talking. I was really happy when
they announced my name. I don’t take any
of this for granted.
ELTON JOHN and BERNIE TAUPIN
“(I’M GONNA) LOVE ME AGAIN,” ROCKETMAN
The famous pair is celebrating this first Os-
car nomination together. For the co-writers
(and friends) of over 50 years, the upbeat
song is a career highpoint.
Elton, “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again”
is about your own journey. You don’t
usually give Bernie lyrical suggestions,
but did you this time given the nature
of the song?
JOHN Bernie and I are like brothers. He
has watched me struggle with self-
acceptance for so much of my adult life.
At the end of Rocketman, I’m coming out
of rehab and learning to love myself again
as part of my recovery from drugs and
alcohol. It’s an optimistic new chapter in
my life, and we both wanted a song that
captures that uplifting spirit. Bernie knew
exactly where to start. His effervescent
lyric captured that mood perfectly and
became the melodic starting point for me.
Bernie, given that this was for a movie
and is the film’s final musical state-
ment, did that change your approach?
TAUPIN Oh, I don’t think that ever came to
mind. I’m a songwriter. It’s what I do when
I’m set to task: weigh up all the options
and go to work. I don’t believe that when I
was writing it Taron [Egerton, who played
John] was going to be involved. Of course,
his vocals made it all the more special. The
icing on the cake if you will.
Elton, did you always see the melody
as so upbeat?
JOHN Yes. We needed to follow “I’m Still
Standing,” which is an extremely joyous
song, that has evolved into an anthem
over the years. “(I’m Gonna) Love Me
Again” needed to further energize the au-
dience and crescendo to an even greater
level of joy. We wanted them to dance
their way up the aisles of the cinema, full
of optimism and hope. I immediately saw
Bernie’s lyrics as a Motown-style song.
A celebration! I then checked out the
tempo of “Come See About Me” by The
Supremes for inspiration and constructed
the melody from there.
Incredibly, the Golden Globe win
marked the first time you had won an
award together. What would it mean
for you to share an Oscar?
JOHN Beyond belief! Who doesn’t want an
Oscar? Simply to make it this far is a bless-
ing in itself, and to be nominated alongside
my old pal is absolutely joyous.
RANDY NEWMAN
“I CAN’T LET YOU THROW YOURSELF AWAY,”
TOY STORY 4
Nominated throughout his career for 22
Oscars, 13 for best song, Newman found
one of his favorite entries thus far in To y
Story 4’s “I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself
Away,” the tune he wrote for the Tony Hale-
voiced spork turned cherished companion
Forky in the latest Disney-Pixar playroom
saga, which he also scored.
Your music is as much a character in
the Toy S tor y franchise as the toys
themselves. How did your roots inform
this latest chapter?
This movie has a great deal of emotional
content, I think more so than any of the
other ones, and so the music is unlike
anything I did with Toy Story before. l really
like this song. Of all the songs I’ve had
nominated, along with “You’ve Got a Friend
in Me,” I like this one best.
The song does go deep, including the
lyrics “Don’t you wanna see the sun
come up each morning? Don’t you
wanna see the sun go down each day?”
I was worried when I wrote it that people
would think it was about suicide, which
wouldn’t have been really the best thing
for the picture. But you know, “I can’t let
you throw yourself away.” There you are.
I’m still worried about it, but not as much.
You hold the record for the most
original song nominations without a
collaborator in Oscar history. How
does that feel?
I’m very happy about it. I’ve never written
songs with people very much, just a couple
times. The fact is, they staged a great
picture, really, and hopefully the music is up
to that level.
ROBERT LOPEZ and KRISTEN
ANDERSON-LOPEZ
“INTO THE UNKNOWN,” FROZEN II
Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez
will try to recapture Oscar magic with this
track performed by Idina Menzel featur-
ing Aurora. Their most recent win was for
“Remember Me” from 2017’s Coco.
Was it easier writing for Elsa this time?
LOPEZ I wouldn’t say it was easier. Writing
a musical sequel is deceptively difficult and
that’s why you don’t see a lot of them. It all
starts with story, and we were talking to the
team every day about what there was left
to sing about.
ANDERSON-LOPEZ What we did find
after years of talking, was Elsa wasn’t really
where she belongs and hadn’t quite found
her purpose yet — and then we got really
excited. How do you write an “I want”
song for someone who’s not sure, but [has]
a restless calling. We were really excited
when we discovered it’s a duet. There’s
this voice calling her. Then we knew what
that felt like as artists, as people... it’s your
destiny, you just don’t know what it’s quite
supposed to be yet.
What advice did directors Jennifer Lee
and Chris Buck give you?
LOPEZ The idea that we were going to
grow this franchise up. We were going to
make it about young adults finding their
place in the world, which was exciting. It
was a different take on these characters
that we love, and the freedom to go a little
deeper and a little darker was a lot of fun
to dig into. It feels like The Empire Strikes
Back of Frozen, if you can make a compari-
son between those franchises.
The Oscars must be getting old hat
for you.
ANDERSON-LOPEZ Because we’re from
New York and we aren’t usually around
so many celebrities, we spend the whole
time going “Look at that one!” We’re com-
pletely stargazing.
SCORES
The best original score category pits
Thomas Newman (for 1917 ) against his
cousin, Randy (for Netflix’s Marriage
Story), who are competing against
each other in this category for the first
time since 1995.
The Newmans are joined by John
Williams, nominated for Star Wars: The
Rise of Skywalker (Disney), and two-time
winner Alexandre Desplat, nominated
for Little Women (Sony/Columbia). The
four men have accumulated a whopping
81 nominations in this category among
them, with over half of them (47) going to
Williams. Williams’ overall 52 nomina-
tions (including five for best original
song) extends his record as the living
Egerton as
Elton John in
Rocketman.
Anderson-Lopez
(left) and Lopez
GIORGIO MORODER’s score for Midnight Express became the first electronic musical work to win best original score in 1979.