This year's Oscar shortlists, part 3 & This Week's Statistics

This year's Oscar nominations will be soon upon us. In most categories, the voters are free to vote for any eligible film they choose but there are a few categories that, for various reasons, merit special treatment. For these categories, shortlists were created, which were announced on December 17. Among them are the music categories. Like we did last year, I will play for you all the eligible songs and scores that are available on Youtube. I will also mention which films made it to the other shortlists. I will present the lists in order of likelihood (in my opinion) for the film to proceed to a nomination. Then, on January 22, you will know whether I was right or not. Let's go!

Sade

These are the last five songs in the Oscar shortlist. They may not have much of a chance to make it to the nominations' stage but each is a good song in its own right.

A few months ago, if someone had told you that two Best Original Song contenders would be (at least partially) sung by the directors of the films for which they were composed, your first thought probably would have been something like: "I can't wait to hear Clint Eastwood's wistful piano ballad about a mule." Thankfully, Boots Riley had a better idea. The frontman of the incendiary Oakland hip-hop group The Coup long before he was a filmmaker, Riley knew that exactly what Sorry to Bother You needed to sound like and that his voice has to come through it in more ways than one. Riding a crunchy guitar riff and a hook that's as catchy and propulsive as anything in The Coup's deep back catalogue, OYAHYTT captures the revolutionary fire that burns throughout the year's best anti-capitalist satire. Even before Lakeith Stanfield shows up in the second half ("I got a bullet and I'm willing to bang / Get your ass so benedict you're willing to get slain"), this song already boasts more raw energy than the rest of the tracks combined.

This is OYAHYTT by The Coup ft. Lakeith Stanfield from the movie Sorry to Bother You:

After a seven-year hiatus, the incomparable Sade returned to the studio to soundtrack two different movies this year. And while The Flower of the Universe was a highlight of A Wrinkle in Time, the Academy chose to overlook that proud and achingly beautiful ode from a parent to their child in favor of the slinky original slow-jam that Sade contributed to Steve McQueen’s Widows. While it might not boast the same emotional backbone that made Sade's other new tune such a powerful return, The Big Unknown is still a vintage tune from someone whose voice is hot enough to make even the most basic melody catch fire. Taking its cues from the wistful heist thriller that inspired it, The Big Unknown is equal parts sexy and wounded; it's a song about the refusal to surrender, but Sade's immaculate vulnerability graces every line with a soft touch of desperation. Widows proved to be surprisingly divisive, but everyone can agree that Sade deserves to be on that Oscar stage.

This is Sade with The Big Unknown from the movie Widows:

Quincy Jones might be 85 years old, but - to the surprise of absolutely no one - the iconic titan of the music industry still knows how to write a good song. Joined here by Chaka Khan and hitmaker Mark Ronson, the producer delivers a casual and catchy (if kinda repetitive) funk bop about his refusal to throw in the towel. Built atop a snappy groove and chock full of bouncy horn parts (not to mention the hottest sax riff on the Oscar shortlist), Keep Reachin' is the best part of the middling documentary that inspired it, and plenty inspirational in its own fun way.

Here's Keep Reachin' by Quincy Jones, Chaka Khan, and Mark Ronson from the movie Quincy:

Any and all new music from South London singer-songwriter Sampha is a reason to celebrate, even if the thin and directionless Treasure feels like a b-side that was rightly left off his essential 2017 debut LP, Process. This pretty (if fittingly anxious) song finds a proper home on the soundtrack for Beautiful Boy, as Sampha's breathy vocals flutter above an erratic Nils Frahm-like piano melody, the brewing chaos underneath his words helping to evoke the instability of addiction and the tumult of going through it together. Much like the movie that inspired it, however, Treasure doesn't really go anywhere so much as it runs out of gas, its touching search for catharsis frustrated by a clear lack of direction.

This is Sampha and the song from Beautiful Boy called Treasure:

An amusing and adorably twisted send-up of the "I Want" songs that bedrock every animated musical ever made, A Place Called Slaughter Race finds little Venellope von Schweetz (Sarah Silverman) trying to become the center of her very own musical number. Following the advice of the Disney princesses she's just met, the glitchy little girl stares into a reflective pool of water and reveals her greatest dream: To live in a hyper-violent dystopian video game called "Slaughter Race." It's a fun bait-and-switch that allows Silverman - and Gal Gadot, among a small chorus of other voices - to sing a cutesy tune about "fallen wires, dumpster fires, creepy clowns, and burning tires" but the joke wears thin, and it lacks a power chorus worthy of the classic songs it's meant to parody.

Here's A Place Called Slaughter Race, written by multi-Oscar winner Alan Menken, together with Phil Johnston and Tom MacDougall, for the movie Ralph Breaks the Internet:

As far as Best Score is concerned, Nicholas Britell is not only shortlisted for his score in If Beale Street Could Talk but also for his vibrant score in Adam McKay's Vice. Could Britell end up with 2 nominations? It's unlikely but not impossible. Here's an excerpt:

We have mentioned Steven Spielberg's Ready Player One when we were discussing the visual effects' shortlist. Here it is again, shortlisted for Alan Silvestri's score:

James Newton Howard is an Oscars' veteran (8 nominations, no wins). Did you know that he also used to be in Elton John's backing band, as well as being Barbra Streisand romantic interest for a while? Now you do. This year, he's been shortlisted for his score for Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. This is The Thestral Chase scene:

If Brian Tyler receives a nomination for his score for the very successful romantic comedy, Crazy Rich Asians, it will be his first. Here's the Love Theme from the movie:

Last on the shortlist is the score for a very intelligent and funny British political comedy called The Death of Stalin. The music in Armando Iannucci's film is composed by Christopher Willis. These are the End Titles:

Here are the final shortlists. They involve the shorts. Here they are, alphabetically:

Animated Shorts

Age of Sail

Animal Behaviour

Bao

Bilby

Bird Karma

Late Afternoon

Lost & Found

One Small Step

Pépé le Morse

Weekends

Documentary Shorts

Black Sheep

End Game

Lifeboat

Los Comandos

My Dead Dad’s Porno Tapes

A Night at the Garden

Period. End of Sentence.

’63 Boycott

Women of the Gulag

Zion

Live-Action Shorts

Caroline

Chuchotage

Detainment

Fauve

Icare

Marguerite

May Day

Mother

Skin

Wale

Now, let's continue with our statistics; the number of visits this week were more or less stable. The new material worked well - and so did older stories: George Maharis, Peter Straker, Dave Clark, Tevin Campbell, Simon & Garfunkel, Chic, and Rock Hudson were among the week's most popular stories.

As far as countries are concerned, there's a saying in football (soccer): the Germans never give up fighting even if they're behind in the score and the game is almost over. Such is the case here: they had a really good week and they've overtaken Canada in the process, reclaiming the sixth position on the all-time chart. However, the difference between Germany and Canada is just 42 visits, so this is far from over. Australia is also doing well and challenging Cyprus for the ninth position on the all-time chart. The United States is still doing great, consolidating its position at the top of both charts. Also, welcome to Thailand. The rest of the major players suffered minor losses.

Here are this week's Top 10 countries:

1. the United States

2. Germany

3. the United Kingdom

4. Australia

5. Greece

6. Canada

7. France

8. Thailand

9. Russia

10. Brazil

Here are the other countries that graced us with their presence since our last statistics (alphabetically): Angola, Argentina, Austria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brunei, Bulgaria, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Estonia, Finland, French Polynesia, Ghana, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Martinique, Mauritius, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, the Netherlands, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, Venezuela, Vietnam, and Zambia. Happy to have you all!

And here's the all-time Top 10:

1. the United States = 32.5%

2. France = 17.5%

3. the United Kingdom = 11.4%

4. Greece = 8.2%

5. Russia = 2.5%

6. Germany = 1.9%

7. Canada = 1.9%

8. Italy = 0.93%

9. Cyprus = 0.85%

10. Australia = 0.83%

That's all for today, folks. Till the next one!