CULTURE

The Oscars Won’t Be Having Performances From All of the Best Original Song Nominees

See which artists made the cut.


A Star Is Born
Courtesy Warner Bros.

The closer we inch toward the 91st installment of the Oscars, the more drama that pops up. The latest? The 2019 Academy Awards will apparently be breaking from protocol in yet another way by inviting only some of the best original song nominees. According to the latest report, just two of the songs up for the award will be performed—the rest have been cut.

So which ones will grace the stage? The first, you could certainly guess. We will finally be treated to a live rendition of “Shallow” from A Star Is Born, as sources tell Variety. It would be a major disappointment if that particular song wasn’t performed at the Academy Awards. After all, the film is not only a classic Hollywood story, it is one of the biggest cultural moments of the year—plus, the scene in which it’s performed is, arguably, the emotional peak of the movie.

The other song that will reportedly be performed is also sure to delight the younger people watching—something that the Oscars desperately needs to do in light of its declining viewership. Kendrick Lamar and SZA will likely be treating us all to “All the Stars” from the Black Panther soundtrack.

As for the artists up for awards who got cut from performing, we will be missing Emily Blunt singing “The Place Where Lost Things Go” from Mary Poppins Returns, and Jennifer Hudson, an Oscars veteran performer, doing “I’ll Fight” from RBG. Additionally, we will not be seeing a performance of “When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings” from Netflix’s The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. Who knows, though, because according to Variety, the Academy’s official statement is that no decisions have been made for sure about the performances yet.

Other cuts to the music segment of the show may include the Oscars for other sound categories like editing and mixing, awards that could be presented during commercials. That, as well as the reduced number of performers, are all in effort to keep the show down to three hours. Considering the Oscars don’t even have a host for 2019, that shouldn’t be too hard to accomplish. At least, one can only hope that it’s not.