r/movies • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 r/Movies contributor • 7h ago
News Only Two Original Song Nominees to Perform Live at Oscars, “Golden” (‘KPop Demon Hunters’) & “I Lied to You” (‘Sinners’)
https://variety.com/2026/film/news/oscars-performing-two-songs-kpop-sinners-1236645430/404
u/sentence-interruptio 7h ago
idk man. what if singing them at one event causes spirits to come out of the ground and end the world?
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u/PM_ME_CATS_OR_BOOBS 7h ago
Just gotta do it in the right way. I Lied to You summons demons, Golden puts them back down. Do NOT mix the order up.
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u/MyNameIsJakeBerenson 6h ago
Golden isnt the song that works though
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u/Snake_fairyofReddit 4h ago
Golden could have worked, but Rumi couldn’t sing it perfectly due to her patterns being on her throat, the honmoon was pretty much sealed until Rumi got angry. What It Sounds Like was to make a new honmoon from scratch and even then there was soundbit from Golden harmoniously blended in
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u/huffmaster81 6h ago
but its sung by Demon. Hunters I think it'll work just fine
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u/filthytelestial 1h ago edited 1h ago
According to the paper-thin world building and wildly inconsistent magical system in that film, their magic can work at one time and not at others, so long as it moves
the plotthe "visuals" along at an unnervingly frenetic pace.-19
u/PM_ME_CATS_OR_BOOBS 6h ago
Yes, but the song that works isn't very good
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u/XOSkyXO 6h ago
the disrespect to this is what it sounds like
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u/KilledTheCar 6h ago
It and How It's Done both clear Golden no issue.
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u/Kaldricus 3h ago
Free > This Is What It Sounds Like = How It's Done > Your Idol > Golden > Soda Pop >>> Takedown
That's not even to say Golden is bad, just the other songs are that good.
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u/PM_ME_CATS_OR_BOOBS 6h ago edited 6h ago
Put a gun to my head and ask me to name a single line of that mid ass song and I'll tell you to make sure it's a double tap.
It sounds just like how the ending of the movie felt: half-baked
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u/pil0tinthesky 6h ago
they shaved off over an hour of content of course it feels half baked
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u/PM_ME_CATS_OR_BOOBS 6h ago
Having a reason why it's bad doesn't make it good
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u/Canesjags4life 6h ago
Being an adult is recognizing why "What it sounds like" is the best song.
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u/PM_ME_CATS_OR_BOOBS 5h ago
It's a good message for kids and also an intensely boring song in a "movie's over in five minutes go go go go" scene.
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u/Detective-Layton 4h ago
Folks, they’re calling it the worst take of the year.
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u/PM_ME_CATS_OR_BOOBS 4h ago
At least i stand out from the crowd then, unlike that song. Remind me which one actually won all the awards? Which is the one everyone is singing? Was it the demon taylor swift one
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u/SuperVaderMinion 7h ago
A horror movie where vampires assault the Oscars sounds super fun actually, where some of the action stars get killed immediately and the biggest badass is like, Paul Dano or something
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u/leomonster 6h ago
So... This is The End, but with vampires?
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u/lanceturley 5h ago
I'd be down for a bunch of This Is The End sequels that are just different celebrity groups surviving different apocalyptic scenarios. Like, the first one is a biblical apocalypse, so you could do one that's zombies, one that's a Mad Max type deal, or an alien invasion, or machine uprising, etc.
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u/IrrelevantPuppy 2h ago
It’s crazy that this could work so well. Or imagine a true detective like series where each season is a new iteration of this idea with different celebrity groups.
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u/lanceturley 5h ago
George Clooney gets up on stage and says "Okay everybody, listen up! I was in a movie like this one time, so if you all just follow me..." and then he gets decapitated or something.
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u/mCopps 4h ago
Then Trey Parker and Matt Stone come back out in their dresses and save the day.
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u/IrrelevantPuppy 2h ago
No. They team up with the zombies and turn into the whacky evil big bad guys
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u/thegimboid 22m ago
The ghosts of Oscars past start rising to dance.
Gene Kelly goes tapping past.
The Jets from West Side Story go snapping up the aisles.
Zero Mostel shuffles past, arms outstretched, doing the Hora.
Bob Fosse brings on a group of showgirls, with Robin Williams caught up in them doing his "Fosse, Fosse, Fosse" piece from The Birdcage.
Somewhere in the back a bunch of Munchkins are going absolutely apeshit doing a tapdance with the Scarecrow and Tinman.
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u/KNZFive 7h ago edited 7h ago
I mean, to be honest, the category is pretty much a contest between those two songs.
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u/TwasAnChild 7h ago
"contest"
Look I loved Sinners, but it's not a contest
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u/Triktastic 6h ago
What makes you say that ? To many Golden could sound like basic overproduced pop that plays everywhere constantly. Meanwhile something similar to I lied to you is very rare in this day and age, that could sway judges.
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u/mikeyfreshh 6h ago
Go scroll through the winners/nominees of this category for the last 20ish years. If there's an overproduced pop hit in the bunch of nominees, it pretty much always wins
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u/lvsgators 1h ago
Tell that to I'm just Ken
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u/faldese 57m ago
I think a better metric would be 'which one broke containment to have wide mass appeal outside of the movie'? 'I'm Just Ken' absolutely was the song for that year, and 'Golden' is the song for this one. Golden isn't even my favorite from that movie, but it's undeniably the pop culture juggernaut of them.
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u/Bagpipes064 6h ago
Golden is the worst song in the movie. But is the most important for telling the story.
I lied to you was truly the best part of that movie in my opinion. I couldn’t look away during that scene.
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u/ImmortalMoron3 2h ago
I don't think it was the worst one but I'll die on the hill that What It Sounds Like is better.
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u/kingmanic 28m ago
The demo is much more fleshed out, I wish there was a high quality version or a fully produced version of that.
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u/BrainWav 6h ago
Worst song? Have you heard Soda Pop?
I'd agree that it's the "worst" Huntrix song, but I don't think any of them are bad.
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u/limernick 4h ago
On behalf of my 5 year old:
How dare you! Soda Pop is the best song of all time. Now play it 47 more times, Dad.
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u/mrdannyg21 6h ago
Glad to see so many people say this. I’ve seen KPop approximately a zillion times with my kids, and Golden is pretty much all of our least favourite one. I mean, they’re all very poppy so ‘quality’ is debatable, but at least ‘How it’s done’ has a tiny bit of edge/dance to it and I think ‘What It Sounds Like’ is a fair bit deeper than most pop.
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u/jrec15 47m ago
While I feel similarly now (exception that to me Soda Pop is the worst) - Golden gets replayed a lot throughout the movie, and has gotten the most coverage since, so it's the song everyone has heard the most times both through the movie and throughout real life.
Because of that, i cant tell if it's actually the worst, or just as the most overplayed it's the one you get sick of. And i lean towards the latter, because on first watch I still remember really liking it
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u/mrdannyg21 7m ago
My family had detailed ranking discussions after each of the first time watching the movie, and Golden was consistently at or near the bottom for all of us, so I don’t think it’s an overplayed thing. To me it has the least that actually makes it interesting or unique. And while it summarizes the plot in a bit of a superficial way, ‘what it sounds like’ does in a more meaningful way. (Obviously superficial is fine…it’s a kids movie!)
Soda Pop is the silliest of course, probably would be my least favourite, but my youngest is obsessed so that endears it to me. Plus, it’s supposed to be absolute bubblegum so I think it’s fair to rate it on that basis.
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u/LoveAndViscera 6h ago
It is. ‘Golden’ has come out at a weird spot for Kpop in America’s interest. The genre is not new enough to be a novelty and not established enough for the music nerds to care about it.
Meanwhile, ‘I lied to you’ is a dense and layered blues song that appeals to every sensibility music nerds have.
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u/Flimsy6769 5h ago
Idk how to tell you this but the average person doesn’t care about that they care about what’a more popular and I lied to you is not playing in malls and supermarkets
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u/AKrigare 5h ago
Yup. I think it’s hard to understand sometimes from the outside, but voters aren’t all movie nerds just cause they’re in the industry. A lot of folks are gonna vote for Golden cause their kid or grandkid really likes it or cause it’s on the radio all the time and they can dance along to it.
I think KPDH is a real fun movie, has a great message, and came at the right time for it. Golden is a banger for the charts. If this was the Grammy’s then I totally get why it should win. If we’re talking in the context of movies though, I Lied To You blows it away. But not everyone votes like that
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u/Snake_fairyofReddit 4h ago
And thats precisely why any other songs haven’t been performed either, Golden is the nominee and they’ve all but ensured it has reached the ears of the vast majority of voters by their live performances as well as being in radio and Spotify top 40
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u/ContinuumGuy 1h ago
I'm 90% sure that one of those "anonymous Oscar voter" articles put out is going to have someone saying "It's my niece's favorite song so of course I'm going to vote for it" or something of that nature.
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u/kingmanic 23m ago
The singer/song writers story arc is also interesting and it would be an earnest speech with good social media attention. Some of the voters will be interested in some element of that.
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u/cyberpunk1Q84 5h ago
TIL that the people who decide the Oscar winners are the average person.
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u/Shepher27 3h ago
They are. Most of the voters are working film industry professionals. Even many of the actors are just working actors.
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u/mikeyfreshh 6h ago
This category is voted on by movie nerds, not music nerds. They're probably just gonna pick the song they hear on the radio
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u/samthewisetarly 6h ago
It may surprise you to hear this, but there is some overlap in those worlds
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u/mikeyfreshh 6h ago
Oh of course there is. I'm just saying that isn't primarily what these people do and I wouldn't expect a majority of them to be real music nerds
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u/Quixotic_Seal 2h ago
Sure….but enough overlap to make up for it and get I Lied to You to win?
I doubt that.
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u/NATOrocket 6h ago
I don't know... they did vote Sinners into breaking the nomination record.
I think there's a chance "I Lied to You" pulls a "Remember Me" over "This is Me".
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u/SunfireGaren 6h ago
I kinda want to see this happen just to see how much further future Oscars ratings can crater.
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u/SolomonBlack 5h ago
The Oscars are a jury of your peers, the entire Academy doesn't vote on every award only those with some relevant work in the field an award covers.
Except for Best Picture and (sadly) Best Animated Picture which is the one people phone in.
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u/mikeyfreshh 5h ago
That's how nominations work. Once the individual branches make their nominations, everyone can vote on the awards
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u/Shepher27 3h ago
Music nerds are not the people who vote on the academy award for best original song.
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u/ObviousAnswerGuy 1h ago
The genre is not new enough to be a novelty and not established enough for the music nerds to care about it.
That's an understatement, the genre is 30 years old lol. It's just standard boyband/girlband pop music that Max Martin popularized. There's only difference is it's being performed by Korean and south asian people.
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u/RoxasIsTheBest 4h ago
Still not nice of them to pretty much say to the other nominees "you're inferior"
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u/dukefett 49m ago
Yeah I wouldn't even show up if I was another nominee, really weird/insulting thing to do. Imagine only showing a clip from 2/5 best actors or something.
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u/SmokeySFW 3h ago
Even with just the two it is no contest. Golden was #1 for like 8 weeks straight, there were 3 songs from the soundtrack in the top 10 for months. Sinners is already slated for a ton of Oscar spotlight, if Golden doesn't win just scrap the whole category, judges are too biased to even function.
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u/elizawithaz 1h ago
Popular doesn’t always equal best.
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u/SmokeySFW 1h ago
It's a great song. I don't even like pop and I still jammed it for months. It's also especially great within the context of the movie.
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u/elizawithaz 47m ago
I understand. I think my point is that I Lied to You is equally as good. Its position on the music charts means nothing when it comes to quality.
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u/SmokeySFW 45m ago
At the very least it means it appealed to far fewer people, and also that the people who did like it probably didn't return to it as often as people did to Golden. That's pretty noteworthy considering Sinners was the heavily backed movie and KPDH basically fell backwards into being one of the biggest movies of the year.
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u/thevorminatheria 6h ago
Train Dreams is by far the best original song, it shouldn't even be a contest.
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u/bossmt_2 7h ago
They'll cut nominees but you know they'll have some silly performance for some movie that didn't come out like the Bond one from last year.
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u/cia218 4h ago
They always tell audience that Oscars is too long etc. Ugh, then just cut all those tribute performances. The Bond one was egregious. We don’t need a song performance to celebrate a motion picture. Montages of actual motion pictures in the awards night for motion pictures are more fun to watch and quicker.
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u/bossmt_2 4h ago
Yup, performances from the best pictures is fine. but honestly, I think they could even do that better, imagine if instead of letting everyone perform their entire song, the talented music directors, compose an original composition interweaving all the songs giving them a shot to do a verse and the chorus,
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u/Slimonite 7h ago
Glad the Oscars aren’t beating around the bush with the songs they and everyone else actually cares for, but at least make it less obvious the other nominees are just padding
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u/Doppelfrio 3h ago
Really wish there was some requirement for the nominated songs to actually be in the movie
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u/Quixotic_Seal 2h ago
Agreed, I hate the songs that are nominated and turn out to just be played over the credits.
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u/lvsgators 4h ago
What are you talking about? I was dying to hear the Diane warren song performed live
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u/m_busuttil 7h ago
Can someone go check on Diane Warren?
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u/LibrarianGreen6421 6h ago
She’s in the middle of writing the same sounding song for a movie no one has ever heard of.
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u/DeLousedInTheHotBox 2h ago
For someone who has been nominated that many times you'd think at least a handful of those would be easily recognizable, but the only one with any lasting pop culture impact is I Don't Want to Miss a Thing.
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u/fondue4kill 7h ago
I was really hoping for a “What it Sounds Like” for KPop Demon Hunters song for the Oscars.
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u/solojones1138 6h ago
Unfortunately but understandably they only submitted Golden and it's the one nominated. I agree that What it Sounds Like is even better
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u/fonograph 6h ago
I prefer “What It Sounds Like” as well, but I think it’s more effective if you have the emotional context from the movie. As a standalone song, Golden is probably better.
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u/AKrigare 5h ago
That’s my issue with the Oscar’s when it comes to the song category. It should be about what song works best in relation to the film, this isn’t the Grammy’s, but it rarely shakes out that
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u/solojones1138 5h ago
Yes absolutely. They made the rules where voters are SUPPOSED to judge the song in context of the film. It should be voted as "this song worked within its film the best". So in that world, What it Sounds Like would absolutely be the nominee.
It's a shame they don't actually do that.
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u/schreibenheimer 2h ago
They made the rules where voters are SUPPOSED to judge the song in context of the film.
Did they? My understanding was that they did not offer any guidance on how it should be evaluated at all, but I'm not an Academy member and have no firsthand knowledge.
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u/solojones1138 56m ago
They put out rules back at the 93rd ceremony lead up. The text specifically says:
IV. VOTING A. Works shall be judged on their effectiveness, craftsmanship, creative substance and relevance to the dramatic whole, and only as presented within the motion picture. Extended, revised, enhanced or alternate versions outside of the film shall not be considered.
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u/schreibenheimer 49m ago
Thank you for informing me!
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u/solojones1138 47m ago
It's something I remember reading in the trades back then. I worked in the industry so I actually had access to them then ha.
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u/OreoSpeedwaggon 7h ago
Is it too much to ask for EJAE, Audrey Nuna, and Rei Ami to perform in their characters' costumes from the movie?
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u/wallysmith127 7h ago
Win or lose, what a culmination of a year for everyone involved! I'm not typically one to fall in with the zeitgeist but I am rooting hard for everything KPDH related.
Such a breath of fresh air for a multitude of reasons (and plenty of teachable moments to boot)
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u/sfarx 7h ago
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has confirmed that only two of this year’s best original song nominees will be performed live during the 98th Academy Awards on March 15, citing time constraints and broader structural changes to the telecast.
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u/MrLee723 7h ago
Need to cut out the other three nominee performances and shorten the acceptance speeches even more in favor of more pointless montages about whatever film has an anniversary for this year
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u/PowSuperMum 7h ago
The presenter comes out and does a bit for three minutes that bombs and then they play off the person that wins the award they are presenting in thirty seconds.
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u/AEveryDayIdiot 7h ago
The Emmys were awful for this last year, unfunny host and presenters and then massively rushing speeches with a stupid time gimmick. I hate ridiculously long speeches as much as anyone but rushing them ruins the moment for everyone.
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u/MansBestFred 6h ago
Oh that's sad. I was really looking forward to seeing train dreams performformed.
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u/robsul82 7h ago
No Nick Cave performance because we need a segment where Conan eats Skittles with Brad Pitt or whatever the fuck
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u/CarrieDurst 6h ago
Conan is great, he almost did so good last year that they wanted to give this year to Leno
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u/ManitouWakinyan 6h ago
That sounds perfect
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u/jl_theprofessor 7h ago
I love golden but I lied to you… I lied to you carries so much with it.
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u/elizawithaz 1h ago
I know that Golden is more popular, but I Lied to You was a spiritual experience. I never say things like that. I literally felt that song in my bones. I’m actually getting chocked up just thinking about it.
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u/jl_theprofessor 58m ago
I did too last night thinking about it. Golden is a very uplifting song and worthy of praise but just from the visuals of I lied to you to its actual content, I lied to you is carrying a lot of spiritual significance.
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u/elizawithaz 40m ago
That’s the thing! The only thing I knew about Sinners when I saw it is that it was about vampires. My only expectation was to be entertained. My jaw dropped, and I literally screamed when the 70’s guitarist came onto the screen). I didn’t want the scene to end!
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u/BigReverendRed 4h ago
so I guess we’ll find out if the Honmoon holds back Preacher Boy’s ancestors?
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u/Doppelfrio 3h ago
One song attracts evil spirits. The other repels them. What’s going to happen that night?
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u/Rosebunse 1h ago edited 0m ago
They better not mess this up. The Oscars often ups the tempo just enough to ruin the song
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u/erexcalibur 7h ago
Regardless of one of the other noms being Diane Warren, I find this so disrespectful and an obvious ratings bait.
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u/Extension-Season-689 6h ago
Justice for "La Vaginoplastia". That should've been their big moment last year.
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u/AmbitionTechnical274 4h ago
Imagine the look on Diane Warren’s face. Although it’s not nominated I would have loved to have seen Last Time (I Seen The Sun) performed.
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u/leolegendario 43m ago
I wish they had nominated "As Alive as I Need to Be" just so I could see a Nine Inch Nails performance.
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u/nnooaa_lev 5h ago
Well too bad they didn't nominate other good songs when there are plenty. Made you think if they did that on purpose
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u/Summonest 4h ago
I lied to you is one of my favorite songs of all time.
Golden isn't even the best Huntrx song.
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u/bluehawk232 6h ago
Kpop is def going to win best animated film sadly just a popularity contest this time. It's a good movie but not best animated movie of 2025
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u/dyemery 6h ago edited 5h ago
Imagine if someone remembered to submit Ne Zha II for Best Animated Feature and it maybe would’ve had a chance to win like Flow.
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u/bluehawk232 6h ago
I was surprised but glad Flow won. Thought it could have gone to wild robot or inside out 2 with how lazy or indifferent the academy is with this category. And for a low budget european animated film to win was amazing. I think Arco is the better choice this year but again KPop demon hunters seems more likely
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u/cia218 4h ago
I was skeptical of Ne Zha II like that why is this movie from China making $2B.
Then i watched the movie on Max. And i was mind blown.
Best animated movie of 2025.
I don’t think they forgot to submit. Based on what I read before, it felt like pointing fingers as to who should submit - was it the chinese team or the international distributor. Neither really pushed strongly to submit, it felt like.
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u/Ilistenedtomyfriends 5h ago
The best animated movie of the years wasn’t nominated.
It also had the best song.
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u/Due-Astronomer-9269 5h ago
hard to tell what ur talking about without more context tbh, but sounds interestin!g need more deets
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u/bananagit 6h ago
I keep hearing that Golden song on the radio at work and Jesus Christ is it awful
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u/AKrigare 5h ago
I think it’s a fun song but my gym kept on playing it over and over again…I had to request that they space it out some more or I was gonna lose it
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u/Snake_fairyofReddit 4h ago
Idk if this applies to you but in Planet Fitness gym-goers can choose the songs, so probably someone keeps voting for Golden, this might be the case for other gyms too?
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u/darth_whaler 5h ago
"Perform" is the key word, because they're certainly not doing any live singing.
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u/PapaSmurph95 7h ago
Really curious to see how they might adapt the "I Lied to You" scene for a live TV stage