A Conversation With 2022 Oscar® Nominated Songwriters For Best Original Song is an annual virtual event, and this one was co-hosted and moderated by legendary songwriters; SHOF inductee and Chairman NILE RODGERS and SHOF inductee & Best Original Song Academy Award Winner PAUL WILLIAMS. It was available for free viewing until March 31. The SHOF is grateful for the support and participation of everyone including the major hit songwriters listed above and below, as well as Costa Communications who produced and made the event happen.
If you missed it, here are a few highlights and singular quotes from the program:
DIXSON
Be Alive from King Richard
DIXSON: "The song incorporates several of the film’s themes: Black pride, family pride, pride in accomplishment. The lyrics are super-important to this record…I know what it’s like to fight for what you love. I think that’s a universal message. Obviously, there are some pointed things that are aimed at the themes of the film, but others are universal — if you work hard, you get results."
BILLIE EILISH & FINNEAS O'CONNELL
No Time To Die from No Time To Die
Finneas O’Connell: "Over the years we always were thinking, 'Oh man, wouldn’t it be a treat to get to write a Bond theme?'”
Billie Eilish: "[We always thought] people who get to make Bond songs are the coolest people in the world. That’s the coolest thing you could possibly get to do. I never ever thought it would be a possibility, like not in a million years. I just dreamed of it. We would tell our team all the time if there’s ever another Bond movie, please tell them we really would like to at least try."
LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA
Dos Oruguitas from Encanto
Lin-Manuel Miranda: "My job is to raise my hand and let this room of animators and incredibly creative people know what music can do. Like, 'Here’s what I think these songs can cover.' It’s been fascinating to watch people’s reactions to it and it’s the best example of what I think art can do, which is engender empathy."
SHOF Inductee VAN MORRISON
Down To Joy from Belfast
Van Morrison: "The first phone call, [director] Ken [Branagh] called me and explained it was his story… he sent me the script. I’m from East Belfast, he’s from North Belfast, so I drove to the area he grew up in and I remembered my recollections from that particular area where I had friends there way back. So, basically, a combination of the script and my recollections of that particular area."
SHOF Inductee DIANE WARREN
Somehow You Do from Four Good Days
Diane Warren: "Not a lot of people saw this movie, but it’s a great movie — and the song has a powerful message. The nomination itself is such a giant win because [we were competing with] the biggest artists and the biggest movies — and here’s my little movie and my song. It’s like the little engine that could, and that’s always the sweetest. The title is “Somehow You Do.” Well, somehow it did."
Congratulations to Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell who won the Oscar® for Best Song at the March 27 Academy Awards!
