Pop’s biggest names Beyonce, Jay-Z, and Ariana Grande are all in the running for the best original song Oscar as the Academy unveiled its annual shortlists Tuesday ahead of the formal nominations.
Pop superstar Beyonce’s ballad “Be Alive” — penned for the tennis biopic King Richard, about the father of Serena and Venus Williams (played by Will Smith) — was on a list of 15 tracks, which will be whittled down to a final five before March’s Oscars.
She will compete against her husband Jay-Z, who produced Netflix Western The Harder They Fall, and teamed up with Kid Cudi for the movie’s track “Guns Go Bang.”
Grande appears in satire Don’t Look Up, in which her pop star character sings “Just Look Up” to implore the public to take seriously the impending threat of a comet plummeting towards Earth.
Billie Eilish’s 007 theme song No Time To Die also made the list. So did “Dos Oruguitas” from Disney’s animated film Encanto, a song composed by Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, who only needs an Oscar to complete the coveted EGOT collection of awards — Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony.
The final list of Oscar nominations will be revealed on Feb. 8, and the awards will be handed out on March 27.