Love In Oklahoma? ‘Twisters’ Banger May Stand A Chance For Best Original Song At The Oscars - Awards Outlook
Photo from Luke Combs on YouTube
Awards analysis is provided by Sean from @MathTeacherMovies.
Love In Oklahoma? Twisters Banger May Stand A Chance For Best Original Song At The Oscars
Twisters was released last weekend to a great deal of Blockbuster success and these days, that’s usually enough for the film to enter the Oscars conversation. This year, Twisters does not seem to have enough wind speed to end up in any above the line categories, like Barbie or Top Gun: Maverick did last summer. However, it will definitely be on the short lists for at least Best Sound and Best Visual Effects with nominations likely in both categories. The film also could be nominated for Best Cinematography in honor of its commitment to be shot on actual film instead of digital, but that is a long shot and a category that is often paired with other awards.
There is one more award that Twisters could be eligible for and, it might be a long shot, but it seems more and more probable every day: Best Original Song for Luke Combs’ “Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma.” The song is prominently featured in the film during a memorable character introduction and has since been playing everywhere, let alone in the trailers and promotions.
The one element that stands in the way of this song getting nominated is that country songs do not typically make it into this category. This could be for numerous reasons, but most often it’s that the audience of the Academy and listeners of modern country music are often not from the same groups for reasons that range from political leanings to the movies that often are attached to said songs. However, Luke Combs is someone that has been genuinely wholesome and loved by fans both inside and outside of the country music genre. It also helps that the song is an absolute banger, especially for someone like myself who is not a fan of this style of music.
There have not been many modern country songs nominated by the Academy, but the category used to see love from a great deal of folk songs back in the seventies, including “I’m Easy” from Nashville and “Evergreen” from A Star is Born, though this is more like folk music and not the country music that we hear on the radio currently.
Other country songs that have won in this category more recently and have skirted along the line of country and folk. In 2006, Melissa Etheridge won for “I Need to Wake Up” from An Inconvenient Truth and 2009 was the clearest country music song win, with "The Weary Kind” from Crazy Heart taking home the award.
There are definitely some songs this year that will be standing in the way of “Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma,” specifically “Compress/Repress” from Challengers. That film, however, seems like it has unfortunately lost a great deal of momentum and will be tough to resurface by Oscar season. Trap also has a chance of grabbing at least one nomination as they are creating an entirely original soundtrack surrounding the fictional concert that takes place within the movie.
Elsewhere, there are several different potential songs that could be competing from various films where those songs haven’t even been confirmed yet. Even if the movie has been dubbed a jukebox musical composed mostly of covers, it is likely that Lady Gaga will be writing an original song for Joker: Folie à Deux, which will probably get Oscar attention as Gaga has shown up in this category many times before. Wicked is a musical adaptation, but like many of the ilk it will probably add an original song, which is typical of musical films. Moana 2 will likely have many original songs where Lin Manuel-Miranda will be writing to finally get the O in his EGOT. Beyoncé will also likely write a song for the Lion King prequel Mufasa much like she did for the previous The Lion King adaptation, which missed a nomination. Finally, Emilia Perez is a wildly original musical that was successful at Cannes and, while it might be too unconventional for the Academy, the Original Song category often plays outside of the boundaries of the norm.
The most prominent foe this year is 15-time Academy Award Nominee Diane Warren who has famously never won, but is nominated almost every year regardless of the popularity or quality of the movie. This year she is releasing the song “Relentless” that will go along with the documentary about her life titled Diane Warren: Relentless. While she has never won (with the exception of a non-competitive honorary Oscar), the narrative of this film being primarily about her could mean this could be her year.
Due to the scarcity of this song’s genre historically in the category, it’s a long shot for “Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma” to get an Oscar nomination, but if there was a country song to do it, it would be this one attached to a popular and beloved summer blockbuster like Twisters.