NPR Music - All Songs Considered: Cruelly ranking the best original song Oscar nominees

Episode Date: March 10, 2026

Will this finally be Diane Warren’s year at the Oscars, when she goes up against “Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters and “I Lied to You” from Sinners? (Probably not.)Host Robin Hilton is joined by New Music Friday’s Stephen Thompson to cruelly rank those nominees along with “Train Dreams” from Train Dreams and “Sweet Dreams of Joy” from Viva Verdi!.(00:00) Intro(02:37) Fifth place(08:45) Fourth place(16:55) Third place(24:25) Second place(33:31) First place and our pick to win the OscarSupport the show with a review on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. And tell a friend!Questions, comments, suggestions or feedback of any kind always welcome: [e-mail] pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

This episode of All Songs Considered comes to you from the NPR Music Podcast, where you will also find New Music Friday every Friday with your host, Stephen Thompson. Hello, Robin. Stephen, you're also a host for Pop Culture Happy Hour. You report on the Billboard charts. I was going to try to promote some of your stuff. I was like, you really actually do quite a lot. It's alarming.

I thought this guy was, like, didn't actually work here. Yeah. Every day I'm like, how is he still here? Does he get a check? Are we paying? him for this. You've also been known to write the occasional feature for NPR, including one that you have been doing for a number of years now. Every year around this time of year, you have been ranking the best song nominees for the Oscars. Yeah, I've been doing this since 2019. Every

single year that I have written this feature, Diane Warren has been nominated. I think she's on her ninth year in a row now. She is on her ninth year and a row. She is on her ninth year and Roe being nominated from her total 17 nominations. It's mind-boggling. It's mind-boggling. It would be, in a way, it would be more mind-boggling if most of the songs were any good. We're going to get into on this episode, because that's what we're going to do. We're going to, in your own words, cruelly, cruelly, cruelly rank the best song nominees for this year's Oscars.

What is it? What's your criteria? Is this like, do you rank these bass? on just the quality of the song or what you think the chances are that it's going to win? It's definitely never based on odds of victory, though usually at some point in the article I will say, like, expect this one to win. You know, this is the odds on favorite or whatever, but I'm really trying to rank them just in order of quality. And I actually think this is a pretty good crop of songs. Oh, yeah, certainly compared to last year. Yeah. Last year was, I thought,

an unusually weak batch. This is an unusually strong batch. I'm going to just let you rank these and, you know, I'll defer to you. I think we're probably going to be mostly in agreement here, but let me just, I'll quickly say what the nominees are and then we'll just start with number five and work backwards. You mentioned Diane Warren. Her song, Dear Me, from the Relentless, the Relentless documentary, Diane Warren, colonel relentless. That's the name of the documentary. I lied to you from sinners, Sweet Dreams of Joy from Viva Verdi, that documentary, Golden from K-pop Demon Hunters,

and then Train Dreams from the film Train Dreams. What do you got to number five? It is the song, Dear Me, from the documentary, Diane Warren, Colin Relentless, performed by Kesha. If I could write a note to my youngest soul, here's what I'd say. Everything you're feeling now, Won't always keep you down

That'll be a better day Dear to me Don't worry about it You're gonna be all right You'll see You'll see It's gonna be all right Oh

The pain is all gonna fade Think you can't do it But you're gonna get through this. I'll get better soon. You, dear me, I know you feel like nobody understands what you're going through. You just want to run and hide

everyday feeling like the whole world's against you. Dear Nick is better. You're gonna be just fine. See you'll see. I'd say to you. It is staggering. It is staggering the number of songs she's had nominated. 17.

17. And she's never won. No, she is never won. And I will say, in Diane Warren's defense, I think Diane Warren should have won two Academy Awards. All right, let's hear it, because I have won. Okay. I think she should have won twice and been nominated roughly five times.

Okay. I think I don't want to miss a thing. Should have won over when you believe. from Prince of Egypt in the late 90s, I think her song with Lady Gaga, till it happens to you, should have won over the Sam Smith, James Bond song.

That was 2016. That's the one that I had down. I thought, of all of the years, that's the one. If you had to pick one. It was the strongest song in that field. It was the most heartfelt song in the field. It was the song that had the most to say in the field.

Incredible performance during the ceremony, too. Incredible performance by Lady Gaga. It is a great song. The problem is this particular run that Diane Warren has been on ever since. since, the songs feel extremely generic. This is my biggest problem. She's been writing the same song for like 40 years.

I'm not dismissing the themes of the songs. They're important. They resonate with people. But it's always we're going to get through this. We're stronger. It's, I'm standing with you. I'll rise. A lot of them are like, I will prevail over the obstacle that I face.

And very often, the lyrics, you know, are not much more insightful than you would find on the nearest throw pillow. I will say this. I'm not a big fan of many of her songs, but I became a fan of her after I watched that documentary. I, I, I, she's a pistol. She really, I really, she won me over. She, she, that's one word for her. She's, she is relentless. But, you know, all the stuff about her childhood and her relationship with her parents, particularly her mom, that really kind of broke my heart. And I came away from that documentary, not liking her music anymore than I already did, but liking her a whole lot more. I did find it illuminating as somebody who ends up having to write about her at this time every

single year. I appreciated seeing the movie and kind of getting that perspective on it. But listening to these songs in a vacuum, this is the fifth best out of five. So, Dear Me, from Diane Warren, in at number five, what do you have at number four? Well, now we're getting into songs I really like. It really does start getting more difficult. Like these next couple and then the next couple. Exactly. They're in tears. What three or four are going to be?

And then one or two are going to be is where we might have some disagreement. Exactly. These are in tears. And I don't think there's necessarily a wrong answer if you're ranking between three and four. I think these are both solid songs. The song I went with at number four is the song, Train Dreams, from Train Dreams, performed by Nick Cave and Bryce Destner. I've seen a grizzly big as a house. walk across an open plane

heard of a boy called Elvis something his voice could drive young girls insane I've seen a man from a mile away shoot a bobcat through the brain but lately I've been having dreams crazy dreams I can't explain a woman standing in the field of flowers Screaming locomotive train

Crazy dreams I go on for hours And I can't begin to tell you how that feels I've seen an help with twisted antloos Throw bright lightning cross the sky Seen a man with a broken curse A leap from a bridge and tried to fly And I've seen a boy who was a dog

Who became a man for kids got to die. Lately I've been having dreams. Crazy dreams I can't explain. A woman standing in a field of flowers and screaming a locomotive train. Crazy dreams are going for hours and I can't begin to tell you how that space that connects me where I am now to the place where I'll one day be. It's measured in the words that we speak

And the strange and wondrous things I've seen It's measured in truth It's measured in love Measureed in a tendency to pains Measured by a girl in a field of flowers Screaming dream of a midnight train This has been going on for years Years and years and years and years

And years and years I can begin to tell you how. So I had this one at number three. Sure. Myself. I actually went back and forth. Did you? I switched them back and forth.

Okay. Is number three for you, Viva Verdi? Yes. Yeah, yeah. So I had these two flipped. But, well, you make your case, and I'll tell you what I think. One of the criteria that I use when I'm ranking the songs is how is the song incorporated into the movie. And this song, absolutely, this is a closing credits song.

And that sometimes, you know, provides a little bit of a strike against something as far as the purpose. of ranking. I do appreciate about this song that it is directly expounding on the themes of the film. This is a song that is clearly written in concert with the film and the filmmaker. This is a movie that is about a life in total. It is about visions of death and kind of an accumulation of a mix of kind of traumas and wonders. And the song is about all of those things and really speaks directly to those things. Bryce Dessner gives it this kind of gorgeous, very Bryce-desnery arrangement.

Nick Cave, who certainly has an extremely large amount of gravitas as a singer, as a performer, as a lyricist, somebody who has also lived a life full of trauma and wonder, invests the song with a lot of, like I said, gravitas. And I think it works very well. The only thing that ticked it from number three to number four for me is that it is not incorporated into the... Interesting.

You're dinging it for that, because it is the only one that is just a true... Kind of almost recitation of what happens in the film. Here's the end of the film. It's the credit sequence, so we need a song.

So they go to Nick Cave and say, well, you write us a song about the movie that we can tack on in the end. I get that. But I guess if the whole point of having a song like that at the end of a movie is to sort of send you

out of the theater in a certain headspace. I mean, I would assume the movie has done that, but if you need this song at the end, like, here's how you should feel. I think you couldn't have gotten anybody better for this, the Nick Cave, his voice is perfect for it, it's earthy, it's kind of, it's oaky.

It's like, you know, it's like, it's full of whiskey and age and time. And that's sort of what the movie is. It follows this guy, you mentioned some of the themes, one of the other themes is just the vastness of time because you follow him from his childhood in the 1800s all the way into old age.

I think he lives to be in his 80. Into the 1960s. Into the 1960s. And to me, this was a stronger song than what you have. Yeah, I mean, I've really gone back and forth. And as we're discussing, and I'm like, maybe I should put it at number three. Because it is a strong song.

And I will say, I mean, you saw Train Dreams, the film as well. I think it's a beautiful film. and it is a film that perfectly nails its final frame. Yeah. The final frame of the film. Can we? Is this a...

I don't think... There's no reason to spoil it. Okay. I mean, it's not a plot point. It is just a perfect image to sum up that moment. And then you get, in that final frame, you are then kind of drifting into the song. That is the perfect way to experience this song. And I think the power of this song is greater coming out.

out of that scene than it is as a freestanding video on YouTube. So Train Dreams by Nick Cave. From the film, Trained Dreams, you've got that at number four. All right, we're cruelly ranking the best song nominees for the Oscars this year, Stephen Thompson here. We've done, let's see, at number five, we had Diane Warren's song, Dear Me, and then at number four, you had Trained Dreams by Nick Cave and Bryce Desner. So that means at number three, you've got Sweet Dreams of George.

from Viva Verdi. So this is definitely the most left field. So left field. Entry in this category. A plus for something totally different. And honestly, like, I was impressed because, you know, they release a shortlist of the 15 kind of candidates for nomination

a while before the nominations come out. And so you can see what songs are eligible for nomination. There are 15 of those songs. And when I was looking over that list, this was the one where I was like, well, there's absolutely no way that's getting nominated. Right. And then it was.

And I'm really glad that it was. I mean, Viva Verdi, the film itself is this very, very slight documentary about a retirement home for musicians in Italy, founded by the composer Giuseppe Verdi, who died in 1901. And he, you know, he wanted to create a place where retired musicians could kind of live, you know, without having to worry about anything and could mentor young artists. and the film itself, I don't know if the film contains enough insight to support a feature film. I think it might have worked better as a documentary short. But the song in question, which is excerpted about halfway through the film, is an operatic piece composed by Nicholas Pike and performed by Anna Maria Martinez. And it is this kind of lovely freestanding piece that gives you a sense of the emotion and depth

and grace of what a piece like this can do. It is a very uplifting piece. It is called Sweet Dreams of Joy. Yeah. I think lyrically, it's maybe a little cloying, but musically, it is really grand and sweeping and beautiful. And I think the story of this film is kind of interesting because the song, this song in question,

was released in 2017. Yeah. That's how long they've been working on the film. Because it is absolutely eligible for an Academy Award. It was written for this film. but this movie was largely made so long ago that most of its subjects have died. Yeah. And so this film is finally coming out.

It's finally come out. You can stream it on a streaming service called Jolt. Yeah. Which is like, are we just naming streaming services after energy drinks from the 90s? Well, there is prime. You can watch it on. You can watch it on surge plus. But, you know, it is a very little scene film, and it is a very little heard song.

If you go to YouTube and kind of click on the videos for each of these songs, you know, how many times has the video for Golden from K-pop Demon Hunters been viewed on YouTube versus how many times has the video for Sweet Dreams of Joy? I know. It is like low five figures if you combine all of the YouTube videos of this song. Well, again, sort of like comparing it to the Diane Warren when you got Golden in the mix, it's just not a fair competition. But everything that you said and just that I, I, I,

I love, I actually don't find it terribly cloy. And I, I, I, to me, it's like, again, it's more of a mood piece. They do sing at one point, time slipping by in a flow of desire, reawaken. But more than anything, though, it's really capturing just the awe and wonder that you might feel an old age if you're a lucky, lucky enough to. Yeah, if you have lived, if you have lived a full life. Right. Yeah. It absolutely is a song where you take it, when you take it in the context of the film, it accumulates more power, literally.

Absolutely. Absolutely. And I did just find, like, man, that song absolutely worked on me. It created that kind of swell of wonder and joy that you would want a piece of music in this context to bring out. Some great little bits of wisdom in this film that I wrote down as I was watching it. Life is a maze in which you must not lose yourself. Life is amazing which you must not lose yourself. I love that. Like, it's not a road. It's a maze, right? Here's another one I wrote. down. If you keep your mind busy, the body will follow. Yeah. We are old, but the music inside us is young. So you had it at number three, which brings us to... Now we're taking a gigantic leap. Huge leap here. And I have given this so much thought. And I'm betting that you and I don't agree on these two. I bet you're right. Okay. So you tell me what you think is number two. So what I went with at number two, and I agonized over this because I love not only both of these songs, but both of these films. At number two, and I will explain myself, at number two, is I lied to you

from sinners, performed by Miles Caten, written by Raphael Sadeek and Ludwig Gorenson. Something I've been going to tell you for a long time. It might hurt you, hope you don't lose your mind. Well, I was just a boy, about eight years old. you threw me a Bible On that Mississippi wrote See, I love your papa You did all you can do And they say the truth hurts

So I lied to you Yes, I lied to you I love the book I mean to me this is just a staggering Staggering piece of music Used more brilliantly in the context of the film Than any of the other pieces in this bunch but go ahead and you tell me why you think it's number two,

and I fully acknowledge you agonized over this. I absolutely agonized over this, because my favorite scene of any movie this year and my favorite scene of any movie for the last several years is the scene in sinners in which this song plays. This song is performed at Smoke and Stacks juke joint in sinners at about midway through the film. Miles Caden is performing the song.

The song absolutely lyrically expands, on the themes of the film. He is, you know, he is a preacher's son and he's sort of talking to his father in the song. The song then spins out into this fantasia where in the film, it is incorporating not only thousands of years of music's past, but some ideas of music's future.

Yeah. And so you see tribal dances. You see this kind of futuristic, you know, Jimmy Hendricks of the year. Like P-Funk guitarist. There's breakdancing. There's a DJ. There are beats come in.

It's incredible. It is an incredible scene. The only reason I rank it at number two, first of all, I got to hear this. I'll talk about number one in a second. If you take the song and divorce it from elements of the film having less to do with the song, if you remove the song from the visuals that Ryan Cougler adds, it loses some of its luster. If you listen to the song divorced from the film. I think there is a kind of midpoint of the song where the visuals are doing most of the work.

And then the song soars visually and sonically at the end. Well, okay. So this is why I ask you. This is a minor quibble. This would blow away the field most years. This is why I ask what your criteria is. Because if you're just talking like, is this just a great song versus this song, is this also, you know, which is the better just song? Or is it how important is it to the movie?

I would argue that this song is more important to the movie than what you have at number one, Golden, is to K-pop Demon Hunters. Great song. Again, it's a real Sophie's choice for me too, but for me, what it came down to, I would have put centers at number one because it is such a critical part

of the storytelling in the movie. That movie is almost half the movie it is without that scene. That scene, to me, is what takes that movie from. This is a really great, fun popcorn movie to, oh, this movie is now blowing my mind. It is so, so, so hard to rank them. I think this is absolutely not only musically, but just cinematically,

the best moment of sinners. I don't think the movie would be only half the film it is without it, because I think there are so many other incredible scenes in that movie. I'm totally exaggerating. But I will say that when this movie came out, I was like, Oscar, it is 100% a shoeing. And then a little bit later on in the air, Then we'd get golden and we get K-pop demon hunters.

And I thought, oh, no. This, like, these two songs should not have to go up against each other at the same Oscars because it is so close. It is really unfair that one of these films didn't come out last year. I mean, one of these songs is going to win, so I am going to be thrilled. Can you imagine if this is the year? They're like, Diane Warren, it's your time. We have neglected you for far too long. This is your year.

All right. Well, so let's just go to number one. We'll talk about it and we'll hit the song and we'll let the song play us out here. So you've got Golden from K-pop Demon Hunters, number one. If you somehow have not heard the song, it is performed by E.J. Audrey Nuna and Ray Ami. And in the film, Golden is performed in the film by the fictional K-pop group Huntrix. And it is like their hot new single. We are to believe as we watch the film that this hot new single is the biggest song in the world.

that is one of the hardest asks that you could give songwriters writing a song for a movie. This song, this song that we are writing for this movie has to be seen as taking the world by storm. Well, you know what that makes me think? How many moments in movies where there's that thing that you've been imagining that they've set up and they never show it or whatever because they know like, it doesn't matter. your imagination is more powerful than anything we come up. So we're just not even going to bother. And then every now and then, someone will do it. And it works.

Like the U.S. version of the film, The Ring, there's this VHS tape, right, that you can't watch or you're going to die. And the whole time I'm watching the movie, I'm like, they're never going to show that. It's a MacGuffin. It's the suitcase in Pulp Fiction. Right. Exactly. Oh, that's another great one. But they do show the video.

And holy God in heaven, it is the most horrified. Like they could not have pulled it off better. And that's so true in this case. Right. When you set the bar for yourself that high. Oh, you're making, I don't know, man, you're starting to make a case here. And then you clear it. It has been promising this song throughout the film and then the song is better than you think it's going to be.

Yeah. That is the experience of watching this movie. This movie would not be, you said, you mentioned, you said about sinners like, oh, this wouldn't be, this would be half the movie without this song. What would this movie be without the exceptionally high? quality and craftsmanship of the songs that run throughout it. Yeah, I don't know. I guess the two distinctions that I was making with Golden and I lie to you is, I lied to you, seemed more important to the story and it is an incredible song.

To me, Golden was a better performance, maybe. Sure. Like, like the vocals on it are... I mean, E.J. is a staggeringly talented singer. Insane. An insane performance on this song. But you're making a strong case. Well, and like, let's also take one more thing into consideration, and this is, this is an X factor that nobody really wants to talk about when they're choosing things to win awards.

But, I mean, both of these movies were phenomena. This soundtrack was a phenomenon, and the song, Golden, was one of the biggest hits of 2025. It absolutely blew up the charts. It was number one for eight weeks. It was a massive, massive pop cultural sensation of a variety that you don't. usually get. And let's face it, Robin, there are, these are not the only parallels between the movie sinners and the movie K-pop demon hunters. There are like weird plot echoes. That's actually true, yeah. Between these two films. I'm not the first person to point that out. And you have two

authentic cultural phenomena that like were made for these films like out of whole cloth. Well, I think Golden may be unstoppable at this point. I mean, I suspect as much. It got the Grammy. got a Golden Globe already. Is that your prediction? It is my prediction in this category. I don't want to spoil the Oscars preview that we have on Pop Culture Happy Hour dropping this Friday, where we predict,

we make all of our predictions in the major categories at this year's Oscars. But I will give you a sneak peek into that episode and say that I'm more bullish on Sinner's chances of winning major awards than some people are. I suspect that Senors is going to have a very, very good night at the Oscars.

I don't think it will win in this category. If it does, it might be a signifier of a greater sweep for that film. Well, as always, all songs considered wouldn't be possible without the help and support of Otis Harder, our deputy director at NPR Music. The executive producer for NPR Music is Siré Muhammad, and our fearless leader here at the mothership is Sonali Meta. Stephen, in addition to pop culture happy hour, you will be back with a bunch of new releases on Friday. Yeah, we'll talk about the James Blake record. We'll also have a lightning round with picks from a bunch of members of the NPR music staff.

But for the other records that we're talking about for March 13th, you're just going to have to listen to the show. A friend of mine told me when he was a kid, he had to give oral book reports. He would just read the first page or a couple pages or whatever and say, and if you want to know more, you'll just have to read the book. All right. Thanks, Stephen. Thank you, Robin. I'm Robin Hilton. It's all songs considered from NPR Music. I was alone, huh,

To-o-chin-hekis-oh-kid Given the throne, I didn't know How to believe I was If two lies try to paint Put these peck and finally live Like the girl they all see Or hiding Now be shining like I'm born