2018 OSCAR NOMINEES FOR BEST ORIGINAL SONG

It has just been announced that all five of the Best Original Song nominees will be performed live on this year’s Oscars telecast and that will include appearances by the musicians who sang them in the films. So you will see first time nominee, Sufjan Stevens, the indie rocker who will perform his beautiful, “Mystery of Love” from one of my favorite films of last year, “Call Me By Your Name”. Another first time nominee is Mary J. Blige, a r&b veteran who will bring "Mighty River" to life on the show. In addition to the nomination for this song she co-wrote, Blige also received one for her impressive acting in the film, “Mudbound”. From the bio-pic, “Marshall”, Common, a previous Oscar winner for “Glory”, his song from the 2014 Martin Luther King drama, “Selma”, will appear with Andra Day to do “Stand Up For Something”, a song he co-wrote with Diane Warren, who has received her ninth Oscar nomination for Best Song yet still hasn’t taken home the prize. Keala Settle, a musical theater actress, had her first major film role in the sleeper hit, "The Greatest Showman" and will perform what I think is the best number from this original musical, "This Is Me" which was written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, who won in this category last year for their work in "La La Land". And actor, Gael García Bernal, who sang the song in the film, and Miguel and Natalia Lafourcade, who recorded a pop version will all appear together to perform, "Remember Me" from the Disney animated film, "Coco" written by the team of Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez who took home the Oscar in 2014 for their big hit from "Frozen", "Let It Go".

This is a particularly strong year and any one of these songs would be a great selection but I'm leaning towards "Remember Me". This moving ballad was used quite effectively throughout "Coco" and even had me boo-hooing all through the ending. Here are all five nominees that you can listen to and judge for yourself:

“Mystery of Love”, Music and lyrics by Sufjan Stevens from "Call Me By Your Name"



“Remember Me”, Music and lyrics by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez from "Coco"



“This Is Me”, Music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul from "The Greatest Showman"



“Stand Up For Something”, Music by Diane Warren; lyrics by Lonnie R. Lynn and Diane Warren from "Marshall"



“Mighty River”, Music and lyrics by Mary J. Blige, Raphael Saadiq, and Taura Stinson from "Mudbound"