2025 Oscars: Best Original Song Predictions

Though no Best Original Song contenders have crossed into the cultural zeitgeist yet, 2024 has been a very musical year.

Nominations voting is from January 8-12, 2025, with official Oscar nominations announced January 17, 2025. Final voting is February 11-18, 2025. And finally, the 97th Oscars telecast will be broadcast on Sunday, March 2 and air live on ABC at 7:00 p.m. ET/ 4:00 p.m. PT. We update our picks through awards season, so keep checking IndieWire for all our 2025 Oscar predictions.

The State of the Race

While there have not been any Best Original Song contenders this year to enter the cultural zeitgeist the same way a few songs from the “Barbie” soundtrack did last year, there are plenty of notable artists putting their hat in the ring for a music Oscar.

We would be remiss to not mention Lady Gaga, a previous winner in the category, who is back with “Folie à Deux” from her film “Joker: Folie à Deux,” a jukebox musical that sees the performer run through various standards as Harley Quinn. Though she is likely to get on the shortlist, as it is a treat whenever she enters the world of cinema, the musical aspect of the film actually works against her, with many people who have already seen the film saying they thought “Folie à Deux” was just another old pop song they did not know the name of.

One could argue that Robbie Williams has a similar issue with his jukebox musical biopic “Better Man,” featuring his new song “Forbidden Road.” If one is not familiar with the music of the former Take That member, who was a megastar in the United Kingdom but never reached the same heights across the pond, they may once again think the track is just a deep cut. But a few years ago Elton John won for his original song in “Rocketman,” so that is the main precedent that makes Williams a contender to watch out for.

Right now, within the awards circuit, the favorite of many is “Harper and Will Go West” from the Netflix documentary “Will & Harper.” Although it plays over the credits, which can be a knock on any song submitting in this category, the track is a subplot throughout the film, with subjects Will Ferrell and Harper Steele challenging their friend and fellow “Saturday Night Live” alum Kristen Wiig to write a theme song to their road trip that follows very specific guidelines. Written with the director Josh Greenbaum and songwriter Sean Douglas (Michael Keaton’s son who won a Grammy for his work with Lizzo), the song will likely delight Oscar voters.

Animation is always a big factor in the Best Original Song race as well, and while Disney has yet to preview the heavy hitters sure to come from holiday releases “Moana 2” and “Mufasa: The Lion King,” hitmaker Pharell Williams already has “Double Life,” the new song that marked his return to composing music for the “Despicable Me” franchise, and “Piece by Piece,” the titular track from the Focus Features documentary about his life, animated by LEGO. There is also “Kiss the Sky,” performed and co-written by Maren Morris, which soundtracks a key scene in “The Wild Robot,” currently a big hit for Universal.

Lastly, this being such a musical-heavy year, the film to watch out for, that is already vying for multiple nominations is “Emilia Pérez,” which was a huge, award-winning hit at Cannes and the fall film festivals, with music written by French duo Camille and Clement Ducol.

Contenders for the shortlist of 15 are listed in alphabetical order below. No song will be deemed a frontrunner until we have seen the film.

Frontrunners:
“Like a Bird”— Abraham Alexander, Brandon Marcel, and Adrian Quesada (“Sing Sing”)
“El Mal”— Jacques Audiard, Camille, and Clement Ducol (“Emilia Pérez”)
“Sick In The Head”— Móglaí Bap, Mo Chara, DJ Próvaí, Adrian Louis Richard Mcleod, and Toddla T (“Kneecap”)
“Bricks”— Jherek Bischoff and Andra Day (“Exhibiting Forgiveness”)
“Vaster Than Empires”— William Burroughs, Trent Reznor, and Atticus Ross (“Queer”)
“Mi Camino”— Camille and Clement Ducol (“Emilia Pérez”)
“Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma”— Luke Combs, Chip Matthews, and Jonathan Singleton (“Twisters”)
“Kiss The Sky”— Delacey, Jordan K. Johnson, Stefan Johnson, Maren Morris, Michael Pollack, and Ali Tamposi (“The Wild Robot”)
“Release”— Dot Da Genius, Elijah Fox, and Saleka (“Trap”)
“Harper and Will Go West”— Sean Douglas, Josh Greenbaum, and Kristen Wiig, (“Will and Harper”)
“Folie à Deux”— Lady Gaga (“Joker: Folie à Deux”)
“Compress/Repress”— Luca Guadagnino, Trent Reznor, and Atticus Ross (“Challengers”)
“Under the Tree”— Ed Sheeran (“That Christmas”)
“Forbidden Road”— Sacha Skarbek, Freddy Wexler, and Robbie Williams (“Better Man”)
“Piece by Piece”— Pharrell Williams (“Piece by Piece”)

Contenders:
“Ezra”— Adrienne Ackerman (“Ezra”)
“Huele a Fraude”— Stefa Marin Alarcon, Robert Ouyang Rusli, and Julio Torres (“Problemista”)
“Not My Fault”— Alexander 23, Nell Benjamin, Jasper Harris, Megan Thee Stallion, Reneé Rapp, Jeff Richmond, Ryan Tedder, and Billy Walsh (“Mean Girls”)
“Winter Coat”— Nicholas Britell, Steve McQueen, and Taura Stinson (“Blitz”)
“Stop Talking”— Joshua Cain, Jesse Johnson, Justin Pierre, Matthew Taylor, and Tony Thaxton (“Dìdi”)
“Beautiful That Way”— Miley Cyrus, Lykke Li, and Andrew Wyatt (“The Last Showgirl”)
“Claw Machine”— Haley Dahl (“I Saw the TV Glow”)
“Even When I’m Not”— Delacey, Jordan K. Johnson, Stefan Johnson, Michael Pollack, Ali Tamposi, and Isaiah Tejada (“The Wild Robot”)
“The Idea of You”— Carl Falk, Savan Kotecha, and Albin Nedler (“The Idea of You”)
“Why I’m Here”— Samara Joy and P.J. Morton (“Shirley”)
“The Creatures of Nature”—Josh Lambert, Yvonne Lambert, Toto Miranda, and David Zellner (“Sasquatch Sunset”)
“If I Fall”— Nicholas James McGuinn, Quavo, Ty Dolla $ign, and Brian Tyler (“Transformers One”)
“The Journey”— Diane Warren (“The Six Triple Eight”)
“Starburned and Unkissed”— A. G. Cook and Caroline Polachek (“I Saw the TV Glow”)
“Double Life”— Pharrell Williams (“Despicable Me 4”)