Good news, bathroom break fans: All five Best Song nominees will be played at this year's Oscars
Having finally found at least one topic that they were getting yelled at for that’s actually relatively easy to fix—for once—the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences announced tonight that it’s invited all five of this year’s nominees for Best Song to be played at this year’s Oscars broadcast. Rumors had persisted over the last few weeks that only Lady Gaga’s “Shallow” and Kendrick Lamar’s “All The Stars” would get their time to shine, so this is a big break for all the Poppins-heads out there in the Academy Award audience.
Those planning to use the Best Song performances as unofficial bathroom breaks should be careful, though: Per Variety, each song will run in a condensed 90-second version, so you’re going to want to start moving for the toilet as soon as the spotlight hits. (The lack of a host might make the distinction a little difficult to catch, as it is.) As for the performances themselves, the Academy confirmed that Jennifer Hudson will sing her song “I’ll Fight,” from RBG, while a “surprise special guest” will handle Mary Poppins Returns’ “The Place Where Lost Things Go.” (No word, meanwhile, on “When A Cowboy Trades His Spurs For Wings” from The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs.)
Variety notes that, up until recently, most of this year’s performers were apparently being told there wouldn’t be time for them; only the two that managed some serious musical attention outside their individual films were being offered the Oscars spot. It’s also not clear if Gaga or Lamar will actually be up on stage performing their hits; Hudson’s the only performer who’s been confirmed to be playing at the February 24 show, at least so far.