We've heard news that Peaches, Bowser's song from 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:The Super Mario Bros. Movie, is 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:eligible for an Oscar. And by 'heard news', I mean 'have a general understanding of how things work'. In order to be eligible for the Oscar for Best Original Song, you just need to be a song in a movie, written for that movie. That's kind of it. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:The Super Mario Bros. Movie is also eligible for Best Picture, Best Animated Feature, and Best Adapted Screenplay, among others. It won't win any of those either. I don't mean to burst anyone's bubble, but being eligible just means it is allowed to be voted for. It means almost nothing, and Peaches is not an Oscar-worthy song.
Official rules state "an original song consists of words and music, both of which are original and written specifically for the motion picture. There must be a clearly audible, intelligible, substantive rendition (not necessarily visually presented) of both lyric and melody, used in the body of the motion picture or as the first music cue in the end credits", which Peaches qualifies for, but that's a low bar. Any song written for a movie with music and lyrics that is used in the movie anywhere, including at the start of the end credits. So, most songs. I get that not everyone knows how the Oscars work, but being eligible just means it is a song in the movie, which you know anyway.
There are occasionally circumstances which prohibit specific songs, but Peaches was unlikely to fall foul of them. Last year, Doja Cat's Vegas, used in Elvis, was cut from the ballot because it sampled Elvis Presley's own music too much to be considered original. Miley Cyrus' The Climb was nominated for the Grammy's version of this category after the release of Hannah Montana: The Movie, but withdrew when it emerged it had been written for Cyrus' EP The Time of Our Lives, not the film itself. Peaches has no samples, is sung in full on screen, and is specifically about one of the central characters. Of course it is eligible.
This is not another episode in the latest critics versus fans war over The Super Mario Bros. Movie. I liked the film, gave it a good review (one certified 'Fresh', despite the overall average), and I'm glad it's doing so well. I started a campaign for 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Bowsette in the sequel and already have both Charlie Day and, more enthusiastically, Chris Pratt on my side. It's a decent, enjoyable movie. But Peaches feels like a forced inclusion, either a ghost of the original cut that was rumoured to be a musical, or an excuse for Jack Black's Tenacious D-fuelled pipes to get a more family friendly outing. It's just not that good.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie has a strange attitude to music. I appreciated the odd tone shift of No Sleep 'Till Brooklyn as Mario and Luigi run through the streets to reach their plumbing job, but using Take On Me instead of any actual Mario music during the Mario Kart section was a weird choice. Peaches is the only original song in a movie with a little too much music, and Jack Black's popularity, combined with the song being released on YouTube have made it into a bigger phenomenon than I would have expected. But both musically and in terms of general popularity, it falls short of both Frozen's Let it Go and Encanto's We Don't Talk About Bruno, the latter of which wasn't even nominated.
This is a tough category to be nominated in. Last year, Billie Eilish & Finneas (the current holders) and Taylor Swift had songs that missed out. Lady Gaga and Rihanna were both nominated, and both lost. The year before, The National were snubbed. Lin-Manuel Miranda will have new songs in The Little Mermaid, Dua Lipa will likely have a song in Barbie or Argylle (maybe both), Diane Warren (nominated last year, her 14th time, the most without a win) is an early front-runner after 80 For Brady, Paul McCartney and Lady Gaga are rumoured to have co-written a song for High in the Clouds. The Color Purple musical will likely add an original song aiming for this category, as stage adaptations tend to. Bruce Springsteen's Addicted To Romance in She Came To Me is also generating buzz.
Jack Black saying the word 'Peaches' over and over again in a funny singing voice will not be nominated. Enjoy the movie. But it will not.