2023 Oscar Predictions: ORIGINAL SONG (November)

As with original scores, the Hollywood Music in Media Awards (HMMA), the first music-centered guild of the season, has revealed its winners for original songs in feature films (and television and mor) where Rihanna’s “Lift Me Up” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever came out on top of the main feature category. Last year’s winner here, Billie Eilish and Finneas’s eponoymous “No Time to Die,” also went on to win the Oscar for Original Song.

In the genre categories, HMMA wins went to “Ciao Papa” from Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (Animated), “Applause” from Tell It Like a Woman (Independent) and “Ready As I’ll Never Be” from The Return of Tanya Tucker – Featuring Brandi Carlile (Documentary). Billy Eichner’s performance of the song “Love Is Not Love” from his movie Bros, which he co-wrote with Marc Shaiman, won Best Onscreen Performance.

On December 21 we’ll have the 15 finalists in this category when the Oscar shortlists drop (we’ll have a full eligibility list before that) and then the very next day the Society of Composers & Lyricists (SCL) will announce their nominations.

Here are my 2023 Oscar predictions in Original Song for November.

Green – moves up ↑ Red – moves down ↓ Blue – new entry ♦

1. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever – “Lift Me Up” (Walt Disney/Marvel Studios) ↑ – HMMA
2. Top Gun: Maverick – “Hold My Hand” (Paramount Pictures) ↓ – HMMA
3. RRR – “Naatu Naatu” (Variance Films) ↓
4. Turning Red – “Nobody Like U” (Walt Disney/Pixar) – HMMA
5. Tell It Like a Woman – “Applause” (Samuel Goldwyn Films) – HMMA

6. Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio – “Ciao Papa” (Netflix) – HMMA
7. Till – “Stand Up” (UAR/Orion Pictures) ↓ – HMMA
8. The Return of Tanya Tucker – Featuring Brandi Carlile – “Ready As I’ll Never Be” (Sony Pictures Classics) ↑ – HMMA
9. Where the Crawdads Sing – “Carolina” (Columbia Pictures) ↓ – HMMA
10. The Automat – “At the Automat” (A Slice of Pie Productions) – HMMA
11. The Woman King – “Keep Rising” (Sony/TriStar) ↓
12. White Noise – “New Body Rhumba” (Netflix) – HMMA
13. Everything Everywhere All At Once – “This is a Life” (A24) ↓ – HMMA
14. Wildcat – “A Sky I’ve Never Seen” (Amazon Studios)
15. Bones and All – “(You Made Me Feel Like) Home” (MGM/UAR)

Other contenders (alphabetical)

Avatar: The Way of Water – “Song Chord” (20th Century Studios) – HMMA
The Bad Guys – “Good Tonight” (Dreamworks Animation/Universal Pictures)
The Bob’s Burgers Movie – “Lucky You” (20th Century Studios)
The Bob’s Burgers Movie – “Sunny Side Up Summer” (20th Century Studios) – HMMA
Bodies Bodies Bodies – “Alice” (A24)
Bros – “Love Is Not Love” (Universal Pictures) – HMMA
Devotion – “Not Alone” (Sony Pictures)
Don’t Worry Darling – “With You All the Time” (Warner Bros)
Elvis – “Vegas” (Warner Bros) – if eligible
A Jazzman’s Blues – “Paper Airplanes” (Netflix)
Let it Be Me – “Feels Like Me” (Greenwich Entertainment)
Lyle, Lyle Crocodile – “Carried Away” (Sony Pictures)
Lyle Lyle Crocodile – “Heartbeat” (Sony Pictures)
A Man Called Otto – “Till You’re Home” (Sony Pictures) – HMMA
Marry Me – “On My Way (Marry Me)” (Universal Pictures)
My Father’s Dragon – “Lift Your Wings” (Netflix) – HMMA
Minions: Rise of Gru – “Turn Up the Sunshine” (Universal Pictures) – HMMA
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish – “La Vida es una” (Universal Pictures/Dreamworks Animation)
RRR – “Dosti” (Variance Films)
Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me – “My Mind & Me” (Apple Original Films)
Spirited – “Do a Little Good” (Apple Original Films) – HMMA
Top Gun: Maverick – “I Ain’t Worried” (Paramount Pictures) – if eligible
The Voice of Dust and Ash – “Dust & Ash” (Matilda Productions) – HMMA

Photo: Jessica Young/Sony Pictures Classics