The nominations have been announced for this year's Academy Awards. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross lead the shortlist with two nominations for their scores to Mank and Soul – the latter of which was composed in collaboration with the jazz musician Jon Batiste. They have had a highly successful year, recently winning the Golden Globe for Best Original Score for their work on Soul, with another nomination for Mank.
The composing duo are joined on the Oscar nomination list by James Newton Howard for News of the World – which was also nominated for a Golden Globe – and trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard for Spike Lee's American war drama Da 5 Bloods. American composer Emile Mosseri receives his first ever Academy Award nomination for his music for Minari, a film about the American immigrant experience from the perspective of a Korean-American family that move to Arkansas.
James Newton Howard is no stranger to the Academy Awards, having scored over 100 films and received eight previous nominations, the most recent being in 2009 for Defiance. The other nominated composers this year are relatively new faces, with some of the more famous composers not receiving nominations.
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross having only been nominated once before for The Social Network in 2010, which they won. Terence Blanchard received his first Oscar nomination in 2018 for his score for BlacKkKlansman, another collaboration with director Spike Lee. As well as writing for film, Blanchard is a jazz trumpeter and composer. The Metropolitan Opera has plans to stage his opera Fire Shut Up In My Bones in its 2021-22 season, which will be the first production by a black composer staged in its history.
These five nominated scores come from a list of 15 shortlisted scores which were released earlier this year by the Academy Awards.
Nominations for the Academy Award for Best Original Score
- Da 5 Bloods Terence Blanchard
- Mank Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
- Minari Emile Mosseri
- News of the World James Newton Howard
- Soul Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and Jon Batiste
Nominations for the Academy Award for Best Original Song
- 'Fight For You' from Judas and the Black Messiah Music by H.E.R. and Dernst Emile II; Lyric by H.E.R. and Tiara Thomas
- 'Hear My Voice' from The Trial of the Chicago 7 Music by Daniel Pemberton; Lyric by Daniel Pemberton and Celeste Waite
- 'Husavik' from Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga Music and Lyric by Savan Kotecha, Fat Max Gsus and Rickard Göransson
- 'Io Sì (Seen)' from The Life Ahead (La Vita Davanti a Se) Music by Diane Warren; Lyric by Diane Warren and Laura Pausini
- 'Speak Now' from One Night in Miami... Music and Lyric by Leslie Odom, Jr. and Sam Ashworth