With this song there are already eleven times that a famous composer aspires to the Oscar 1:21
(CNN Spanish) --
This coming Sunday, during the Oscar Awards ceremony, composer Diane Warren will hear her name for the fourteenth time among the nominees for a category she knows perfectly well: best original song.
Oscars 2023: these are the songs nominated for best original song
Over the years, the songwriter has seen the chance to hoist an Oscar during the awards telecast slip away time and time again.
“Applause”, the song with which she is nominated at the 95th ceremony, could be the one that breaks the streak.
The composer, one of the most virtuous Anglo-Saxon music of the last three decades, has reached this fourteenth nomination for the original song she wrote for the independent film “Tell It Like a Woman”.
Diane Warren's 'applause' for women
From the start, the song presented a challenge for Diane Warren, as she is used to writing a theme that somehow encompasses the plot of the film.
advertising
But "Tell It Like a Woman" is not just any tape.
It is made up of seven stories directed by and starring different directors and actresses.
They all talk about women's empowerment and resilience.
“It was a challenge because I write songs for a movie and this is a tape with seven films from seven different directors.
I love that they were stories of powerful women.
I wanted to write a song that empowers women," Diane Warren tells Zona Pop CNN in an interview via Zoom.
His song plays in the sixth story, "Sharing a Ride", which talks about the conception of beauty and about acceptance.
The surprises and disappointments of the Oscar 2023 nominations
It was important to Warren, he says, that the message of the song not stay on the tape, but that it crossed the big screen.
“I think we all need to give each other a round of applause in our lives, especially with what we have experienced in recent years.
The fact that we survived this crazy world, the quarantine… Sometimes we need to look in the mirror and say: 'you know what?
I survived, I'm fine, I'm going to give myself a round of applause'”, says the composer.
The singer Sofia Carson was in charge of interpreting the theme.
A choice that was not made lightly, says Warren.
“When I audition for a singer, they have to be authentic (to the story) from the tape.
I don't choose anyone.
First of all, she is an excellent singer.
To interpret my songs you have to be able to sing.
She is also a powerful and beautiful woman inside and out.
She fit the message of the movie,” she explains.
What does Diane Warren take into account when writing a song for a movie?
Warren is the author of legendary songs such as Aerosmith's “I Don't Want to Miss a Thing”, part of the soundtrack of the film “Armageddon”, nominated for an Oscar for best original song in 1998. And this is not the only one , her songs have been featured in at least 100 movies, according to the singer's official biography.
The decision process of whether or not to collaborate on an original song revolves around what Warren can contribute to the story as such.
"When I do a song for a movie, it has to be something that I can contribute to and feel inspired by," she tells CNN Pop Zone.
This was the case with "Applause," he says.
“I feel lucky that these tapes reach me.
They may not be the biggest movies but they have quality, they are important stories.
I'm lucky to write them a song.
I am lucky to be nominated (for an Oscar)”, adds the composer.
His story with the Oscars
Diane Warren's name has been tied to the Oscars since 1987, when she was first nominated.
Until now, the singer-songwriter has not raised the Oscar -during the televised ceremony.
She has lost 13 times.
In November 2022, Warren did receive an honorary Oscar from another music legend, Cher.
Despite taking each loss with grace, there were a couple of times when it hurt not to win the Academy Award.
“Honestly, there were a couple of times where I was sad that I didn't win,” he says.
It was with “
Til
It Happens to You
,” a song I wrote for (Lady) Gaga for
The Hunting Ground
.
That song was powerful, it became a major cultural moment.”
For Warren, the biggest victory is being nominated within a select list of five songs.
“To be nominated is to win.
That your colleagues who you respect and are the best in the world choose your song, that is winning.
Everything else becomes a popularity contest and I was never very popular."
And despite already being an awards darling, the composer is still nervous about being in that venue alongside the cream of Hollywood.
This year she will also sing live for the first time on the Academy Awards stage.
Rihanna will perform at the 2023 Oscars ceremony
“I have never been live at the Oscars.
I'm going to be nervous because it's like 2 billion people watching me,” she says.
For Warren, the ceremony also evokes his childhood, when he and his parents watched each of the broadcasts.
For her, "There is nothing cooler
than
the Oscars."
Diane WarrenThe OscarsMúsica Zona PopOscar Awards