Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter
Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter
Becky G and Jon Batiste were also among the best original song nominees to take the stage on Sunday.
By Tatiana Tenreyro
Lily Gladstone got teary eyed watching Scott George and the Osage Singers’ powerful performance of “Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People)” from Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon at the 2024 Oscars.
The performers joined forces to collectively bang a drum, dressed in traditional Osage attire, as the women sang.
Scott George and the Osage Singers perform “Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People)” from ‘KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON’ at the #Oscars pic.twitter.com/15Cwxj8D9Q
George previously shared how special the nomination was with The Hollywood Reporter. “With Lily, it’s not surprising to me that she’s been nominated. She’s great. With us, if you really wanted to look at it, our music is probably thousands of years old. For it to be recognized maybe for the first time ever, it’s overwhelming in that sense,” the drummer, singer and composer said.
All five songs nominated for best original song were performed during the ceremony.
Becky G brought out a children’s choir to sing “The Fire Inside” from Flamin’ Hot. Though it wasn’t her first time performing at the Oscars, as she was part of the ensemble featured on Encanto‘s “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” this marked her Academy Awards debut as a solo artist during the show.
Becky G performs "The Fire Inside" from #FlaminHot at the 2024 #Oscars pic.twitter.com/Zk6Fu6MrhI
Batiste, who previously won an Oscar for best original score for Pixar’s Soul in 2021, performed “It Never Went Away” from American Symphony, a documentary about the musician composing a symphony for his wife, Suleika Jaouad, as she battles a rare form of cancer. His performance was accompanied by footage from various Oscar-winning romance films, including Breakfast at Tiffany‘s and Shakespeare in Love. It also featured footage from his nuptials with Jaouad, celebrating their own love story.
The crowd cheers for Jon Batiste after performing "It Never Went Away" from #AmericanSymphony at the 2024 #Oscars pic.twitter.com/Ans323MdiL
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter about composing music for a documentary about his own life, Batiste shared, “I had to live through the filming first, then address what happened in the life that was captured and figure out the thematic resonance to the symphony. You’ll hear themes that were in the symphony become themes in the score and then ultimately come together in the song that is at the end of the film.”
He continued, “Everything flows in and out of each other, which is really difficult, to blend compositional music with song-based music. All the things that we drew from to make the symphony went into the score and are also part and parcel with the symphony. It was like art imitating life imitating art imitating life.”
Additionally, both songs nominated for Barbie were performed. “I’m Just Ken” made its live debut with Ryan Gosling alongside the song’s co-writers Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt, as well as Slash, Wolfgang Van Halen and dozens of Kens—including his Barbie co-stars Simu Liu, Ncuti Gatwa and Kingsley Ben-Adir. Billie Eilish also sang ballad “What Was I Made For?”, accompanied by her brother, Finneas O’Connell, on the piano and an orchestra. Eilish and O’Connell ended up winning the award for best original song.
Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day
Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day
Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter
Send us a tip using our anonymous form.