
‘Viva Verdi!’ Song Cut from the Academy Awards Broadcast
By Francisco SalazarAna María Martínez will not perform at the Academy Awards after all.
In a letter sent to all music nominees and obtained exclusively by Variety, the Academy noted that only two of the songs nominated for Best Original Song will be performed. The broadcast will include “Golden” from the animated musical “KPop Demon Hunters” and “I Lied to You” from the drama “Sinners.”
That means “Train Dreams” from “Train Dreams,” “Dear Me” from The Original Documentary “Diane Warren: Relentless” and “Sweet Dreams of Joy” from “Viva Verdi!” featuring Martínez will be cut from the broadcast.
The Academy emphasized that they will honor all the nominees stating, “Each nominated song will be introduced through a bespoke package built from footage of the film it was written for, grounding the song firmly in its cinematic purpose. Where appropriate, these packages may also include select behind-the-scenes elements that offer insight into the songwriting process and creative intent.”
The Academy also noted that they will be promoting all nominees on social channels and emphasized that the reason for cutting the other three nominees was due to a “limited time within the broadcast.”
“Golden” was a huge success reaching number one on both the BillboardGlobal 200 and the Billboard Global Excl. US charts. It also reached Number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and was nominated at the Grammy Awards for Record of the Year. Meanwhile, “I Lied to You” is from the most nominated film in the history of the Oscars.
The last time a song nominated for Best Original Song featured an Opera singer was in 2016 when “Simple Song #3” was nominated and featured Sumi Jo. That year the Academy also cut the song from the broadcast and Jo expressed her disappointment on the Red Carpet, stating, “I’m quite disappointed. For me it was very important to perform this beautiful ‘Simple Song #3’ because it was nominated for Golden Globe and Critics’ Choice and the Oscars, and I was really looking forward to perform in front of everybody.”
OperaWire spoke to Martínez about the nomination of “Sweet Dreams of Joy” and she expressed her desire to perform at the Oscars. She said, “Obviously, it would be such an honor. First of all, the song is gorgeous and inspiring…It represents classical music, and it represents Latinos everywhere. It would be an enormous honor for all of those reasons and to champion Verdi as well, and the vision that he had.”
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