In a document specifying which songs should be considered for an Oscar for Best Original Song for Disney’s upcoming animated musical Moana, the company has announced that it will select high-quality songs to be featured on the film’s soundtrack. could have chosen any number of options, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. The studio has only two submissions: “Beyond” and “Can I Get a Chee Hoo?”
Both songs feature music and lyrics by Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear. “Beyond,” which also includes Pacific’s choral vocals, composed and arranged by Opetaia Foai, is essentially “How Far I’ll Go” from the original Moana (the only song submitted to the 2016 film). This is the film version of “The Song That Inflicted a Hurt”. (Nominations are accepted). “Beyond” is a classic Disney “I Want” anthem, sung by actress Auli’i Cravalho (who co-stars with Rachel House in the 2024 film), who plays the title character in the film. On the other hand, “Can I Have a Chief?” The song is essentially a fun comic relief song, one of the first Moana songs in that it’s performed by actor Dwayne Johnson, who plays the title character’s fellow adventurer. This is the movie version of “You’re Welcome”.
Why did Disney focus on just these two songs? The studio hasn’t said anything, but given recent Oscar history, it’s possible to read between the lines.
Over the years, Disney has submitted many songs from each animated musical, so why not? It worked, with 1989’s The Little Mermaid receiving two nominations, including the eventual winner. obtained. 1991’s Beauty and the Beast received three nominations, including the eventual winner. 1992’s Aladdin received two nominations, including the eventual winner. and 2007’s Enchanted, which received three nominations. But then a backlash ensued. That’s because the nominated songs from these four movies all shared one songwriter: the great Alan Menken.
Some in the film music world have begun lobbying for rule changes that would prevent the Academy from giving greater attention to certain films and songwriters. This resulted in what became known informally as the “Mencken Rule” in June 2008. The policy is that you can only submit up to three songs from one movie. Up to two songs from a single movie by the exact same songwriter may be shortlisted. Additionally, up to two songs from any film can be nominated, regardless of author.
Since then, Disney has apparently feared that submitting more than one song per movie would be counterproductive, and so it decided to do so for 2013’s Frozen (which won for “Let It Go”) and the original Moana. Even for big-budget musicals, artists now only have to submit one song. But it backfired with 2021’s Encanto, forcing the studio to rethink this approach. In that case, the studio would have submitted the submission before the film’s soundtrack was released, and instead of another song, “We Don’t Talk About,” also written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, the very nice Spanish-language I entered the song “Dos Oruguitas”. Bruno’ became a huge cultural phenomenon. “Dos Oruguitas” ended up being nominated, but “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” probably would have won if it had been nominated. So in recent years, studios have returned to something like a middle ground when it comes to submissions.
Realistically, is there a chance that both Barlow and Baer’s “Beyond” and “Can I Get a Chee Hoo?” from Moana 2 will be nominated? Certainly it is possible. But if it happens, “Moana 2” would be Barbie’s second movie to earn multiple nominations in the category since “La La Land” eight seasons ago, following last season.
“Moana 2” will be released on November 27th.
