The Academy Awards were last night, so the best in film from the past year was properly honored. Per usual, some of the awards were devoted to music as well, and picking up big wins in those categories were HER, Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, and Jon Batiste.
HER got the Best Original Song win for her Judas And The Black Messiah track “Fight For You” over “Husavik” from Eurovision Song Contest: The Story Of Fire Saga (sung by Will Ferrell and Molly Sandén, the latter of whom Rachel McAdams lip-synced for the film), Celeste’s “Hear My Voice” from The Trial Of The Chicago 7, Leslie Odom Jr.’s “Speak Now” from One Night In Miami, and Lauren Pausini’s “Io Sì (Seen)” from The Life Ahead.
Reznor, Ross, and Batiste’s Soul score also picked up a win, in the Best Original Score category, winning over the former two’s score for Mank, as well as Da 5 Bloods, Minari, and News Of The World.
As Billboard notes, these wins were superlative. Reznor, Ross, and Batiste are the first three-member composing team to win Best Original Score in 33 years, following Ryuichi Sakamoto, David Byrne, and Cong Su’s 1987 win for The Last Emperor. Batiste is also just the third Black composer to win in a scoring category, following Prince’s 1984 win for Best Musical Song Score with Purple Rain and Herbie Hancock’s 1986 victory for Best Original Score with ‘Round Midnight.
HER’s victory was also historically significant: For the first time in 35 years, a songwriter or songwriting team won an Oscar in the same awards season that they won a Grammy for Song Of The Year for a different song, as HER’s “I Can’t Breathe” just picked up the Grammy win a few weeks ago.
Find the full list of this year’s Oscar winners here.