'Sinners,' 'KPop Demon Hunters,' and 'Wicked' — movie musicals at the GRAMMYs

As I promised three times, I'm examining the visual media GRAMMY nominees for a late Sunday entertainment feature. Here are the nominees!

Best Song Written For Visual Media

A Songwriter(s) award. For a song (melody & lyrics) written specifically for a motion picture, television, video games or other visual media, and released for the first time during the Eligibility Year. (Artist names appear in parentheses.) Singles or Tracks only.

As Alive As You Need Me To Be — From TRON: Ares
Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross, songwriters (Nine Inch Nails)

Golden — From KPop Demon Hunters
EJAE & Mark Sonnenblick, songwriters (HUNTR/X: EJAE, Audrey Nuna, REI AMI)

I Lied to You — From Sinners
Ludwig Göransson & Raphael Saadiq, songwriters (Miles Caton)

Never Too Late — From Elton John: Never Too Late
Brandi Carlile, Elton John, Bernie Taupin & Andrew Watt, songwriters (Elton John, Brandi Carlile)

Pale, Pale Moon — From Sinners
Ludwig Göransson & Brittany Howard, songwriters (Jayme Lawson)

Sinners — From Sinners
Leonard Denisenko, Rodarius Green, Travis Harrington, Tarkan Kozluklu, Kyris Mingo & Darius Poviliunas, songwriters (Rod Wave)

I'm thrilled to see speculative fiction so well represented — animation, horror, and science fiction! Add Wicked in categories below the jump, and fantasy appears in these awards as well. Superheroes? They should be so lucky; they're having a down year.

While Sinners has one more nomination than KPop Demon Hunters, none of the individual nominees has a second nomination. In contrast, "Golden" from KPop Demon Hunters has four, two of which the Recording Academy mentioned in Feats & Firsts From The 2026 GRAMMYS Nominations: 'KPop Demon Hunters,' Bad Bunny, Kendrick Lamar, ROSÉ And More.

K-pop joins the history-making fun thanks to ROSÉ and KPop Demon Hunters. ROSÉ's hit collaboration with Bruno Mars, "APT.," and HUNTR/X's chart-topping KPop Demon Hunters smash, "Golden," are the first songs by K-pop artists to be nominated for Song Of The Year, with "APT." also becoming the first song by a K-pop artist to be nominated for Record Of The Year. Both songs are also up for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, marking another milestone: the first time two songs by K-pop artists have been nominated in that Category in the same year.

"Golden" is also nominated for Best Remixed Recording and the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack is nominated for Best Compilation Soundtrack For Visual Media. Because it beats all the other nominated songs in total nominations, I'm embedding “Golden” Official Lyric Video | KPop Demon Hunters | Sony Animation first.

We’re going up, up, up. Watch the official lyric video for “Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters. KPop Demon Hunters is now on Netflix.
...
About KPop Demon Hunters:
When they aren't selling out stadiums, KPop superstars Rumi, Mira and Zoey use their secret identities as badass demon hunters to protect their fans from an ever-present supernatural threat. Together, they must face their biggest enemy yet – an irresistible rival boy band of demons in disguise.

Directed by: Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans
Produced by: Michelle Wong
Co-Produced by: Scott Berri, Jacky Priddle
Cast: Arden Cho, Ahn Hyo-seop, May Hong, Ji-young Yoo, Yunjin Kim, Joel Kim Booster, Liza Koshy, with Daniel Dae Kim, Ken Jeong and Byung Hun Lee.

Based on the number of nominations, especially for Song of the Year, "Golden" is my pick to win Best Song Written For Visual Media. It's also Gold Derby's, where every expert, 83.3% of editors, and 86.7% of users have picked it to win. "Golden" should also be a lock to be nominated for Best Original Song or its equivalent at the Golden Globes, Critics Choice Awards, and Oscars, although Gold Derby doesn't include that category in any of it movie nominations predictions, so I can't rely on them for backup. Speaking of awards, I no longer have Flow penciled in for Best Animated Film at the Saturn Awards, as I wrote in The 2025 Environmental Media Association (EMA) Awards nominees. My vote will be for KPop Demon Hunters, which leads Gold Derby's predictions at all three movie awards shows.

The other songs with support are "Never Too Late" from Elton John: Never Too Late with 16.7% of editors and 5.4% of users picking it, "I Lied to You" from Sinners with 6.1% of users choosing it, and "As Alive As You Need Me To Be" from TRON: Ares with the remaining 0.8% of users supporting it. I'm embedding the videos of these nominees. Sorry, "Pale, Pale Moon" and "Sinners"; Gold Derby doesn't give either of you a chance, so I'm skipping you for now.

I begin the likely runners-up with Elton John, Brandi Carlile - Never Too Late (From The Film “Elton John: Never Too Late”).

‘Never Too Late’ with Brandi Carlile - a new original song taken from the Disney+ documentary, ‘Elton John: Never Too Late’. You can listen to it everywhere now here: https://eltonjohn.lnk.to/nevertoolateID

The official music video includes unseen footage from the documentary 'Elton John: Never Too Late', along with Elton and Brandi recording the track in the studio. After watching an early cut of the work-in-progress documentary, Brandi was inspired to write an original song, taking influence and guidance from Bernie Taupin’s style. Brandi brought the lyrics and concept to Elton to continue co-writing together, with Andrew Watt adding additional writing and production.

I didn't mention it in my Oscar prediction post, but "Never Too Late" earned an Oscar nomination last year, so it's not eligible this year. That's good news for the rest of the field when the Motion Picture Academy announces its nominees.

One of those might be Tron: Ares | Nine Inch Nails | “As Alive As You Need Me To Be”.

The Tron: Ares soundtrack by Nine Inch Nails is out now featuring the song "As Alive As You Need Me To Be".

This song is also nominated for Best Rock Song, an award I think it has a better chance of winning. While this song might earn an Oscar nomination, the movie itself is more likely to earn at least two Razzies, Worst Remake/Ripoff/Sequel and Worst Actor for Jared Leto. On a more positive note, it might still garner some Saturn Award nominations. I doubt I'll vote for it. I predicted "a match between Lilo & Stitch and Jurassic World: Rebirth" in 'Dune: Part Two' at the Critics Choice Super Awards, which I would resolve in favor of the dinosaurs.

Now Sinners | I Lied To You Song | Movie Clip | Warner Bros. Entertainment.

Sinners song "I Lied To You,” performed live by Miles Caton as Sammie. The Sinners Movie Clip shows the raw, emotional blues track that channels the character’s longing, defiance, and dream of escape. Look for the horror adventure movie on digital.

Written by Raphael Saadiq and Ludwig Göransson, two award-winning multi-hyphenates, “I Lied To You” was filmed and recorded over several days on set, capturing the energy of a live juke joint crowd. It marks Sammie’s breakout as an artist and reflects on the film’s deep connection to the cultural roots and legacy of the blues.

From Ryan Coogler—director of “Black Panther” and “Creed”—and starring Michael B. Jordan comes a new vision of fear: “Sinners.” Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers (Jordan) return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back. “You keep dancing with the devil, one day he’s gonna follow you home.”

I had no idea the music in Sinners was so good until the nominations were announced. I just thought of it as a horror movie, one that, as I mentioned in 'Sinners' leads Best Horror Movie nominees at the Critics Choice Super Awards, is my current choice for Best Horror Movie at the Saturn Awards.

Follow over the jump for the rest of the nominations for KPop Demon Hunters, Sinners, and Wicked.

Fantastic and futuristic politics and government nominees at the Critics Choice Super Awards for National Science Fiction Day

Happy National Science Fiction Day! For this year's celebration, I'm looking at the nominees for the inaugural Critics Choice Super Awards, "a special event honoring the most popular, fan-obsessed genres across both television and movies, including Superhero, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Horror, Action and Animation." In particular, I'm writing about the nominated movies and television series that have themes of fantastic and futuristic politics and government.

I begin with the summary of the top nominees from the press release.

Hulu and NEON’s “Palm Springs” leads this year’s film nominees, with a total of five including Best Science Fiction/Fantasy Movie, Best Actor in a Science Fiction/Fantasy Movie for Andy Samberg, Best Actor in a Science Fiction/Fantasy Movie and Best Villain in a Movie for J.K. Simmons, and Best Actress in a Science Fiction/Fantasy Movie for Cristin Milioti. Several films followed close behind with four nominations including “Birds of Prey” (Warner Bros.), “Freaky” (Universal), “Onward” (Disney+), “Sonic the Hedgehog” (Paramount), “The Hunt” (Universal), “The Old Guard” (Netflix), and “The Willoughbys” (Netflix).

Other than "The Hunt," these movies are not explicitly about politics and government, at least as conventially understood. That means I'm only going to examine the categories where "The Hunt" and other action movies are competing. It didn't help that 2020 was an abysmal year for movies in theaters, so many of the nominees were released on streaming services instead, and that the nominations themselves came out in November, missing December releases.

On the other hand, television has a lot more nominees that examine politics and government, whether modern, fantastic, or futuristic (and sometimes two or all three at once, like the most nominated television series, "Lovecraft Country"), and those nominees are in all categories. This is the same phenomenon that induced me to write Politics and government on television at the 2020 WGA Awards for National Screenwriters Day last year.

“Lovecraft Country” (HBO) received the most television nominations, with a total of six possible wins, including Best Horror Series, Best Actor in a Horror Series for Jonathan Majors, Best Actor in a Horror Series for Michael K. Williams, Best Actress in a Horror Series for Wunmi Mosaku, Best Actress in a Horror Series for Jurnee Smollett, and Best Villain in a Series for Abbey Lee. Amazon’s “The Boys” received five nominations including Best Superhero Series, Best Actor in a Superhero Series and Best Villain in a Series for Antony Starr, Best Actor in a Superhero Series for Karl Urban, and Best Actress in a Superhero Series for Aya Cash.

Several performers received recognition for both their film and television work. Hilary Swank was nominated for Best Actress in an Action Movie and Best Villain in a Movie for “The Hunt” (Universal), as well as Best Actress in a Science Fiction/Fantasy Series for “Away” (Netflix), making her the most nominated individual. Maya Rudolph was nominated for Best Voice Actress in an Animated Movie for “The Willoughbys” (Netflix) as well as Best Voice Actress in an Animated Series for “Big Mouth” (Netflix). Jurnee Smollett was nominated for Actress in a Superhero Movie for “Birds of Prey” (Warner Bros.) and Best Actress in a Horror Series for “Lovecraft Country” (HBO).

That's a good summary of the top nominees in both movie and television categories. Now to examine the individual categories with nominees that examine politics and government, both for their treatment of the subject and for my thoughts about how they will fare. I begin with the action movie nominees.

BEST ACTION MOVIE
Bad Boys For Life (Sony)
Da 5 Bloods (Netflix)
Extraction (Netflix)
Greyhound (Apple TV+)
The Hunt (Universal)
Mulan (Disney+)
The Outpost (Screen Media)
Tenet (Warner Bros.)

One of my continuing angles in writing these entries is examining the idea that electorates matter. The Critics Choice Association has educated tastes and will choose different nominees and select different winners than either the fans or the creators. I don't have an idea about how the movie creators will vote, as the Golden Globes, various guild awards for movies, BAFTA Awards, and Oscars have all been delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but I do know how the fans voted for the People's Choice Awards: "Bad Boys For Life was named the movie of 2020 even though it lost a subordinate award, the action movie of 2020, to Mulan...One probably shouldn’t look to the E! People’s Choice Awards for logic or consistency." As for the other nominees, "Extraction" and "Tenet" both earned People's Choice Awards nominations for The Action Movie of 2020 while "Greyhound" earned a nomination for The Drama Movie of 2020, losing to "Hamilton." With the critics voting, I expect the winner will be "Tenet" with "De Five Bloods" as my favorite to upset it.

That's just as well, because I consider the premise of the most overtly political movie nominated, "The Hunt," to be an indulgence of a revenge fantasy and expect the film to be a well-executed — pun intended — exercise in bad taste. I'd rather see "Da Five Bloods," "Greyhound," "Mulan," or "The Outpost," all war movies, win instead. Remember, the military is a branch of government and war is a kind of international politics.

BEST ACTOR IN AN ACTION MOVIE
Tom Hanks – Greyhound (Apple TV+)
Chris Hemsworth – Extraction (Netflix)
Caleb Landry Jones – The Outpost (Screen Media)
Delroy Lindo – Da 5 Bloods (Netflix)
Will Smith – Bad Boys For Life (Sony)
John David Washington – Tenet (Warner Bros)

Both Will Smith and Chris Hemsworth won People's Choice Awards for their roles, Smith as The Male Movie Star of 2020 and Hemsworth as The Action Movie Star of 2020. I don't think either will win here. The critics will prefer someone with more craft than star power such as Delroy Lindo, Caleb Landry Jones, or especially John David Washington, who is my choice to win. Of course, if they want both, they can vote for Tom Hanks. Remember, electorates matter.

BEST ACTRESS IN AN ACTION MOVIE
Betty Gilpin – The Hunt (Universal)
Yifei Liu – Mulan (Disney+)
Blake Lively – The Rhythm Section (Paramount)
Iliza Shlesinger – Spenser Confidential (Netflix)
Hilary Swank – The Hunt (Universal)

I can't use the People's Choice Awards as a foil here, as none of these women earned a nomination there. Instead, I'll pick the nominee with the best track record as an award-winning actress, Hilary Swank, who is also nominated in the next category.

BEST VILLAIN IN A MOVIE
Jim Carrey – Sonic The Hedgehog (Paramount)
Kathryn Newton – Freaky (Universal)
Martin Short and Jane Krakowski – The Willoughbys (Netflix)
J.K. Simmons – Palm Springs (Hulu and NEON)
Hilary Swank – The Hunt (Universal)

If the fans were voting, I'm sure Jim Carrey would win, but the critics are voting instead, so I think it will come down to Swank and J.K. Simmons for this award.

Follow over the jump for the television nominees.

Time Magazine's Athlete and Entertainer of the Year for 2020 made a difference

I began 'Saturday Night Live' opens with a vaccine announcement and makes fun of election lawsuits and Space Force in a coronavirus holiday episode with my plans for today.

I'm postponing the post I said I would write for today.

Stay tuned as I finish this series tomorrow with the Athlete of the Year and Entertainer of the Year for the Sunday entertainment feature.

I'll do that tomorrow.

Without any further ado, here is Time Magazine's LeBron James: Athlete Of The Year.

At 11:58 a.m. on June 8, LeBron James logged on to a video call from the living room of his Los Angeles–area home. As the clock hit noon, James, who abhors tardiness, took command of a virtual meeting that included more than 20 top athletes, entertainers and political pros. He set a serious tone: across the country, people were filling the streets to march against racial injustice and demand systemic change. What could this group do about it?

While I'm lumping this honor in with the Entertainer[s] of the Year — sports is a form of entertainment — it recognizes LeBron James as also being one of the racial-justice organizers recognized as some of the Guardians of the Year. Not only did he and other athletes join the movement against police brutality, they also made a difference in the 2020 election by convincing team owner to convert sports stadiums into polling places. Time recognized the Guardians of the Year as "defend[ing] the ideals sacred to democracy." So did James. Congratulations!

Follow over the jump for TIME's 2020 Entertainer of the Year.

'Black Panther' rules the Presidents Day weekend box office and Billboard 200

I mentioned "Fifty Shades Darker" being beaten by a superhero movie last year.  That's going to happen this weekend, as SyFy Wire reports Black Panther: The album expected to top charts, film eyeing $170 million opening.  Wow!  Stay tuned to see if both of those predictions come to pass.

That's how I concluded 'Fifty Shades Freed' tops the box office for Valentines Day.  The Hollywood Reporter shows that "Black Panther" exceeded even those lofty expectations in Weekend Box Office: 'Black Panther' Bounds to Record-Shattering $235M-Plus Bow.

Estimates for the history-making movie keep going up and up; overseas, it amasses $169 million for an estimated global launch of $404 million.

Wow, indeed!  What about the album?  Billboard reports 'Black Panther: The Album' Debuts at No. 1 on Billboard 200 Chart.

Black Panther: The Album debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, launching with 154,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending Feb. 15, according to Nielsen Music. Of that sum, 52,000 are in traditional album sales.

The set, which features music from and inspired by the blockbuster Marvel Studios film Black Panther, garners the biggest week for a soundtrack — in terms of total units earned — in a year-and-a-half. The last soundtrack to score a larger week was Suicide Squad: The Album, which bowed atop the Aug. 27, 2016-dated list with 182,000 units earned. Black Panther: The Album was released on Feb. 9 through Top Dawg/Aftermath/Interscope Records.
...
Black Panther is the second soundtrack to reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in 2018, following The Greatest Showman, which spent two weeks atop the list (dated Jan. 13 and 20).

Double wow!  I'm impressed.

What about the soundtrack for "Fifty Shades Freed?"

With Black Panther: The Album, The Greatest Showman and Fifty Shades Freed at Nos. 1, 3 and 5, the chart houses a trio of soundtracks in the top five for only the second time in the last 10 years. The only other time three soundtracks have populated the top five in the last 10 years was on the May 30, 2015-dated list, when Pitch Perfect 2 debuted at No. 1, Fifty Shades of Grey moved 6-3 and Furious 7 rose 7-5.

That's impressive as well as informative.  Now I know three of the likely nominees for Best Soundtrack Compilation at next year's Grammy Awards.

Follow over the jump for the rest of the box office, plus a follow-up to a prediction I made.

'How Far I'll Go' from 'Moana,' 'The Princess Diarist' and 'The Voyager Golden Record' win at the Grammy Awards

Tonight is the Grammy Awards and I'll report tomorrow on the fate of the speculative fiction and science nominees.  Stay tuned.

That's what I promised my readers to end Speculative fiction sweeps movie categories at the Art Directors Guild Awards and that's what I'm delivering today.

I begin with Gold Derby on the winners of music for visual media.

“La La Land” wins Best Visual Media Compilation and Best Visual Media Score. Both awards go Justin Hurwitz, who also won two Oscars for his musical compositions. But Hurwitz, Pasek, and Paul were upset in the race for Best Visual Media Song: Lin-Manuel Miranda won for “How Far I’ll Go” from “Moana”; it’s the third Grammy of his career, and he just needs an Oscar to EGOT.

I thought Hurwitz and "La La Land" would sweep, so I'm glad to be wrong about “How Far I’ll Go” from “Moana.”  I shouldn't be surprised, as I observed a result like this was possible last December.

I would say "La La Land" is the favorite, but the Emmy [Grammy] electorate is not the Oscar electorate and can vote differently.  For example, John Williams lost at the Oscars but won the Grammy for "The Force Awakens."

I didn't think the Grammy voters would go against the Oscar voters, but, once again, they did.  Congratulations to Lin-Manuel Miranda and Auli'i Cravalho for their victory, the biggest one of the night for speculative fiction.


Gold Derby also reported the other win for speculative fiction.

Carrie Fisher wins a posthumous Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album for “The Princess Diarist.”

Her IMDB awards page hasn't been updated yet, but when it is, this will be the most prestigious award she's ever won.  It may not be the last award she'll win, however.  I I fully expect Fisher to be nominated for Best Supporting Actress in a Film at the Saturn Awards, where I think she'll be favored to win.

Speaking of Star Wars, John Williams received a Trustees Award and won Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella for "Escapades For Alto Saxophone And Orchestra From Catch Me If You Can."

One of Fisher's fellow nominees for Best Spoken Word Album, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, was one of the presenters, as USA Today noted.

"It's a tie!" Tyson announces for best recording package. He's not joking. A Grammy tie between El Orisha De La Rosa and Pure Comedy (Deuxe Edition).

Only Grammy-nominated astrophysicist presenter Neil deGrasse Tyson could point out that not only are the Grammys turning 60, but so is NASA. He gives the Grammy for best instrumental composition to Arturo O'Farrill for Three Revolutions.

Speaking of NASA, the next winner is one of theirs.


Yes, "The Voyager Golden Record: 40th Anniversary Edition" won Best Boxed Or Special Limited Edition Package.  Score one for science!

Finally, USA Today reported "HBO's The Defiant Ones, about the friendship between music legends Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre, wins best music film."  That's the one I expected to win, even though I was rooting for "Long Strange Trip."  By the way, I expect to blog about it again, as it will be eligible for this year's Emmy Awards.

I close with “How Far I’ll Go” from “Moana,” which I included in Midweek Cafe and Lounge, Vol. 44 at Booman Tribune.

"Moana" was one of two feature films nominated by the Environmental Media Association as having an environmental theme worth recognizing, so I'm considering the Grammy nominated song How Far I'll Go to be from an environmental movie.  Who am I to argue with the EMA?  If nothing else, the CGI scenery is pretty.

Music video by Auli'i Cravalho performing How Far I'll Go. (C) 2016 Walt Disney Records

That's it for fantasy.  Stay tuned for at least three days of reality.

The Valentine goes to 'Lego Batman' as it spanks 'Fifty Shaders Darker'

Happy Valentines Day!  Two years ago, 'Fifty Shades of Grey' topped the Valentine's weekend box office.  This year, its sequel "Fifty Shades Darker" wasn't able to whip its competition.  Instead, Newsy reports 'Lego Batman' dominates box office weekend.

During a weekend at the movies that offered Lego superheroes, erotic fantasy film and angry action, moviegoers spread the ticket sales pretty evenly.

While "Fifty Shades Darker" wasn't able to repeat the performance of its predecessor at the box office, at least one of its songs, "I Don't Wanna Live Forever (Fifty Shades Darker)," has already reached third place on the Billboard Hot 100, tying the top songs from "Fifty Shades of Grey."  Here's the video.


In addition, Billboard reported last week that Halsey's "Not Afraid Anymore" has received more than six million downloads.  Just like the first installment in the trilogy, it looks like the songs will be the best part of the movie.  Here's to seeing them nominated for Grammys and Oscars along with the movie itself nominated for a Razzie!

'Suicide Squad' leads Grammy nominations in music for visual media followed by 'Stranger Things'

I made the following prediction about "Heathens" by Twenty One Pilots from "Suicide Squad" and "Sledgehammer" by Rihanna from "Star Trek Beyond" to conclude One last People's Choice nominees entry about songs in speculative fiction movies.

I fully expect one or both songs to be nominated at the Golden Globes and Academy Awards.  I wouldn't be surprised if other songs from "Suicide Squad" are also nominated.  The movie probably has the best compilation song soundtrack of any live-action movie this year.

It's too early to test either prediction, as the Golden Globes nominations come out next Monday and the Oscars not until next year, but the Emmy Awards nominations made my prognostication look good as "Heathens" earned three nominations, another song from "Suicide Squad" got another nomination, and the compilation album earned a fifth.  Here are the relevant categories from Billboard.

Best Compilation Soundtrack For Visual Media:

Amy — (Various Artists)
Miles Ahead — Miles Davis & Various Artists)
Straight Outta Compton — (Various Artists)
Suicide Squad (Collector's Edition) — (Various Artists)
Vinyl: The Essentials Season 1 — (Various Artists)

I may still be right about the movie having the best compilation of songs of any film released this year, as the only other film released this year whose soundtrack was nominated was "Miles Ahead" ("Vinyl" was from a TV show on HBO that was canceled).  The rest were from movies released last year.  However, I am not optimistic about its chances in this field, as "Suicide Squad" is the only movie nominated that is not about the music business.  It's the musicians voting for this award and they might just go for "Amy," which won Best Feature Length Documentary at the Oscars and Best Music Film at the Grammy Awards last year, or "Straight Outta Compton."

Best Song Written For Visual Media:

"Can't Stop The Feeling!" — Max Martin, Shellback & Justin Timberlake, songwriters (Justin Timberlake, Anna Kendrick, Gwen Stefani, James Corden, Zooey Deschanel, Walt Dohrn, Ron Funches, Caroline Hjelt, Aino Jawo, Christopher Mintz-Plasse & Kunal Nayyar), Track from: Trolls
"Heathens" — Tyler Joseph, songwriter (Twenty One Pilots), Track from: Suicide Squad
"Just Like Fire" — Oscar Holter, Max Martin, P!nk & Shellback, songwriters (P!nk), Track from: Alice Through The Looking Glass
"Purple Lamborghini" — Shamann Cooke, Sonny Moore & William Roberts, songwriters (Skrillex & Rick Ross), Track from: Suicide Squad
"Try Everything" — Mikkel S. Eriksen, Sia Furler & Tor Erik Hermansen, songwriters (Shakira), Track from: Zootopia
"The Veil" — Peter Gabriel, songwriter (Peter Gabriel), Track from: Snowden

This is only one of three nominations for "Heathens," the others being Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song.  I'd say it's the favorite, as the other songs were only nominated in this category.

"Heathens" is joined by my second favorite song from the movie, "Purple Lamborghini," which features Jared Leto as the Joker.  He looks like he came right out of "Batman: The Animated Series."  That's appropriate, as that's where Harley Quinn got her start.

The official video for Skrillex & Rick Ross - "Purple Lamborghini"
Featured in "Suicide Squad" movie & official soundtrack

Three other speculative fiction movies have songs in this field, "Alice Through the Looking Glass," "Trolls," and "Zootopia," along with a song from the political documentary "Snowden."  Based on the movies alone, this is a great field.  Speaking of which...

Best Score Soundtrack For Visual Media:

Bridge of Spies — Thomas Newman, composer
Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight — Ennio Morricone, composer
The Revenant — Alva Noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto, composers
Star Wars: The Force Awakens — John Williams, composer
Stranger Things Volume 1 — Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein, composers
Stranger Things Volume 2 — Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein, composers

Four of these are for films released last year, one of which, Ennio Morricone's for "The Hateful Eight," has already won the Golden Globe and Academy Award for Best Original Score.  Personally, I'd prefer John Williams' score for "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" to win, but I'm not optimistic.  Personally, I think the odd nominees out have a better chance, the two CDs for "Stranger Things."  I've seen song compilation albums from TV shows nominated before, but I can't remember if the score for a TV show ever has been.  That by itself is quite an accomplishment.  Since I've already written that this is the year for "Stranger Things," I wouldn't be surprised if it pulled off an upset.

Since I mentioned the show, here is its opening theme song.


I fully expect both the theme song and the opening title sequence to be nominated for an Emmy.  I also expect it to be competing in both categories against "Westworld."  Be patient about those predictions coming true, as the nominations won't come out until June.

As for the subject of tomorrow's entry, it's time for another vote.  Should I blog about the opening weekend of "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story," the speculative fiction nominees for the Writers Guild of America Awards, or the politics and crime nominees for the Critics' Choice Awards?  Leave your vote in the comments below at this blog or at this blog's Facebook page.  I also accept write-in votes, but only for entertainment topics.  Hurry, as I'll close nominations at Noon EST Sunday the 11th.