Snubs & Surprises in the 2024 Oscar Music Shortlists

When Bruce Springsteen’s “Addicted to Romance” from She Came to Me and Jack Black’s “Peaches” from The Super Mario Bros. Movie were nominated for Golden Globe Awards for best original song 10 days ago, many expected them to be nominated for Oscars in that category too – or at least make the shortlist of 15 contenders from which the nominees are selected. But when the shortlist was announced on Thursday (Dec. 21), both songs were nowhere to be found.

For the most part, though, the pundits got it right. Many of this year’s highly touted songs and scores were shortlisted for Oscars, as predicted.

Three songs from Barbie are shortlisted for best original song. No surprise there. The movie has been a phenomenal hit.

The shortlisting of Lenny Kravitz’s “Road to Freedom” from Rustin and Olivia Rodrigo’s “Can’t Catch Me Now” from The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes were also expected.

In terms of best original scores, the late Robbie Robertson was shortlisted, as expected, for Killers of the Flower Moon, the 12th and last Martin Scorsese film that Robertson worked on. Robertson, who died in June at age 80, is vying to become the first composer to be nominated in this category posthumously since Bernard Herrmann was cited in 1976 for both Obsession and Taxi Driver.

Also expected were the shortlisting of John Williams’ score for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Ludwig Göransson’s score for Oppenheimer, Mica Levi’s score for The Zone of Interest and Daniel Pemberton’s score for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

But there were plenty of snubs and surprises, too. Take a look.