Stephanie Hsu In, Mitski Out in Oscar Performance of Song From ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’
Stephanie Hsu, an Oscar nominee for best supporting actress for Everything Everywhere All at Once, will join David Byrne and Son Lux to perform the film’s Academy Award-nominated song “This Is a Life” at the 2023 Oscars on Sunday, March 12. Hsu will fill in for Mitski, who co-wrote the song and performs it with Byrne and Son Lux on the film’s soundtrack.
Hsu sings another track, “Sucked Into a Bagel,” on the soundtrack.
“This Is a Life,” with music by Ryan Lott of Son Lux, Byrne and Mitski, and lyrics by Lott and Byrne, is nominated for best original song. Everything Everywhere All at Once, scored by Son Lux, is up for best original score. EEAAO, which is this year’s nominations leader with 11 nods, is the only film to receive nominations in both of the music categories this year.
Hsu’s other credits include the Emmy-winning series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Rian Johnson’s Poker Face opposite Natasha Lyonne, the upcoming Disney+ series American Born Chinese and the forthcoming film The Fall Guy opposite Ryan Gosling.
Byrne won an Oscar for best original score for the 1987 film The Last Emperor in collaboration with Ryuichi Sakamoto and Cong Su.
Experimental musical group Son Lux consists of founder and frontman Lott, Ian Chang and Rafiq Bhatia.
On Feb. 23, the Academy announced that Rihanna will perform the Oscar-nominated “Lift Me Up” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever on the telecast. It’s the megastar’s first performance on the show. The following day, they announced that actress and singer Sofia Carson, accompanied by songwriter Diane Warren, will perform “Applause” from Tell It like a Woman.
The other nominees for best original song are “Hold My Hand” from Top Gun: Maverick (music and lyrics by Lady Gaga and BloodPop) and “Naatu Naatu” from RRR (music by M.M. Keeravaani; lyrics by Chandrabose).
This latest booking was announced on Monday (Feb. 27) by executive producers and showrunners Glenn Weiss and Ricky Kirshner, and also executive producer Molly McNearney. The producers will continue to announce talent appearing on the show in the coming days.
Hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, the 95th Oscars will be held on Sunday, March 12, at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood, and will be televised live on ABC and in more than 200 territories worldwide.
Paul Grein
Billboard