Well, with Pharrell Williams, Idina Menzel and U2 already set to perform at Oscars, this was surely a formality: it’d have been a bit tacky to leave just one Best Original Song nominee out of the show, particularly one as lovely as “The Moon Song.” But here it is in black and white: Karen O will perform the whimsical love theme from “Her” at the ceremony on March 2.
This year’s Oscars, then, will be the first in three years to feature live performances of all the nominees in the category. All the remaining nominees, that is: we’ll never know, of course, if “Alone Yet Not Alone” would the show had it been allowed to compete.
Anyway, my 20-year-old self — the one who played the entirely of “Fever to Tell” to death in his penultimate year of university — is seriously stoked about Karen O singing at the Oscars. My 30-year-old self is pretty excited too.
Spare a thought, however, for Scarlett Johansson, who has been a vocalist on an Oscar-nominated song for two years running, and hasn’t made the show on either occasion. Not that there was any way a ukelele-brandishing Joaquin Phoenix was getting up on stage to warble with her, but it was a fun thought.
Anyway, good on producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron for giving the category, which has been so half-heartedly showcased in recent years, a little more respect this year — I mean, either do it properly or ditch the award entirely, right? If not for the “Alone Yet Not Alone” debacle, you’d even say the category regained some dignity this year.