A little event dropped at last night’s Country Music Association Awards: Gwyneth Paltrow took to the stage to perform “Country Strong,” the title track from the upcoming Screen Gems release, with a little help from country star Vince Gill.
I haven’t seen the film yet, but depending on how the original songs are used in the film, we could be looking at a nominee in, say, “Me and Tennessee” or “Coming Home.” I’ve been going back and forth on something from that or something from “Burlesque,” both Screen Gems releases. But I’ve felt compelled to list two tracks from “Tangled” all this time. Turns out we can nix the idea of multiple songs making it from that Disney effort, though.
One nugget I turned up during my interview with composer Alan Menken this afternoon is that only one song from the film — “I See the Light” — will be submitted for Oscar consideration. It was a collective decision, and the reason, he freely admitted, was calculation.
When “Enchanted” landed three nominations for Best Original Song in 2007, he was of course ecstatic, but he and Disney knew that pretty much excluded the film from winning. This time, all involved felt it was better to let one track represent the film. Obviously, that will help the odds at taking the gold.
Consider it manipulative if you want, but I think it’s smart. With potential for vote-splitting out of the way, “I See the Light” could just win if the Academy responds well to the film (and I think they might — it’s a real winner). But as you know, we’ll be keeping an eye on that race as it unfolds.
For now, here’s Gwyneth:
[Photo: ABC]
Comments
14 responses to “Gwyneth Paltrow performs ‘Country Strong’ at CMAs, only one original song will be submitted from ‘Tangled’”
Gotta admit Paltrow has some serious guts to perform live (for the first time ever?) at such a major event, especially considering a huge portion of the film’s potential audience will be watching (whose reaction to it can make or break it at the box office).
“Country Strong”, the song, is ineligible, as it was previously recorded by another artist well before the film was out ala “The Climb” from the ‘Hannah Montana Movie’. However, their big submission will apparently be the duet “Me and Tennessee” performed in the film by Gwyneth and Tim McGraw, and it was written specifically for the film by Gwyn’s hubby Chris Martin of the band Coldplay. I’ve yet to hear the song for myself, but I heard it’s vastly superior to “Country Strong” and supposedly is used for a key moment in the film. Seems on paper like a strong contender.
I’ll adjust. Thanks. (I always thought it sounded familiar.) Oddly, it’s not listed in the contenders section for the category, so maybe I knew that. This is the time of year when things start to blur, anyway.
@Kris- No problem. And as you said, it begins to blur, and there’s bound to be more songs that the fickle music branch deems ineligible.
Kristopher,
Why is “Country Strong” not a contender? Is it ineligible for some reason? Or do you just feel the other two songs you mentioned from the film have a better shot?
I wa very impressed with her. She seemed incredibly nervous, but she didn’t falter. She even got a standig ovation. This and her spot on Glee will really put her back in people’s minds. Way to go Gwyneth!
Major props to Gwyneth… From what I’ve read in several places today, she was a stronger performer than several of the country superstars on the same program. As a singer myself, I’m impressed. She held her own, even teamed with one of the greatest singers in country music.
I can’t help but wonder if Menken’s strategy has changed since the 90s. Back then it didn’t matter that he got multiple nods, most of the time he still won. In 92 he got four Oscar nominations and still won.
Interesting.
@Mark Johnson,
according to Tye-Grr’s comment above, the song is inelligible because it’s been recorded and used before.
Also, if I may add, the song was probably never a contender because not any good. No disrepect to Gwyneth as she really did perfrom reasonably well but, man.
Amazon has a 30-sec preview for each track on the Tangled OST. It sounds about as meh as Princess and the Frog, partially because I don’t care too much for Mandy Moore’s vocals.
I See the Light is online somewhere in full, and I was bored. I will still definitely see the film, but my expectations won’t be crazy high.
Nicole: “bitch better not steal my nomination!”
vote splitting, lmao, people votes for the song they love more, doesn’t exist the vote spliting.
Sure it does. All theoretical, of course, but if there are multiple songs nominated from a movie, it’s possible with sides being taken that something can slide through and upset. Better to focus it all in one shot.
You go Gwyneth!