Diane Warren continued her record-breaking streak of losses at the Oscars on Sunday, as her track “The Journey”, which featured in Tyler Perry’s Netflix film The Six Triple Eight, was snubbed for Best Song in favour of “El Mal” from controversial movie Emilia Pérez.
The 2025 ceremony held on 2 March marked Warren’s eighth consecutive nomination in the category and her 16th in total, having received her first nod in 1987.
“I’m consistent as f***,” she wittily remarked to Variety following her latest loss. “You know, it is what it is. I’m happy to be here.”
The singer-songwriter, one of the most prolific of her generation, is known for hits including “Un-break My Heart”, performed by Toni Braxton, “If I Could Turn Back Time”, sung by Cher, and Celine Dion’s “Because You Loved Me”.
Last year, Warren was nominated for “The Fire Inside”, which featured in the comedy drama Flamin’ Hot. It lost out to Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell’s “What Was I Made For”, from Greta Gerwig’s blockbuster smash Barbie.
In 2023, her original song “Applause” from the Italian-American anthology flick “Tell It Like a Woman” was snubbed in favour of “Naatu Naatu”, written by M Keeravani for the Indian Telugu-language epic RRR, with lyrics by Indian lyricist and singer Chandrabose.
She continues to hold the record for the most Oscar nominations by a female songwriter. The more dubious record of most nominations without a win is held by Greg P Russell, the sound mixer known for his work on films such as Skyfall and Armageddon. He has also been nominated 16 times.
Warren has plenty of other trophies to her name, however, including an honorary Oscar won in 2022, a Grammy, Emmy, Ivor Novello and two Golden Globes.
This year’s Academy Awards was decidedly underwhelming, as Anora became the big winner of the night with five trophies, including the coveted Best Picture win, while Demi Moore received a shock Best Actress snub for her performance in The Substance, with the prize instead going to Anora’s Mikey Madison.
Elsewhere, viewers were baffled by the inclusion of a James Bond musical segment that saw British artist RAYE perform Adele’s “Skyfall” from the 2012 film of the same name, while rapper/singer Doja Cat sang “Diamonds Are Forever”. Lisa, the Thai rapper and singer who also stars in the latest season of The White Lotus, danced to “Live and Let Die”.
Many deemed the performances unusual, especially given the three singers recently collaborated on a hit single, “Born Again”, which they did not perform at the ceremony.
The Bond musical segment served as a tribute to the British franchise’s outgoing producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson, a week after the rights to 007 were acquired by Amazon.
Others were disappointed after believing the segment was being used to announce the next Bond actor, following Daniel Craig’s exit in the 2021 film No Time to Die.
“I’m a huge James Bond fan but unless they are announcing the new Bond I don’t see the point…” one person wrote on X/Twitter, with another commenting: “This James Bond montage and performance is cool and all, but it has no relevance to… anything about the last year in movies.”
Another viewer wrote: “I’m so confused. Why are we honouring Bond if there’s no new movie out and we don’t even know when the next movie is coming out?”
