With Grammy voting underway until January 4, now is a better time than ever to see who academy members will likely pick for their awards. In the visual media categories, previous winners include iconic film songs like “My Heart Will Go On” from “Titanic,” “Skyfall” from the James Bond film of the same name, “Let it Go” from “Frozen” and “Shallow” from “A Star is Born.” Here’s my breakdown of this year’s race for Best Song Written for Visual Media.
Nominees:
“Barbie World” from “Barbie”
“Dance the Night” from “Barbie”
“I’m Just Ken” from “Barbie”
“Lift Me Up” from “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”
“What Was I Made For?” from “Barbie”
In my mind, there are three possible scenarios here. The most likely is a win for Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?” for several reasons. First, the song is up for five Grammys, making it one of the most nominated songs in Grammy history. It’s also textbook Grammy bait: a heartfelt ballad that’s still very meaningful outside the context of the film, unlike some other contenders like “I’m Just Ken.” It’s also placed in the film’s most heart-wrenching scene. And Eilish and her brother/co-writer Finneas are Grammy darlings who have proven to be liked by the film branch, winning this category for their Bond hit “No Time To Die.”
Outside nominations do not guarantee wins here, though. The best example of that is H.E.R.’s “Fight For You” from “Judas and the Black Messiah,” which won the Oscar and was up for Song of the Year and Best Traditional R&B Performance at the Grammys (winning the latter), yet lost this category to Bo Burnham’s “All Eyes on Me” from his comedy special “Inside.” So that’s where a win for Ryan Gosling’s “I’m Just Ken” comes in as the second scenario. It could help that the song is the most story-driven on the soundtrack and is sung by one of the film’s stars. It’s also written by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt, the masterminds behind the “Barbie” soundtrack as a whole and previous winners here for “Shallow.”
The third scenario, though, is that the excess of “Barbie” songs results in a split. After all, “Dance the Night” and “Barbie World” were both big hits, arguably bigger than the Eilish and Gosling songs due to more radio exposure. Both songs are nominated elsewhere too (Song of the Year for “Dance the Night” and Best Rap Song for “Barbie World”), so voters do like them. So consider the possibility that Rihanna’s “Lift Me Up” wins as a result. After all, the track was a decent hit, Rihanna is liked by the Grammys with nine wins and counting, the song was up for an Oscar, and “Black Panther” performed well with nominations, being up for Best Compilation and Best Score (like “Barbie”).
Will win: “What Was I Made For?” from “Barbie” (Billie Eilish)
Could win: “Lift Me Up” from “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” (Rihanna)
Dark horse: “I’m Just Ken” from “Barbie” (Ryan Gosling)
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