82 songs made the cut for the Academy Awards’ Best Original Song race this year, but Doja Cat’s “Vegas” won’t be one of them. The singer’s viral hit from the musical Elvis was ruled ineligible by the Academy because it samples Presley’s classic song “Hound Dog”.
Despite being arguably one of the biggest hits from a major motion picture soundtrack this year, “Vegas” won’t be in the running for the Best Original Song due to the Academy’s strict rules. It didn’t make the list of 82 eligible songs and the Academy decided to disqualify it because it’s not 100% original.
According to the Academy’s rules, both words and music must be “original, written specifically for the motion picture”, resulting from the “creative interaction between the filmmakers and the songwriters who have been engaged to work directly on the motion picture.” Since “Vegas” represents an interpolation of Presley’s “Hound Dog”, it didn’t pass the legibility criteria for the Best Original Song.
The score of Tár suffered a similar fate, and its composer Hildur Guðnadóttir will only get the chance to score a nomination for her work on Women Talking. Tár was most likely excluded because its score has been diluted by the use of pre-existing music.
FULL LIST OF SONGS ELIGIBLE FOR THE 2023 ACADEMY AWARDS:
Amsterdam: “Time”
The Automat: “(There Was Nothing Like the Coffee) at the Automat”
Avatar: The Way of Water: “Nothing Is Lost (You Give Me Strength),” “The Songcord”
The Bad Guys: “We’re Gonna Be Good Tonight”
Beast: “N’na Duniyaa”
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever: “Lift Me Up”
The Bob’s Burgers Movie: “Sunny Side Up Summer”
Bodies Bodies Bodies: “Hot Girl”
Bones and All: “(You Made It Feel Like) Home”
Bootyology: “We Are All But Men”
Bros: “Love Is Not Love”
Bullet Train: “La Despedida”
DC League of Super-Pets: “Count on Me”
Devotion: “Not Alone”
Don’t Worry Darling: “With You All the Time”
18 1/2: “Brasilia Bella,” “Deadly Butterfly,” “Wonder Bread”
Everything Everywhere All at Once: “This Is a Life”
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore: “Heaven”
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio: “Ciao Papa”
The Inspection: “The Hands”
Iravin Nizhal: “Kaayam”
Jacir: “Unicorn N*****”
A Jazzman’s Blues: “Paper Airplanes”
Kantara: A Legend: “Karma,” “Varaha Roopam”
Killing Me Softly With His Songs: “At the Movies,” “On N’aime Qu’une Fois Comme Ça,” “Sing a Brand New Song”
Let Me Be Me: “Feels Like Me”
Luckiest Girl Alive: “I Know Where I’ve Been”
Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile: “Carried Away,” “Take a Look at Us Now”
A Man Calld Otto: “Til You’re Home”
Marry Me: “On My Way”
Me Vasantrao: “Kaivalya Gaan,” “Le Chali Taqdeer,” “Ram Ram Lori”
Minions: The Rise of Gru: “Turn Up the Sunshine”
My Father’s Dragon: “Lift Your Wings”
On the Come Up: “On the Come Up”
Persuasion: “Quietly Yours”
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish: “Fearless Hero,” “La Vida Es Una”
RRR: “Naatu Naatu”
Remember Me: The Mahalia Jackson Story: “Faith to Carry Me,” “La Di Da”
The Return of Tanya Tucker, Featuring Brandi Carlile: “Ready As I’ll Never Be”
Return to Seoul: “Anybody”
Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical: “Still Holding My Hand”
Rocketry: The Nambi Effect: “It Hurts”
Saving Ana: “Missing Children”
The School for Good and Evil: “Who Do You Think You Are”
The Sea Beast: “Captain Crow”
Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me: “My Mind & Me”
1660 Vine: “Already Gone,” “Lucky,” “Rodanthe”
Sonic the Hedgehog 2: “Stars in the Sky”
The Sound of Violet: “You Could Be Anywhere”
Spirited: “Do a Little Good,” “Good Afternoon”
Tell It Like a Woman: “Applause”
13: The Musical: “It Would Be Funny”
Three Thousand Years of Longing: “Cautionary Tale”
Till: “Stand Up”
Tomorrow’s Today: “Tomorrow’s Today”
Top Gun: Maverick: “Hold My Hand”
A Tree of Life: The Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting: “A Tree of Life”
Turning Red: “Nobody Like U”
Tujhya Sathi Kahi Hi: “Bharat Mata Ki Jai,” “Grishmat Kasa Vasant Ful La,” “Khota Dev Mazha”
Tyson’s Run: “If You Believe”
The Voice of Dust and Ash: “Dust and Ash”
We Are Art Through the Eyes of Annalaura: “We Are Art”
Wendell & Wild: “Raising the Dead”
Where the Crawdads Sing: “Carolina”
White Noise: “New Body Rhumba”
Wildcat: “A Sky Like I’ve Never Seen”
