THE OSCARS: Let’s talk about the music

Well, that was one hell of an Oscars rollercoaster ride. Aside from Jimmy Kimmel’s failed pranks, the expected political acrimony and that huge blunder (‘La La Land’ was wrongly declared as Best Picture over ‘Moonlight’), this year’s Academy Awards went down in history with a record number of wins by stars of color. Viola Davis took home the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal in ‘Fences’, becoming the first black woman to win multiple film and Tv awards, and Mahershela Ali became the first black muslim actor to win an Oscar. Even if the Oscars are still a long way from equality, this year’s winners inspired hope and a glimmer of change in a turbulent political landscape.

But enough of politics, let’s get down to what we’ve all been waiting for: ‘La La Land’. The film unsurprisingly won 6 Academy Awards, including statuettes for Best Original Score and Best Original Song. In truth, movie magic is nothing without music. A memorable soundtrack is often considered the backbone of any good film. For those of you who haven’t seen ‘La La Land’, the score is a huge part of the film’s charm and success. It helps if the lead actor, Ryan Gosling, also happens to be a gifted musician; he even composed and released an album in 2009 with his friend Zach Shields under the name of Dead Man’s Bones.

Emma Stone, who won this year’s Academy Award for Best Actress, also demonstrated some serious singing skills. Gosling and Stone’s duet of ‘City Of Stars’ is, without a shadow of a doubt, one of the best songs to come out of Hollywood in the past decade. ‘City Of Stars’ may seem like a simple piano ditty, but it’s sweet and earnest and it does the trick. It’s a poem of life, love, loss and acceptance concentrated into one falsely uncomplicated song. The Oscars may not have got everything right this year, but when it comes to music they know a good song when they hear one.