62nd Grammy Awards Nominations on Film Music categories

[Edmilson 7,393]

The nominations for the 62nd Grammy Awards have been announced. Here are the nominations in the film music-related categories:

 

Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media

 

• Avengers: Endgame (Alan Silvestri)
• Chernobyl (Hildur Guðnadóttir)
• Game of Thrones: Season 8 (Ramin Djawadi)
• The Lion King (Hans Zimmer)
• Mary Poppins Returns (Marc Shaiman)

 

Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for Visual Media

 

• The Lion King: The Songs (Various Artists)
• Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (Various Artists)
• Rocketman (Taron Egerton)
• Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (Various Artists)
• A Star Is Born (Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper)

 

Best Song Written For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media

 

• The Ballad of the Lonesome Cowboy (From Toy Story 4) – Randy Newman, songwriter (Chris Stapleton)
• Girl in the Movies (From Dumplin’) – Dolly Parton & Linda Perry, songwriters (Dolly Parton)
• I’ll Never Love Again (Film Version) (From A Star Is Born) – Natalie Hemby, Lady Gaga, Hillary Lindsey & Aaron Raitiere, songwriters (Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper)
• Spirit (From The Lion King) – Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, Timothy McKenzie & Ilya Salmanzadeh, songwriters (Beyoncé)
• Suspirium (From Suspiria) – Thom Yorke, songwriter (Thom Yorke)

 

In addition (as originally posted here), John Williams was honored with a nomination in the Best Instrumental Composition category for his Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Symphonic Suite and received another nomination in the Best Arrangement, Instrumental and A Capella category for his arrangement of Hedwig’s Theme (with Anne-Sophie Mutter). The 62nd Grammy Awards will take place on January 26, 2020 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. For the full list of nominations, visit Grammy.com.

 

http://filmmusicreporter.com/2019/11/20/62nd-grammy-awards-nominations-announced/

 

 

[Fabulin 3,510]

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[Edmilson 7,393]

Of the score nominees, I can't remember anything about Chernobyl's music except for a buzzing sound whenever there was a more suspenseful scene, season 8 has its moments but it's not the best GOT score, I wasn't a fan of Mary Poppins Returns and The Lion King is a great score... composed in 1994. 

 

So, by default, I'll stick with Endgame, only because I love "Portals" and "Main on Ends".

[Fabulin 3,510]

.

[Edmilson 7,393]

Indeed, it's (by far) the best score of the year.

 

But I guess the Grammys, much like Oscars, Golden Globes, etc., are more about marketing, and maybe Universal/DWA didn't put much effort into campaigning for Hidden World.

[toothless 963]

Yeah it’s a shame for Powell. What reassuring is that he does not strike me as   a guy who’s running after awards. I like to think he does not care

[Will 2,215]

Glad Endgame and Mary Poppins got nominations! ... although the lack of Hidden World is an absolute travesty. 

[Arpy 4,145]

Once again the superior score is neglected and it pisses me off.

[Edmilson 7,393]

And Hildur has won again.

 

She's on fire! What is she going to win next, the Nobel Peace Prize?

 

Also, A Star is Born has won as well for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media and Best Song Written for Visual Media (for "I'll Never Love Again" (Film Version))

[TheUlyssesian 2,473]

I have a feeling Hildur is going to win the presidency in November. At this point, she's as good a bet as Elizabeth Warren.

[Fabulin 3,510]

.

[Edmilson 7,393]

ROFL 

 

 

[crumbs 14,301]

Sigh. 

[Edmilson 7,393]

I've watched all of the Chernobyl episodes, and tbh I don't even remember that they had music. It was so discrete and low that it was barely noticeable. Some critics love scores that are this way (as opposed to the showy and intrusive scores by John Williams - "how dare this Williams guy telling me how to feel!"), but come on, this is the opposite of what good scores should do.

 

I don't hate Hildur, as I liked her Joker score, and I think she has potential to write even better scores for future movies. But Chernobyl is only getting all of this attention because everyone is so infatuated with this trend of minimal sound design scores.

 

Next year's winner for Best Original Score will be a score that doesn't even have music, just a collection of background sounds. But then everyone will be like iT wOrKs WoNdErFulLy In ThE mOvIe.

[Arpy 4,145]

Worthy of recognition in the archives of the Jedi Order.

[mrbellamy 6,272]

15 minutes ago, Edmilson said:

Next year's winner for Best Original Score will be a score that doesn't even have music, just a collection of background sounds. But then everyone will be like iT wOrKs WoNdErFulLy In ThE mOvIe.

 

NSFW but lol

 

 

[Wojo 2,453]

All I remember from Chernobyl is the bad science and that Drax did not like the fat guy's doodle. 

 

These awards suck balls. 

[TheUlyssesian 2,473]

19 minutes ago, Edmilson said:

I've watched all of the Chernobyl episodes, and tbh I don't even remember that they had music. It was so discrete and low that it was barely noticeable. Some critics love scores that are this way (as opposed to the showy and intrusive scores by John Williams - "how dare this Williams guy telling me how to feel!"), but come on, this is the opposite of what good scores should do.

 

I don't hate Hildur, as I liked her Joker score, and I think she has potential to write even better scores for future movies. But Chernobyl is only getting all of this attention because everyone is so infatuated with this trend of minimal sound design scores.

 

Next year's winner for Best Original Score will be a score that doesn't even have music, just a collection of background sounds. But then everyone will be like iT wOrKs WoNdErFulLy In ThE mOvIe.

 

I think next year they are going to combine the Score and Sound awards and there is going to be 1 single category - Best Soundtrack. 

 

The new front of fights and navel-gazing on JWFan will be - that 3 milisecond foley sound effect was left off the soundtrack and it does not have a clean opening.

[mrbellamy 6,272]

I do wonder if they'll eventually recombine Mixing and Editing back into Best Sound again.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

10 minutes ago, woj said:

All I remember from Chernobyl is the bad science and that Drax did not like the fat guy's doodle. 

 

These awards suck balls. 

 

I thought it was gross. Do they have to keep showing peoples' disgusting genitals hanging out in TV shows these days?

[Tydirium 1,166]

2 hours ago, Edmilson said:

ROFL 

 

 

 

This is genuinely depressing. 1. Why should anyone take any of these awards seriously anymore? 2. How did we get to this point? How did these awards all fall so far from what they once were?

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Chernobyl is brilliant. Well deserved. 

[Tydirium 1,166]

No. It's sound-wallpaper.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Yes. It’s sound-music. 

[Edmilson 7,393]

I think Hildur should do a Broadway musical next. Then she'll win a Tony, and become one of the rare EGOT people in the world, and probably the youngest.

[Tydirium 1,166]

12 minutes ago, Koray Savas said:

Yes. It’s sound-music. 

 

Dude, it's practically interchangeable with so many other scores these days, and it sounds closer to noise than music. Where's the melody? You could put this score under practically anything and it would have the same effect; it's just wallpaper. It doesn't sound like it was thoughtfully composed to support a specific story. Just because it makes you feel unsettled, doesn't mean it's good music.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

8 minutes ago, Tydirium said:

 

Dude, it's practically interchangeable with so many other scores these days, and it sounds closer to noise than music. Where's the melody? You could put this score under practically anything and it would have the same effect; it's just wallpaper. It doesn't sound like it was thoughtfully composed to support a specific story. Just because it makes you feel unsettled, doesn't mean it's good music.

Melody isn’t a requirement for music. And this won an award for being a great score, not an album. It’s absolutely not wallpaper. Watching the series would prove that. It’s perfectly spotted. 

[KK 3,307]

I mean, brilliant is a bit bold to describe that score. I found it occasionally effective, but for the most part, pretty inert.

 

I think it's getting a lot of attention on the merit of it being "different".

[TheUlyssesian 2,473]

33 minutes ago, Edmilson said:

I think Hildur should do a Broadway musical next. Then she'll win a Tony, and become one of the rare EGOT people in the world, and probably the youngest.

 

I would personally like to see her write an opera and a ballet that premieres at the New York Met. She will then when the Pulitzer Prize for Music and drama in one year.

 

The sky is the ceiling for her. I am wondering what all can she win next.

[SteveMc 2,674]

The Nobel Peace Prize for doing away with misogyny once and for all!

[Wojo 2,453]

52 minutes ago, Koray Savas said:

Chernobyl is brilliant. Well deserved. 

 

Of course you would say this. 

[Romão 2,274]

I don't think writing an effective score is particularly hard for any decently skilled composer. The shortcuts and the templates are all there

[Tydirium 1,166]

36 minutes ago, Koray Savas said:

Melody isn’t a requirement for music. And this won an award for being a great score, not an album. It’s absolutely not wallpaper. Watching the series would prove that. It’s perfectly spotted. 

 

Ah, here's where we run into the issue I've seen crop up here before: I approach film music as a music fan first and a film fan second. I want something that fits the film/show, of course, but I also want something that is enjoyable to listen to and that could one day serve as good music for the concert hall—since film music is the next logical step for classical music, after ballet and opera.

 

It is absolutely possible to score a film/TV show in a way that is memorable, as has been shown for decades and decades now. This music, is not memorable. It sounds like, well, sounds. If film/TV music does not provide an enjoyable listening experience, then imo it has no business being made into an album... since albums are explicitly for listening. Why does an album of this exist, if it's just written to be a "great score" and not a great album?

 

So, sure, maybe it fits the atmosphere of the show! But if one could find examples of other shows/films from the same year, that also feature scores that fit like a glove—and those scores also happen to make musical sense and have melody, on top of that? Then why on Earth should the award go to this? There are scores that manage to accomplish being a perfect-fitting score and being great, enjoyable music. Enlighten me as to why a score that only succeeds on one front, should win over scores that succeed on both?

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Because that’s not what the award is for. Either way, she won the SCL awards as well, which is voted on solely by industry composers and musicians. So people clearly like her music. 

1 hour ago, KK said:

I mean, brilliant is a bit bold to describe that score for me. I found it occasionally effective, but for the most part, pretty inert.

 

I think it's getting a lot of attention on the merit of it being "different".

I don’t find it particularly different, as she follows closely in Johannson’s footsteps. I thought it added immensely to the tension on screen. Whole series is very stylistically inspired by Sicario, I felt, in a good way. 

[KK 3,307]

Yea but that aesthetic itself has popularly fallen under “different”.

 

I feel like Hildur only taps into Johannsson’s sound at a surface level, without ever really getting to its real edge.

 

I thought she fared much better with Joker.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

I haven’t seen or listened to Joker yet, so I can only go off of Chernobyl. It’s worth noting that she worked on nearly all of Johannson’s scores though. I think she carries the torch well.

[publicist 4,643]

2 hours ago, Koray Savas said:

Because that’s not what the award is for. Either way, she won the SCL awards as well, which is voted on solely by industry composers and musicians. So people clearly like her music. 

 

You are not that naive. Of course all these organizations and associations pretty well know what's going on right now (and what their pals do) and behave accordingly.

 

I trust my good old gut reaction and say 'no way would this have earned anything' if it was from some dime a dozen RCP guy. And i also agree, for a change, with all these who demand a proper declaration of the goods, because as much as we twist and turn the semantics, the actual work done here is that of a sound designer. A Grammy surely shouldn't be given for such stuff.

[Tydirium 1,166]

2 hours ago, Koray Savas said:

Because that’s not what the award is for. Either way, she won the SCL awards as well, which is voted on solely by industry composers and musicians. So people clearly like her music.

 

But if the award is simply for a score fitting the film/show it's for, why couldn't any of the others have won? I mean, since they are compositionally more involved than the score for CHERNOBYL. Other scores that were nominated did just as good a job at "what the award is for". And who cares if other industry composers and musicians voted for her? You know what's going on right now in Hollywood; you know the factors that are contributing to these awards being given to her. Why not just admit it? @publicist raises a very good point; if this same score was written by a random RCP guy, would they have won? 

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Social Network won an Oscar. I really don’t care about awards and nominations. I just thought Chernobyl was a riveting experience, and a large part of that was due to the music.

[Fabulin 3,510]

7 hours ago, KK said:

I think it's getting a lot of attention on the merit of it being "different".

Ironic, since "different" is the last word her work merits in the Zimmer Age.

[publicist 4,643]

3 hours ago, Koray Savas said:

Social Network won an Oscar.

 

And Social Network, by comparison, had a rather musical POV, which i couldn't find in the amorphous carpets of Chernobyl. 

 

But this whole discussion is moot, if even the branch voters don't find anything wrong with awarding stuff that is patently un-musical, who are we to complain?

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Billie Eilish should win an Oscar for Bond! Add it to her 4 Grammys to beat out Hildur!

[Kühni 485]

Hildur, Hildur, Über Alles...

 

...what? It's better and safer than the other joke(r) I could've made.

 

Gah. Bah. Totally on-board with Jon's assessment.

 

And I usually love everything Icelandic. Just not this. Or Hákarl.

[Richard Penna 3,672]

Iceland has produced some fantastic music - I'm a huge fan of Of Monsters And Men.

 

I'm listening to Chernobyl right now. Someone gave her an award for this? My god.

 

I think Koray is incapable of saying something is rubbish (just in case the composer is watching )

[Koray Savas 2,251]

6 hours ago, Richard Penna said:

I think Koray is incapable of saying something is rubbish (just in case the composer is watching )

Nah, I just don’t like to demean and dwell on stuff I don’t care for, unlike the rest of the board. So you can fuck right off, mate, for suggesting I’m somehow corrupt even though I don’t write reviews or talk to composers.  

[Tydirium 1,166]

10 hours ago, Richard Penna said:

I'm listening to Chernobyl right now. Someone gave her an award for this? My god.

 

I can't believe it either. Not a single track with any replay value.

 

On 1/27/2020 at 1:36 AM, Koray Savas said:

Social Network won an Oscar.

 

Right, but that was 2011 (and imo still didn't deserve to win, either, lol). This is 2020; could you honestly see any other random RCP guy winning an award in this day and age, for this music? Heck, if Zimmer himself wrote that CHERNOBYL score, would he win the Oscar Emmy for it? No? Then why should Hildur?

[Edmilson 7,393]

11 minutes ago, Tydirium said:

Heck, if Zimmer himself wrote that CHERNOBYL score, would he win the Oscar for it? No? Then why should Hildur?

 

He wouldn't win the Oscar anyway because Chernobyl is an HBO minisseries, not a movie released on theaters, lol. He could've won the Emmy, like Hildur did. She won the Emmy for Chernobyl and will win the Oscar for Joker.

 

That said, I agree with your arguments.

[Tydirium 1,166]

Oops, sorry; thanks. But my point still stands.  If Zimmer wrote that JOKER score, would he win the Oscar for it?

[KK 3,307]

I think it’s worth pointing out that Reznor/Ross have nothing to do with RC. And clearly have a very distinct sound and voice of their own.

[Tydirium 1,166]

That's true; not exactly sure why Koray brought them up. Either way, I wasn't a fan of their SOCIAL NETWORK score that won. But the bottom line is that if those same guys wrote Hildur's CHERNOBYL instead of her, I doubt they'd be winning an award for it...