With 1/4 odds from our 28 movie Experts, “City of Stars” from “La La Land” is predicted to win Best Song at Sunday’s Academy Awards. The music is composed by Justin Hurwitz, while the lyrics are written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. This trio is also up for the song “Audition (The Fools Who Dream)” which is in third place to win. “City of Stars” has already won at the Critics’ Choice Awards and Golden Globes for the movie musical, which has a remarkable 14 total nominations including Best Picture at the 2017 Oscars airing live Sunday on ABC and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel.
Sign up to get Gold Derby’s free newsletter
with experts’ latest predictions and breaking news
Twenty-four of our 28 of our Experts are predicting a “La La Land” victory for Best Song: Thelma Adams (Gold Derby), Matt Atchity (Rotten Tomatoes), Joyce Eng (TV Guide), Bonnie Fuller (Hollywood Life), Tim Gray (Variety), Michael Hogan (Vanity Fair), Matthew Jacobs (Huffington Post), Tariq Khan (Fox News), Scott Mantz (Access Hollywood), Jack Mathews (Gold Derby), Michael Musto (Out.com), Tom O’Neil (Gold Derby), Kevin Polowy (Yahoo), Christopher Rosen (Entertainment Weekly), Paul Sheehan (Gold Derby), Keith Simanton (IMDb), Nicole Sperling (Entertainment Weekly), Sasha Stone (Awards Daily), Anne Thompson (IndieWire), Peter Travers (Rolling Stone), Adnan Virk (ESPN), Jeffrey Wells (Hollywood Elsewhere), Glenn Whipp (LA Times) and Susan Wloszczyna (RogerEbert.com).
In second place is “How Far I’ll Go” from “Moana” with 10/1 odds, based on the support of two experts: Erik Davis (Fandango) and Brian Truitt (USA Today). Lin-Manuel Miranda, who wrote the song, is just an Oscar away from winning the EGOT. Will this “Hamilton” superstar be able to take down the two “La La Land” songs?
Oscar Best Picture Gallery: History of Every Academy Award-Winning Movie
The only Oscar Expert who believes that “Audition” will best “City of Stars” among the two “La La Land” bids is Edward Douglas (Weekend Warrior). This results in 18/1 odds for the Emma Stone tune, though John Legend will be performing on the actual Oscar stage.
“Can’t Stop the Feeling” from “Trolls,” by Justin Timberlake, Max Martin and Shellback, is next in line in fourth place. Eric Deggans (NPR) is predicting the catchy tune will prevail, resulting in odds of 20/1.
Rounding out the category at 100/1 odds is “The Empty Chair” from the documentary “Jim: The James Foley Story.” J. Ralph and Sting wrote the song and Sting recently told Gold Derby, “It’s the most important nomination I’ve received.”
Dish the Oscars with Hollywood insiders in our notorious forums
According to our overall combined odds featuring the predictions of all Experts, Editors, Top 24 Users (those who did the best at their winner picks last year), All-Star Top 24 (who got the highest scores when you combine the last two years’ Oscars) and All Users, the rankings are nearly same. The favored pick of more than 2,600 people is “City of Stars” with 2/9 odds over “How Far I’ll Go” with 9/1 odds. “Audition” follows with 25/1 odds, and then “Can’t Stop the Feeling” at 33/1 and “The Empty Chair” at 66/1.
Last year’s Oscar champ for Best Song was “Writing’s on the Wall” from “Spectre.” What will join it in the Oscar winner’s circle this year?
Predict the Oscar winners now; change them till February 26
Be sure to make your Oscar predictions. Weigh in now with your picks so that Hollywood insiders can see how their films are faring in our Oscar odds. You can keep changing your predictions right up until just before winners are announced on February 26 at 5:00 pm PT/8:00 pm ET. And join in the fierce debate over the 2017 Oscars taking place right now with Hollywood insiders in our forums.
