On February 10 Oscar telecast producers Michael De Luca and Jennifer Todd announced the artists who will perform the five nominees for Best Original Song when awards are handed out live on ABC on Sunday, February 26: Lin-Manuel Miranda, Auli’i Cravalho, Justin Timberlake, Sting and John Legend.
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Said De Luca and Todd in a statement, “We’re thrilled to welcome these world-class artists to the Oscars. These performances will not only celebrate the five extraordinary nominated original songs, but also the integral part music plays in movies.”
Miranda and Cravalho will perform “How Far I’ll Go,” which Miranda wrote for the Disney animated film “Moana.” This is the first Oscar nomination for Miranda, who has won Emmys, Tonys and Grammys, so if he claims this prize he will become the youngest EGOT winner in history at age 37.
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Timberlake will perform his song “Can’t Stop the Feeling” from the animated film “Trolls,” which he co-wrote with Max Martin and Karl Johan Schuster. It’s the first Oscar nomination for Timberlake, who has won nine Grammys and four Emmys.
Sting will perform “The Empty Chair” from the documentary “Jim: The James Foley Story” about the life and death of an American photojournalist in Syria. In his career Sting has won a whopping 17 Grammy Awards, but he has yet to win an Oscar; this is his fourth nomination from the academy, and he shares this bid with co-writer J. Ralph, who is nominated for the third time.
Legend will perform a pair of songs during the telecast. The “La La Land” co-star will perform both of that film’s nominated tunes: “Audition (The Fools Who Dream)” and “City of Stars,” which were sung in the film by Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, respectively. Legend is a past Oscar champ for co-writing “Glory” from “Selma” two years ago, but Legend himself isn’t nominated this time around. Both “La La Land” songs were written by Justin Hurwitz, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.
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