47
Beyoncé - SPIRIT
SCORE: 6.600
HIGHEST SCORE: 10 x 9 (
@Music Is Life,
@eccentricsimply,
@Sprockrooster,
@BeingNormal,
@Slice of Life,
@inevitable,
@eliminathan,
@Trinu 3.0,
@Rem)
LOWEST SCORE: 0 x 1 (
@UncleDeSeanAli), 1 x 1 (
@TéléDex)
MY SCORE: 5/10
I don't know much about algebuh but I
do know a lot about the Oskürrs, and it does not surprise me one single fucking iota that they swerved this obvious ploy to win one. The Original Song category trends toward awarding music driven movies (A Star Is Born, Rocketman, Frozen) and/or critically acclaimed movies that don't really have shots in most of the other categories (Selma, Skyfall). It's rare to have a song win when it doesn't fall into either category, but somehow Sam Smith pulled it off.
Beyoncé, however, couldn't. The film she was in was seen, from day one, as not really needing to exist - at it's core, it is a very very very expensive shot-for-shot animated remake of...an animated movie - and if it was going to exist, it needed to justify that existence, which consensus overwhelmingly stated it did not (full disclosure: didn't see it. Sorry Bey!) A year ago, we were all salivating anticipating a Bey vs. Taylor showdown. Then Cats opened, and it became such a national joke that there was no way in hell the Music Branch was EVER going to allow that film on the ballot in any way, shape, or form. So, Taylor doesn't make the shortlist. Beyoncé, however, does. But if she's going to get nominated, the song needed to be a big ol' hit (like a Can't Stop the Feeling or an All the Stars) or really good. It winds up being neither. It barely charts, and though it's a
fine song, it's not terribly exciting, and definitely wouldn't make the tracklisting of a full-scale Beyoncé studio record.
So they fill the ballot with the requisite cartoon musical (Frozen II), the perennials who know everyone (Randy Newman and Diane Warren, who have 33 nominations between them), a gifted Best Actress nominee who is guaranteed not to win in
that category but has more of a shot here (Cynthia Erivo), and the well-received music movie honoring a legend (Rocketman). There is no room for a movie like The Lion King. And thus, there is no room for Beyoncé. Instead of Bey vs. Taylor, we get Elton John winning a second trophy so he can make a pair of sunglasses out of them.
Though we'd all love to live in a world where Beyoncé has a goddamn Oscar, except maybe
RJF because he has trouble with such things, I think we can all come close to agreement that the fun was in
Beyoncé winning, not this song in particular. It's a soundtrack song, bombastic and generic. Bey sounds terrific on it, because she always does, but like...eh. For something meant to be warm and spiritual, it has a clinical undercurrent to it that chills the proceedings. It was also hamstrung by The Gift underperforming; it's not even an exaggeration that Beyoncé randomly showing up on GMA that one time to talk about vegan shit made more of a commotion in pop culture than this album. Like Ariana, perhaps we all just need a break for a bit. We love our Queen, but we need to miss her. When she's back, dragging Jay's decapitated head behind her because that's just about the only thing left to be done, it'll be a relief to hear her voice. And we'll be ready.
