The final piece of the Academy Awards telecast Sunday is finally in place.
The best-song nominees – well, most of them – will be performed during the show. And some major stars — including Beyonce, Billie Eilish (shown here) and Reba McEntire — will sing them.
Last year, the Oscars mostly skipped entertaining viewers. There was no host and little humor; the songs were exiled to the preview show.
This year, the new producers quickly said there would be a host; they ended up choosing three – Amy Schumer, Wanda Sykes and Regina Hall. But they were mum about the songs, until making their announcement Tuesday night, five days before the ceremony. The performers are:
— Beyonce doing “Be Alive,” from “King Richard.” She wrote the song with Dixson.
— Eilish and her brother, Finneas O’Connell, doing the title song from the James Bond film “No Time to Die.” They wrote it.
— McEntire doing “Somehow You Do,” from “Four Good Days.” Diane Warren wrote it.
— Sebastian Yatra doing “Dos Oruguitas,” from the animated “Encanto.” Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote it.
Oddly, the fifth nominee – “Down to Joy,” from “Belfast” – will simply be omitted. In a statement, ABC said that’s because Van Morrison (who wrote the song and performed it in the) “will not attend the Oscars due to his tour schedule.”