Taylor Swift’s Original Song For “Cats” Didn’t Make The Oscar Shortlist

Last week, Taylor Swift was nominated for her third Golden Globe award for Best Original Song, for the original song she wrote for the movie version of Cats. The song is called “Beautiful Ghosts,” which is appropriate, considering her chance receiving a Best Original Song Oscar nomination is dead.

Yesterday the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) revealed their shortlists for a few categories, like Documentary Feature, Original Score, and Original Song. Seventy-five songs were eligible for voting, and fifteen songs have advanced to the finals. Here are the fifteen songs that will eventually be narrowed down to a possible five (usually it’s five, but some years have four, and 2011 had only two). Congratulations to Beyoncé, who has made the shortlist with “Spirit” from the not-actually-live-action The Lion King movie.

“Speechless”, Aladdin
“Letter To My Godfather”, The Black Godfather
“I’m Standing With You”, Breakthrough
“Da Bronx”, The Bronx USA
“Into The Unknown”, Frozen II
“Stand Up”, Harriet
“Catchy Song”, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part
“Never Too Late”, The Lion King
“Spirit”, The Lion King
“Daily Battles”, Motherless Brooklyn
“A Glass of Soju”, Parasite
“(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again”, Rocketman
“High Above The Water”, Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am
“I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away”, Toy Story 4
“Glasgow”, Wild Rose

Cats only received one single Golden Globe nomination last week, and it was for the original song Taylor co-wrote with Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber. Sir Andrew, meanwhile, has been nominated for the Best Original Song Oscar twice, and won once (back in 1996 with “You Must Love Me” from Evita). Taylor has written and recorded original songs for the films One Chance, Fifty Shades Darker, and The Hunger Games. Her songs for One Chance and The Hunger Games nabbed her Best Original Song nominations at previous Golden Globe awards.

It’s not that “Beautiful Ghosts” didn’t qualify – because it did (for films to be considered for the 2020 awards, they need to premiere before December 31st, 2019). Maybe the Oscar nomination committee was terrified of what would happen if enough voters voted for “Beautiful Ghosts” and it made the top five. Because that means it would have to be performed live at the ceremony. And you know at least 90% of viewers at home would turn off the TV the second Taylor approached the mic in some creepy uncanny valley catwear. And when the ratings are already pretty low, you just can’t take that kind of a risk.

But despite Cats probably sweeping the Razzies this year, and not the Oscars, the show must still go on! The New York premiere of Cats was held last night, and pretty much everyone showed up in their red carpet finest. No one’s outfits appeared to be covered in shedded cat hair or claw-shredded patches, which feels very off-brand to me. If they’re going to fully commit to that bonkers aesthetic of the original musical, then I say you should go all the way.

Pics: Wenn.com