美国国家公共电台 NPR Beyond 'Shallow': A Look At The Oscars Picks For Best Original Song

Beyond 'Shallow': A Look At The Oscars Picks For Best Original Song

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

There were some surprises in this year's Oscar nominations¹, but this next conversation is about one that will have surprised absolutely no one who's been paying attention in the best original song category. There was one song you could be pretty sure was going to make the cut.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SHALLOW")

LADY GAGA: (Singing) I'm off the deep end. Watch as I dive in. I'll never meet the ground.

KELLY: That, of course, is Lady Gaga singing her song "Shallow" from "A Star Is Born." It does have competition in this category, and here to talk about that is NPR's Stephen Thompson. Hey there, Stephen.

STEPHEN THOMPSON, BYLINE²: Hi. Good to be here.

KELLY: So is "Shallow" the hands-down favorite one to beat this year?

THOMPSON: I think it's the most likely winner of all the Oscar nominations this year. It is a true movie showstopper, and it's a good example of an original song in a movie that is actually integral to the movie in which it appears.

KELLY: Right. It's actually part of the plot...

THOMPSON: Yeah.

KELLY: ...As they're making their way through it. I will confess to being completely biased³, and I love this song.

THOMPSON: (Laughter).

KELLY: I've had it on replay in my car ever since the movie came out, but run us through the other nominees⁵ real quick.

THOMPSON: Well, you've got "All The Stars" by Kendrick Lamar and SZA from "Black Panther."

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ALL THE STARS")

SZA: (Singing) This may be the night that might dreams might let me know. All the stars are closer. All the stars are closer.

THOMPSON: You've got "The Place Where Lost Things Go," which is a very sweet ballad⁶ from "Mary Poppins Returns."

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE PLACE WHERE LOST THINGS GO")

EMILY BLUNT: (As Mary Poppins, singing) Nothing's really left or lost without a trace.

THOMPSON: "When A Cowboy Trades His Spurs For Wings" from the "Ballad Of Buster Scruggs," that's written by David Rawlings and Gillian Welch.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WHEN A COWBOY TRADES HIS SPURS FOR WINGS")

TIM BLAKE NELSON AND WILLIE WATSON: (As Buster Scruggs and The Kid, singing) Yippee-ki-yi-yay. He shalt be saved when...

THOMPSON: Then you've got a song called "I'll Fight," written by Diane Warren and performed by Jennifer Hudson. That's from the "RBG" documentary.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I'LL FIGHT")

JENNIFER HUDSON: (Singing) So I'll fight, fight that war for you. I'll fight, stand and defend you. Take your side...

KELLY: You know, for the last few years, we've talked a lot about the Academy Awards and attempts to diversify⁷ what you see on stage, diversify the nominees, diversify the voices. Does this current batch⁸ of nominees reflect that?

THOMPSON: It's a relatively⁹ diverse field. What I - what I like about it is that it's stylistically diverse. You have a cowboy song - kind of a traditional cowboy song in that "When A Cowboy Trades His Spurs For Wings" from "Buster Scruggs." You have kind of a traditional Oscars ballad in "I'll Fight." "The Place Where Lost Things Go" is a very traditional Disney nominee⁴ and, I think, a sweet song. "Shallow," obviously is your showstopper. And then you've got "All The Stars," which is a - which is a true kind of pop hit.

So I like the fact that when you listen to these songs, they don't all sound the same. They're not all kind of traditional movie ballads¹⁰ like you sometimes get.

KELLY: Any song you think should have made the nominee list and didn't?

THOMPSON: For me, the song that would have really filled out this field perfectly¹¹ is a song from the movie "Sorry To Bother You" by The Coup¹² which is led by the movie's director, Boots Riley. The song title is billed as an acronym¹³, but it stands for, oh, yeah, all right, hell yeah, that's tight. And it has this this great, infectious, wonderful energy that I would have loved to have seen on an Oscars stage.

KELLY: All right. Well, I'm going to let you take us out on that one. Since we won't be hearing that on the Oscars stage, we'll hear it now. That's NPR music's Stephen Thompson. He's also a panelist on Pop Culture Happy Hour. Thank you, Stephen.

THOMPSON: Thank you.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "OYAHYTT")

THE COUP: (Singing) Oh, yeah. All right. Hell yeah. That's tight.

1 nominations   

n.提名，任命( nomination的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Nominations are invited for the post of party chairman. 为党主席职位征集候选人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Much coverage surrounded his abortive bids for the 1960,1964, and 1968 Republican Presidential nominations. 许多消息报道都围绕着1960年、1964年和1968年他为争取提名为共和党总统候选人所做努力的失败。 来自辞典例句

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 biased   

a.有偏见的

参考例句：

• a school biased towards music and art 一所偏重音乐和艺术的学校
• The Methods: They employed were heavily biased in the gentry's favour. 他们采用的方法严重偏袒中上阶级。

4 nominee   

n.被提名者；被任命者；被推荐者

参考例句：

• His nominee for vice president was elected only after a second ballot.他提名的副总统在两轮投票后才当选。
• Mr.Francisco is standing as the official nominee for the post of District Secretary.弗朗西斯科先生是行政书记职位的正式提名人。

5 nominees   

n.被提名者，被任命者( nominee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She's one of the nominees. 她是被提名者之一。 来自超越目标英语 第2册
• A startling number of his nominees for senior positions have imploded. 他所提名的高级官员被否决的数目令人震惊。 来自互联网

6 ballad   

n.歌谣，民谣，流行爱情歌曲

参考例句：

• This poem has the distinctive flavour of a ballad.这首诗有民歌风味。
• This is a romantic ballad that is pure corn.这是一首极为伤感的浪漫小曲。

7 diversify   

v.（使）不同，（使）变得多样化

参考例句：

• Our company is trying to diversify.我们公司正力图往多样化方面发展。
• Hills and woods diversify the landscape.山陵和树木点缀景色。

8 batch   

n.一批(组，群)；一批生产量

参考例句：

• The first batch of cakes was burnt.第一炉蛋糕烤焦了。
• I have a batch of letters to answer.我有一批信要回复。

9 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

10 ballads   

民歌，民谣，特别指叙述故事的歌( ballad的名词复数 )； 讴

参考例句：

• She belted out ballads and hillbilly songs one after another all evening. 她整晚一个接一个地大唱民谣和乡村小调。
• She taught him to read and even to sing two or three little ballads,accompanying him on her old piano. 她教他读书，还教他唱两三首民谣，弹着她的旧钢琴为他伴奏。

11 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

12 coup   

n.政变；突然而成功的行动

参考例句：

• The monarch was ousted by a military coup.那君主被军事政变者废黜了。
• That government was overthrown in a military coup three years ago.那个政府在3年前的军事政变中被推翻。

13 acronym   

n.首字母简略词，简称

参考例句：

• That's a mouthful of an acronym for a very simple technology.对于一项非常简单的技术来说，这是一个很绕口的缩写词。
• TSDF is an acronym for Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facilities.TSDF是处理，储存和处置设施的一个缩写。