It’s a good thing Diane Warren is “relentless,” as the title of the recent documentary about her proclaims, because she’s been nominated for 17 Best Original Song Oscars since 1988 and has never won one. And now after this year’s nominees were announced on Thursday, her song “Dear Me,” sung by Kesha, is up against KPop Demon Hunters‘ seemingly unbeatable popular favorite, “Golden.” (Fortuitously, Warren won an honorary award from the Academy in 2023 “for her genius, generosity and passionate commitment to the power of song in film.”)
The rest of the nominees grimacing with anxiety as they learn they’re competing with “Golden” this year include Raphael Saadiq, Nick Cave, and Nicholas Pike. Those songs all, incidentally, beat out music performed by Nine Inch Nails (for Tron: Ares), Cynthia Erivo (for Wicked: For Good), Ed Sheeran, Dave Grohl, and John Mayer (for F1), and Billy Idol (from Billy Idol: Dying to Live), which had all been shortlisted as contenders. That said, no matter how stacked the deck is, “Golden” is a tough opponent. Vegas oddsmakers will likely pay out golden sums if any of the songs below manage to best the Demon Hunters’ Huntrix singers when the awards show airs on March 15. Celebrate them while the victory feels fresh.
“Dear Me” from Diane Warren: Relentless
Music and lyrics by Diane Warren
Songwriter Diane Warren finally got her due in the documentary, Diane Warren: Relentless. Filmmaker Bess Kargman (First Position, Coach) interviewed Jennifer Hudson, Common, and, of course, Kesha, who sang “Dear Me,” among others to capture Warren’s spirit. Cher describes her as “unrelenting” in the film, adding, “She’s just crazy, oh, my God, but she writes great songs.” “Dear Me,” of course, is another great song. “Dear me, don’t worry ’bout it,” Kesha sings on the tune. “You’re gonna be all right, you’ll see.” They’re words from the heart from Warren, who’s come so close to claiming her own Oscar many times over for more than 30 years now.
“Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters
Music and lyrics by Ejae, Ido, Yu Han Lee, Hee Dong Nam, Mark Sonnenblick, Teddy, and 24
2025 belonged to “Golden,” and it may own 2026 as well given the massive popularity of KPop Demon Hunters (Netflix’s most streamed movie ever, up for the Best Animated Feature Oscar) and the song, which the fictional group Huntrix performs in the movie. The track topped Billboard’s Hot 100 for 18 nonconsecutive weeks last year and earned the Number One spot in countries around the world. The RIAA has since certified the song, which bears an unforgettably catchy hook, double platinum. “‘Golden’ really means a lot to me, because I feel like at that time, I needed a song like that,” one of the songwriters, Ejae, who is also one of the song’s singers, told Rolling Stone last year. The song won the Golden Globe in the same category in January, which may or may not work against it.
“I Lied to You” from Sinners
Music and lyrics by Ludwig Göransson and Raphael Saadiq
One of the most surreal scenes in Sinners, Ryan Coogler’s hit vampire movie, featured Miles Caton playing the blues on an acoustic guitar as a crowded dancehall sways around him. As he plays, icons of Black music history emerge from the crowd: a grio, a Funkadelic guitarist, a bucket-hatted B-boy. “They say the truth hurts, so I lie to you,” Caton sings. “Yes, I lied to you, I love the blues.” Raphael Saadiq cowrote the unforgettable song with the film’s score composer, Ludwig Göransson. Saadiq has since performed the song with Caton on Jimmy Kimmel Live!
“Sweet Dreams of Joy” from Viva Verdi!
Music and lyric by Nicholas Pike
Perhaps the most surprising nominee is Nicholas Pike’s “Sweet Dreams of Joy,” which, as of this publication, has garnered only 625 views on YouTube (possibly all by the Academy’s nominating committee?) since it was posted two months ago. A performance video, showing soprano Ana María Martínez singing the song, posted a year ago has garnered only 455 views. The song comes from a documentary by filmmaker Yvonne Russo about Milan’s Casa Verdi (built in 1896 by composer Giuseppe Verdi, a retirement home where elderly classical artists coach younger ones. Pike has said he wrote the song after feeling the energy and “joy and passion” of Casa Verdi.
“Train Dreams” from Train Dreams
Music by Nick Cave and Bryce Dessner; Lyrics by Nick Cave
Singer-songwriter Nick Cave in the past has championed Denis Johnson’s feverish 2011 novel about a railroad worker struggling to get by, so he was a natural choice to write a song for filmmaker Clint Bentley’s adaptation of the book. The lyrics retell scenes from the movie, which focuses on a particular section of the novella, as Cave sings about experiencing “crazy dreams” over sparse piano playing and acoustic guitar by co-writer Bryce Dessner, the film’s score composer who plays guitar in the National. Bentley said he was “blown away” when he first heard the song.
