It looks like Playboi Carti is finally ready to release his long awaited third solo album I Am Music.

The enigmatic Atlanta rapper took to his finsta account @opium_00pium to post a photoshoot carousel of images with the caption: “@spotify What we doin Lets gone clear dese ho ahh nig out.”

The streaming service responded on X by posting a series of hourglass emojis and @’d the rapper.

Carti then responded by posting a screenshot in his Instagram Story and wrote, “Yal boys push up my n—a.”

And when a fan commented, “bro we get it u trim just drop the album already,” Playboi agreed and replied, “Fasho.”

He then posted another screenshot from X of a fan tweeting, “I genuinely think this is the most anticipated album in the history of music,” and suggested that the project will be well worth the wait, writing, “[And] the replay [value] on 10.”

Fans can pre-order I Am Music for $9.99 on Carti’s website and promises to be made available this month according to the disclaimer made available under the “Add to Cart” widget. “Album release date to be announced,” the disclaimer reads. Digital album will be available near the release date, no later than six months from September 12, 2024.”

Six months from September 12, 2024 is March 12, 2025.

We can thank Kai Cenat if he meets the deadline. The popular streamer pleaded with Carti to release the project while being interviewed on the red carpet during the Grammys. “The Playboi Carti album,” Cenat answered after Access Hollywood asked him what music was missing in 2025. “He needs to drop, for real. Carti gotta drop. I know Carti gon’ see this. Carti, just drop! I’m on national TV. Drop, gang! You feel what I’m saying? So yeah, that’s what we missing. In my world, a lot of people need that, so we need to make sure that happens.”

Playboi caught wind of the clip and reposted it on his IG Story with the caption, “Realest video I seen in 2025… BX yal got 1 with Kai. Dis video might be da one to do it.”

Six months from September 12, 2024 is March 12, 2025.

Just over an hour after the 97th Academy Awards came to a close, the annual Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Award Party was preparing for its hotly anticipated performance from the Grammy-winning artist Chappell Roan. 

Taking place just 10 minutes south of the Dolby Theater, at West Hollywood Park, a mix of fellow artists (from Brandi Carlile to Diplo), actors and industry insiders packed the largest of three rooms as the hour inched past 9:00 p.m. Following an introduction and thank you from Sir Elton John himself, Roan kicked her off her hour-long set at 9:10 with the rousing “Femininomenon” followed by “Naked In Manhattan.” 

“Can you believe it?” she asked. “We’re at a dog park behind The Abbey.” She later spoke of the famed gay bar for its role in inspiring her breakout hit “Pink Pony Club” – which she performed alongside John, who stayed seated for its verses but jumped up to sing and dance to the chorus while donning a sparkling pink cowboy hat placed on his head by Roan herself. To which he said: “Yeah, baby!”

“I would just like to say thank you, Elton, for believing in ‘Pink Pony Club.’ He played it first, y’all. And I’m so grateful that you would have me here,” Roan said. She also stressed the importance of his event while wiping away a tear and holding John’s hand. “You have sacrificed so much for the queer community, and you made it so I could be the artist I could be.”

Prior to duetting on a hit of Roan’s, the pair performed a stunning rendition of John’s Hot 100 No. 1 “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” with John on keys. And earlier, Roan had tucked in another ode to the legend with an incredible cover of his touching top 10 track “Your Song.” 

“It’s kind of scary singing it in front of the person who wrote it,” Roan admitted with a laugh, adding it’s “maybe the best song of all time.” She dedicated the song to parents, both of whom were in attendance, and thanked them for introducing her to John’s discography.

Still, the majority of Roan’s set was filled with her own charting hits, including “Casual,” “Hot To Go!” “Red Wine Supernova,” “Good Luck, Babe!” and “My Kink Is Karma.” But no matter what song Roan was performing, she delivered a potent combination of her soaring vocal range and spirited physicality (she rarely stayed in one spot on stage for long and proved to be well acquainted with a high kick). And while nothing about her set was inhibited by the black tie attire and table seatings scattered throughout the room, she had no problem calling out those in the back row who were a bit more reserved.

“Cut loose, baby!” she said with a laugh. “Let’s have fun.” Meanwhile, those packed near the stage had no need for such instructions, as their dancing made the floor shake (coincidentally, an earthquake hit Los Angeles minutes after her set ended). 

As John said himself of the superstar while on stage: “You’re the best, baby. I love you so much.”

For an Oscars telecast that explicitly excluded performances of the five best original song nominees, Sunday night (March 2) was still a very musical affair.

The 2025 awards show opened with a performance from Wicked stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, and also included tributes to the music of James Bond from the pop-star trifecta of LISA, Doja Cat and RAYE and to the film legacy of Quincy Jones from Queen Latifah. Then we had Selena Gomez and Miley Cyrus as presenters, plus a surprise Mick Jagger moment.

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Even the night’s host Conan O’Brien wanted to get in on the action, extending his already 15-minute-plus opening monologue to sing a merry musical number declaring “I won’t waste time”… as he did just that with the jaunty tune.

We can even dig a little deeper to find a Taylor Swift connection to the night, even though the omnipresent pop star was not in the building. A Swift fan account on X noticed that five of the star’s Eras Tour dancers — Jan Ravnik, Sydney Moss, Sam McWilliams, Taylor Banks and Tori Evans – all performed as part of the Bond tribute, backing up The Substance star (and wife of Swift producer and pal Jack Antonoff) Margaret Qualley.

But that was all part of the onscreen action Oscar viewers could enjoy from the comfort of their couches. Billboard was inside the Dolby Theatre on Sunday night and caught a few music moments the cameras missed. Below, find the six music moments you didn’t see on TV.

Neil Young is bringing new meaning to “Rockin’ in the Free World,” announcing plans to give his Ukrainian fans a free concert during his upcoming European tour.

News of Young’s upcoming concert were announced by the Canadian music veteran on his own Neil Young Archives website. “Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts will open the upcoming Love Earth Tour of Europe in UKRAINE with a Free Concert for all!” Young wrote. “We are currently in talks and will make the announcement of details here at NYA.”

As Young’s post indicates, specifics are yet to be detailed, though Feb. 24 saw the announcement of European and North American tour dates for Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts. The tour currently begins in Rättvik, Sweden on June 18, meaning the as-yet unannounced Ukrainian show will ostensibly occur in the immediate lead-up. It will also be the rocker’s debut appearance in the country.

The timing of Young’s Ukrainian show announcement seems rather pertinent given the outpouring of global support received by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy following his meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday (Feb. 28). The highly-contentious meeting resulted in widespread criticism of Trump, and took place only days after Young himself focused on the President in a post titled “Leader of the Free World No More.”

“Under 47’s leadership, the US has lost its standing,” Young wrote. “Loyalists will never be stronger than Patriots, and Patriots are in the majority here in the USA. Our Patriots will take to the streets to peacefully demonstrate. There will be a moment of truth in our country and we will show the world who we really are. The USA will again be the leader of the Free World.”

Young’s upcoming tour will see him accompanied on all shows by the Chrome Hearts band, featuring his longtime collaborator keyboardist/organist Spooner Oldham, as well as Promise of the Real members Micah Nelson (guitar/vocals), Corey McCormick (bass) and Anthony LoGerfo (drums). The group released the grungy anthem “Big Change” in January. Young debuted the Chrome Hearts band last year and has said an album from the group is tentatively slated for release in April.

Often, by the time the Oscars finally roll around, even people with just a casual interest in movies know who’s likely to win the big awards. All the shows that precede the Oscars (the Golden Globes, the Critics Choice Awards, the Screen Actors Guild Awards, the BAFTAs and many, many more) have taken a lot of the suspense out of the granddaddy of all award shows.

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This year, however, several categories seemed to go down to the wire. Best picture, best actor and best actress were all less than certain, as were the two categories that mean the most to us at Billboard – best original song and best original score.

To be sure, some of the awards were entirely predictable. Kieran Culkin was a lock for best supporting actor for A Real Pain, and Zoe Saldaña was nearly as strong a bet as best supporting actress for Emilia Pérez.

Other categories that were never really in doubt include Wicked for best production design and best costume design; The Substance for best make-up and hairstyling; I’m Still Here for best international feature (especially after Emilia Pérez suffered a backlash after its star’s old tweets were uncovered); and Dune: Part 2 for best visual effects. (The Oscars have a long history of using technical categories to honor blockbusters such as Dune Part 2 that don’t quite align with their tastes.)

But our focus here is on snubs and surprises, and there were several sprinkled throughout the show. Take a look.

Dua Lipa has again proven her status as a major drawcard on Australian shores.

The U.K. singer is readying herself to head Down Under in a matter of days for the Australian leg of her global Radical Optimism Tour. Launching on March 17, the singer will remain in the country for just under a fortnight, with five nights scheduled for the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, and a further three at Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena. Lipa will then jet over to New Zealand for two sold-out dates at Auckland’s Spark Arena in early April.

Ahead of the tour’s kick-off, promoters have now revealed the entirety of her Australian trek has sold out, adding another feather to her already-decorated cap. Lipa’s last visit to Australia, in 2022 for the Future Nostalgia Tour, also saw her visit neighboring capitals Perth, Adelaide, and Brisbane. With that entire tour selling out as well, Lipa’s decision to instead consolidate her current efforts across just two cities has paid off. The previous seven-date trek brought in just under 100,000 fans, with her nascent visit set to exceed 120,000.

The Australian and New Zealand legs of the Radical Optimism Tour will also see Lipa joined by Brisbane musician Kita Alexander. Having been releasing music since 2013, Alexander issued her debut album in 2024, with Young in Love reaching No. 61 on the national ARIA charts, and her 2023 “Atmosphere” collaboration with FISHER receiving four nomination at last year’s ARIA Awards.

Dua Lipa’s upcoming Australian visit will be her first dates of 2025 and takes place in support of her third album, 2024’s Radical Optimism, which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. The record also spawned her single “Houdini”, which took out top dance/electronic song at the 2024 Billboard Music Awards.

On Saturday (March 1), Lipa appeared at the Brit Awards ceremony in London, where she was nominated for four awards, including British album of the year, British artist of the year, best pop act, and song of the year for “Training Season.” Ultimately, she walked away empty-handed, with Charli XCX dominating instead, taking out five of her six nominations.

Dua Lipa – Radical Optimism Australian Tour Dates

March 17 – Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne, VIC
March 19 – Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne, VIC
March 20 – Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne, VIC
March 22 – Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne, VIC
March 23 – Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne, VIC
March 26 – Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney, NSW
March 28 – Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney, NSW
March 29 – Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney, NSW

Sean Baker won four Oscars for Anora at the 2025 Academy Awards, which were presented on Sunday (March 2) at the Dolby Theater at Ovation Hollywood. This tied Walt Disney’s 1954 record for most Oscars won in one night.

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Baker won best picture, best director, best original screenplay and best editing. At the Oscars in February 1954, Walt Disney won four Oscars (all for different films): best documentary feature (The Living Desert), best documentary short subject (The Alaskan Eskimo), best cartoon short subject (Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom) and best two-reel short subject (Bear Country).

Anora won five awards in all (Mikey Madison also won best actress), which made it the night’s most awarded film. The Brutalist was second with three awards.

Adrien Brody, Kieran Culkin and Zoe Saldaña won the other three acting awards. But this being Billboard, let’s turn first to the winners in the music categories.

“El Mal” from Emilia Pérez won best original song. It’s the second time in three years that the award has gone to song in a language other than English. “El Mal” is sung in Spanish. “Naatu Naatu” from RRR, an Indian Telugu-language song, won in this category two years ago.

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Four other such songs have won over the years – “Mona Lisa” from Captain, Carey, U.S.A. (which is performed in Spanish by a troubadour in the 1950 film, though it is best known for Nat King Cole’s smash cover version in English); “Never on Sunday” from the film of the same name (which is performed in Greek in the 1960 film); “Al Otro Lado Del Río” from The Motorcycle Diaries (which is performed in Spanish in the 2004 film); and “Jai Ho” from Slumdog Millionaire 14 years ago (which was performed in Hindi).

“El Mal” was co-written by Clément Ducol and Camille, who are a romantic couple, and Jacques Audiard, who directed the film. Ducol and Camille are the sixth romantic couple to win in this category following Alan and Marilyn Bergman, Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager, Jack Nitzsche and Buffy Sainte-Marie, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, and Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez.

Audiard is just the second person in Oscar history, and the first in nearly 50 years, to win an Oscar for writing or co-writing a song from a film he directed. The first was Joe Brooks, who wrote “You Light Up My Life,” which won in 1978.

“El Mal” beat the latest song by Diane Warren, who has now gone 0-16 in the category, and two-time winner Elton John, who went home from an Oscar ceremony where he was a nominee without an Oscar for the first time. With her 0-16 track record, Warren ties sound and sound mixing specialist Greg P. Russell for the most nominations without a competitive win (yet).

Daniel Blumberg won best original score for The Brutalist. This was one of two awards for Brady Corbet’s film, which stars Adrien Brody as a Hungarian Jewish architect who survives the Holocaust and builds a new life in America. Blumberg, 35, is an English artist, musician, songwriter and composer. In addition to composing all the music, Blumberg served as producer and recording engineer and played piano, harmonica, keyboards and synthesizer.

Adrien Brody won his second Oscar for best actor for The Brutalist, 22 years after he won his first for The Pianist. He is just the third actor to win twice in that category since 2000, following Sean Penn (Mystic River and Milk) and Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood and Lincoln).

Mikey Madison won best actress for playing the title role in Anora.  The 25-year-old actress won in what was seen as a close race with Demi Moore, 62, nominated for The Substance. Madison is the youngest winner in this category since Jennifer Lawrence won at age 22 in 2013 for Silver Linings Playbook.

Kieran Culkin won best supporting actor for A Real Pain. He’s the first winner in that category from a movie that wasn’t nominated for best picture since Christopher Plummer won in 2012 for Beginners. His co-star in the film, Jesse Eisenberg, was nominated for best original screenplay, but lost to Sean Baker for Anora.

Zoe Saldaña won best supporting actress for Emilia Pérez, becoming the fifth actress to win in this category for a musical performance since 2000. She follows Catherine Zeta-Jones for Chicago (2003), Jennifer Hudson for Dreamgirls (2007), Anne Hathaway for Les Misérables (2013) and Ariana DeBose for West Side Story (2022).

Saldaña performed the best original song winner, “El Mal,” in Emilia Pérez. This is only the fifth time an actor has won a competitive acting Oscar for a performance that included singing an Oscar-winning song.

Emilia Pérez won just two awards from its 13 nominations – best original song and best supporting actress. Netflix’s crime musical holds an unwelcome Oscar record: It won fewer Oscars than any other film that received 13 or more nominations. The old record was held by The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which won three awards from its 13 nods in 2009.

Paul Tazewell won best costume design for Wicked. He’s just the second Black costume designer – and the first Black man – to win in this category. Ruth E. Carter is the only other Black costume designer to win here. She won for both Black Panther and its sequel, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

Flow won the Oscar for best animated feature, becoming the first indie film to win in this category.

Two musical films and a period drama led in nominations in the run-up to the 97th annual Academy Awards, held Sunday (March 2) at Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood: Emilia Perez with 13 nods, and Wicked and The Brutalist with 10 each.

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But it was Anora, which began the night with six nominations, that went home the big winner with five trophies. The Sean Baker film won best picture, best director, best actress, original screenplay and editing.

Pop star and actress Ariana Grande earned her first Oscar nod (best supporting actress) for her portrayal of Glinda in Wicked, while her co-star Cynthia Erivo, who plays Elphaba, was up for best actress. They lost to Emilia Perez‘s Zoe Saldana (best supporting actress) and Anora’s Mikey Madison (best actress); Emilia Perez also took home the trophy for best original song for “El Mal.”

A Complete Unknown, the biopic about Bob Dylan, was up for eight awards, but left with none. Among the nods were best picture, best actor for Timothée Chalamet’s portrayal of the singer-songwriter, best supporting actor for Edward Norton’s portrayal of Pete Seeger and best director for James Mangold.

See the full list of winners below:

Best Picture

WINNER: Anora, Alex Coco, Samantha Quan and Sean Baker, Producers

The Brutalist, Nick Gordon, Brian Young, Andrew Morrison, D.J. Gugenheim, Brady Corbet, Producers

A Complete Unknown, Fred Berger, James Mangold and Alex Heineman, Producers

Conclave, Tessa Ross, Juliette Howell and Michael A. Jackman, Producers

Dune: Part Two, Mary Parent, Cale Boyter, Tanya Lapointe and Denis Villeneuve, Producers

Emilia Pérez, Pascal Caucheteux, Jacques Audiard, Producers

I’m Still Here, Maria Carlota Bruno, Rodrigo Teixeira, Producers

Nickel Boys, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Joslyn Barnes, Producers

The Substance, Coralie Fargeat, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Producers

Wicked, Marc Platt, Producer

Actor in a Leading Role

WINNER: Adrien Brody, The Brutalist

Timothée Chalamet, A Complete Unknown

Colman Domingo, Sing Sing

Ralph Fiennes, Conclave

Sebastian Stan, The Apprentice

Actress in a Leading Role

Cynthia Erivo, Wicked

Karla Sofía Gascón, Emilia Pérez

WINNER: Mikey Madison, Anora

Demi Moore, The Substance

Fernanda Torres, I’m Still Here

Actor in a Supporting Role

Yura Borisov, Anora

WINNER: Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain

Edward Norton, A Complete Unknown

Guy Pearce, The Brutalist

Jeremy Strong, The Apprentice

Actress in a Supporting Role

Monica Barbaro, A Complete Unknown

Ariana Grande, Wicked

Felicity Jones, The Brutalist

Isabella Rossellini, Conclave

WINNER: Zoe Saldaña, Emilia Pérez

Directing

WINNER: Anora, Sean Baker

The Brutalist, Brady Corbet

A Complete Unknown, James Mangold

Emilia Pérez, Jacques Audiard

The Substance, Coralie Fargeat

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

A Complete Unknown, Screenplay by James Mangold and Jay Cocks

WINNER: Conclave, Screenplay by Peter Straughan

Emilia Pérez, Screenplay by Jacques Audiard; In collaboration with Thomas Bidegain, Léa Mysius and Nicolas Livecchi

Nickel Boys, Screenplay by RaMell Ross & Joslyn Barnes

Sing Sing, Screenplay by Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar; Story by Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar, Clarence Maclin, John “Divine G” Whitfield

Writing (Original Screenplay)

WINNER: Anora, Written by Sean Baker

The Brutalist, Written by Brady Corbet, Mona Fastvold

A Real Pain, Written by Jesse Eisenberg

September 5, Written by Moritz Binder, Tim Fehlbaum; Co-Written by Alex David

The Substance, Written by Coralie Fargeat

Music (Original Score)

WINNER: The Brutalist, Daniel Blumberg

Conclave, Volker Bertelmann

Emilia Pérez, Clément Ducol and Camille

Wicked, John Powell and Stephen Schwartz

The Wild Robot, Kris Bowers

Music (Original Song)

WINNER: “El Mal” from Emilia Pérez; Music by Clément Ducol and Camille; Lyric by Clément Ducol, Camille and Jacques Audiard

“The Journey” from The Six Triple Eight; Music and Lyric by Diane Warren

“Like a Bird” from Sing Sing; Music and Lyric by Abraham Alexander and Adrian Quesada:

“Mi Camino” from Emilia Pérez; Music and Lyric by Camille and Clément Ducol

“Never Too Late” from Elton John: Never Too Late; Music and Lyric by Elton John, Brandi Carlile, Andrew Watt and Bernie Taupin

Animated Feature Film

WINNER: Flow, Gints Zilbalodis, Matīss Kaža, Ron Dyens, Gregory Zalcman

Inside Out 2, Kelsey Mann and Mark Nielsen

Memoir of a Snail, Adam Elliot and Liz Kearney

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, Nick Park, Merlin Crossingham, Richard Beek

The Wild Robot, Chris Sanders and Jeff Hermann

Animated Short Film

Beautiful Men, Nicolas Keppens and Brecht Van Elslande

WINNER: In the Shadow of the Cypress, Shirin Sohani and Hossein Molayemi

Magic Candies, Daisuke Nishio and Takashi Washio

Wander to Wonder, Nina Gantz and Stienette Bosklopper

Yuck!, Loïc Espuche and Juliette Marquet

Cinematography

WINNER: The Brutalist, Lol Crawley

Dune: Part Two, Greig Fraser

Emilia Pérez, Paul Guilhaume

Maria, Ed Lachman

Nosferatu, Jarin Blaschke

Costume Design

A Complete Unknown, Arianne Phillips

Conclave, Lisy Christl

Gladiator II, Janty Yates and Dave Crossman

Nosferatu, Linda Muir

WINNER: Wicked, Paul Tazewell

Documentary Feature Film

Black Box Diaries, Shiori Ito, Eric Nyari and Hanna Aqvilin

WINNER: No Other Land, Basel Adra, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal and Yuval Abraham

Porcelain War, Brendan Bellomo, Slava Leontyev, Aniela Sidorska and Paula DuPre’ Pesmen

Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat, Johan Grimonprez, Daan Milius and Rémi Grellety

Sugarcane, Julian Brave NoiseCat, Emily Kassie, Kellen Quinn

Documentary Short Film

Death by Numbers, Kim A. Snyder and Janique L. Robillard

I Am Ready, Warden, Smriti Mundhra and Maya Gnyp

Incident, Bill Morrison and Jamie Kalven

Instruments of a Beating Heart, Ema Ryan Yamazaki and Eric Nyari

WINNER: The Only Girl in the Orchestra, Molly O’Brien and Lisa Remington

Film Editing

WINNER: Anora, Sean Baker

The Brutalist, David Jancso

Conclave, Nick Emerson

Emilia Pérez, Juliette Welfling

Wicked, Myron Kerstein

International Feature Film

WINNER: Brazil, I’m Still Here

Denmark, The Girl With the Needle

France, Emilia Pérez

Germany, The Seed of the Sacred Fig

Latvia, Flow

Makeup and Hairstyling

A Different Man, Mike Marino, David Presto and Crystal Jurado

Emilia Pérez, Julia Floch Carbonel, Emmanuel Janvier and Jean-Christophe Spadaccini

Nosferatu, David White, Traci Loader and Suzanne Stokes-Munton

WINNER: The Substance, Pierre-Olivier Persin, Stéphanie Guillon and Marilyne Scarselli

Wicked, Frances Hannon, Laura Blount and Sarah Nuth

Production Design

The Brutalist, Production Design: Judy Becker; Set Decoration: Patricia Cuccia

Conclave, Production Design: Suzie Davies; Set Decoration: Cynthia Sleiter

Dune: Part Two, Production Design: Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Shane Vieau

Nosferatu, Production Design: Craig Lathrop; Set Decoration: Beatrice Brentnerová

WINNER: Wicked, Production Design: Nathan Crowley; Set Decoration: Lee Sandales

Live Action Short Film

A Lien, Sam Cutler-Kreutz and David Cutler-Kreutz

Anuja, Adam J. Graves and Suchitra Mattai

WINNER: I’m Not a Robot, Victoria Warmerdam and Trent

The Last Ranger, Cindy Lee and Darwin Shaw

The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent, Nebojša Slijepčević and Danijel Pek

Sound

A Complete Unknown, Tod A. Maitland, Donald Sylvester, Ted Caplan, Paul Massey and David Giammarco

WINNER: Dune: Part Two, Gareth John, Richard King, Ron Bartlett and Doug Hemphill

Emilia Pérez, Erwan Kerzanet, Aymeric Devoldère, Maxence Dussère, Cyril Holtz and Niels Barletta

Wicked, Simon Hayes, Nancy Nugent Title, Jack Dolman, Andy Nelson and John Marquis

The Wild Robot, Randy Thom, Brian Chumney, Gary A. Rizzo and Leff Lefferts

Visual Effects

Alien: Romulus, Eric Barba, Nelson Sepulveda-Fauser, Daniel Macarin and Shane Mahan

Better Man, Luke Millar, David Clayton, Keith Herft and Peter Stubbs

WINNER: Dune: Part Two, Paul Lambert, Stephen James, Rhys Salcombe and Gerd Nefzer

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Erik Winquist, Stephen Unterfranz, Paul Story and Rodney Burke

Wicked, Pablo Helman, Jonathan Fawkner, David Shirk and Paul Corbould

At the 97th Annual Academy Awards on Sunday night (March 2), Daniel Blumberg took home the Oscar for best original score for composing the music of the towering drama The Brutalist.

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Blumberg won his first Academy Award on his first nomination, after the 35-year-old previously won the Ivor Novello Award for best original film score for The World To Come in 2022. The Brutalist entered the Oscars with 10 total nominations, and director Brady Corbet’s film won one award prior to Blumberg’s victory, for best cinematography.

“I’ve been an artist for 20 years, since I was a teenager,” Blumberg said during his acceptance speech, “and when I met Brady, I met my artistic soulmate.” The musician also thanked, among others, the “hard-working, radical musicians” who helped perform his score for the film.

Blumberg’s work for The Brutalist was nominated alongside the scores for Conclave, Emilia Pérez, Wicked and The Wild Robot. In the evening’s other musical category, “El Mal,” from Emilia Pérez, won best original song.

The film — which runs three and a half hours long — was also nominated for best picture, best actor (which star Adrien Brody won), supporting actor, supporting actress, director, original screenplay, cinematography (which the film won), editing and production design.

The 2025 Oscars were hosted by comedian Conan O’Brien — who helmed the A-list ceremony for the first time — at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood. The show aired live on ABC, and also livestreamed on Hulu for the first time.

The 2025 Oscars turned out to be a big night for more than one movie inspired by L. Frank Baum’s Wizard of Oz series. Sure, Wicked got plenty of attention – Oscar-nominated stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande opened the 97th annual Academy Awards with a performance of Oz-related songs, and yes, Wicked nabbed the Oscars in the production design and costume design categories.

But the real surprise was how much airtime was devoted to The Wiz, Sidney Lumet’s 1978 adaptation of a Broadway musical. Not only did Erivo sing “Home” from that film, but Queen Latifah hit the stage to deliver a rousing, bouncy take on “Ease on Down the Road,” another of the film’s classic numbers (which Michael Jackson and Diana Ross took to No. 41 on the Billboard Hot 100).

The Oscar-nominated actress’ performance — which she delivered rocking a billowy silver cape — was in tribute to Quincy Jones, who died in Nov. 2024 at the age of 91. Jones was nominated for seven Oscars over the course of a lengthy career that saw him score many films and contribute to plenty of others, including The Wiz, on which he served as the musical supervisor and music producer.

Prior to the performance, Oprah Winfrey and Whoopi Goldberg — who worked together on 1985’s The Color Purple, which Jones wrote the score for and co-produced – said a few words in honor of the beloved figure in the film, TV and music industries. “Quincy was love in human form,” Winfrey said.