Oscars won't 'Listen' to Beyonce; she's disqualified in song race

You can not only forget about Beyonce Knowles winning an Oscar for best actress this year. (If you haven't heard, a certain ingenue keeps upstaging her throughout "Dreamgirls." And in the race for best comedy/musical actress at the Globes, she's up against a real devil — Meryl Streep — who knows a lot about winning that award.) Now it looks like Beyonce won't win an Oscar as a songwriter either — for "Listen," one of the original new tunes added to the original Broadway score. Officially, she's listed as one of the song's four writers, but the motion-picture academy only permits three names — max — as a credit. To see the specific language of its Rule 16 — CLICK HERE!


Oscar Rule 16 is fairly new, by the way. At the 2003 derby, seven people were cited as cowriters of "Accidentally in Love" from "Shrek 2." In 1981, four folks won for writing "'Arthur's' Theme." Oscar guru Wayman Wong asserts that limiting the number of songwriters to three "is kinda arbitrary," adding, "The Oscars, of course, give out four Oscars in other categories, like visual effects and sound." However, the academy does limit the number of producers who get credit for best picture to three in its Rule 17 CLICK HERE.

The Oscars' songwriting branch has decided to qualify only Henry Krieger, Anne Preven and Scott Cutler for writing "Listen." No explanation is given for why Beyonce is excluded over the others. Is this just one of those cases of where the singer insisted upon having her name added to credits as part of her performance deal? In media interviews, she's often said that she was truly involved in its songwriting. Apparently, not to the extent as her three collaborators, according to the Oscars.

Notice some info posted in the "Comments" section of this blog piece — from poster named Nick. He provides a link to an article about the writing of "Crazy in Love," which earned Beyonce and cohorts the Grammy for best R&B song of 2003, an award bestowed to songwriters. CLICK HERE to read what her actual involvement was in its composition. In fact, it notes that she wrote the song's bridge section. Thanks for adding this insight and link, Nick!

Take heart, Beyonce fans. Not only is she nominated in the actress race at the Globes, but she'll be among the people who share the credit for "Listen" if it wins best song there. And it probably will




OFFICIAL WORD FROM THE ACADEMY:


Beyonce's rep Alan Nierob says, "It's wrong to say that Beyonce was disqualified because she never qualified. Beyonce is aware of the Oscar rule that says only three songwriters can be nominated. It's all about percentages — how much each person contributed to the song. Beyonce contributed greatly to 'Listen,' but her percentage is lower, so she didn't expect to be eligible for nomination. She's very happy that her co-writers may be recognized."

Nierob confirms that Beyonce is officially credited as a best-song nominee at the Golden Globes