Diane Warren’s Oscar-Losing Songs, Ranked

Diane Warren is the most important songwriter of her generation and the greatest Oscar loser of all time. (Yet another Oscar race Bradley Cooper cannot win.) The songwriter first emerged in the mid-1980s for her work on DeBarge’s iconic single “Rhythm of the Night.” Warren has made a career from churning out dramatic power ballads. Her theatricality, emotionality, romanticism, and understanding of the human condition led her to writing original songs for motion pictures. Warren’s iconic love ballads, played against the end credits, defined the ’90s. In 1998, Alanna Nash called Warren “the Emily Dickinson of pop,” which is fitting: Although their mediums put the two on different sides of the same coin, their writing shares an all-encompassing theatrical theme.

Warren received her first Oscar nomination — and her first loss — in 1987. Since then, she’s been nominated 13 more times, all with no wins. Unfortunately, Warren is most likely up for another loss at the 96th Academy Awards on Sunday, for her work writing a song for the Flamin’ Hot Cheetos movie, a capitalist feature that stands no chance against the original songs from the capitalist feature Barbie.

Even Warren’s worst songs are exemplary feats of songwriting. Here, I ranked all of Warren’s songs nominated for Best Original Song at the Oscars, from worst (which is still great) to best.

15.

“Music of My Heart”

Year: 1999
Performed by: Gloria Estefan, ’N Sync
For: Music of the Heart
Lost to: “You’ll Be in My Heart,” for Tarzan

Warren was sleeping for this one, which, to be fair, is still top-level quality. Gloria Estefan featuring ’N Sync does not sound real, and it doesn’t sound great either. Has anyone ever said that Justin Timberlake kind of sounds like Alvin from Alvin and the Chipmunks? I hope I’m the first.

14.

“Applause”

Year: 2022
Performed by: Sofia Carson
For: Tell It Like a Woman
Lost to: “Naatu Naatu,” for RRR

“Applause,” an expected empowering song that contains the lyrics “give yourself some applause, you deserve it” and “Believe it, you’re the queen, you wear the crown” feels like Diane Warren wanted Ariana Grande and Mariah Carey to sing it, which would have absolutely gotten her the win. Carson’s voice doesn’t exude enough confidence to fully sell the lyrics, which aren’t exactly Warren’s North Star.

13.

“I’m Standing With You”

Year: 2019
Performed by: Chrissy Metz
For: Breakthrough
Lost to: “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again,” for Rocketman

Diane Warren returned to her hopeless-romantic roots with “I’m Standing With You,” a song about someone who will support you against all odds. It’s not her best, but it’s a welcome throwback. If there is one thing movies need these days, it’s a return to the ’90s trend of original love songs played over credits that have little to nothing to do with the film itself. Although Warren is a legend, she is a losing legend, not a winning one, and therefore stood no chance against EGOT-er Elton John.

12.

“I’ll Fight”

Year: 2018
Performed by: Jennifer Hudson
For: RBG
Lost to: “Shallow,” for A Star Is Born

Jennifer Hudson elevates Diane Warren’s answer to “Fight Song” and an era of bubblegum-feminist anthems with her voice that can carry galaxies. Warren, who wrote the powerful, uplifting ballad for a documentary about Ruth Bader Ginsburg (this is all soooo 2018), had to know she had absolutely no chance against “Shallow.”

11.

“Io sì (Seen)”

Year: 2020
Performed by: Laura Pausini
Shared with: Laura Pausini
For: The Life Ahead
Lost to: “Fight for You,” for Judas and the Black Messiah

I took French and Latin in my previous career as a student, so I do not know Italian. “Io sì (Seen)” demonstrates Warren’s command of songwriting over her decades-long career. She knows how to write songs that translate, literally, from English to Italian (Pausini translated Warren’s English version into the nominated Italian version). This power ballad communicates a message about prejudice that melds Warren’s romanticism with activism.

10.

“Grateful”

Year: 2014
Performed by: Rita Ora
For: Beyond the Lights
Lost to: “Glory,” for Selma

This song is fun and fine, but not quite good enough to match the film, which is a knockout. Most significantly, this moment marks the first time I ever voluntarily, knowingly, listened to a Rita Ora song. If this is what paid for her charming Victorian-era sanctuary featured in Architectural Digest, it is more deserved than an Oscar for Best Original Song.

9.

“Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now”

Year: 1987
Performed by: Starship
Shared with: Albert Hammond
For: Mannequin
Lost to: “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life,” for Dirty Dancing

If you’ve seen the moving picture Mannequin, you know that “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” — co-written by Warren and the Strokes’ daddy Albert Hammond — has nothing and everything to do with it. In the film, Kim Cattrall is a cursed Egyptian princess (yes, that’s right) turned department-store mannequin who comes to life for Andrew McCarthy. This song is a dramatic, emotional, annoying, definitively ’80s earworm, and was therefore a shoo-in for the Best Original Song category. Thankfully, it lost.

8.

“The Fire Inside”

Year: 2023
Performed by: Becky G
For: Flamin’ Hot
Will Lose to: “What Was I Made For,” for Barbie

If anything, “The Fire Inside” is proof that Diane Warren is fully in her “lose Oscars for songs written for movies that sound fake” era. If it weren’t for Barbie, Warren would absolutely deserve to win for writing a song inspired by a crunchy and spicy corn-puff snack made by the profitable Frito-Lay, a subsidiary of PepsiCo. Late-stage capitalism is coming for us all …

7.

“How Do I Live”

Year: 1997
Performed by: Trisha Yearwood
For: Con Air
Lost to: “My Heart Will Go On,” for Titanic

In a way, “How Do I Live,” which launched the career of teen country star and the future enemy of Brandi Glanville, LeAnn Rimes, is simply a worse but still pretty good version of “Because You Loved Me.” If “Because You Loved Me” is the best eyebrow, “How Do I Live” (which was featured on the Con Air soundtrack as performed by country legend Trisha Yearwood) is the other one. Ironically, Warren would justifiably lose this race to a song performed by her former collaborator Celine Dion. I have never seen Con Air, so cannot say whether or not “How Do I Live” makes sense for the movie, but I am confident that it does not, even if there is kissing in it.

6.

“Somehow You Do”

Year: 2021
Performed by: Reba McEntire
For: Four Good Days
Lost to: “No Time to Die,” for No Time to Die

My favorite thing about the Original Song category is that it introduces me to movies that might as well be a 30 Rock bit. Four Good Days is a movie I had never heard about and will never see starring Glenn Close and Mila Kunis. But “Somehow You Do” is not a joke. It is serious and seriously good. Reba McEntire’s soft edge complements Warren’s uplifting songwriting, which unfortunately lost to a song that could only be described as a whisper.

5.

“Stand Up for Something”

Year: 2017
Performed by: Common, Andra Day
Shared with: Common
For: Marshall
Lost to: “Remember Me,” for Coco

Common brings out a new layer to Warren’s songwriting, stretching it beyond the limitations of romantic heterosexual love to activism. “Stand Up for Something” is a natural follow-up to “It Happens to You” (more on that shortly, don’t close the tab!), and as such proved once again that her striking, sensational lyricism can communicate a powerful message. Had the song not been up against a tear-jerking earworm from a Pixar movie that saturated the culture for months on end, this would have been a welcome win for Warren.

4.

“Because You Loved Me”

Year: 1996
Performed by: Celine Dion
For: Up Close and Personal
Lost to: “You Must Love Me,” for Evita

I am mostly grateful that I have not experienced love in the same way as Ms. Warren, but “Because You Loved Me” — one of her best ever — makes me wish I had her cinematic perspective. Dion is a match made in heaven for Warren’s theatrics, as her powerhouse voice makes even the most absurd lyrics natural, believable, and relatable. While it is a shame that this song lost to Andrew Lloyd Webber, Up Close and Personal is truly one of the worst, most deeply unsettling films ever made despite starring Robert Redford and Michelle Pfeiffer. Does anything about “Because You Loved Me” scream “broadcast journalists who fall in love by way of mild to blatant sexual harassment and then (spoiler alert) the man dies in the end”? I don’t think so, so I’ll give the Academy voters a pass.

3.

“There You’ll Be”

Year: 2001
Performed by: Faith Hill
For: Pearl Harbor
Lost to: “If I Didn’t Have You,” for Monsters, Inc.

Apologies to Mr. Randy Newman, but the thing about Faith Hill is if you give her a lemon, she will turn it into an eight-course meal, including caviar. It would be a betrayal to my younger self — whose bedroom door was covered in magazine cutouts of Josh Hartnett — if I did not give this song a top slot in this ranking. I tried to put my love for Hartnett and my soft spot for this nightmare of a movie aside. I thought about this a lot, and I still think it’s a great song that deserved a win for Warren. The rousing orchestra, Hill’s dynamic voice, still with a little bit of country to remind you this is patriotic, and the classic Warren theatrics: “In my dreams I’ll always see you soar above the sky”? This is absolutely brilliant, as Pearl Harbor is a movie about two hot airplane guys in love with Kate Beckinsale. I genuinely think about the music video — which looks like it was shot for less than one thousand dollars — every single day of my life and long for the days when I would flip between VH1 and MTV hoping to catch it.

2.

“Til It Happens to You”

Year: 2015
Performed by: Lady Gaga
Shared with: Lady Gaga
For: The Hunting Ground
Lost to: “Writing’s on the Wall,” for Spectre

If there is anyone on this planet more theatrical than Diane Warren, it is Ms. Stefani Germanotta, a.k.a. Lady “There Could Be 100 People in the Room” Gaga. The lyrics in “Til It Happens to You,” which the music legends co-wrote together, is surprisingly minimalistic and pared down given precedent. It’s also more poignant than Warren’s other nominated work, which is most often limited to love things. But here, Gaga’s activism meets Warren’s emotionality in a touching song about trauma that applies to the subject of The Hunting Ground, a documentary about sexual assault on college campus, but its lyrics could span an array of relatable experiences. While the muscular lyrics aren’t necessarily characteristic of either diva, Gaga cleverly takes advantage of her bold voice here, unafraid to use its idiosyncrasies to communicate feeling. This is demonstrated by her live performance at the Oscars, which, along with her Sound of Music medley in 2015, cemented her favorable relationship with the Academy, eventually leading to her win for “Shallow.” How unfortunate that this lost to a middling-to-below-average Bond song.

1.

“I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing”

Year: 1998
Performed by: Aerosmith
For: Armageddon
Lost to: “When You Believe,” for The Prince of Egypt

I don’t often think about the Best Original Song category, but working on this assignment has given me something new to be mad about, and it is this. As one of the biggest fans of The Prince of Egypt, a film that forced my Catholic school to break its “G-rated movies” rule so we could watch it on a TV on wheels when it rained, I still think “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” was robbed. This is Diane Warren at Diane Warren’s best: the drama, the theatrics, the colossal, all-consuming experience of love, and Steven Tyler’s high-pitched equally theatric voice is a perfect match. Importantly, “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” permeated culture at the time (in 2001, it was performed at the E*Trade Super Bowl halftime show!), and, while it does not necessarily define Michael Bay’s Armageddon, it could make sense from the perspective of a deep-core driller played by Ben Affleck who misses nepo baby Liv Tyler when he goes to space.