2025 Oscars Ripped For 'Random and Extended' Musical Acts During Awards Ceremony — After Cutting Performances of Best Original Song Nominees
Erivo and Grande opened the Oscars singing 'Defying Gravity."
March 2 2025, Published 11:18 p.m. ET
Organizers of The Oscars shook up the awards show this year by deciding to drop the performances of the Best Original Song nominees.
Maybe that was why the reaction was so intense, RadarOnline.com can report, when the show somehow still found time for a Conan O'Brien tune and an extended tribute to James Bond.
Blackpink's Lisa led a tribute to 'James Bond.'
For the first time in 13 years, the Academy has opted to forgo the musical performances for the Oscar-nominated songs from Elton John: Never Too Late, The Six Triple Eight, Emilia Pérez and Sing Sing.
However, the show kicked off with a rousing tribute to Oscar nominee Wicked from the show's two stars, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo.
Grande kicked off the show with a rendition of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" from The Wizard of Oz and was then joined by Erivo for a showstopping performance of Defying Gravity.
Later there was an extended dance and song tribute to James Bond, with Lisa of Blackpink fame singing Live and Let Die, Doja Cat handling Diamonds are Forever, and Raye belting out Skyfall.
That was followed still later by a tribute to Quincy Jones, who died in November. Queen Latifa rocked Ease on Down the Road from The Wiz.
Heck, they even carved out time for host Conan O'Brien to sing a lighthearted song – ironically about not wasting time during the show, as so often happens.
While many of this year's original songs were unfamiliar to the general public, viewers still flooded X criticizing the decision.
One person tweeted: "So they bailed on Original Song performances to then shove a dozen other songs into the broadcast? What's up with this...."
Another remarked: "If you’re going to cut all the Best Original Song numbers, you can’t fill it with a random and extended James Bond tribute. It’s not even an anniversary year!"
While one person slammed: "I'm laughing my a-- off right now at the fact that they cut all the Original Song performances because the songs this year s---, but they’re still having random musical performances."
Academy chiefs Bill Kramer, CEO of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and Janet Yang, the Academy's president, confirmed in January the show would "move away from live performances" and instead shift focus to songwriters.
In a statement, the duo desperately tried to defend the mystery move, saying: "We will celebrate their artistry through personal reflections from the teams who bring these songs to life."
Instead, the Oscars urged music lovers to head online, where they could still hear all of the nominated songs.
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The missing music wasn't just slammed by viewers – many of the singers themselves shared their disappointment.
In mid-February, Diane Warren, who is nominated for The Journey from the film The Six Triple Eight, referred to the change as "frustrating."
She continued: "Everybody loves to hear the songs. You want to hear these artists sing these songs that were integral to the movies. Music is so important to film, and these songs are very important to the movies they're in."
Brandi Carlile, who co-wrote Never Too Late, from the documentary Elton John: Never Too Late, told Variety: "I feel really sad because I don’t know if I’ll ever get a chance to perform on the Oscars again.
"I can't fathom it, especially with Elton John. When I first found Elton John, it was in the ’90s, and he was winning an Oscar for The Lion King, and I couldn’t believe it.
"So to have the opportunity to perform with Elton John on the Oscars is a hard thing to not have manifest."
